Rik Rue (born Richard Banachowicz)
[Jon Rose and contributors, "Rik Rue, Sound Collagist" http://www.realtime.org.au/rik-rue-sound-collagist/, retrieved 14 June 2017] is an Australian experimental musician, and sound artist, known for his audio collages in recordings and live performance.
Biography
Born in Sydney in 1950
[John Jenkins, 22 Contemporary Australian Composers, NMA Publications, Brunswick, Australia, 1988] to Polish refugee parents, Rue began constructing
sound collage
In music, montage (literally "putting together") or sound collage ("gluing together") is a technique where newly branded sound objects or Musical composition, compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as Photomontage, ...
s on tape from the age of 15,
later encouraged by Australian painter and collage artist
Carl Plate
Carl Olaf Plate (19 December 1909 – 15 May 1977) was a prominent Australian modernist painter and collage artist.
Biography
Born in Perth, Western Australia, Plate was the son of German born artist and writer Adolph Gustav Plate and the youn ...
.
He studied part-time at the
Slade School
The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
, Camden Art Centre and
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It of ...
in London.
He first performed on saxophone with a number of prominent Sydney improvisers including Serge Ermoll,
Jon Rose
Jonathan Anthony Rose (born 19 February 1951) is an Australian violinist, cellist, composer, and multimedia artist. Rose's work is centered in the experimental music known as free improvisation, where he has created large environmental multimed ...
and Louis Burdett
before switching to live mixing of sampled and pre-recorded sound on audio cassette recorders including the TASCAM
Portastudio
The TASCAM Portastudio was the first four-track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape. The term ''portastudio'' is exclusive to TASCAM, though it is generally used to describe all self-contained cassette-based multitrack rec ...
, describing the relationship between the two instruments, 'The tape is improvised in a sense, by equalisation, adding timbres, adding pitch controls, the various combinations of mixing. All those areas give you a sort of phrasing not unlike saxophonists altering their embouchure, and I approach the tapes in this manner.'
After releasing material on the Fringe Benefit label, in 1983 he created his own label Pedestrian Tapes, releasing his own and works by
Michael Sheridan,
Jim Denley
Jim Denley (b 1957) is one of Australia's foremost improvisers of new music known for his improvisations on wind instruments and electronics. His radio work ''Collaborations'', produced by ABC Radio National radio won the 1989 Prix Italia for ra ...
, Jo Truman,
John Gillies, Ian Hartley,
Ernie Althoff and others.
In the 1980s he was a member of the group Mind/Body/Split with
Jim Denley
Jim Denley (b 1957) is one of Australia's foremost improvisers of new music known for his improvisations on wind instruments and electronics. His radio work ''Collaborations'', produced by ABC Radio National radio won the 1989 Prix Italia for ra ...
, Sherre de Lyse,
Jamie Fielding, Graham Leake and Kimo Venonen,
and in 1989 he co-founded the performance ensemble Machine for Making Sense with
Chris Mann,
Amanda Stewart,
Jim Denley
Jim Denley (b 1957) is one of Australia's foremost improvisers of new music known for his improvisations on wind instruments and electronics. His radio work ''Collaborations'', produced by ABC Radio National radio won the 1989 Prix Italia for ra ...
and
Stevie Wishart
Stevie Wishart is an English composer, improviser, and performer on the hurdy-gurdy and medieval violin. Mainly involved in contemporary music, she has also had a career in early music and has edited and recorded the complete works of Saint H ...
, first performing at
Ars Electronica
Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in th ...
Festival, Linz, Austria. Later he worked with performance group Gravity Feed on over 20 projects between 1994 and 2007 in Australia and Germany,
Urban Theatre Projects, dancer Tess de Quincey, the group Social Interiors (with Shane Fahey and
Julian Knowles
Julian Knowles is an Australian composer and performer, specialising in new and emerging technologies. His creative work spans the fields of composition for theatre, dance, film and television, electronic music, sound and new media arts, popula ...
), musicians
David Moss,
Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Life and career
Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twe ...
,
Ikue Mori
(born 17 December 1953), also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022.
