Electric Company (ambient, alias of Brad Laner)

Brad Laner (born November 6, 1966, in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and record producer best known for his work with the shoegaze band Medicine, which he founded and led. Prior to Medicine, he was involved in the post-punk outfit Savage Republic, which, according to Pitchfork Media, foreshadowed many ideas later explored in the post-rock genre. Laner founded his first band, Debt of Nature, at the age of 15 in 1981. He founded Steaming Coils, an experimental avant-rock band (1984–1989). Laner joined Savage Republic as a percussionist and a keyboard player, and took part in recording two of its albums. In 1990 he founded shoegaze-noise pop band called Medicine, promoting a do-it-yourself sound. In 1992 Medicine released its debut album, Shot Forth Self Living. In 1994 the band contributed one track to the soundtrack of the movie The Crow and appeared in the movie itself. The band broke up in 1995, briefly reuniting in 2003 as a duo (with Laner and Shannon Lee). In 1995 he started his solo project Electric Company, which was devoted to IDM, glitch, and avant-garde electronics with some elements of ambient and drone. As Electric Company, he released ten full-length albums in nine years (before ceasing activity in 2004). The same year, he also founded psychedelic supergroup Lusk with the members of Tool and Failure, with whom he released one album, Free Mars. It received a Grammy Award nomination. In 1996, he collaborated with Dallas-based musical collective Vas Deferens Organization on the album Transcontinental Conspiracy. Laner co-wrote and co-produced the album; several Mercury Rev members were also involved in the recording and producing process. They collaborated again in 1999, this time under his Electric Company moniker, on the album More Pelvis Wick for the Baloney Boners. In 2007, Laner released his first album under his own name, Neighbor Singing, with the input of Thom Monahan. He then followed it up in 2010 with his second solo release, Natural Selections. Order: Spoil The Entire State (Harbinger Sound 2013) Robin Diamond's Lungs (No Holiday 2025) cassette releases Pets Have Fears Too (Real Big Dog tapes 1981) Robin Diamond's Lungs (A.R.P.H. tapes 1982) Idiot Stick (Party Sound Tapes 1983) Pets Have Fears Two (Party Sound Tapes 1983) Food Music (Gleet Audio 1983) 1981 Vol. 1 (Jookie Thrills 1983) Debt of Nature (Goodall Tapes 1986) Order: Spoil The Entire State (VHS) (Goodall Tapes 1986) "San Salvador Day" (Goodall Tapes 2014) "Salt Meadows" (Lal Lal Lal 2015) "Come Flying" (Goodall Tapes 2015) "Spring Training" (Goodall Tapes 2015) "Small Silver Car" (Lal Lal Lal 2015) "The Helix Of Repair" (Lal Lal Lal 2016) compilation appearances Feeble Efforts (New Alliance 1981) Mighty Feeble (New Alliance 1982) Life is Boring So Why Not Steal This Record (New Underground 1983) L.A. Mantra (Trance Port Tapes 1983) Live at the Trance Port (Trance Port Tapes 1983) Phantom Takes (Trance Port Tapes 1983) Give Me That Dog Penis Popsicle (Gleet Audio 1983) Sex and Bestiality (DF Sadist School 1984) Perpetual State of Oracular Dream (Anomalous 1991) "L'Incoronazione" (Hyster Tapes 2015) Songs From The Valley of the Bored Teenager 1981-84 (Captured Tracks 2013) cassette releases Todlich Verungluckt (A.R.P.H. tapes 1982) Die Macht Der Reichen (Aeon 1983) Effective Spiritual Warfare (New Underground, 1984) cassette releases "Live" (Goodall Tapes 2014) "Delayed Implantation" (Goodall Tapes 2014) Never Creak (Rotary Totem 1986) The Tarkington Table (Motiv 1987) Breaded (Nate Starkman & Sons CD 1991; reissued Quaquaversal Vinyl 1994; re-reissued Medical Records with bonus "Unfinished 1989" 7-inch E.P. 2016) Never Were (Tarkington Table cassette 1987) Studio Cassette (Medical Records 2016) compilation appearances Bad Alchemy #9 (No Man's Land 1987) LAFMS-The Lowest Form of Music Box Set (Cortical 1997) LAFMS-Unboxed (Cortical 1997) note: the song "Blathering Hemispheres" from the "Never Creak" LP