Blaine Leslie Reininger (born July 10, 1953 in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

) is an American

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

, new-wave and

alternative pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

singer, songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist (particularly

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

), writer and performer. He is known for being a member of the group

Tuxedomoon Tuxedomoon is an experimental, post-punk, new wave band from San Francisco, California, United States. The band formed in the late 1970s at the beginning of the punk rock movement. Pulling influence from punk and electronic music, the group, ori ...

since 1977 after co-founding it with Steven Brown and, latterly, for a notable music and theatre career, both as a soloist and contributor to other artists' recordings, including the

Durutti Column The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England.Strong, Martin C. (1999) "The Great Alternative & Indie Discography", Canongate, The band is the project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly, o ...

Snakefinger Philip Charles Lithman (17 June 1949 – 1 July 1987), who performed under the stage name Snakefinger, was an English musician, singer and songwriter. A multi-instrumentalist, he was best known for his guitar and violin work and his collab ...

Anna Domino Anna Domino (born 1955, Anna Virginia Taylor) is an American indie rock artist based in New York and Los Angeles who released several albums for Les Disques du Crepuscule and Factory Records in the 1980s and 1990s. Domino has collaborated with ...

Savage Republic Savage Republic (originally named Africa Corps) is an American, Los Angeles–based post-punk band, formed in the early 1980s and known for lengthy songs with an emphasis on percussion and droning guitars. The group reformed in 2002 and remains ...

Paul Haig Paul Haig (born 4 September 1960)Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 386-7 is a Scottish indie musician, singer and songwriter. He was originally a member of post-punk band Josef K, active between 1979 ...

William Lee Self William Lee Self (*2. July 1958 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina) is an American musician and composer, who emigrated to north Germany in 1982 and who has been living in Hamburg since 1995. Life Self was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina as Wi ...

's Montanablue project, Devine & Statton and Brown himself.

Early history - Tuxedomoon

After learning the violin and guitar during childhood and studying music theory in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, Reininger formed the band

with composer, singer, musician and college-mate

Steven Brown Stephen or Steven Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stephen Brown (athlete) (born 1969), Trinidadian hurdler * Stephen Brown (composer) (born 1948), Canadian composer * Stephen Brown (film producer) (born 1961), American film producer, ...

and appeared on early albums such as ''Half Mute'', ''Desire'' and ''Suite En Sous-Sol'' before departing early in 1983 to pursue a solo career. He permanently rejoined

in 1988 and has subsequently appeared on more recent recordings such as ''Vapour Trails'', issued in 2007 by independent label

Crammed Discs Crammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released around 400 albums and 300 ...

Solo history

While still a member of Tuxedomoon, and inspired by the work of

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

and

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

, Reininger wrote and recorded his debut album ''Broken Fingers'', issued on

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

-based independent label Les Disques Du Crepuscule in 1982. The album's title was inspired by his experience of being mugged after playing a concert in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and included the title track, ''Uptown'' and a cover of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

's "Sons Of The Silent Age". During 1983, Reininger left

to concentrate on a new co-project with occasional band member Michael Belfer. Entitled ''Night Air'', the album represented a more electronic approach than before, was produced by Gareth Jones and saw him continue his recording relationship with Crepuscule. Further solo works have included the EP ''Paris En Automne'' (recorded with Alain Goutier), the ''Live In Brussels'' album in 1986, ''Byzantium'' (recorded with Gilles Martin) and his last for the label ''Songs From The Rain Palace'', released in 1990. His collaborative and contributive work during this period included the albums ''Short Stories For Pauline'' and ''Without Mercy'' with

, an album of cyclical contemporary

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

pieces recorded with composer and producer

Mikel Rouse Mikel Rouse (born Michael Rouse; January 26, 1957) is an American composer. He has been associated with a Downtown New York City movement known as totalism, and is best known for his operas, including ''Dennis Cleveland'', about a television tal ...

entitled ''Colorado Suite'' and the ''Live In Lisbon'' concert recording with

. The last two albums heralded a shift in musical style towards

minimal music Minimal music (also called minimalism)"Minimalism in music has been defined as an aesthetic, a style, and a technique, each of which has been a suitable description of the term at certain points in the development of minimal music. However, two ...

and

. In 1989, he also wrote the song Zeb and Lulu for the

-fronted band Montanablue, issued as a 12" single and later re-recorded by Reininger himself for his "Songs From The Rain Palace" album. During the 1990s, Reininger embarked on a couple of musical projects for major labels such as the solo film-soundtrack album ''Radio Moscow'' ( Polygram) and ''Kingdom Of Dreams'' with

ambient house Ambient house is a downtempo subgenre of house music that first emerged in the late 1980s, combining elements of acid house and ambient music. The genre developed in chill-out rooms and specialist clubs as part of the UK's dance music scene. It ...

collective Falling Infinities (

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

), as well as a one-off

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

album with UVOII entitled ''Sound Of Heaven'', issued in 1994 by German indie-label Fax Records (also known as

FAX +49-69/450464 FAX +49-69/450464 (also known as simply Fax or Fax Label) was a German record label founded in Frankfurt in 1992 by ambient musician Peter Kuhlmann (who recorded as Pete Namlook, a phonetic inversion of his surname). It was originally devoted t ...

