Jonas Reinhardt - Biography
Jonas Reinhardt is a San Francisco-based, four-piece electronic act, centered on synth-centric composer Jesse Reiner, who draws inspiration from 1960s and 1970s musicians such as Manuel Göttsching, Klaus Schulze (and Tangerine Dream) and electronica kingpin Jean-Michel Jarre. Having started recording and performing under the moniker with the 2008 self-titled release on Kranky, the other members of Jonas Reinhardt are Phil Manley (guitar), Damon Palermo (drums) and Diego Gonzalez (bass), each who joined the act for the sophomore album, Powers of Audition (2010 Kranky). The band’s music is multifarious, in that it incorporates analog synthesizers with acoustic elements, Krautrock motorik and rhythmic interplay, usually centered on motifs. Through two full-length albums, Jonas Reinhardt’s minimalist forays have been compared to Neu!, Cluster, Brian Eno and Ash Ra Tempel.
Having performed in various bands such as the prog-pop outfit Crime in Choir, Reiner grew up fixated on the musically rich 1970s acts like Jarre and Schulze. He purchased a Moog Realistic Concertmate MG-1 at a young age, and eventually studied music synthesis at the Harvard Electronic Music Center. After signing to Kranky as a “one man entity” under the moniker Jonas Reinhardt, his initial album—Jonas Reinhardt (2008)—was 13 tracks, mostly in homage to those European progenitors of electronica, and none venturing longer than the six-minute sphere-shifting “Blue Cutaway/Tore Earth Clinker.” Later that year, Jonas Reinhardt—still just Reiner and his tables—put out an iTunes only EP entitled Modern By Nature’s Reward, which features the cut, “Downright Cabal.”
Looking to diversify and shift directions with the addition of live instrumentation, Jonas Reinhardt became a full-fledged band with the additions of Oneida/Trans Am’s Phil Manley, Citay’s Diego Gonzalez and Damon Palermo from the Bay Area drum punk band, Mi Ami. The foursome recorded Powers of Audition, and while the earlier analog atmospheric sweeps are pronounced, the addition of guitar and drums added fresher components to the late-1970s replications. The title track was closer to Flock of Seagulls than Schulze, but the album’s opener, “Mumma Deed Family Clone,” stayed with the serene synthscapes that drew the comparisons. Said Reiner of the meaning behind the title and concept, “each of the songs is meant to engage the listener’s innate power of audition to fill in intentionally left blanks. These occur throughout the recording where there is either diminished narrative resolution or explicit sectional movement meant to provoke an auditory response.”
Jonas Reinhardt has toured North America, and is working on a new album.
