"There’s a plunderphonic aura to Ori Barel’s latest album, as if he’s cutting and pasting found moments into musical roller coasters. That’s not really the case: most of the sounds on Alkaline River were made by Barel himself, using guitars, saxophones, and keyboards, as well as some guests adding percussion. And songs such as the pulsing “Replica” and the psychedelic “Butterflies” do have a real-time feel; even when Barel is slamming notes and beats and blasts together, you can hear him doing it all himself. In that sense, even though his music is more dramatic and rangy than the early experiments of Raymond Scott, it has a similar combination of man and machine, like the sound of robots clearly controlled by a master."
- Marc Masters, Bandcamp Daily
"Music illuminated by a thousand colors and shades, chameleonic, joyful and ironic, unclassifiable."
- Massimiliano Busti, Blow Up (IT)
"Composer and synth fantasist Ori Barel attempts to bash '90s electronica against dadist Krautrock and avant classical music on the ambitious 'Alkaline River'. Think Plaid jamming with Art Bears and Faust and you'll have a good line into this one."
"sounds like the Kronos Quartet on amphetamines, this is a ride you’ll be sure to enjoy"- Colin Lang, Musique Machine
Ori Barel’s music compositions explore electronic, electroacoustic and acoustic music. His creative work encompasses many sources of inspiration: algorithmic composition, improvisation, sound design, field recordings and various compositional procedures. His chamber music has been performed by various performers including: Seth Josel, Lucia Mense, Kacey Link, Eran Borovich, The Formalist Quartet, Ear Unit, Trio Kobayashi and Anne La Berge among others, in venues such as MOSA series (New York), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Ballhaus (Berlin), Santander Festival (Spain) and Beyond Baroque (Los Angeles).
He has performed his electronic pieces at various venues including: ICMC, Redcat, the Wulf, Center For New Music (San Francisco), Stanford University, Mills College, and UCSD among others. In addition he has created soundscapes and compositions for various installations by different artists in museums and galleries such as the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Tel Aviv Museum and the Jerusalem Artists’ House. He holds a B.A. in music composition from UCLA, a Masters degree from California Institute Of The Arts, as well a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara where he studied with Clarence Barlow and Curtis Roads. He has released three solo albums with Unseen Worlds, Centaur and Albany records.