Biography
Among the leading figures tied to the algorave scene—where live coders generate algorithmically driven dance music—stands Renick Bell. He created the Conductive live coding environment and arranged the earliest algoraves held in Japan, the nation he later called home. Although active in electronic music from the 1990s onward, Bell drew broader notice for his live sets and recorded output only in the late 2010s, notably with the widely praised 2018 album Turning Points.
Born in West Texas, he earned an undergraduate degree covering electronic music, studio art, and philosophy at Texas Tech University, then completed a graduate program in music technology at Indiana University. In 1998 he joined Jason Landers to form the experimental improv ensemble the Third Second; their first record, Dynamic Adrenal Challenge, drew favorable notice upon its 1999 release. After several years in New York City, where he helped write the score for the contemporary dance theater work Spun, Bell relocated to Taiwan in 2001. There he issued the experimental pieces Seven Studies and Three Paths the following year. In 2005 he produced breakcore material under the alias 05 Shambolic Scattered. His move to Tokyo came in 2006, after which he sustained his musical work while teaching English. The initial public version of Conductive appeared online in 2010, followed by a series of papers and essays on live coding. Bell toured internationally and initiated algoraves across Japan beginning in early 2014. He contributed a track to the 2015 Quantum Natives compilation The Danelaw, and Lee Gamble’s UIQ label issued his EP Empty Lake in 2016. Additional compilation tracks preceded the 2018 Halcyon Veil album Wary; later that year Seagrave released Turning Points.
Born in West Texas, he earned an undergraduate degree covering electronic music, studio art, and philosophy at Texas Tech University, then completed a graduate program in music technology at Indiana University. In 1998 he joined Jason Landers to form the experimental improv ensemble the Third Second; their first record, Dynamic Adrenal Challenge, drew favorable notice upon its 1999 release. After several years in New York City, where he helped write the score for the contemporary dance theater work Spun, Bell relocated to Taiwan in 2001. There he issued the experimental pieces Seven Studies and Three Paths the following year. In 2005 he produced breakcore material under the alias 05 Shambolic Scattered. His move to Tokyo came in 2006, after which he sustained his musical work while teaching English. The initial public version of Conductive appeared online in 2010, followed by a series of papers and essays on live coding. Bell toured internationally and initiated algoraves across Japan beginning in early 2014. He contributed a track to the 2015 Quantum Natives compilation The Danelaw, and Lee Gamble’s UIQ label issued his EP Empty Lake in 2016. Additional compilation tracks preceded the 2018 Halcyon Veil album Wary; later that year Seagrave released Turning Points.
Albums
