ARBOR
145; 12"EP
CLOAKED LIGHT / PALE BLUE SKY SPLIT
 |
Working together, but
differently. Clear Of,
shows Cloaked Light working within a new mode; an expanded temporal
sensitivity through field recording and discrete static chords.
Slow movement- revealing growth and decay at the subtlest thresholds;
disappearing music with a heavy presence, a shifting sense of space,
not in the room, but of the room. Pale Blue Sky’s Someday, Sometime
approaches a similar expansion of perception and unobscuring blur.
Through tape manipulation, the inner workings of tonal relationships
are placed under focus; extending time to reveal new moments; widening
the view. Distorting to understand; a reorienting pause.
Originally conceived to coincide with the Cloaked Light / Pale Blue Sky
California tour with Pedestrian Deposit, Infinite Body, Earn, and
Mirror to Mirror in January 2010; a testament to a common point and
it’s different trajectories. Approaching the possibility.
Mastered by Pete Swanson; cut at 45 rpm. In an edition of 400
copies with glossy jackets and inner sleeves.
sample: cloaked light 'clear of,'
(excerpt)
sample: pale blue sky
'someday, sometime'
(excerpt)
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ARBOR
140; 7"EP
RYAN GARBES REAL SUGAR
B/W THE LIGHTS
 |
Ryan Garbes is the drummer of
Iowa City bands such as Wet Hair, Dunebuggy, Trash Dog, and formerly
Raccoo-oo-oon. His recordings under his own name represent a unique
brand of solo multi-track recording with a seamless integrity; through
a skillful use of instrumentation and recording technique, Garbes
eschews notions of low fidelity for songs reminiscent of traditional
American garage rock produced in the haze of an early 90’s UK
aesthetic. Genuine pop songs, cloaked in a comforting wash
of reverb, as if Lou Reed had done a record for Creation; more ecstatic
than obstructed Garbes’ voice is a refreshing one outside the continuum
of contemporary four-track bedroom pop. In an edition of 300
copies with full color sleeve and printed labels by Ryan.
sample: the lights
(excerpt)
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ARBOR
139; C23 CASSETTE
PERISPIRIT STRUNG ARM BRIGADE
 |
In
combination as Perispirit, Luke Moldof and Ricardo Donoso amplify an
uneasiness that rests between analog and digital composition technology
and the attitudes that surround approaches to these
technologies. They build and inevitably subvert
distinctions, if only because of the speed and spectral character of
their movement through compositional modes. The signal
slips between the artists, through their instruments, and across
styles. ‘Scenic’, concrète assemblages, as
much about the organization of channels of influence as it is about the
organization sound. A hybrid is more than one thing at the same
time. Signal flow, work flow, cross-injection. In an
edition of 175 copies, professionally duplicated/imprinted Type II High
Bias Chrome cassettes, and cardstock covers.
sample: foreclosure
(excerpt)
sample: mowing down the lawn
(excerpt)
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ARBOR
138; LP ALBUM
CONCERN CÆSAREAN
 |
As
Concern, Gordon Ashworth has explored drone music through an inspection
of the textural components of acoustic instruments and recording
processes. On Cæsarean
the palette presented is a singularly precise one. Using simple
sources (piano, clarinet, banjo, shrutti box, and acoustic guitar),
tape processing (1/4” and cassette), and reverberation, Ashworth crafts
delicate tape music through transforming repetitions and obscured
fidelity. The emotional and physical presence of Cæsarean
is overwhelming; sounding simultaneously natural and alien.
The instrumentation and field recordings are both stripped of their
defining characteristics; creating a balance between the harmonic
characters of both, a pure transformation empty of excess and
desire. Time held in suspension. Released on compact disc
by Slow Flow (Japan). In an edition of 500 copies with black and
white reverse board jackets and printed labels.
sample: mending
(excerpt)
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ARBOR
137; 12"EP
PALE BLUE SKY SHADES OF GREY
 |
Pale Blue Sky is the new project
from Mike Pollard (formerly Treetops). Shades Of Grey is the project’s
genesis; a long considered transition uniting the organic drone-work of
the former project with compositional structures. The recordings
embody a delicate sense of distance; staring out at the moving
landscape obscured by the mediation of the window. Through
blurred fidelity the origin of melody is placed under microscopic
inquiry; an exploration into the moment of tonal interaction.
Pale Blue Sky utilizes repetition and non-linear movements, attempting
to reconcile simplicity, form, and sentiment through modes of
difference. Placing focus on spatial concerns, as well as emotive
potential, the five songs contained within are each different
embodiments of the possibility of the transformative decay of
remembrance. An ephemeral glimpse; the moment has already passed.
