ARBOR 136; PEDESTRIAN DEPOSIT – ‘KITHLESS’ LP $16.5(US)/$19.5(CAN)/$26(world)
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.
ARBOR 126; RAGLANI – ‘HUSK’ 2xLP $22(US)/$25.75(CAN)/$35(world)
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.
ARBOR 124; EVERYDAY LONELINESS – ‘RECONTEXTUALIZATIONS’ C40 $15.5(US)/$19(CAN)/$25.5(world)
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.