"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."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A: Cloaked Light
-Clear Of

Side B: Pale Blue Sky
-Someday, Sometime

-Limited to 400 Copies
-Mastered by Pete Swanson

"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."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-Fleece
-Luring Movement

Side B:
-Green Tint
-Interlude (Drift)
-Attempt

-Limited to 400 Copies
-Mastered by William Hutson

"Following in the tradition of minimalist composers such as La Monte Young, Yoshi Wada, and Charlemagne Palestine, Sun Circle exemplifies a contemporary focus on long form drone music. Members Greg Davis and Zach Wallace have shown their interest in the field most recently with extended works on Kranky and Root Strata respectively; together on Lessness, they show a deep-rooted interest in the power of simple forms. Building upon themes from their recent solo work (Davis’ subtly shifting tonal work with electronic oscillators and Wallace’s acoustic drone work on the glass armonica), Lessness is comprised of four side long works each exhibiting a different acoustic instrument in isolation. Exploring drums, tambouras (both rhythmic and droning), and gongs with a meditative precision, Davis and Wallace’s work seems at once both mechanic and human; the product of focus, revealing a vast beauty within the subtlety of the geometric potential of sound. In an edition of 400 copies with full color matte jackets."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-Drums

Side B:
-Tambouras

Side C:
-Tambouras

Side D:
-Gong

-Limited to 400 Copies

"The debut release under his own name, Brett Naucke’s Southern California is an aptly titled seven track suite. In the nature of his other projects, Face Worker and Exercise, Naucke continues his exploration of upward advancement through a contemporary approach to ambient, classically new age music; here he wholly embraces discrete structures allowing the tracks to carry a natural progression, transparently simple though deeply considered. Recalling the work of early 80’s West Coast composers such as Ray Lynch, Naucke’s command of smooth synthesis is both meditative and active; drifting washes of light, organized tones. Translucent, linear growth; following the clouds across the sky. In an edition of 125 copies with full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-Intro: (Moving)
-Theme: (West)
-Valley: (Night)
-Clouded Sky: (East)

Side B:
-Channel: (Desert)
-The City: (& Driving)
-Outro: (Pacific Coast Highway)

-Limited to 125 Copies
-Full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes.

"Minneapolis’ Justin Meyers has been producing extremely discrete musique concrete for the past few years. Through field recordings Meyers achieves a double sided voyeurism; his capturing of another’s space, and the listeners glimpse into his space. His care and precision demands attention with an unconscious magnetism; on Both Sides the recording of an outdoor summer’s evening is paired with subtle beating frequencies symbiotically shifting in and out of the other, producing a deeply compelling command over space. This same phenomena is explored on A Visitor. Composed solely of sine waves, infinite variations of listening interaction are possible, imposing the piece directly within the space of the listener. In an edition of 125 copies with full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-Both Sides

Side B:
-A Visitor

-Limited to 125 Copies
-Full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes.

"These early four-track experiments from Peter Friel’s Cloaked Light project offers a look into focus. With the slowest subtlety changes grow, only perceptible through reflection. A new form of seeking to understand; a non-linear music, offering a space of contemplation to look forward and behind. On A Long Green Hall Friel shifts meaning and reorients the place of speech in a Lucierian experiment with self-help tapes. On But I’m Trying, subtle tonal expansions mirror the manipulation of speech on the previous track, though without the recognizable markers of language the result is more obscured. Each track offers insight to the others processes. Recorded in Summer 2009, these tracks are some of the earliest from the project, a precursory inquiry to the tapes on Ekhein and Monorail. Upcoming split 12” EP with Pale Blue Sky further explores the nature of tonal interactions and non-linear explorations of sound. "

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-A Long Green Hall

Side B:
-But I'm Trying

-Limited to 125 Copies
-Full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes.

"Following recent tape releases on Young and Ekhein, Bill Hutson’s Rale project should no longer be an elusive one. His modular synthesized low-end focus reaches new depths with each release; managing to provide a richness in texture and a deep listening experience in slow moving forms. Hutson exercises a dedicated control and mastery in composition as a result of his overwhelming knowledge of the potentials of sound. Far off organ chords become enveloped by an atmospheric heavy air; melody isn’t shunned, but obscured. Frequencies arranged seamlessly, with a modest approach; like the growth of a grey cloud. In an edition of 400 12” EPs cut at 45rpm in proprinted cardboard sleeves with printed labels."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A.
-Folding Bedroom

Side B.
-Somehow

-Limited to 400 Copies.

"Daniel Lopatin’s Oneohtrix Point Never represents a rift in time; an isolationist expedition into the archaeology of sound that utilizes the analog polysynth as a means of organic creation. “Zones Without People” is the second record in the OPN trilogy; acting as a bridge between the drifting, nebulous landscapes of “Betrayed in The Octagon” and the finely detailed sound sculpture of Lopatin's present work. An exercise in ‘in between-ness’: reconciling noise and melodicism, drone stasis and the transience of concrète, and the amorphous zone between 70s Kraut synth music and 80s techno. Arpeggios and sequencers play a key role in this amalgamation, as these forms of repetition create an attachment to a certain sentiment neither human nor machine. The record reflects this transformation; the A Side has distinct emotional flourishes, while the majority of the B Side seems to be overtaken in cold, mechanized melodies; attempts at teaching a machine to feel. The final track “Hyperdawn” is a solution to these two disparate modes of interpreting stimuli: a pure union of veins and patch cables. In an edition of 500 copies in proprinted cardboard sleeves with pro printed labels and an insert by Christelle Gualdi."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-Computer Vision
-Format & Journey North
-Zones Without People

