Robert Millis

“Some people can sum up their lives on a business card; Robert Millis needs a whole deck, full sized, both faces of each playing card, and you’re still liable to miss something while he shuffles. Filmmaker, photographer, guerrilla ethnographer, collector and sharer of 78 RPM records, weaver of multi-layered ambiences, improviser, annotator, jokester, traveler…” Bill Meyer, Dusted

A sound artist, Fulbright scholar, and Guggenheim fellow, Millis has authored books (Indian Talking Machine and Victrola Favorites) produced world music compilations and documentaries, (including Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road and Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan for Sublime Frequencies), composed for radio (“The Gramophone Effect” for Documenta14) and film (Session 9), and released numerous recordings on LP and CD. His work often looks at the birth of sound recording, the era of cylinders and talking machines. He plays guitar and has performed extensively.

From the Artist
”My work as a sound artist revolves around the invention of recording: I use 78rpm records and Edison cylinders, talking machines, Victrolas and gramophones to create both new compositions and historical compilations.  This work follows two threads: experimental and traditional. By experimental I mean an interest in electronic sound, samples, musique concrete, founds sounds and field recording. By traditional I mean an interest in folk music, religious music, ecstatic music, acoustic sounds, work songs, and oral traditions.”

“I’ve composed for radio, created soundtracks and immersive installations, and authored the books Indian Talking Machine on (Sublime Frequencies) and Victrola Favorites (Dust-to-Digital). In addition to releasing many LPs and CDs as a solo artist or as Climax Golden Twins or Idol Ko Si, I have curated many releases and films for the Sublime Frequencies record label, the most recent being the book Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road. I am a Fulbright scholar, a US-Japan Creative Artists fellow and recently received a Guggenheim Fellowship.”
- Robert Millis

Website
 RobertMillis.net