Pure Awesomeness

[July 11th, 2007]

"Pure awesomeness." That's how Jonny Ragel describes Menomena's Danny Seim—one of the several local drummers who helped make Ragel's debut as Boy Eats Drum Machine possible. Seim did so by contributing to Bridgetown Breaks, a collection of meant-for-sharing drum tracks that Ragel built 2005's Pleasure around. "He's so incredible as an artist and a musician," continues Ragel. "[And] he's a good person. Also, he can dunk. It's pretty sickening all around."

The irony of this statement is that Ragel's one of those energetic, good-at-everything types of people, too. And his sophomore release, Two Ghosts, is further proof. A bittersweet concept album examining "the possibility for the world to be at peace," Two Ghosts features endless contributors—Helio Sequence's Brandon Summers, folkstress Laura Gibson, Miss Murgatroid (Doug Fir booker Alicia Rose) on accordion and vocals, beat-boxer Fogatron and more. But "it's still "solo-y," as Ragel puts it, "'cause I write the songs and do all the production and stuff."

What the 33-year-old Portland native also does is assemble some of the city's greatest talents into a cut-and-paste collage that "anyone could probably step in and contribute [to]." The result is appropriately eclectic, a label Ragel cringes at: "When people describe Wyclef Jean as eclectic," he explains, "they mean he's innovative. With me, they think, 'He's obviously confused.'" But BEDM has a clear purpose: "I wanted to do stuff that didn't have any boundaries."

A skilled turntablist as well, Ragel originally planned to "just do experimental DJ stuff" but found songwriting more rewarding. Now, BEDM's electro-pop melange utilizes both, and the whole thing comes across live thanks to drummer Peter Swenson and multi-instrumentalist Benjy Rickard (who also contribute to the album). Ragel adds alternately crisp and smooth, soulful vocals (think Stevie Wonder) and live DJing to the mix. But he says incorporating the turntable into live shows was "truly terrifying" at first. "If you hit it at all, if you bump it, if you do anything, you're gonna mess up really bad."

Likewise, there are parts of Two Ghosts—like the repetition of the words "turn heaven into hell" on "3000 Flares"—that cause Ragel anxiety: "That line sucks, but I love it!" he says. "I just kept coming back to it and going, 'That's me.'" And Two Ghosts indicates a "me" that is as sharp, ambitious and "sickening" as Danny Seim.

But Two Ghosts is never self-indulgent: "I don't like soloing," says Ragel. "I hate it when there's one wanky part that takes over. There's a little Satriani out there for every instrument. There's bass-guy Satriani. Even backup singers have that little inner Satriani devil on their shoulder," he continues. "I think [you have to] not worry about what your part is and stop—let it have some space, some sexiness. It's sort of relaxing. I'm a high-energy person, so I have to force myself to stop."