Reaktions - Composers

Eric Cook

Starting his musical life as a drummer in the early and mid 90s with improv-space-noise-rock ensemble Gravitar, and then garage-blues-punk duo Bantam Rooster, Eric moved to electronic music in 1997, recording and performing electronic and sample beat collage as Persona. In recent years, he has reintegrated his improvisational and percussive roots, incorporating processed metal percussion and a looser, more freeform and abstract compositional approach. In conjunction to his recent work with Ben Bracken, which culminated in 2003's framed & frozen CD, Eric also creates solo works under his own name; most recently, the 2003 release I Will Not Be Angry Anymore.

As a solo artist, group member and producer/remixer, Eric has worked with numerous labels in the U.S. and Europe, including Charnel Music, Monotremata, American Tapes, Crypt Records, Flying Bomb, Vinyl Communications, Lo Recordings, Invisible, Simulated, Time Stereo, Elsie and Jack, and others. For additional discography and biographical information, please see: simulated.net/discography.php.

Obscurator v12 (18.75 mb) - This is a 100% Reaktor-generated track, taken from a recent live performance @ the Ear Candy Festival in Dearborn, MI on 04/09/05. I used a specially tailored double-drone version of my Obscurism patch, an ongoing work-in-progress which (in contrast to my usual default approach to Reaktor building) intentionally hides the majority of controls and settings as well as engaging in fairly twisty internal modulation. The goal is to make it more of a performative interaction model, where the user (er ... me) has to explore and respond to the sound space for each patch/preset, rather than allow a rational model of setting parameters in advance.