Wrekmeister Harmonies

Wrekmeister Harmonies was founded by sound artist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer JR Robinson, who remains its only constant member. Centered in Chicago, the name was inspired by director Bela Tarr's 2000 film, Werkmeister Harmonies. Robinson is a sound installationist known for his ambient works in spaces such as the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Pompidou Center in Paris, and The Art Center Berlin.

As Wrekmeister Harmonies he enlisted the help of the Windy City's plethora of fine musicians including David Yow, Ken Vandermark, John McEntire, and Azita Youssefi, to name a few, and created the music that became Recordings Made in Public Spaces, Vol. One. Issued on Atavistic in 2009, it documented several of these shows in an audio and video disc package.

The music began to change as his musical partnerships grew. By the time Wrekmeister Harmonies issued You’ve Always Meant So Much to Me, his 2013 Thrill Jockey debut, Robinson had enlisted players from experimental rock, free improv, and black metal scenes to assist him in recording the lone album-length piece. After several acclaimed public appearances with an ever evolving array of players, Wrekmeister Harmonies returned to the studio in early 2014. Then It All Came Down — an album-length work inspired by a 1973 Truman Capote interview with Charles Manson associate Bobby Beausoleil — was released in October, with appearances by Ryley Walker, Chanel Pease, Sanford Parker, Chris Brokaw, and Bruce Lamont, as well as members of the bands Indian and Leviathan.