Happy Gods by Groupthink

After their successful debut "Of Microcosmic Origins", Groupthink return with their follow-up, a somewhat more "rhythmic" collection of tracks than its predecessor, yet still teeming with the duo's particular brand of wholly odd event horizons & invasive electroacoustic mumurings.

A duo comprised of Darren Bergstein (iPhonetronics, devices, random acoustics) & Edward Yuhas (Guitars, looping & processing, iPhonetronics), Groupthink improvise with wild abandon, inaugurating electroacoustic soundscapes by marrying objects acquired with objects found. The resultant pieces fluctuate between rough-hewn ambience, computer tribalism, and experimental atmospherics. Their first album, "Of Microcosmic Origins", situated the listener between strange, abject environs of negative space and awry pulsations, a heady mixture of sounds that is at turns becalming and unsettling. "Happy Gods" hosts an even wider palette of noises, movements, tinctures, and vibrations than their debut.

Involved with electronic music in numerous capacities for over four decades, Darren Bergstein operates as a multi-hyphenate artist, a historian, archivist, music collector, writer, publisher, event organizer, concert promoter, and performer. He’s published two magazines (i/e and its successor, e/i) between the years 1989 and 2006, has contributed to countless others (including Resonance, Signal to Noise, and Perfect Sound Forever, amongst many), and own and operates the Periphery label, dedicated to releasing music of electronic/unusual natures and otherwise. For over two years, he curated the One Thousand Pulses concert series, which hosted regular events for electronic & experimental music in the Northeast area, as well as large scale festivals in New York City, Hackensack NJ, and Philadelphia, with plans for further local & regional events in 2013 & beyond. Bergstein’s always approached music as aural texture, and this keeps him forever searching involved in the search for unusual, unheard-of sounds.

Edward Yuhas is a guitarist, live-looper, and electronic device enthusiast and has been playing/performing for 10+ years. His appreciation of progressive rock began upon hearing the opening phrases of King Crimson’s "21st Century Schizoid Man" at age 16. The music of Yes, Rush, and Genesis further beckoned him on to discover the myriad worlds of categorical variety and nuance he craved in music. Influences include such ambient-electronic artists as Ian Boddy, Steve Roach, and Erik Wollo, with a special nod to Robert Fripp, Edgar Froese, Fennesz and numerous other exploratory guitarists. Yuhas's uncanny ability to merge his guitar with a stunning array of pedals, loopers, and delays yields extraordinary sonic dividends, from seemingly bottomless cavernous drones to conjuring vast interstellar spaces of expansive reach & wonder. When he's not performing or listening to music, Yuhas indulges in books, film, photography, contemporary architecture and escaping silently to the woods...

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