). Since relocating to Greece in the late 1990s, shortly before the death of JJ La Rue, his wife of 18 years, his involvement in film and theatre projects has increased with further soundtrack commissions including ''The Manic Man'', ''Danton's Death'' and ''Elektra'', as well as numerous recordings being made available online. In addition, much of his earlier solo output has been reissued on CD via

LTM Recordings LTM Recordings (originally les temps modernes) is a British independent record label founded in 1983, and best known for reissues of artists and music from 1978 to the present day, as well as modern classical and avant-garde composition. The la ...

. Of these, "Night Air 2" garnered acclaim from some corners of the press, particularly Allmusic who declared the album "..a fine showcase for his abilities at lush, often classically 'cinematic' work..". In addition to music releases Reininger also began acting the late 1990s, including roles in "Agamemnon", directed by Mikhail Marmarinos, "Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod" under the direction of Albrecht Hirche and a handful of films with director Nicholas Triandafyllidis including The Sentimentalists, released in 2014. Prior to this, Reininger resumed a working relationship with

by recording several tracks at Self's Hamburg home studio between 2009 and 2011. The recordings saw the light of day in 2012 as "The Hamburg Sessions", issued as a CD on the Belgian imprint Stilll. In 2013, Reininger co-wrote music for and appeared (as a contributing musician) in "Clear Tears Troubled Waters", a dance-piece for 7 dancers and 3 musicians, choreographed and directed by Thierry Smits and written and performed by Reininger, Steven Brown and Maxime Bodson, its soundtrack gaining a release on

as part of its resurrected Made to Measure series. Live performances of the latter drew praise from French and Belgian press Also issued in late 2013 was ''Commissions'', a double-CD retrospective of Reininger's catalogue of theatre and dance productions staged from 2008 onwards including ''Electric Girl'', ''New Electric Ballroom'', ''Lithi (Oblivion)'', ''Danton's Death'', ''Double Take'', ''American Buffalo'' and ''Antigone''. In 2018 Blaine L. Reininger collaborated with the Italian psychedelic-progressive band Twenty Four Hours for their sixth album "CLOSE-LAMB-WHITE-WALLS", playing his amazing violin and giving his voice in the track "Intertwined". Les Disques du Crepuscule reissued a 2xCD version of Night Air towards the end of 2017. In November 2019,

Les Disques du Crépuscule Les Disques du Crépuscule is an independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized ente ...

released a 2xCD, ''Commissions 2''.

Personal life

Blaine Reininger was married to JJ LaRue (born Janet Beth Shulnes) for 18 years until her death in Athens due to a heart condition. In 2000 he married with visual artist/filmmaker Athina Chatzigiannaki. They have a son together. Around 2005, they separated and later divorced.

Discography

Albums

*''Broken Fingers'' (1982) *''Night Air'' (1983) *''Paris in Autumn'' (mini-album, 1985) *''Live in Brussels'' (1986) *''Byzantium'' (1987) *''Instrumentals'' (compilation, 1988) *''Book of Hours'' (1989) *''Songs from the Rain Palace'' (1990) *''Radio Moscow''

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

(1995) *''The Manic Man''

(1996) *''The More I Learn the Less I Know'' (1999) *''Night Air 2'' (compilation, 2004) *''Elektra/Radio Moscow Soundtracks'' (2007) *''Glossolalia'' (Stilll album, 2007) *''Music for Dance And Theatre'' (2011) *''Commissions'' (2013) *''The Blue Sleep (2018) *''Commissions 2'' (2019) *''Wounds and Blessings'' (2021) *''Ocean Planet'' (2023) *''Ghost Festival'' (2024) *''Nine Times'' (2025)

Singles

*"Broken Fingers" / "Right Mind" (1982) *"Playin' Your Game" / "Magnetic Life" (1983) *"Mystery and Confusion" / "Bizarre Bizarre" (1984) *"Greetings One" with Japanese Dream and Bismallah (feat

(1986) *"Rolf and Florian Go Hawaiian" (1987) *"El Paso" / "Bay Bridge" (1988) *"Orphans" with Cosy Little Planet and Burnsday (1998)

References

Bibliography

*''Music For Vagabonds: The Tuxedomoon Chronicles'' by Isabelle Corbisier (Lighting Source, 2008) -

External links

Blaine L. Reininger official siteBlaine L. Reininger discography at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reininger, Blaine L 1953 births Living people American male singers Songwriters from Colorado American multi-instrumentalists People from Pueblo, Colorado Singers from Colorado American male songwriters