The History
of the Institute for Psychic Reform
[skip to the bios]
1989 - Alan Evil and Rick Sinai begin recording together. Without knowing it they join the cutting edge of ambient hybrid electronica/rock with such recordings as "Impaled at the Bus Stop," "Meditation Walk," and "The Legend of the Titanium Hobo" over the next few years.
1990 - Alan Evil plays with a band called Burn which preceeds to do just that. Other members were Allen Linker and Logan Crow.
1991 - Perpetual Feeder (with Rick Sinai & Evan Anderson) is formed and almost hits it big. Dissolves for all the wrong reasons.
1992 - Alan Evil hits the road as a "guy with a guitar." Many good times are had playing small clubs and coffee shops. This behavior continues until 1995.
1993 - The band Amp comes and goes. Though hailed as very entertaining by the 20 or so people that ever saw them play, the financial and emotional drain was too much and the band dissolved. At some point around here the umbrella name of the Institute for Psychic Reform is invented and from this point on all of Alan Evil's weirdest recordings are released under this name.
1994 - Alan Evil is tossed to the lioness who chews him up and spits him out, mangled and broken, leading to the last batch of singer/songwriter style songs and possibly his best work in this genre.
1995 - After the explosion of song writing after the above mentioned failed relationship, Alan Evil meets Jugdish and forms Sweet Monkey (originally Stella) with Jugdish & Rick Sinai. After many failed singers Alan Evil takes the mic. They are often joined by Darius Kalil on percussion and the Reverend Goat Carson on rap. Much smoke machine juice is made into smoke, 16mm films flicker and glow, and crowds are thrilled. Meanwhile Alan Evil and Jugdish play with Samba Rio until they leave New Orleans.
1997 - 1998 - Sweet Monkey is disbanded as Rick Sinai chases the lure of making it big. Unfortunately the lure is a shitty drummer (with one top 40 hit under his belt) and the guy engineering the recordings is clueless. Alan Evil and Jugdish begin work as Beefcake. They soon team up with the Reverend Goat Carson and record an album's worth of material. Many wild live performances are done with Samba Rio and the Cyber Samba with fabulous results.
1999 - Alan Evil and Jugdish depart New Orleans for Savannah GA to join up with the Future Tards of Jazz. This band plays a series of fantastic shows that bring the city to its knees. In late 1999 Alan Evil sets up the IFPR studios and begins recording This is a Vision of the Future.
2000 - Alan Evil finishes Several eps and albums and decides to move the Institute for Psychic Reform Studios to Louisville KY for family reasons and an intense desire for hills.
2001 - Final release of IFPR2001 puts an entire era of recordings to bed and a couple of tentative live shows are played. "One More Time (IFPR Celebration remix)" is downloaded by tens of thousands of people on Napster. May Metallica burn in hell.
2002 - The studio moves into larger housing and the IFPR Acid Lounge Project is begun. Many remixes are created and live transmissions continue.
2003 - Alan Evil begins work on Alan Evil Sings and continues to work on the Acid Lounge concept. The Approach of the Mysterious Voices is recorded to accompany the dance opera The Approach of the Mystery. An ambient set is created and delivered distilling what has been an essential part of IFPR performance into an expression in and of itself. This results in the live album Dream It Was Crazy.
2004 - The year begins with Alan Evil Sings still being recorded in the IFPR studios as well as continuing archival recording. As the year proceeds a hybrid project with Highdropod begins to spin towards an album.
2005 - The project with Highdropod continues with the pair adopting the name BiPolar Unit. Alan Evil devotes a great deal of time to visual art including paintings, photography, and his art car. Nonetheless quite a few more songs have been recorded.
2006 - Alan Evil figures out the program Ableton Live! and suddenly begins recording new material. Live represents the computerization of his old live rig though with synched tempos and infinite fx possiblities. BiPolar Unit's first album may be released this year.
2007 - What Has Been Up, Yo? is released in small quantities and I Have Electric Head is recorded for the RPM challenge.
2008 - The Ant and the Grasshopper is recorded for the RPM challenge this year and a new album is on the way.
2009 - Recorded Ice Mine, Produced Take a Buggy Ride with the Psychotronic Jug Band who reconvened here for a week to record, took the 20,000th picture with the new camera, began an album of Bowie/Eno covers.
2010 - There are hints that Alan Evil may be about to play a series of acoustic sets in Louisville Kentucky. Another RPM album was recorded but not broadly released because it was done in two days. Work on the Bowie/Eno covers continues.
2011
2012
2013
The Bios
of past, present, and even some future members of the
Institute for Psychic Reform
The enigmatic leader of this motley crew and the only full-time member at this point.
Born in 1965.
Began playing guitar at age 7.
Prone to dissassembling things.
Picked up trumpet at around age 11.
Graduated from Tulane University with a degree in the English language.
Immediately went to France to tour on bicycle.
Played in many bands in New Orleans throughout the 1990's including Exit-16, Perpetual Feeder, Amp, Boo LaCrosse and the Psychotronic Jug Band, and Sweet Monkey.
Played with Samba Rio for several years in the late 90's.
Worked closely with the Reverend Goat Carson for over a year with his close friend and partner Jugdish as part of the production duo known as Beefcake (later a trio with John McNulty).
Longtime member of and collaborator with Future Tards of Jazz.
Formed IFPR in the mid 1990's to confuse all the people that dialed a wrong number and got his answering machine.
Unfortunately these messages have been lost.
Plays everything that he can get to make noise.
Friend to small animals and children.
Loves to climb rocks and take pictures (though not always at the same time).
Currently (2013) working on a novel.
Co-conspirators, occasional contributors, and/or our good friends:
Müd (the artist formerly known as Highdropod) -
One pole of the BiPolar Unit, prolific co-conspirator and remixer as well. He makes bubbly, gooey music that'll make your juices all squishy. He's a cool dude.
Rick Sinai -
Frequent collaborator and band member. Rick was one of the original founders of IFPR and is credited by Alan as coming up with the name. Rick has had many bands of his own including the legendary Reality Patio as well as playing in Sweet Monkey, Perpetual Feeder, and Boo LaCrosse and the Psychedelic Jug Band. Rick is currently mastering the world of cybernetics and hyperconnectivity.
Jugdish -
Sometimes scary, sometimes scarier. Accomplished rhythmn ace. Some say the better half of the production duo Beefcake, drummer and visual stimulation via 16mm film director for Sweet Monkey, beat boy for the world famous Future Tards of Jazz, and all around swell dude. Last I heard he was playing sexy tunes for sexy babes with Los Poboycitos, an award winning New Orleans Latin band as well as other soul and funk oriented groups of musical excellence.
Figdish (aka Johnny Zhivago) -
Crow Dog One -
The leader of the Future Tards of Jazz. One of the best keyboardists on the face of the planet and one groovy cat.
Jeffro Bodean -
Erstwhile keyboardist for the Future Tards of Jazz and computer animation genius. It would be more fun to hang out with him if women could look away from him. Despite that he's a swell guy.
mumra -
He remixed us. He plays music and records killer songs and is often involved in providing fresh sounds. And he's a swell guy. He is also known as Nyteowl.
SouL -
He remixed "Skin Like Honey" so that Alan Evil sounds funky and he's a swell guy.
Darius Kalil -
Our percussionist of choice whenever we're together and fondly remembered cool dude when we're not.
Chucki -
Our other percussionist of choice and all around swell guy.
Evan Anderson -
Drummer for Perpetual Feeder and caver, as cool as that is.
If you feel
you should be on the list and aren't or you're on the list and have a link
or what we wrote about you sucks or you just want to bitch about politics
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