Jonas Reinhardt

Jonas Reinhardt is the nom de musique of San Francisco-based electronic artist Jesse Reiner, who looks to the analog sounds, organic atmospheres, and hypnotic rhythms of '70s pioneers such as Jean Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, and Tangerine Dream for inspiration. His music has taken on numerous forms over the years, starting with the kosmische pulsations of his 2008 eponymous debut before embracing disco rhythms on releases like 2013's Mask of the Maker. After releasing an experimental science fiction soundtrack (Ganymede) in 2014, his studio albums, including 2022's A Ragged Ghost, have resembled cinematic ambient experiences. Though he played other kinds of music before performing and recording as Jonas Reinhardt, Reiner always listened to electronic music from the late '60s and '70s, and got a Moog Realistic Concertmate MG-1 in the mid-'90s. A few years later, he studied music synthesis at the Harvard Electronic Music Center and maintained an interest in this approach to music-making while he played with other bands. Reiner began using the Reinhardt moniker for his self-titled 2008 Kranky debut, preceded by the digital EP Modern by Nature's Reward. Jonas Reinhardt eventually expanded into a full-fledged band, with Trans Am's Phil Manley on guitars, Mi Ami's Damon Palermo on drums, and Citay's Diego Gonzalez on bass. This lineup recorded Powers of Audition, which appeared in 2010 and married the meticulous sound of Reiner's earlier work with live instrumentation. Reiner brought his cosmic, spacy sounds to Los Angeles' celebrated Not Not Fun label, who released his third full-length LP, Music for the Tactile Dome, in 2011. A 12" EP (The Prime Revealer) also appeared that year on the Great Pop Supplement. In 2012, Reiner collaborated with Abyss of Fathomless Light on a noisy, industrial release titled Rusting Ciphers of a Forgotten Sky, released as a limited cassette with sewn-shut packaging by VCO Records. During the same year, Reiner explored his disco-leaning side with the Foam Fangs 12" EP, released by Not Not Fun's dance sub-label 100% Silk. This EP turned out to be a warm-up for Mask of the Maker, a full-on immersion into cosmic disco featuring an expanded lineup including Zombi's Steve Moore. The album was released by Not Not Fun in 2013. Reiner returned to the pulsating ambient drone of his earlier work with the 2014 album Ganymede, the soundtrack to a science fiction film of the same name. Constellation Tatsu released Ganymede as a limited LP/DVD in 2014. Jonas Reinhardt's sixth proper album, Palace Savant, appeared on Further Records in 2015. The Encyclopedia of Civilizations Vol. 1: Egypt, a split EP with Jürgen Müller (a pseudonym of Norm Chambers, aka Panabrite) was released by Abstrakce Records in 2017. The EP Gonzalez & Reinhardt was issued by Stimulus Progression in 2018, and LP Conclave Surge appeared on Deep Distance. In 2022, Trouble in Mind released A Ragged Ghost, an exploration of life and death touching on influences such as KPM library music and early 21st century ambient techno.
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