Richard Bone

A founding figure of New York's early electronic music underground, finally excavated in full. Richard Bone began his journey in the early 1970s, studying drama at the New York Academy of Theatrical Arts while obsessively collecting reel-to-reel tape recorders and rewiring their circuits to create his own primitive electronic compositions. This fascination with sound design led him to create scores for experimental off-Broadway theater, and by the late 1970s he had emerged as one of the key figures in the nascent American synth scene - releasing ultra-limited cassettes through Archie Patterson's legendary Eurock label and crafting soundtracks for video art projects and, delightfully, several porn films.

This comprehensive box set spans the full range of Bone's early work, from his Eurock-era tapes Quiz Party (1979/80) and Life in Video City (1980/81) through the video soundtracks for Emerging Melodies (1981/82) and into the synth-pop productions of his "Rumble Years" (1979-84). The latter period saw Bone sign to UK label Survival Records - home to electro-pop outfit Drinking Electricity - where he released the albums Brave Tales and Expectable and scored a remarkable No. 1 hit on the Hong Kong Dance Chart with "Joy of Radiation." But it's the unreleased material that makes this set essential: demos, outtakes, and session recordings pulled directly from Bone's personal archive, many seeing release for the first time.

What emerges is a portrait of an artist equally comfortable with the experimental tape manipulations of the European avant-garde and the chrome-plated hooks of early British synthpop. Bone's work anticipates the lo-fi synth revivals of recent decades while remaining firmly rooted in the anything-goes spirit of late 70s New York. Three LPs plus bonus 7" of previously unreleased material from 1978-81, limited numbered edition. A missing link in the history of American electronic music.