Brad Laner
Brad Laner is an American musician and record producer best known for his work with the shoegaze band Medicine, which he founded and led.
Prior to Medicine, he was involved in avant-improv bands such as Debt of Nature, Steaming Coils —which also featured members of Los Angeles Free Music Society—and most notably the experimental tribal post-punk outfit Savage Republic, which, according to Pitchfork Media, foreshadowed many ideas later explored in the post-rock genre.
He has also been active as a solo artist, recording under the moniker Electric Company as well as releasing two albums under his own name.
His work has been sampled by artists such as Brian Eno, and Caribou. He has collaborated with, among many others, M83 on its 2011 album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.
His notable fans include Kid606, with whom he also collaborated.
Career
Laner founded his first band, Debt of Nature, at the age of 15. He then continued his musical endeavours with Steaming Coils, an experimental avant-rock band that he also founded in 1984. It released two full-length albums before disbanding in 1989, but its last record was released two years after the break-up.In the meantime, Laner joined Savage Republic as a percussionist and a keyboard player, and took part in recording two of its albums.
In 1990 he founded shoegaze-noise pop band called Medicine, in which he applied a do-it-yourself ethos to create his signature sound by running his guitar through a 4-track recorder. In 1992 Medicine released its debut album, Shot Forth Self Living. In 1994 the band contributed one track to the soundtrack of the movie The Crow and appeared in the movie itself. The band ceased to exist in 1995, briefly reuniting in 2003 as a duo.
In 1995 he started his solo project Electric Company, which was devoted to IDM, glitch, and avant-garde electronics with some elements of ambient and drone. As Electric Company, he released ten full-length albums in nine years. The same year, he also founded psychedelic supergroup Lusk with the members of Tool and Failure, with whom he released one album, Free Mars. It received a Grammy Award nomination.
In 1996, he collaborated with Dallas-based musical collective Vas Deferens Organization on the album Transcontinental Conspiracy. Laner co-wrote and co-produced the album; several Mercury Rev members were also involved in the recording and producing process. They collaborated again in 1999, this time under his Electric Company moniker, on the album More Pelvis Wick for the Baloney Boners.
In 2007, Laner released his first album under his own name, Neighbor Singing, with the input of Thom Monahan. He then followed it up in 2010 with his second solo release, Natural Selections.
Discography
with Debt of Nature
- Order: Spoil The Entire State
- Pets Have Fears Too
- Robin Diamond's Lungs
- Idiot Stick
- Pets Have Fears Two
- Food Music
- 1981 Vol. 1
- Debt of Nature
- "San Salvador Day"
- "Salt Meadows"
- "Come Flying"
- "Spring Training"
- "Small Silver Car"
- "The Helix Of Repair"
- '
- '
- Life is Boring So Why Not Steal This Record
- L.A. Mantra
- Live at the Trance Port
- Phantom Takes
- '
- '
- "L'Incoronazione"
with Earth Dies Burning
- Songs From The Valley of the Bored Teenager 1981-84
with Stahlbau
- Todlich Verungluckt
- Die Macht Der Reichen
with Pilgrim State
- Effective Spiritual Warfare
with Severed Head In A Bag
- "Live"
- "Delayed Implantation"
with Steaming Coils
- Never Creak
- The Tarkington Table
- Breaded
- Never Were
- Studio Cassette
- Bad Alchemy #9
- LAFMS-The Lowest Form of Music Box Set
- LAFMS-Unboxed
with To Nije Sala
- A Bitter Kermit Haven
with Savage Republic
- Jamahiriya Democratique et Populaire de Sauvage
- Viva La Rock and Roll 7"
- Customs
- Live in Europe 1988
- Box Set
- Procession: An Aural History
other 1980's releases as Brad Laner
- SEP/8363 vols 1-5
- '
with Medicine (1990s and 2012-present version)
- "Aruca"
- "5ive"
- "Never Click"
- "Sounds Of Medicine"
- "Time Baby 3"
- "Off The Vine"
- Time Baby 2
as Electric Company
- ' 10"+7"
- The Kahanek Incident
- ' 3" CD
- Greatest Hits Companion 1
- Greatest Hits Companion 2
- Slow Death in the Metronome Factory
- Dugga Dugga Dugga
- Knots
- On-Soluble Words
- Sadovaja- A Sweet Design
- Kid606 & Friends vol 1
- American Breakbeat
- Kid606-P.S. You Love Me
- Cex - Oops I Did It Again
- Attitude
- The Cosmic Forces of Mu
- Tigerbeat6 Inc.