Biography
Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She s ...
and released recordings on Extreme Records.
In 1995 his recordings were included in the exhibition ''Sound In Space: Adventures In Australian Sound Art'' at the
Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA), located on George Street in Sydney's The Rocks neighbourhood, is solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting, and collecting contemporary art, from across Australia and around the world. It is ...
(MCA), Sydney. The major sound work ''Things Change, Things Remain The Same'' commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, was exhibited as part of the major contemporary art exhibition ''Australian Perspecta 1997: Between Art and Nature''. It has been described as an 'outback road-trip of the mind'. His video and sound work ''Fire and Water'' was shown at SNO Gallery Sydney in 2014.
A number of Rue's early cassette recordings were re-released by Shame File Music from 2014.
In 2018 the exhibition ''In-Formalism'' at the
Casula Powerhouse, included a survey of his tape works.
Rue suffers from
multiple sclerosis and is now no longer active in performing or recording.
Discography
* Louis Burdett, Jon Rose, Rik Rue, ''Towards a Relative Music'', LP (Fringe Benefit Records, 1979)
* Dave Ellis, Serge Ermoll, Peter Kelly, Jon Rose, Rik Rue, ''Improvisations'', LP (Fringe Benefit Records, 1979)
* Rik Rue, ''A Raise of an Eyebrow'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1983)
* Fifi L' Amour & Rik Rue, ''Rue L'Amour'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1984)
* Rik Rue, ''Dub for St.Rita'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1984; Shame File Music, 2019)
* Rik Rue, ''Other Voices'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes/ Calypso Now, 1984)
* Eugene Chadbourne, David Moss, Jon Rose, Rik Rue, ''Country Music of Southeastern Australia'', LP (
RRRecords
RRRecords is a record label and used and new record shop based in Lowell, Massachusetts. RRRecords was the first American record label to publish underground "noise music" in the early 1980s, and published the first American vinyl by Merzbow, Maso ...
, 1984)
* Rik Rue, ''Multisonous Mottos'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1985)
* Rik Rue, ''Water Works'', cassette (NMA Publications, 1985)
* Shane Fahey & Rik Rue, ''Murmurs'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1986, as download Shame File Music, 2014)
* Rik Rue, ''Two Short Adventures in Water'', cassette (no label, 1986)
* Rik Rue, ''Bend An Ear'', cassette (STI/Les Ballets Mécaniques, 1987)
* Rik Rue, ''Eur'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1987)
* Rik Rue (as EUR), ''Heavy Handed'', CDR (Cosmic Conspiracy Productions, 1990)
* Clay Caplice & Rik Rue, ''A Shift in Magnetic North'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1990)
* Rik Rue, ''Onomatopoeia'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1991)
* Rik Rue, ''The Pre Glasnost Tapes'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1991, as download Shame File Music, 2014)
* Rik Rue, ''Sound Escapes'', LP (RRRecords, 1991)
* Rik Rue, ''Songs for the End of Time'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1993)
* Rik Rue, ''Voice Capades'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1993 - reissued on CDR and online by Alias Frequencies, 2004)
* Rik Rue, ''Ocean Flows'', CD (
Tall Poppies Records
Tall Poppies Records is an Australian record label founded in September 1991 by Belinda Webster. It focuses on recording solo and chamber music in the classical genre. It is particularly dedicated to promoting the work of Australian composers. ...
, 1993)
* Jim Denley, Ikue Mori, Rik Rue, Amanda Stewart, David Watson, ''Bit-Part Actor'', CD (Braille Records, 1996)
* Tony Buck & Rik Rue, ''Come Let's Build Ourselves A City'', mini CD (Algen, 1996)
* Rik Rue, ''Sample/Shuffle/Interplay'', CD (
Extreme Records
Extreme Records is an Australia-based record label.
The label was founded by Ulex Xane and initially specialised in underground experimental and industrial cassettes. Roger Richards became involved in 1987 and eventually became the label’s ...
