Boy Eats Drum Machine

Since early 2001 Jon Ragel has performed under the name Boy Eats Drum Machine, beginning with experiments in music sampling that relied on a four-track recorder and sounds of his own creation. While operating as a Portland, OR-based DJ, he briefly added Benjy Rickard on synth and guitar plus Peter Swenson on drums in 2006, only to resume solo activity by the time of his third album in 2008. The first release under the Boy Eats Drum Machine name was a self-titled, hand-distributed set of ten tracks issued in a run of 100 handmade copies whose covers displayed Ragel’s own artwork. Pleasure, his initial full-length album, followed in 2006 and was succeeded by Two Ghosts the next year. In 2008 Ragel issued the third album, Booomboxxx, through the indie label Tender Loving Empire. The project name Boy Eats Drum Machine stems from the array of roles Ragel maintains as percussionist, DJ, singer, songwriter, producer, saxophonist, and guitarist. For the 2008 project this skilled instrumentalist and vocalist drew on the support of several additional Portland-based drummers.