Miguel A. Ruiz

Orfeón Gagarin is one of the first project of the veteran electronic musician from Madrid Miguel Angel Ruiz since the mid eighties. Ruiz's music is one of the best kept secret of the Spanish underground electronic music since the early eighties, as he is not as well known internationally as other musicians from Spain who started in those years, such as Esplendor Geométrico, Francisco López, or Diseño Corbusier, to name a few. 

In 1986 he released his first work on cassette as Orfeón Gagarin on his own legendary label Toracic Tapes, and since then he has been very active in the international cassette label movement and has collaborated with musicians from different countries such as Cisfinitum (Codachrom), Dieter Mauson, Francisco López, Siegmar Fricke (Efficient Refineries, Ambulatorio Segreto), Stephano Barban, etc.

 

As a solo artist, besides Orfeón Gagarin, he has released dozens of works in all formats, mostly on cassette, under different names: Funeral Souvenir, Exhaustor, Michel Des Airlines or Ventral Metaphor. His first LP on vinyl was 'Encuentros en la Tercera Edad' (1991) which was endorsed by the master of German electronic music Asmus Tietchens when he released it on his (short-lived) label Hamburger Musikgesellschaft. He has also released on other well known international labels throughout his career such as Discos Esplendor Geométrico, Old Europa Café, Aquarelist, Monochrome Vision, Menstrual Recordings, etc. 

Fascinated by the sonic possibilities of synthesizers and analog (mainly) and digital instruments, Ruiz's style is fantastic and surprising, with an imagination that can be catalogued as overwhelming in a long and prolific career that reaches the present day. Energy, Soviet cosmonautics, Borges, surrealism, Moscow, clinical pathologies, black humor or extra-planetary life: any anomaly has a place in the microcosm of Miguel A. Ruiz. His musical references are diverse: the post-industrial music of the eighties recorded in home studios and published on cassette, German cosmic music of the seventies, pioneers of electro-acoustic, Japanese techno pop, soundtracks of old and strange movies, retro-futurism, mutant pop, ambient, etc.

Currently Miguel A. Ruiz is very active and in one of his best creative moments, performing more than ever because he has been discovered by a new generation of young electronic musicians who look for his work and admire him. [SOURCE: MORADA SÓNICA]