Sonic Boom

Under the name Sonic Boom, Peter Kember has developed since the late 1980s a distinctive trajectory between psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Born in Rugby, England, he co-founded Spacemen 3 and then began recording solo as Sonic Boom alongside his projects Spectrum and Experimental Audio Research. Sonic Boom’s first album, “Spectrum” (1990), extends Spacemen 3’s hypnotic aesthetic, steering it toward sparser songs built on repetition, drones, and minimalist keyboards. Over the years Sonic Boom has favored highly detailed studio work, blending electronic washes, phasing effects, simple drum machines, and psychedelic melodies in a range that runs from drifting noise to a slow, textured form of pop. Later based in Portugal, Peter Kember has devoted as much time to his own records as to producing other artists—most notably MGMT, Panda Bear, and Beach House—broadening Sonic Boom’s sonic presence beyond his own releases. The return to the long-form with “All Things Being Equal” (2020) synthesizes these different approaches, between British psychedelic heritage, ambient culture, and repetitive music.