BINARY Artists: Vir Unis

VIR UNIS bio from www.virunis.com:
Vir Unis is a synthesist, drummer/percussionist, electronic groove creator, and sound sculptor. After performing as a drummer in
various synth pop and new wave bands in the 1980's, he worked for several years in solitude developing atmospheric and
experimental music via a simple analog 4-track cassette deck, one effects box, delay pedal, drum machine, and a synthesizer.
Acquiring his first computer, Vir Unis was first introduced to digital recording via Sonic Foundry software in 1996. Realizing the
vast potential that the digital realm offers the electronic musician, he quickly set about creating a new world of possibilities for
himself, both atmospherically and rhythmically. Starting out as a drummer and percussionist, these kinds of software tools
helped shape a lot of the ideas that he was developing in his mind, but could not produce with the audio tools of the time,
given the limitations of magnetic tape. However, being based in this minimalist approach to creating music, he was accustomed
to pushing the instruments that he had to the furthest point and beyond, thus creating an atmosphere in which the imagination
could thrive in either the digital or analog world. Forging a new and experimental fusion of analog percussion sources and
digital editing became the primary focus for the next several years. Combining these electronic grooves with the sonic and misty
psychedelic atmospheres that he had been working on for the past decade seemed the perfect alchemy and the next level he
had been seeking.
In the summer of 1998, Imaginarium was released. This was a collaboration album with Midwest duo Ma Ja Le and was
produced by the legendary electronic music composer Steve Roach. This proved to be quite a fortuitous event for many
reasons, but the main reason was a lasting collaboration between Roach and Unis, developing their ongoing exploration of
fractal groove creation into what Roach has called "Elegant Futurism". Their first collaboration, Body Electric, was released
on Projekt in February of 1999. Well received by both critics and listeners alike, Body Electric received much radio airplay
nationwide and remained in the Airwaves and New Age Voice top ten for over 8 weeks. Later that year, Vir Unis released
his first solo album, The Drift Inside, in November of 1999 on Minneapolis based label GreenHouse Music. Produced by Steve
Roach and Vir Unis, The Drift Inside focused primarily on self-reflective inner space music. Being completely beatless, his first
solo album offered a different side to the tribal and electronic groove albums with Steve Roach and Ma Ja Le. However, The
Undivided Flow, his contribution to The Ambient Expanse (Mirage), did offer a glimpse at the music that was developed on
The Drift Inside. He also contributed one track, Beneath the Hive, to GreenHouse Music's first compilation album, Convergent
Evolution in 1999. The Drift Inside has received several highly charged and positive reviews. A favorite of many space
music fans, it was #2 on the New Age Sampler Radio show for The Ambient Hour which broadcasts on 89.9 FM, WWSP
from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. Vir Unis was also interviewed for their Millennium Featured Artist Series
during this time. The Drift Inside was also featured in February 2000 on Hearts of Space program entitled "Luminosity".
More recently, Vir Unis has released and self produced Aeonian Glow (Nov. 2000/Green House Music), Pulse n Atmo (Feb.
2001/Groove Unlimited), and Live at Gathering 23 all as solo albums. The last two albums featured more of the fractal groove
alchemy earlier explored on Body Electric, with Aeonian Glow being more of a continuation of the work on The Drift Inside. In
May of 2001, Roach and Unis were back at it again with the release of Blood Machine on GreenHouse Music. Two years in
the making, this collaborative work with Steve Roach presents a unique fusion of rich soundworlds and "fractal grooves",
their process of weaving rhythms from many original sources to create the whole. Both Aeonian Glow and Blood Machine
were recently feature on Hearts of Space program entitled "FRACTAL DIMENSIONS".
Among music composition and recording, Vir Unis has also been credited as a graphic designer for all his own solo albums,
the cover artwork for Steve Roach's Midnight Moon (Projekt), and most recently, Blood Machine and the upcoming Sonic
Foundry Vir Unis ACID Loop Library. Vir Unis has also musically contributed to Steve Roach's solo album, Light Fantastic
(HOS/Fathom) as a guest artist, which earned Steve the AIIFM award for 1999, and also Roach's Serpant's Lair (Projekt),
which was a collaboration album with percussionist Byron Metcalf.
Always looking to keep the music and ideas fresh and evolving, Vir Unis is relentless in his search for new sounds, new
grooves, and new worlds in which to create. Combing the various sources of acoustic and electronic sounds from the
ground up into an analog and digital fractal stew and utilizing the latest software and hardware, Vir Unis' goal is nothing
less than to create 100% original electro-psychedelic mind-body music.
Brief discography:
2002
Lumen - Vir Unis, In The Bubble Music
2001
Perimeter - Vir Unis | James Johnson, Zero Music [Double CD]
Dreamers at the Edge of Decaying Light - Vir Unis, In The Bubble Music
Aqua Culture I - James Johnson | Vir Unis | Chris Short, Zero Music
Vir Unis: Infusion, Fractalized Grooves and Atmospheres, Sonic Foundry [Original, license-free loops for Sonic Foundry's ACID software.]
Blood Machine - Steve Roach | Vir Unis, Green House Music
Live at Gathering 23 - Vir Unis, mp3.com DAM cd
Pulse-n-Atmo - Vir Unis, Groove Unlimited
2000
Aeonian Glow - Vir Unis, Green House Music
1999
Convergent Evolution - Various Artists Compilation, Green House Music
The Drift Inside - Vir Unis
Body Electric - Steve Roach | Vir Unis
1998
The Ambient Expanse - Various Artists, Mirage/Oasis
Imaginarium - Ma Ja Le | Vir Unis, Mirage/Oasis
Detailed discography here.
email Vir Unis
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