, 1999)
* Rik Rue, ''Environmentally Yours'', Limited Edition CDR, signed by the artist (no label, 2004)
* Rik Rue, ''Recent and Not So Recent Collage Works'', CD (no label, 2004)
Radiophonic Works
* Machine for Making Sense (Rik Rue, Amanda Stewart, Jim Denley, Chris Mann, Stevie Wishart), ''Silence is therefore the only possible means of communication - Karl Marx 1843'', (Kunstradio 1995)
* Machine for Making Sense (Rik Rue, Amanda Stewart, Jim Denley, Stevie Wishart), ''The Twentieth Century Never Happened'', (Kunstradio 2001)
* Rik Rue, ''Things Change, Things Remain The Same'', (
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
, 1999)
Compilations
* Mauro Cavallaro, John Gillies, Stephen Harrop, Ian Hartley, Rik Rue, ''Genuine Tape Stories'', cassette (Fringe Benefit Records, 1983)
* Bleak, Browning Mummery, Rik Rue,
Severed Heads
Severed Heads were an Australian electronic music group founded in 1979 as Mr and Mrs No Smoking Sign. The original members were Richard Fielding and Andrew Wright, who were soon joined by Tom Ellard. Fielding and Wright had both left the band ...
, Studio Testing, ''Lunokhod'', double cassette (Cntmprr-ydtns, 1984)
* ''Frog Peak Collaboration Project'', double CD (Frog Peak, 1997)
* Atherton, Franklin, Hewitt, Knowles, Payne, Rue, Social Interiors, Westerkamp, ''space, time & the roaring silence'', CD (School of Contemporary Arts, UWS, 1999)
* Lloyd Barrett, Lucas Darklord, Buttress O'Kneel, Shannon O'Neill, Rik Rue, ''Radio Metamix'', download (Alias Frequencies, 2009)
with Social Interiors
* Social Interiors (Shane Fahey & Rik Rue), ''Social Interiors'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1985)
* Social Interiors (Shane Fahey & Rik Rue ), ''Intrusions into the Environment'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1987)
* Social Interiors (Shane Fahey, Julian Knowles & Rik Rue), ''The World Behind You'', CD (
Extreme Records
Extreme Records is an Australia-based record label.
The label was founded by Ulex Xane and initially specialised in underground experimental and industrial cassettes. Roger Richards became involved in 1987 and eventually became the label’s ...
, 1995)
* Social Interiors (Shane Fahey, Julian Knowles & Rik Rue), ''Traces of Mercury'', CD (
Extreme Records
Extreme Records is an Australia-based record label.
The label was founded by Ulex Xane and initially specialised in underground experimental and industrial cassettes. Roger Richards became involved in 1987 and eventually became the label’s ...
, 1995)
* Social Interiors (Shane Fahey, Julian Knowles & Rik Rue) ''Spatial Circumference'', CD (Endgame, 2006)
with Mind/Body/Split
* Mind/Body/Split, ''Mind/Body/Split'', cassette (Pedestrian Tapes, 1986)
* Mind/Body/Split, ''If Its Not On Its Not On'', LP (Splitrec, 1989)
with Machine for Making Sense
* Machine for Making Sense, ''On Second Thoughts'', CD (
Tall Poppies Records
Tall Poppies Records is an Australian record label founded in September 1991 by Belinda Webster. It focuses on recording solo and chamber music in the classical genre. It is particularly dedicated to promoting the work of Australian composers. ...
, 1994)
* Machine for Making Sense, ''Talk Is Cheap'', CD (Splitrec, 1997)
* Machine for Making Sense, ''Dissect The Body'', CD (Splitrec, 1998)
* Machine for Making Sense, ''Consciousness'', CD (Splitrec, 1999)
* Machine for Making Sense, ''The Act Of Observation Becomes The Object Itself'', CD (Rossbin, 2006)
References
External links
''Rik Rue: Sound Collagist'', Realtime, 2017Australian Music CentreOfficial Gravity Feed Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rue, Rik
1950 births
Australian record producers
Australian saxophonists
Male saxophonists
Living people
21st-century saxophonists
21st-century Australian male musicians
21st-century Australian musicians