appears on both of the above LAFMS comps credited solely to Rick Potts A Bitter Kermit Haven (split LP with What Makes Donna Twirl) (Ralph 1990) Jamahiriya Democratique et Populaire de Sauvage (Fundamental 1988) Viva La Rock and Roll 7-inch (IPR 1988) Customs (Fundamental 1989) Live in Europe 1988 (Nate Starkman & Sons 1989) Box Set (Mobilization 2002) Procession: An Aural History (LTM 2010) cassette releases SEP/8363 vols 1-5 (Party Sound Tapes 1982-1984) Blind Force (Goodall Tapes 1985) compilation appearances Omniana/Audio Arm 3 cassette magazine (A.R.P.H. 1982) L.A. Mantra 2 (Trance Port Tapes 1984) Neighborhood Rhythms (Freeway/Rhino 1984) Re Records Quarterly vol. 2 (with James Grigsby) (Recommended 1989) Hollyword cassette (Freeway/Rhino 1990) Shot Forth Self Living (Def American/Warner Bros. 1992; Reissued with bonus material by Captured Tracks 2012) The Buried Life (American Recordings/Warner Bros. 1993; Reissued with bonus material by Captured Tracks 2012) Her Highness (American Recordings/Warner Bros. 1995) Medicine Box Set (Captured Tracks 2012) Always Starting To Stop (live cassette) (Captured Tracks 2012) To the Happy Few (Captured Tracks 2013) In Session (Captured Tracks 2014) Home Everywhere (Captured Tracks 2014) Selected Early Recordings (Bandcamp 2018) Scarred For Life (Drawing Room 2019) Falls (Bandcamp 2020) Drugs (MPLS Ltd 2022) Her Highness (premiere melange) (Laner Archival Service 2023) Silences (Laner Archival Service 2023) On The Bed (Laner Archival Service 2024) Medicine (Laner Archival Service 2024) We'll Run Away (Laner Archival Service 2025) Singles and EPs "Aruca" (Creation 1992) "5ive" (a.k.a. "Come Here To Drink Milk") (Creation 1993) "Never Click" (Beggars Banquet, 1993) "Sounds Of Medicine" (American 1994; Reissued with bonus material by Captured Tracks 2012) "Time Baby 3" (Beggars Banquet, 1994) "Off The Vine" (double 7-inch) (Ectoplasm, 1995) Time Baby 2 (7-inch) (Captured Tracks 2012) Compilation appearances The Crow OST (Atlantic, 1994) The Doom Generation OST (American Recordings/Warner Bros., 1994) Tigerbeat6 Inc. (Tigerbeat6, 2001) Musique Dessinee 01 - Just A Groove ! (Production Dessinee Japan 2006) A Pert Cyclic Omen (Onion/American Recordings/Warner Bros., 1995) Electric Company Plays Amnesia (Supreme/Island/PolyGram, 1997) Studio City (Supreme/Island/PolyGram, 1998) Omakase (Vinyl Communications, 1999) Exitos (Tigerbeat6, 2000) Slow Food (Planet Mu, 2001) 62-56 (Tigerbeat6, 2001) Greatest Hits (Tigerbeat6, 2001) It's Hard to Be a Baby (Tigerbeat6, 2003) Creative Playthings (Tigerbeat6, 2004) 26 Mixes For Love (remixes and compilation appearances) (Bandcamp 2021) EPs Live In Concept 10-inch+7-inch (Krown Pocket 1995) The Kahanek Incident (split w/ Furry Things) (Trance Syndicate 1997) New 3-inch CD (Fallt Invalid Object Series 2001) Greatest Hits Companion 1 (Tigerbeat6 2001) Greatest Hits Companion 2 (Tigerbeat6 2001) Remixes and compilation appearances Slow Death in the Metronome Factory (World Domination, 1997) Dugga Dugga Dugga (WMO, 1998) Knots (Thousand, 1999) On-Soluble Words (Epic/SME, 1999) Sadovaja- A Sweet Design (Warner Bros. Sweden, 2000) Kid606 & Friends vol 1 (Tigerbeat6, 2000) American Breakbeat (Klangkreig, 2000) Kid606-P.S. You Love Me (Mille Plateaux, 2000) Cex - Oops I Did It Again (Tigerbeat6, 2001) Attitude (Tigerbeat6, 2000) The Cosmic Forces of Mu (Planet Mu, 2001) Tigerbeat6 Inc. (Tigerbeat6, 2001) Criminal 2 (Planet Mu, 2002) $ Vol.2 (Tigerbeat6, 2001) $ Vol.6 (Tigerbeat6, 2001) Marumari The Remixes (Carpark, 2002) 45 Seconds Of (Simballrec, 2002 ) Lowercase 2 (Bremsstrahlung, 2002) Ellen Allien- Weiss.mix (B Pitch Control, 2002) American Breakbeat : Rebuilt (Klangkreig, 2002) Wrong Application (Tigerbeat6, 2001) And The Beat Goes Off (Tigerbeat6, 2002) Paws Across America (Tigerbeat6, 2002) Good Night (Music To Sleep To) (Tigerbeat6, 2003) Stars As Eyes-Loud New Shit (Tigerbeat6, 2003) Open up and Say ...@+%_|^{!} (Tigerbeat6, 2003) O Superman Remix (Staalplaat, 2003) Audio Sponge