For quiet, distanced listening. Mastered by William Hutson, cut at 45
rpm. In an edition of 400 copies with full
color glossy jackets, printed inner sleeves, and printed labels.
sample: fleece
(excerpt)
sample: interlude (drift)
(excerpt)
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ARBOR
136; LP ALBUM
PEDESTRIAN DEPOSIT KITHLESS
 |
Pedestrian Deposit
(Jonathan Borges and Shannon A. Kennedy) possesses a certain,
restrained relationship to texture. Sources both electric and
acoustic operate on a logic of hybridity_ becoming compositional
elements organized through their activation of a shared acoustic
space. This functions in multiple directions: in some instances,
the cello is captured and converted to a subtle electronic variation,
expanding the range of the tone through this capture, at other times it
acts as a sort of mimicry, tools of one sort operating on the language
of the other_ the cello played like a burst of noise, or electronic
presence informed by the technique natural to the bow. The
compositional practice developed by the duo is strict, bearing the
marks of tension informed by the rigor of live performance. The
pieces on Kithless are
documents of this practice; Drift
Gently Down the Frigid Tides of Sleep was recorded live at
‘Activating the Medium XIII:ICE’ in San Francisco on April 17,
2010. The performance extends the use of hybrid and musique
concrete forms by engaging with the physical limits of the body through
voluntary hypothermia, transforming the performers state and
relationship to compositional tools. Under a Veil of Living Light, a
staple from the 2009 East Coast tour, is a drifting of the hybrid forms
expressed above, weaving in and out of each other; traces of texture,
combined and re-combined.
Kithless is
Pedestrian Deposit’s first LP album since its incarnation as a duo in
2008. It follows their compact disc releases Austere and East Fork / North Fork, both on
Monorail Trespassing (2009 and 2010, respectively)_ their body of work
thus far shows a dedication to a minor, often overlooked, field in
contemporary practice directly concerned with the technologies of
composition and the ways in which sounds touch each other.
Recorded June 2009 – June 2010, and mastered by William Hutson, and
transferred for vinyl at Dubplates and Mastering by Frederic Stader on
March 16, 2011. In an edition of 500 copies.
sample: drift gently down the frigid tides of sleep
(excerpt)
sample: under a veil of living light (excerpt)
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ARBOR
134; C44 CASSETTE
MIRROR TO MIRROR A PERSONAL
REALITY
 |
Alex
Twomey’s Mirror to Mirror project continues a long standing tradition
of Southern California artists focused on introspection and slow
simplicity. Inspired by long roads and large open spaces; as well
as their place within the daily repetition, finding sense within the
nonsense. Light washes of painterly composition; evolving
harmonies transform, turning in on themselves. The first track, ‘Laughing and Understanding’
, was developed last winter on the California tour with Infinite Body,
Pedestrian Deposit, Earn, Cloaked Light, and Pale Blue Sky. In an
edition of 150 copies with professionally duplicated/imprinted
cassettes and cardstock covers.
sample: laughing and
understanding (excerpt)
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ARBOR
133; 7"EP
COPPER GLOVE SURVIVING THE
GARDEN OF HATE
 |
Copper Glove, the new project
from Baltimore’s Door (formerly Earth Crown; who shared splits with
Secret Abuse and Kites on past Arbor releases), shows a further
progression of his one man industrial-noise synth unit. In
opposition to his former work, Copper Glove is more mindful of
composition; utilizing tone generators and processed synthesis and
vocals to present a dense cut up analog form of industrial concréte.
Door’s nihilistic optimism carries itself with a sense of
effortlessness; ideological aggression, a pure translation. With
focused energy, the noise of the machine continues as man controls
it. The city is destroyed but we can still live here,
forever. In an edition of 300 7”s with silkscreened covers with
white ink on metallic black paper and printed labels by Door.
sample: protogenerator
(excerpt)
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ARBOR
126; DOUBLE LP ALBUM
RAGLANI HUSK
 |
Husk, a career-spanning double-LP
retrospective marking Raglani’s “early period” (2004-2009), is both the
artist’s “Best-of” collection*, as well as a document of a personal
orientation within the canon of electronic music. As a devoted
student of E.M. history and synthesis techniques, Joseph Raglani has
spent the past decade in his St. Louis studio consuming and
refiguring. While highly-informed, these tracks avoid simple
derivation, the traces of influence are not easily decipherable; the
common descriptors fall away. The sonic legacies orbiting the INA
GRM axis cross paths with pop sensibilities more akin to the sensuous
pulse of New Order. Raglani mines the expressiveness of this
fertile boundary space. The compositions on Husk are dense
featuring a palette of analog and digital electronic instruments as
well as guitar, voice, pedal steel, organ, melodica. Disparate elements
find a way to resonate to maximum emotive effect. The sonic
energies are not bound to their sources, but are rather utilized for
their ability to express.
One fourth of the material is available here for the first time; the
remainder from private-press and small run releases has been remixed by
Raglani and re-mastered by Greg Davis for presentation in this
collection. Husk is Raglani’s second mass-market release
following his 2008 CD Of Sirens Born
released on Kranky Records. Artwork by Robert Beatty (Three
Legged Race / Hair Police / Resonant Hole). In an edition of 500
copies with printed inner-sleeves.
