Since at least 8000 B.C., civilization has left evidence of communing through rhythm. Trance was almost always achieved through the use of live improvised rhythm.
On RhythmPharm™, we find ways to cultivate time organically and assist people in re-claiming themselves from the onslaught of mechanical time.
We have spent the past thirty years deeply immersed in explorations of all the properties of rhythm. This had led to the creation of audio supplements called RhythmTonics™.
Who
Rhythm- Greg Ellis
Los Angeles based Greg Ellis is a Master drummer, multi-instrumentalist and composer born and bred in the Bay Area.
He has recorded and performed with some of the greatest musicians and drummers in the world, including Indian tabla virtuosos Ustad Zakir Hussain and Bickram Ghosh, famed Japanese Taiko drummers KODO, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, Brazilian percussion master Airto Moriera, legendary Indian singer Laxshmi Shankar, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, South Africa's Amanpondo and M'abe Thobejane, as well as master musicians from Iran, Morocco and Turkey.
While also recording with diverse artists from Billy Idol to Beck, he co-founded his own world music group VAS, released four critically acclaimed albums on Narada World/EMI Records and a solo CD of his own compositions titled “Kala Rupa.”
As composer and session musician for film and television, his drum-set and percussion beds can be heard in the major motion pictures The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions, Fight Club, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Dawn Of The Dead, Dukes of Hazzard, The Devil’s Rejects, Brave Story, 300, Watchmen, and Argo, among many others.
A staunch advocate for the regenerative power of organic frequencies and tones, Ellis co-presented a seminar at the National Conference for the American Music Therapists Association in 2001 and was accepted to speak at the 2002 World Conference on Music Therapy in Oxford, England. He has facilitated drum circles, rhythm workshops and music therapy programs at schools and hospitals across America and the world.
More recently, Ellis participated in a ceremonial performance opening the exhibition "Intuition," curated by Axel Vervoodt and Daniela Ferretti as part of adjunct programming at the Palazzo Fortuny during the 2017 Venice Biennale, presented his talk/performance "The Politics of Rhythm" in collaboration with Rutgers Professor Efe Khayaat as guest lecturer at Rutgers University in February 2018 as well as at The Woolf Institute of Comparative Studies, in Cambridge, England, April 2018. In May-June 2017, Ellis contributed sound design and percussion for interdisciplinary artist Frances Stark's film version of Mozart's famous opera "The Magic Flute," which premiered at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in May 2018.
Currently, Ellis is in pre-production on the feature length documentary film, The Click. For more information on Greg Ellis, click here.
Ideas- A. Bakhle
A. Bakhle studied Mass Communication and Film (Emerson College, Boston) before arriving in Los Angeles.
After initially working with A-List Hollywood producers, Ms. Bakhle ventured into New Media publishing. As Director of Acquisitions for the flagship title SHORT Cinema Journal as well as several other titles being published by the VC funded New Media start-up 2014 Publishing, she programmed original content for the first series of DVDs in a distribution deal with both PolyGram Films and Warner Home Video at the launch of the DVD player in 1997.
She also worked with interactive movie marketing firm Standard 8 Media, hired by both Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM, among others, to help develop online marketing strategies for movies like XXX, Die Another Day, Maid in Manhattan and many more.
As her desire to live and work more authentically grew, Ms. Bakhle collaborated with Ellis to develop the conceptual framework for RhythmPharm, a space where time is compounded in the form of rhythm and prescribed as 100% organic audio-pharmaceuticals intended to invigorate optimal functioning of one’s ‘inner pharmacy.’
Ms. Bakhle wears many hats in her myriad roles at RhythmPharm. As process-based artist, writer, independent researcher & tactical media strategist, she dedicates herself to harnessing the power of time-worn aesthetics and conscientious mass media to cultivate greater empathy for those open to hearing.
