Bhob Rainey is a saxophonist, composer, and improviser. On the saxophone he has developed a distinctive, hallucinatory vocabulary that often sounds electronic, interspersed with an uncanny mastery of multiphonics. In 1998 he co-founded the duo nmperign with trumpeter Greg Kelley, touring extensively while upending a host of improvisational givens. Seeking to bring rigor to improvisation at a larger scale, he later formed The BSC, an eight-piece ensemble that navigated the challenges of group improvisation without relying on predetermined structures or cues. Their work and practices were explored in the 2011 book and album, Manual. Rainey additionally has a long list of collaborators and an especially refined solo saxophone style. He was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2013 for his work in this field.
In the realm of composition, Rainey focuses heavily on heterogenous electroacoustic work, combining sometimes extreme digital synthesis and processing with field recordings, live instruments, and other acoustic sources. He often explores the idea that a "human" is much more than just the idea of "human", and much stranger. A SuperCollider "power user", he is known for his contributions of plugins, algorithmic works such as Peev and These are They, and digital instruments like xynthii and Dumber from Another Mother.
Rainey has long-running, multidisciplinary collaborations, especially in theater and dance. He has worked closely with Whit MacLaughlin / New Paradise Laboratories since 2012, integrating often unsettling music and sound design into their uniquely generative process of developing plays. In 2014, he began working with dancer / choreographer JungWoong Kim, collaborating on both large-scale, site-specific pieces and fully improvised events. Rainey has additionally made music for films and Chinese puppetry.