Side B:
-Learning To Control Myself
-Disconnecting Entirely
-Emil Cioran
-Hyperdawn

"The CITRAC collection presents one of James Ferraro’s most cinematic visions; showing his recent mode of soundworld creation in top form. By shying away from pure musical creation and opting towards the organic birth of sonic universes James finds a new way to tell a story. Evoking vastly imaginative imagery, this 80+ minute suite spanning two LPs, contains the previously released “Postremo Techno Mundus Symposium”, excerpts and alternative edits from Liquid Metal’s Alternative Soundtrack to “Digital Overdrive”, and the all new “Digital Tribe”. Presenting deep-nightmarish atmospheres of surveillance and captivity on through the rush of the open road; the hypnotic, lo-fi result is one that could only come from Ferraro’s alien mind, eternally stuck in a 1980s vision of an impossibly archaic future. In a total pressing of 550 double LPs with full color printed inner-sleeves in pro-printed black and white cardboard sleeves and printed labels by James."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-Red Ant Human
-Computer Chipped Police
-Virtual Pain
-Cyber Marine
-Surveillance

Side B:
-Rally At World Watch Arena
-Chance Altar
-Gates Surrounding Control Tower
-Flesh Circuit
-Public Execution Of A No Mark
-Mark Change On Highway

Side C:
-Wired Tribe
-Digital Gods
-Subculture 2090

Side D:
-Liquid Metal Excerpt 1

-Limited to 550 Copies

"Michigan heavy domestic-electronic couple Dead Machines always create records that confuse and intrigue. They are the forefathers of broken gear / appliance / wind instrument basement jamming and have their niche dug deep. “Invasion” exists on the borders of existence- room ambiance is present, but the sounds are totally alien. Twisting mixer feedback and found sound source into a twisted collage of life outside the “Pod”: harsh and awakening, but at times giving way to the trance of the machine lull. Don’t fall asleep. In an edition of 450 LPs with full color pro-printed cardboard sleeves with art by John Olson."

-Arbor

Tracks:

-Untitled (22:34)

-Limited to 450 Copies

"God Willing and Privy Seals are two of the prime purveyors of meditative harsh tones. God Willing’s guitar and oscillatior drone has been reaching epic levels of hypnosis lately and this piece is a great example. The repetitive nature of textured signals act like the swaying charm of the pocket watch: onward march. Matthew Sullivan has been crafting his Earn project recently, and this, one of the final Privy Seals recordings acts as a logical bridge. Heavy, hi-end guitar and tape interlacing: a harsh movement, but possessing transcendently soothing qualities buried under the deprivation of distorted tones. At the end of the hallway a door lies open. A long overdue document of the LA Diaspora. In an edition of 300 LPs with silkscreened chipboard covers by Ren Schofield."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A: God Willing
-Bob Blobs

Side B: Privy Seals
-The Sword And The Stone

-Limited to 300 Copies

"Bay Area composer Gregg Kowalsky has spent the past few years experimenting with the cassette tape as an instrument; utilizing the placement of portable walkmen and the psychoacoustic effect of their natural interactions. This, Gregg’s first cassette release, presents experiments from his recent Kranky record, Tape Chants. On Early Experiments he uses cassettes as a way to transfer and manipulate environments. Through mechanisms of the tape player he can adjust pitch and amplitude, while through mixing he combines various sources and field recordings creating new, recontexualized moments. This simple though calculated approach harkens back to the earliest days of tape music and recorded sound; creation with what already exists, reorganizing natural occurrences."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-all tracks untitled

Side B:
-all tracks untitled

-Limited to 125 Copies
-Full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes.

"“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. "

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A:
-Futility
-Grin
-Carefully Opening The Window

Side B:
-The Deepest Roots
-Must Leave Sometime
-Light

-Limited to 425 Copies

"Jeremy Harris’ Lazy Magnet project has been active for well over a decade though the work has remained relatively shrouded in mystery. A true nomad; shifting location and inspiration, following whatever path may prevent itself. Under the Lazy Magnet guise, Harris has explored an innumerable amount of musical styles, adapting each to his uses. On “Yet From The Highest Crown No Blossom Fell” Harris (along with Sakiko Mori of Daily Life) explores the Sci-Fi textures of digital synthesizers. A drifting score from the Providence Futuristic District where man and machine meet to look inside each other. Philadelphia’s Social Junk present four tracks operating from a similarly paired Industrial Sci-Fi stance. Some of the groups strongest work, recorded in December 2008 while still living in Oakland, CA. Feedback is tamed into a smooth element, as pliable as the human voice. The union of these organic/inorganic elements create a unique sense of melody from within the warehouse; clearing away the trash, polishing the concrete."

-Arbor

Tracks:

Side A: Lazy Magnet
-Yet From the Highest Crown,
     No Blossom Fell

Side B: Social Junk
-Fallout
-Terminal
-Lockdown
-Days That Follow

-Limited to 125 Copies
-Full color cardstock covers and labeled tapes.

"Suburban Michigan is a breeding ground where every weirdo has a label, a band, and a handful of secret/under the radar collaborative projects. Here Graveyard’s Ben Hall and Lambsbread’s Zac Davis create a monolithic one sider influenced by too many private press jazz records and abstract instrumentalism. Davis turns in his effect pedals for nothing; pure clean tones plucked up and down scales and bridges so uniquely that it is easy to confuse the guitar for a sax. Ben Hall drums like a man with four arms; constant rattling trap tapping and assorted pots and pans clattering, flowing completely smoothly. A perfect union of sound. In an edition of 300 copies in screened chipboard sleeves by Anthony Decanini."

-Arbor

Tracks:

-Build for Nothing

-Limited to 300 Copies