Creative- Alex Gardos
Born and brought up in Santa Monica, California, Designer Alex Gardos’ graphic sensibilities are informed by almost 6 years of traveling the world, after which he attended and graduated from San Francisco State with a BA in Graphic Design and Visual Communication. He became immersed in the dotcoms of San Francisco and worked for several internet start-ups creating branding and visual identities, as well as working on web-sites and user interface designs for CD-ROM and kiosk style applications. He continued consulting with companies on creative marketing and visual concept directions. After the dot-com bust, Alex moved back to Los Angeles, started a family and opened option e+a, his own graphic design shop which focuses on simple clean design solutions for print and web.
Alex is also an instructor and IT consultant for the Graphic Design Department of Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, where he teaches a diverse curriculum which includes: Typography, Web Design, Logo/Symbols, Advanced Graphic Concepts and a variety of Design Studios.
Where
RhythmTonics are temporarily unavailable for purchase due to Intellectual Property Rights violations. Imagine that...
Although physical copies of RhythmTonics are no longer available due to being permanently out of stock, their packaging as objects can be viewed digitally within our online shop. They have previously been available in Los Angeles, CA at the following locations:
Golden Bridge Yoga
Potion
FIDM Museum Store
Bodhi Tree Bookstore
MOCA-Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
Whole Foods Market Lifestyle Store
As further partnerships develop, new partnership will appear below. Stay tuned.
Please keep checking back in this 'About' section to locate a source near you.
If there's a space you think would be perfect for hosting RhythmTrance, real-time spontaneous alchemical sonic concoctions informed by RhythmTonics, or you would like to commission RhythmTrance as a durational installation, please email us at:
info@rhythmpharm.com
Thank You
Listen to RhythmTonics to: Open Your Ears And Say Ahhh...™
Why
We are bombarded by noise.
Our ears are assaulted by the din of modern life.
Millions in this country alone have to deal with excessive noise in the workplace.
We have become so loud that it is hard to hear ourselves think... And if we cannot hear ourselves think, can we truly know what we feel?
For more information on The Cause and Effects of Noise Pollution, click here to be taken to The University of California, Irvine
click here to be taken to The Green Fuse
click here to be taken to The Acoustic Ecology Institute
click here to be taken to Finding Dulcinea
FAQ
1. What is RhythmPharm?
2. Is RhythmPharm an actual place?
3. Do RhythmTonics simulate or induce beta, alpha, theta or delta states?
4. Why is there silence at the end of each tonic CD when it shows the last track?
5. What exactly are audio-pharmaceuticals and are they FDA approved?
6. How do you know these organic frequencies are good for one’s health?
7. Why are instruments called ingredients and what makes them organic?
8. What is real time recording?
9. Is there a difference between recording live and real time recording?
10. Why are tracks called dosages and measured in M/s, or Minu-seconds?
1. What is RhythmPharm?
RhythmPharm is a sound farm where time grows in the form of rhythm. It is also a 'pharmacy' where time is sustainably compounded as rhythm to create 100% organic audio-pharmaceuticals called RhythmTonics.
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2. Is RhythmPharm an actual place?
Simple answer: Yes. It is located in Los Angeles, CA.
Complex answer: Metaphorically speaking, RhythmPharm is also located within each of us. Our minds and bodies are the ‘farms’ time affects and our heartbeats the form rhythm takes. Our internal regulatory cycles and patterns are the tonics that keep our biological mechanisms well balanced.
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3. Do RhythmTonics simulate or induce beta, alpha, theta or delta states?
RhythmTonics were not created with the intention to induce these states in any scientific sense. Depending on the range of activities engaged in while listening, these states might become easier to access. However, the only proof of this is your own experience.
For more on brainwave activity, click here
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4. Why is there silence at the end of each tonic CD when it shows the last track?
To better ensure listeners’ fully digest the organic frequencies found in each of the RhythmTonics, Chief Percussion Alchemist Greg Ellis added 5 minutes of silence to the end of each CD in Batch One.
