Brian Grainger was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1983, and since 1997 he has amassed hundreds of recordings under various monikers and in collaboration with others. His most prominent projects have been Milieu, Coppice Halifax and works produced simply as Brian Grainger. In 2004 he began a small mailing list that eventually grew into the Milieu Music mailorder label that he maintains today. In 2006 he found a business partner and collaborator in David Tagg and the two founded Second Sun Recordings together. During this time Brian also assisted David with his already established Expanding Electronic Diversity label, until operations were moved to the newer Install imprint in 2007 and by 2009, EED closed its doors. Today Brian continues to release a steady stream of his own works via Milieu Music and coordinates both SSR and Install with David Tagg. He currently resides in Columbia, SC with his wife Sophia and their pets.
source: Discogs
Here resides music by Brian Grainger, a bearded recluse living in a midwestern valley. Brian records and releases music under many different names, including (but not limited to) Milieu / Coppice Halifax / Limestone Ziggurat / Bike / Vhom / Pink Space / TMA3 / Troth A polymath (according to Wire magazine) who, since 2003, has issued over 600 albums, EPs and singles many of them independently released via Brian’s bedroom studio, on every format from cassette to vinyl. Brian also maintains the Recycled Plastics imprint, a playground for bedroom-produced electronics and Analog Botany Mastering & Design, an audio mastering service sporting a long list of clients and affordable rates. ABM&D is also the in-house mastering agent for Occult Research in Denver and Wil-Ru Records in Portland. Born in the subtropical southeastern coast of the USA, Brian transmutes the rural and seaside elements of his surroundings into synaesthetic melody and texture, often producing dense layers of sonic compost and colorful reams of psychedelia. Since 2009, Brian has written and produced original soundtracks for television, video games, web content and short films including the popular real-time strategy game Eufloria and multiple short science documentaries at PBS, among others. You can find almost all of Brian’s recorded output (to date) at his Bandcamp page, linked above. When not making music, Brian enjoys coffee, jazz LPs and talking about himself in the third person.
source: Milieu Music
mr.chem’s personal note
You know that special place – blissful, calm, feels like floating distanced, devoid of stress and thoughts? Brian can take you there in few seconds, and all he needs are couple of slowly vibrating tones tuned to just the right frequencies. Pair that with masterfully crafted synth sounds, perfectly distorted beats, some massive bass lines, layers of soft pleasing melodies and that insanely satisfying atmosphere, and you get the unique character of Brian’s work. Don’t let the colossal number of his releases full you (or scare you), there’s nothing but pure musical joy of highest quality in there. Our endless admiration, boundless appreciation, and infinite gratitude goes out to Mr. Grainger, one of the most played and loved artists on our station.
Picking which two tracks to include here was no easy task. For anyone who enjoys ambient / IDM / downtempo / whatever-you-call-it music, browsing through Brian’s Bandcamp pages is highly recommended – It’s an adventure with certainty of resulting rewards.