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Boy Eats Drum Machine is Portland singer, producer, songwriter, visual artist and multi-instrumentalist Jon Ragel.
“Hoop + Wire is the forthcoming (early March) release from Boy Eats Drum Machine, the brainchild of Jonny Ragel, the prolific composer from a basement in the landlocked nation of Portland. Here he takes straight progressions, preserves them, and yet disjoints them with stop-and-go syncopated rhythms and echoes. Stumbling hasn’t been this charming since They Might Be Giants. Plus, there’s something about the solo ethic that makes the music feel personal and real, like a home cooked meal by a grandma versus a chef’s specialty prepared by a disciplined team. The critics-be-damned, this is how I like to make my dish mentality. Who doesn’t relate to that?”
Pop Drivel 1/05/2010
“BEDM sounds like a jazz-electronic fusion on record and looks like a well-synchronized dance on stage.” Seattle Weekly
“a one-man circus, freakishly talented at playing every instrument you thought you could play, at the same time.”
Willamette Week
“BEDM is super high-energy and has great stage presence.”
PDX Pipeline
“Boy Eats Drum Machine’s one man performance was a sight to behold.”
Live PDX
BEDM has also received a healthy dose of civic attention for his Cure/Talking Heads ‘live mashups‘ (which culminated in a live show at Portland’s Wonder Ballroom with a backing band featuring Dave Allen of Gang of Four fame on bass), his Portland Trailblazers ‘Blazers Theme‘, as well as two Radiohead remixes.
Ragel started to make recordings under the name Boy Eats Drum Machine in 2001 when he used a 4 track to record and load his MPC with scads of samples, creating blippy pop experimentations. He wanted to evoke the idea of pac man and the music of the NES game metroid. He sold his mpc and switched exclusively to computer-based recordings a couple years later.
The fall of 2005 saw Jon using his new found love for the turntable for the first time in a full length recording. He spun and chopped up breaks to create the backbones of the songs that would form Pleasure. Many of these beats were sampled from Bridgetown Breaks Volume 1. He recorded Two Ghosts 12/06-3/07. It was released the summer of 2007 and featured many talented portland area musicians.
Discography:
Hoop and Wire (3/2010-Tender Loving Empire-TLE023)
Booomboxxx (2008-Tender Loving Empire-TLE19)
Two Ghosts (200-self released-BER04)
Pleasure (2006-self released-BER03)
Boy Eats Drum Machine (2001-self released)
Festival appearances:
Cherry City Music Festival (Salem/OR) 4/2009
CMJ Music Marathon (New York/NY) 10/2008
OPB Mix-N-Mash (Salem/OR) 10/2008
Musicfest NW (Portland/OR) 9/2008
Georgetown Music Festival (Seattle/WA) 6/2008
KUFO Rockfest (St.Helens/OR) 8/2007
PDX Pop Now! (Portland/OR) 7/2006
Compilation appearances:
Tender Loving Empire 2009 (cd)
Travel Portland 2008 (cd)
Tender Loving Empire 2008 (cd)
Failing Records Vol 4 2007 (cd)
Arena Rock P:ear Benefit 2007 (digital)
Cut and Paste Collective 2002 (cd)
Scores for independent short films:
Thank You, Amelia Bedelia (2008) dir. by Tami Galvin
Von Cent The Invent (2007) dir. by Karlyn Gibson
Table 16 (2007) dir. by Erik Stanfill?
BEDM related links:
myspace
flickr
snacks archive- lot’s of old info. and food references
two ghosts recording diary
summer 06′ tour diary
pleasure art diary