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5. What exactly are audio-pharmaceuticals and are they FDA approved?
Currently, psycho-acoustic health is beyond the parameters of the FDA. While the EPA deals with regulating the environmental impacts of noise pollution, to our knowledge, there are no such things as “audio-pharmaceuticals” on the market. Therefore, we created the term to refer to audio CDs that contain 100% organic health-inducing frequencies that are non-invasive and aurally ingested.
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6. How do you know these organic frequencies are good for one’s health?
Our ears are the most intricate and complex of all our sense organs. We deny this awareness by allowing a constant barrage of mechanically produced frequencies to be ever present in our lives. Computers, appliances, cell phones, traffic… these frequencies hit our ears more sharply than most organically produced sounds and can damage the delicate mechanisms of our inner ear.
Ears can become fatigued from overexposure to these mechanically and electronically produced sounds, not unlike one’s eyes get tired after looking at a computer screen for hours on end. After focused applications, listeners attest to the positive effects the organic frequencies have on them. Many notice a soothing sensation in their ears, head and body, describing it as a “sonic massage.”
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7. Why are instruments called ingredients and what makes them organic?
RhythmTonics consist of sounds from more than 60 mostly hand-made instruments of shell, wood, clay, skin, metal, bone, pods and seeds, and fiber. It makes more sense to call them ingredients.
They are organic because each instrument is manufactured out of naturally occurring materials. With the exception of a few plastic drumheads and some machine made hardware, all elements that make up these instruments are natural and handmade.
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8. What is real time recording?
Real time recording is the recording process utilized on each RhythmTonic.
From Greg Ellis, “I record the first drum for a specific dose and without listening back I immediately record the next instrument. I would do this with each subsequent layer. This allows the rhythm and myself to remain instinctive to what is occurring as it is occurring. The listener experiences the evolution of the piece as I do.”
Another major component of real time recording is the absence of click tracks, edits, punch-ins, loops, samples and synthesized frequencies. This insures the tempo and feel of the tonics occur naturally, and without the heavy refinement and processing relied upon for the vast majority of recorded music. Rarely utilized by contemporary music producers, this process of recording demands considerable commitment and intention, not to mention a high level of musical proficiency. It was originally the way all music was recorded.
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9. Is there a difference between recording live and real time recording?
Yes. Live recording originally meant a recording of a live performance without any overdubs or edits. That standard has been allowed to be quite a bit relaxed in contemporary music recording. Most live performance recordings are usually edited or digitally repaired in some way. Live can also mean a group of musicians all playing and recording at the same time in a studio. These performances are virtually always edited or pieced together through a composite of different performances or takes. Slightly out of tune notes can be adjusted and rhythmic mis-hits can be quantized. Rarely is a complete untouched performance allowed to be.
Real time recording is just the opposite. It is a real time recording of a continuous, uninterrupted experience. This allows the listener to truly experience the journey of the musician, arriving at certain points in the music both at the exact same time. Each RhythmTonic dose is comprised of multiple layers of these real time performances, creating a deeply rich listening experience and a concentrated dose of real time. When applied appropriately, the effect of the real time content of the tonics can have noticeable calming effects on those feeling the pressures of not having enough time.
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10. Why are tracks called dosages and measured in M/s, or Minu-seconds?
Minu-seconds are just another way to measure a length of time. RhythmTonics are comprised of dosages rather than tracks, as they are actually capsules of concentrated real time. A minu-second measures how long an ingredient is active in the dose.
For example, say a dosage is 10 M/s and contains six layers of individual ingredients. The sum of the minu-seconds would be much longer than the actual 10 minutes that encapsulate the dose. It. Therefore, the listener receives the effects of hearing almost one hour of organic frequencies in a concentrated dose of 10 M/s. Upon listening, some find the intended effects to be time-released many hours after the initial dose.
Listen to the tonics.
Hear Your Self.
If we have failed to answer a question you have,
please ask us.
info@rhythmpharm
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