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​rgms, or the Rube Goldberg Machine of Semiotics and Symbols, is a curated collective of artists focusing on experimental releases.

​Members produce a wide array of exploratory musics, ranging from lush soundscapes to near barren field recordings, and controlled chaos to meditative canopies. These include collaborations and solo projects; however, all albums will be released under the name 'rgms'. In the nature of the collective, identity is formed from a dynamic relationship with the parts that make up the whole.

All releases are avaliable on Bandcamp and all major streaming services.

MOSS #17: are we on other, less concrete shores?
Meditation Objects, Supplements, and Sequences (MOSS) Vol. II [RGMS-012]
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​Released January 17, 2022
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MOSS Vol II Methodology
A Sonic Journey from:
Human Sounds - anything man-made (machinery, bodily, cars, tools, breath, speaking (non-communicative), etc.)

To Non-Human Sounds - anything in nature, which takes place without the influence of humans (ocean, river, birds, wind, trees, etc.)

The Journey from Human Sounds to Non-Human Sounds takes place over the course of the whole album.

In conjunction with the overall structure of the album, the tracks themselves have their own internal structural development, which consists of a movement from Large to Small or Small to Large sounds.

​The field recordings made use of in each composition ideally transition from Larger, more collective sounds, to Smaller more individual/atomized sounds, or vice versa.

these memories are not my own, they're borrowed from my past [RGMS-008]

Released January 22, 2021

Musings: That which has been infolded coming undone, unraveling - ten thousand things spontaneously. Hidden behind the veil of time, put on display in convolving ephemerality. Catching sight of the force that compels all, from immanent to transcendent, and back again - a processes’ journey, becoming flesh. No sooner born, then relegated to remembrance. Borrowed from the realm of being and non-being, memories, which shape this form, yet seem to perpetually inhabit a new self. Those borrowed from the ten thousand things: these vague recollections of a willing participant in the dance of entropy - nostalgia from a supernova - or those of a cog in a great concentration, some collective inhalation: the stringing of a spiders’ web, the sprouting of some Amazon, the song of virile Wood Thrushes - all of which, converge, to bring a realization in the present moment, a reverence for those moments past, and an anticipation for a reunion of the two, reconciled into one.

Composed, Performed, and Produced by James Layton
Mixed and Mastered by Sean Kiley​

MOSS #8: jean, you forgot to pay the electric bill!

​Meditation Objects, Supplements, and Sequences (MOSS) Vol. I [RGMS-004]

​Released November 17, 2020

​Meditation Objects, Supplements, and Sequences or MOSS, is a curated collaborative album from members of rgms consisting of tracks designed for meditation. This album was inspired in response to the seemingly rather monotonous tone of most meditation music found online today. Here, the aim is to explore a wide variety of states of being possible within the meditative posture. Herein, we have tracks, which lilt us in a gentle state of at onement, others which guide us through strange lands and circular quests, yet others still which take us to that part of ourselves we have not visited in a while, and while our initial urge may be to resist, the vibrations coax us to stay and have a look around for a little while, until we might find this once unfavorable place not at all too unbecoming.