*Featuring material from the following releases:
Pastiche Electronic
(Pegasus Farms [Demo] CS, 2008)
May Tour 2009 Split With
Steve Hauschildt (Pegasus Farms CD-R, 2009)
Oneism (IDES CS,
2007)
Empire Trilogy (No
Label/Artist’s Edition, 2008)
Classically Sprained
(Arbor CS, 2009)
Vanity Well
(Chondritic Sound CS, 2009)
Raglani & Scenic
Railroards (Gameboy / Pegasus Farms CD, 2005)
sample:
llissa says
sample: for a.h. (excerpt)
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ARBOR
124; C40 CASSETTE
EVERYDAY LONELINESS RECONTEXTUALIZATIONS
 |
Everyday Loneliness, Jonathan
Borges intermittent tape music project, tunes to a melancholy
slowness; different paces, the way a day blurs: a series of vignettes
presenting growth at a small rate, as much dependent upon the
listener’s focus as the artist’s, a tangential motion rooted in
stillness. Through a shifting relationship between the
background/foreground positioning of decay and melody, the distinctions
between repetition and newness, remembered sound and experienced sound,
present a psychological connection to time. An appropriate use of
the cassette medium. Recorded May – July 2010. In an
edition of 175 copies, professionally duplicated/imprinted Type II High
Bias Chrome cassettes, and cardstock covers.
sample:
(excerpt)
sample: (excerpt)
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ARBOR 099; DOUBLE 7"EP
CARLOS GIFFONI
THE ABSENCE OF ESSENCE
 |
Carlos Giffoni’s heavy
synthesizer work recalls the crushing, massiveness of early industrial
music. Completely consuming the air around it with heavy vibrations and
total deprivation. These four tracks rip holes through the sonic
barriers, loud and powerful but with entrancing subtleties and discreet
builds. The nature of the 7” format does not harm Giffoni’s work which
normally exists in extended lengths; instead very succinct and
unwavering compositions result: creating four vignettes of grey
industrial zones. As the person responsible for No Fun Productions and
the No Fun Fest, this Brooklyn transplants presence in the current
progression of the genre is undeniable. In an edition of 400 2x7”(one
on white vinyl and one on black) sets in foldout gatefold sleeves with
art by
Maya Miller of Heavy Tapes/Religious Knives.
sample: lift (excerpt)
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ARBOR
098; LP ALBUM
OUTER SPACE
 |
John
Elliott’s Outer Space project is a laboratory for electronic
investigation. Acting as a continuance of the studies of mid 20th
century electronic music composers such as Nik Pascal and Laurie
Spiegel, Elliott’s music is deeply indebted to the inner workings
of
the electric signal. Acting almost as a meditation, through the
simple gesture of translation Elliott’s process begins to reveal
itself
as electricity is converted into acoustic pressure and potential; the
melody of physics. The six recordings on the album are each a
microcosmic view into Elliott’s practice; a keystone,
illuminating his
solo practice as well as his work as a member of Emeralds. Composed and
recorded over the past three years without the use of digital
synthesizers and arpeggiation; a record closely connected to a personal
path, attempting to make sense, to understand one’s
journey.
Mastered by Keith Fullerton Whitman; pressed in a second edition of 350
copies on black vinyl with full color gloss covers and black and white
printed inner sleeves.
sample: scanlon
(excerpt)
video: memory
bomb
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ARBOR
075; LP ALBUM
SECRET ABUSE THE IMMEASURABLE GIFT
 |
“The Immeasurable Gift”
is a testament to cathartic possibilities and the role of
creation/release as a means of understanding. Recorded throughout the
past three years in a variety of locations and personal moments;
encapsulated by a common, unrelenting concern. Beautifully delicate,
elegiac melodies concealed within curtains of dense electronic ambiance
reveal themselves like the light at the end of the tunnel; a signifier
of the temporary vessel form. Balancing recklessness with care and
coming to terms with the inevitable; encountering the man on the
shoulder, reminding us that we are all just weary travelers. In an
edition of 425 records in full color proprinted cardboard jackets with
printed labels and an insert; all design by Jeff Witscher.
sample: carefully
opening the window
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ARBOR
052;
7"EP
C. SPENCER YEH / SICK LLAMA
SPLIT
|
The malformed
compositions of C. Spencer Yeh and Sick Llama come from opposing
spectrums of noise music, though their similarities are undeniable.
Whether it be Yeh’s solo piece for violin or Sick Llama’s gunked tape
work, the spirit of improvisation shines through. On Yeh’s track, the
churning sounds of metal scrapes and light tinges, like crossed
electric static and growing, buzzing drones are the result of one
violin. His unique approach to the instrument marks him as one of the
most exciting improvisers today whether it be with his solo work or
through his work in Burning Star Core. Sick Llama’s untitled piece is
one of his most concise and interesting tracks; crushing and dirty with
the hiss of tape static. Coming from the stoned mind of Heath Moreland
of Fag Tapes, the expected tape aesthetic is transferred to vinyl with
a compilation of cut up compositions, evoking a series of mystery sound
sources. In an edition of 400 7”s in proprinited fold over sleeves with
art by Maya Miller of Heavy Tapes/Religious Knives.
sample: sick llama- untitled (excerpt)
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