Doug Bielmeier

Voidstar Productions

Boston-based composer, producer, and engineer Doug Bielmeier returns with his boldest statement yet: Electric Rodeo Revival (Voidstar Productions). Known for immersive live sets on lap steel guitar and Ableton Push, Bielmeier has long walked the line between experimental drone and electronic energy. His 2021 release Ambient Works (Albany Records) reached #1 on the NACC radio chart, and his work has been praised as “an extension of Xenakis’s early tape pieces” (American Record Guide) and “drone work meant to shake you out of your shell of complacency” (The Midwest Record).

With Electric Rodeo Revival, Bielmeier pushes further away from pure ambience and into the ecstatic pulse of live rhythm. Built from several years of performances across Boston and New England, including collaborations with Violet Nox, Daedelus, and the New England Synthesizer Festival, the record blends IDM, hip-hop, and experimental electronics into an eight-track journey of collision and reinvention. Reimagined versions of earlier works sit alongside new compositions, all performed, written, recorded, and mixed solely by Bielmeier. The result is a cybernetic rodeo: crestfallen yet hopeful, restless yet ecstatic. A revival of sound, technology, and the electricity of performance.

The record emerges from several years of live performance across Boston and New England, including collaborations with local IDM and experimental artists such as Violet Nox, Deftly Demolition, and Daedelus. Moving away from the drifting atmospheres of Ambient Works (Albany Records, 2021), Bielmeier leans into breakbeats, dancehall rhythms, and “in the box” production—tools honed in performances at the Arlington Street Church, Boston Commons, and the New England Synthesizer Festival. The result is a sound that merges EDM, hip-hop, and experimental traditions into a vivid performance-driven statement.

Unlike previous albums, which often featured chamber ensembles and collaborations, Electric Rodeo Revival is a purely solo effort—performed, written, recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely by Bielmeier. Several earlier works reappear in transformed form: “Dimday” and “Hunters on the Moor” (from Beast of Bodmin Moor, 2019) and “Throwaway Culture” (from Music for Billionaires, New Focus Recordings, 2023) are reimagined as vibrant, beat-driven pieces that pulse with new energy shaped by years of live reinvention. Tracks such as Shoreline and The Revival Part 3 retain ties to his experimental roots while expanding the sonic potential of the lap steel guitar through FX, Ebow, and extended technique. Originally conceived as improvisations in Ableton Live with Push, The Revival trilogy now blossoms into layered studio constructions that anchor the album’s arc.

Bielmeier’s music has been described as “an extension of Xenakis’s early tape pieces” (American Record Guide) and “drone work meant to shake you out of your shell of complacency” (The Midwest Record). His performances and recordings have been broadcast internationally, from WNYC’s New Sounds to SomaFM’s Drone Zone, and his Ambient Works reached #1 on the NACC radio chart. With Electric Rodeo Revival, Bielmeier delivers his most rhythmically charged and personal work to date: an album born from the stage, refined in the studio, and steeped in the spirit of reinvention.