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Galen Richmond: A circuit-bending minstrel.

Musicians often talk about making music the way carpenters talk about building houses.

While there is certainly a structure necessary to write songs, that doesn't mean a songwriter will be piecing something together by hand.

That's not the case with Galen Richmond, the musician behind the one-man band known as Computer at Sea.

Richmond uses a technique called circuit bending, where he alters, short-circuits and rewires any device capable of making sounds. Things like synthesizers, video game systems and childhood toys like the Speak & Spell.

While the music feels electronic, Richmond says he's going for more of a pop sound in his songs. But he said the songs are more inspired by the instruments he's working on and what he can coax out of them than anything else.

Richmond has been a musician in the Portland area for several years, but he said he wanted to do something different.

"I'd been wanting to play as a solo act for some time, but had been extremely leery of adding to the already enormous guy-with-a-guitar pool, so this seemed like an obvious choice for me," he said.

Like most musicians in Portland, Richmond is a fan of local music. Currently he's into Modern Syndrome and Cult Maze among others. "I love the newer version of Diamond Sharp and was very excited to see the first Honey Clouds show," he said.

Circuitbenders Forums: "Not exactly a url that rolls off the tongue, but extremely useful. There are a number of circuit-bending discussion boards out there, but this one is the most comprehensive, frequently updated, and friendliest. Graham Meredith, who is one of the really heavyweights of Casio modifications posts here."

Music From Outerspace: "If you can get past Ray Wilson's sense of humor, there is a ton of useful information here. He runs an archive of DIY audio circuits that he's designed ranging from relatively simple, to near engineer level. I've made a few of his sound machines and have been pleased with the results. He offers schematics, tips, printed circuit boards, and circuit traces to etch your own boards."

The AV Club: "This site has the best pop culture reviews and features around. The album reviews are a bit brief for my taste, but this is more than compensated for by the excellent interviews and well-thought-out blog entries. They have a semi-regular feature where a different musician, actor, comedian or writer sets their iPod on shuffle and writes a brief synopsis of the first 10 tracks that come up. Turns out the guy that did Bloom County has terrible taste in music."

Achewood: "This almost daily comic strip has been running on the Web since 2001, so there's a lot of material to sift through. It isn't the sort of thing that will immediately strike you as hilarious, but as you get familiar with the incredibly well-realized characters (far beyond your standard cartoon-cat fare) the strip gets funnier and funnier. It is safe for work, but probably not as cool for kids."

Casper Electronics: "If you ask any experienced circuit bender who the best in the field is, nine times out of 10 they'll say Pete Edwards. The guy's Speak & Spell projects are really beyond belief. Everything that he makes is not only outstanding on a sonic level, but aesthetically as well."