avid | Advances in Obsolete Technology

AViD music began in earnest in 2002 when Brian Ruskin switched from trying to record with tape decks and four-tracks plugged into guitars and proto-samplers to computer-based production. The goal was simple: Advance whatever obsolete technology was at hand to create a well-crafted, cathartic work that hopefully would resonate with listeners, and keep Brian sane during late-nights when he really should have been working on something more academic.

AViD records came along at regular 6 month intervals from 2002 until early 2006, mainly focusing on various styles of electronic dance music. In 2006, Brian put AViD on hold with album "Concluded", and switched monikers and methods to create more immediate records as Mental Health Consumer. Since then, MHC output has become just as prolific and time-consuming, to the point where MHC output was remarkably similar in scope and style to AViD - no surprise, it's the same hands and brain at the controls.

To change things up once again, AViD, came out of the self-imposed exile in 2008 with "Promises & Regrets", a double-LP split neatly between emotive electro and ambient, edgy soundscapes. In 2009, a new collection of hard electronic tracks entitled "These Are Your Options" was released by Japanese netlabel Bump Foot, while outtakes from the era were placed on the Believe in Billy Records EP "Who's In On The Delusion?"

On Halloween, 2010, now known as Advances in Obsolete Technology, the EP "Scary Tale" was released on Believe in Billy Records (BIB-EP7). Featuring 8 wildly different takes on a single track (first recorded in 2002 on the unreleased "At Any Moment" LP), "Scary Tale" EP arrived ahead of new genre-shifting album "If I Keep Up This Way" in early 2011.

After a six year hiatus, the "Avid Renewal" EP appeared in January 2017, a return to melodic techno.