It's Hard To Be A Baby

Electric Company is the solo project of Brad Laner, frontman for seminal band Medicine (recently reformed with vocalist Shannon Lee-- Bruce Lee's daughter-- after a long hiatus). As Electric Company, Laner has been making extremely leftfield electronic music since his 1995 Def American debut A Part Cylic Omen. Guitars and other live instrumentation complement abstract and twisted electronics (he's right at home on Tigerbeat6).
Recorded just before, during and after making the upcoming Medicine album for Wall of Sound, It's Hard To Be A Baby represents a radical redirection of energy from experimental, rhythmic sound-sculpting toward melody and mood. These new songs do not squander the advantages that modern studio technology offers-- hands-on guitar-playing, voices, and synthesizers-- and pay homage to early Brian Eno and Faust, current artists like Mouse On Mars and Christian Fennesz, and Aphex Twin's more melodic work. Endlessly interweaving sensual, melodic textures and clusters with plenty of the "noise as beauty" aesthetic, Laner places these elements alongside casually funky beats, making this a musically rewarding and dynamic Electric Company album.