Sentient Beings

Alpharhythm's debut album 'Sentient Beings' is the culmination of a decade of experience in creating electronic music. In 1995 a young music enthusiast by the name of Sam Cumming became ensconced by the relatively new phenomenon of dance music. Having been raised in a musical environment, and proficient on several instruments, he thought to himself, "bloody hell, I can do that!"

This facilitated the purchase of a Roland MC303. The physical limitations of this primitive piece of equipment, combined with a recently acquired taste for the music of Basic Channel, Maurizio and Ritchie Hawtin, ensured that a "less is more" approach prevailed. This period was documented by the lo-fi cdr demo "Language".

This minimalist aesthetic survived the eventual shift to computer-based production, which marked a refinement of this approach, enabling more intricate programming and elaborate layering of sounds. A large body of work was quickly produced, however, disaster struck when his (lamentably uninsured) PC was stolen along with all of the sequences of his songs. Despite this setback, several rough mixes of songs had been completed, and these were subsequently released as another limited edition CDR "Equilibrium".

In some places you can discern the ghosts of Basic Channel and Nurture Recordings, in others the shadow of Swayzak and Akufen lingers. All these influences have simmered amongst the primordial landscape of New Zealand's South Island here; it's huge skies, windswept moors, craggy ranges, pristine lakes & fiords have been an undeniable influence on the creation of this album. Several of the pieces were created specifically with these landscapes in mind as a backdrop for their performance.

Born and raised in the South Island, Sam lives in Dunedin, Otago. Aside from his Alpharhythm project, Sam produces drum and bass, dub, ambient, glitch-hop and downbeat, as well as singing and playing guitar in legendary Dunedin reggae ensemble Irie Eyes. He runs a production company called Doubtful Sounds, set up to administer his many different projects.