- Criminal 2
- $ Vol.2
- $ Vol.6
- Marumari The Remixes
- 45 Seconds Of
- Lowercase 2
- Ellen Allien- Weiss.mix
- American Breakbeat : Rebuilt
- Wrong Application
- And The Beat Goes Off
- Paws Across America
- Good Night
- Stars As Eyes-Loud New Shit
- Open up and Say...@+%_|^
- O Superman Remix
- Audio Sponge 1
- Neighbors Remixing
- Solypsis -Hybrids
as Amnesia
- Cherry Flavor Night Time
- Lingus
- Love Story / A Pretty Sight
as Personal Electronics
- The Story of Personal Electronics
- Blip,Bleep
with Vas Deferens Organization
- Transcontinental Conspiracy
- More Pelvis Wick for the Baloney Boners
with Kraig Grady
-
with Lusk
- Free Mars
with Medicine (2002-04 BL duo with Shannon Lee version)
- The Mechanical Forces of Love
- 2.0 Extraneous
- Wet on Wet
- I Smile To My Eyes
- As You Do
- The Faint - Danse Macabre Remixes
- Themroc - Into the Light
- Wall of Sound 10th Anniversary
- Labels Series
- Strictly Dub - Modern Dub Classics''
with North Valley Subconscious Orchestra
with The Internal Tulips
- '
- '
- 14 Tracks from Planet Mu
post 2000 solo releases as Brad Laner
- '
- Neighbor Singing
- Natural Selections
- Nearest Suns
- Micro-Awakenings
- Music For Beautiful Noise
- For Magnetic Tape
- Elephant Heart Plumb
- Ligaments 01 - 05
- Neighbors Remixing
- Flossin-Serpents
- Triskaidekaphobia 13,000.00 MilliSeconds
- '
- '
- with Lauren Kinney
- - All Tiny Creatures
Brad Laner guest appearances on other artists' releases
- The Flying Luttenbachers - Imminent Death
- Autumnfair - Watching The Sky
- Sissy Spacek - Expanding Antiverse
- Taleen Kali - Soul Songs
- Mary Epworth - Elytral
- Vinyl Williams - Brunei
- Sissy Spacek - Duration Groups
- D.D. Dobson - A Halo of Affectation
- Wild Nothing - Life of Pause
- Tülips - Doom And Bloom
- Digital Noise Academy - Synemy
- M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
- - Discontinued Perfume
- Lauren Kinney - Wail
- Christopher Willits - Tiger Flower Circle Sun
- Blinker The Star w/ Lindsey Buckingham - Catch And Release O.S.T.
- Christopher Willits - Surf Boundaries
- Brian Eno - Another Day On Earth
- Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
- Caribou - Barnowl 12"
- Caribou - Marino DVD
- μ-ziq - Bilious Paths
- Kid606 - Down With The Scene
- Furry Things - Moments Away
- Blinker The Star - August Everywhere
- On - Shifting Skin
- Spectacle -Glow In The Dark Soul
- Ventilator - Reseda Spleen
- V3 - Photograph Burns
- Eenie Meenie EP
- Vas Deferens Organization - Saturation
- Patio Collection vol. 2
- Solid Eye - Electromagnetic Field and Stream of Consciousness
- The Black Watch - Amphetamines
- Motor Totemist Guild - Shapuno Zoo
- Motor Totemist Guild - Homaggio a Futi
- 17 Pygmies- Welcome
- 17 Pygmies- Missyfish
- Fourwaycross - On The Other Hand
- Fourwaycross - Pendulum
- What Slender Young Leaders ! 7"
- Blue Daisies - Wilt
- Gary Kail / Zurich 1916 - Creative Nihilism
- John Trubee - Beyond Eternity/Lavender Flesh