''Gravity's Rim'' is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the American

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

band

Vampire Rodents Vampire Rodents was a sound collage and experimental music ensemble based out of Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, although its core members originally came from Canada. The creative nucleus of the project comprised vocalist and composer Danie ...

, released on May 14, 1996, by

Fifth Colvmn Records Fifth Colvmn Records was a record label based in Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1990 by Zalman Fishman, owner of the nightclub FIFTH COLVMN, located in Washington D.C. The label's first release was Chemlab's debut EP Ten Ton Pressure ...

Music and lyrics

''Gravity's Rim'' returns to the pop format of the band's earlier albums as well as a more jazz oriented sound similar to Daniel Vahnke's

Ether Bunny Ether Bunny was the name of an experimental big band and sound collage project founded by composer Daniel Vahnke and based in Phoenix, Arizona. Ether Bunny's music was strongly influenced by the big band and cartoon music of the 30s and 40s but ...

project. There are fewer guest vocalists compared to the previous album, with the focus shifting back to Vahnke's vocals and lyrics. Former collaborators contributed their vocals to the music, including

Maria Azevedo Maria Azevedo is an American musician based in San Francisco, best recognized as the lead vocalist of the 1990s electro-industrial outfits Battery and Ivoux. She also collaborated with Deathline Int'l., Razor Skyline and Vampire Rodents. Bio ...

Boom chr Paige Society Burning is an American coldwave industrial rock band composed of Daveoramma (born Dave Mansfield, Dave Creadeau), Twitch, and Boom chr Paige (born Boom Fernandez). The group was founded in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1991 and was origin ...

Dave Creadeau Society Burning is an American coldwave industrial rock band composed of Daveoramma (born Dave Mansfield, Dave Creadeau), Twitch, and Boom chr Paige (born Boom Fernandez). The group was founded in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1991 and was origin ...

, Mark Edwards and

Jared Louche Jared Louche (born Jared Hendrickson; December 11, 1960) is an American musician best recognized as the front-man of industrial rock outfit Chemlab. He also founded the band H3llb3nt and has collaborated with Pigface, Progrex.iv and Vampire R ...

Spahn Ranch Spahn Ranch, also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch, was a 55-acre (22.3 ha) movie ranch in Los Angeles, California. For a period it was used as a ranch, dairy farm and later movie set during the era of westerns. After a decline in use for filming b ...

vocalist

Athan Maroulis Athanasios Demetrios Maroulis (born September 22, 1964) is an actor, vocalist and record producer born in Brooklyn, New York. He is the older brother of singer Constantine Maroulis and also has a sister, Anastasia. Athan Maroulis formed the New ...

also contributed vocals to four songs. Daniel was so pleased with Maria Azevedo's contributions that he considered starting a separate project with her band Battery.

Release and reception

Despite being listed on the back cover, the track "Smartass" was left off due to the label being ready to press the record before the mastering process had been completed.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Amy Hanson gave it three out of five stars, calling it "a triumph" and a "remarkable assimilation of sound, sonics, and scope" ''Aiding & Abetting'' gave it a positive review, saying "Vahnke has managed to vary his beat work even more (perhaps inspired by his recent

project), making the songs even more intriguing." ''Black Monday Magazine'' gave it a positive review as well, noting that "all the classic Rodentia elements are found: heavy beats, cellos, guitar, and it’s chock full of exotic sampling."Gair. "Vampire Rodents: Gravity's Rim". ''Black Monday Magazine'', cited August 26, 2010

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the ''Gravity's Rim'' liner notes. Vampire Rodents * Andrea Akastia –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

* Daniel Vahnke (as Anton Rathausen) – sampler,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

(2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 20) *

Victor Wulf Victor Wulf is a Canadian keyboard player and composer. He is recognized for his solo ambient music project Dilate and as a founding member of sound collage band Vampire Rodents. Biography Victor Wulf was involved in composing music for televisi ...

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

Additional musicians *

–

(5, 11) * Chase –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, loops *

– lead vocals (24) * Mark Edwards – lead vocals (22) *

– lead vocals (3, 9) *

– lead vocals (1, 7, 13, 16) *

– lead vocals (24) Production * Judson Leach – mastering, mixing

Release history

References

External links

''Gravity's Rim''
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

''Gravity's Rim''
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

(list of releases) {{Authority control 1996 albums Vampire Rodents albums Fifth Colvmn Records albums