Experimental Audio Research

Sonic Boom of Spectrum primarily guided Experimental Audio Research, known as E.A.R., an informal collective of musicians that occasionally drew in Kevin Shields from My Bloody Valentine, Kevin Martin of God, and Eddie Prevost from AMM. Operating as a shifting guitar-noise project, each successive E.A.R. recording ventured into markedly distinct sound worlds, stretching from airy ambient drifts to thick blankets of feedback. The series opened with Mesmerised in 1994 and continued months afterward with Pocket Symphony, issued only as a 5-inch vinyl disc. In keeping with Sonic Boom’s enthusiasm for record collecting, the two 1995 releases—Hydroponic and an untitled set—were pressed solely on 10-inch and 8-inch picture discs. Although the Beyond the Pale LP reached stores in 1996, it had originally been planned as the project’s debut and was actually tracked in 1992; Phenomena 256 appeared that August. The Köner Experiment arrived in 1997, paying tribute to minimalist Thomas Köner, who also performed on the album. Millennium Music followed in 1998, with further titles such as Data Rape appearing later.