Vitals:
Full Name: - Brooks Rongstad
Birthdate: 11/02/1974
Place of Birth: - Two Harbors, MN
Hometown: - Duluth, MN
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Judith
Children: none
Pets: Miike (cat), Loki (cat), Angelo (cat)
DIA (desert island album): Postal Service - Give Up
Exuviae is the moniker of Minnesota-based electronic musician Brooks Rongstad, who has produced and recorded various forms of electronic music for the better part of 10 years. He was a co-founder of the GreenHouseMusic record label and is also an active participant on the Atmoworks label. The year 2008 sees his return to the electronic music community, with various projects in various styles out for release.
Website: http://www.exuviaemusic.com
In His Own Words
In 1998, after leaving behind a series of long term rock and metal bands - I selected the name Exuviae for my solo electronic musical endeavors because of it's reference to the constancy of change in a living thing.
After having spent several years exploring electronic instruments and synthesis techniques, I was finally ready to attempt recordings of my experiments. At the time I was mostly interested in deep, minimal pasages of drone and chords; anxious to experiment with the subtleties of varying texture and harmony within these confines. My first official collection of tracks made it onto my debut album "Echoes in the Emptiness", which was released on the label I had co-founded in 1999, GreenHouseMusic. The next couple of years were spent composing two follow-up albums, Settling Density" and "Response" - each employing slightly different recording techniques and equipment, while further exploring the same confines as defined by "Echoes". Atmoworks picked up both of these works and released them as CDRs, since GreenHouseMusic had previously closed it's doors. At this time I began experimenting using only electric guitar and processing equipment in my recordings. One track, entitled "Pulsatile", was submitted and featured on a various artist release through Slobor Media called ::TEXTURE::
It was shortly after this release that I decided to pursue other interests outside the music world for a number of years. I was always recording in little sessions every so often-various equipment coming and going through the studio-but hadn't found the urge to return to Exuviae full time. After exploring other avenues of creativity and finding less and less enjoyment in these eneavors, I began recording again for a while-focusing my attention on minimal techno music and collaborating with a local vocalist by the name of Wayne Diercks to create the project I called LifeAfterDisco. Unfortunately, life happens, and the project never got terribly far off the ground. I returned to the studio and vowed to do a new solo project outside the ambient/spacemusic realm. I began an era we will call the "Hostage Lab Sessions", which was my attempt at a more straightforward industrial/rock type project. I got about an album's worth of material completed and asked a friend of mine if he would be interested in doing some metal/scream type vocal on a track. We got together and jammed and found that we both clicked really well musically, so we began recording a more metalized-industrial type of music and brought in a bass player so that we could take our songs out to gigs. Like many bands, this project fell through due to personal differences and I found myself returning to my laptop and Ableton more and more often.
I began recording new electronic material and found myself branching into new areas, while still having a grasp on the overall feel I'd achieved with Exuviae years before. It was time to resurrect the name and begin a new era of electronic music exploration. I've managed to compile a pretty good discography out of my archived material and am recording a lot of new work in different veins. The future of Exuviae will hold it's fair share of surpises and oddities; while still presenting fans of my first three albums with more of that style of music as well.
AtmoWorks Releases:
Exuviae - Response
Exuviae - Settling Density
Discography:
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TEXTURE :: - A COMPILATION OF MINIMAL AMBIENT GUITAR
CDR Slobor Media (SMB001)
Track: Pulsatile
Personnel: Brooks Rongstad
Recorded: 2003
Notes: This track was composed using only electric guitar as an audio source. Texture:: was a compilation of "guitar only" pieces featuring artists such as Jeff Pearce, Numina, Exuviae, Jason Sloan and others.
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EXUVIAE - RESPONSE
CDR Atmoworks
Tracks: Synthetic Alignment-Liquid Soil Shapes-Dustfilm Cocoon-
Burgundy Smear-Timeflurry-Primordial Surroundings-Reaction.Response-
Pools Under the Blaze
Personnel: Brooks Rongstad
Recorded: 1997-2002
Notes: Third Exuviae full length
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EXUVIAE - SETTLING DENSITY
CDR Atmoworks
Tracks: Aquaphoria-A Pinprick in the Glass-Through Sheets of Mist-
Forever and a Day-Inside Voices-The Wall of Sleep-Without a Host-Still So Far
Personnel: Brooks Rongstad
Recorded: 2001 in the Red Room, except "The Wall of Sleep"-originally recorded in 1997-recovered from DAT and remastered 2001
Notes: Second Exuviae full length. Considered by the artist as a 'sister-album' to "Echoes in the Emptiness."
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EXUVIAE - ECHOES IN THE EMPTINESS
CD 2000 Green House Music (GHM.00.01)
Tracks: Awaken Within-Silencia-Otherplace-Lightness-Right as Rain
Personnel: Brooks Rongstad
Recorded: 2000
Notes: Debut full length by Exuviae
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COMPILATION - CONVERGENT EVOLUTION
CD 1999 Green House Music (GHM.99.01)
Track: Blankets of Quiet
Personnel: Brooks Rongstad
Recorded: 1999
Notes: "Convergent Evolution" was an eight track CD compilation featuring unreleased and exclusive tracks by Steve Roach, Samsa, Vidna Obmana, Vir Unis, Exuviae etc...
