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Kim Cascone
Kim Cascone
Kim Cascone
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Key Information

Kim Cascone (December 21, 1955) is an Italian American composer of electronic music who is known for his releases in the ambient, drone, industrial and electro-acoustic genre on his own record label, Silent Records.[1][2]

Biography

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In 1989 Cascone became an assistant music editor for director David Lynch on Twin Peaks and Wild At Heart.[3] Musically he has used various aliases over the years but became best known under the moniker Heavenly Music Corporation, a name taken from a track on the record (No Pussyfooting) by Brian Eno and Robert Fripp. Cascone released four full albums under this name from 1993 to 1996.[4]

In 1996 Cascone sold Silent Records and Pulsoniq Distribution to work as a sound designer/composer for Thomas Dolby's company Beatnik.[5] After leaving the company in 1998, Cascone went on to serve as the Director of Content for Staccato Systems, a spin-off company from CCRMA, Stanford University where he co-invented an algorithm for realistic audio atmospheres and backgrounds for video games called Event Modeling.[6] He returned to making music in 1999 and has since been releasing records using his own name[7] on various labels as well as his own label, anechoic (named after his last Heavenly Music Corporation release), which he established in 1996. Cascone has released more than 50 albums of electronic music since 1984 and has recorded or performed with Merzbow, Keith Rowe, Tony Conrad, Scanner, John Tilbury, Domenico Sciajno and Pauline Oliveros, among others.

In academic writing, Cascone is known for his paper The Aesthetics of Failure, which outlined the use of digital glitches and systemic failure in the creation of post-digital and laptop music.[8] He is also on the advisory board of the academic sound journal Interference based in Dublin, Ireland.

Cascone holds dual Italian and American citizenship as of September 2008.

In 2016 Cascone rebooted his record label Silent Records.

From 2016 to December 30, 2017, Cascone served as the music director for The Silent Channel on SomaFM, an online streaming radio station that features the Silent Records catalog.[9]

Discography

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  • Blue Cube (Raster-Noton, 1998)
  • Cathode Flower (Ritornell, 1999)
  • (Delete) (Fällt, 2000)
  • Residualism (Ritornell, 2001)
  • Dust Theories (c74, 2001)
  • The Crystalline Address, with Scanner (Sub Rosa, 2002)
  • Pulsar Studies (anechoic, 2004)
  • Rondo/7Phases/Blowback, with Merzbow (Sub Rosa, 2004)
  • Gravity Handler (CRC, 2004)
  • Statistically Improbable Phrases (anechoic, 2006)
  • The Astrum Argentum (anechoic, 2008)
  • Pharmacie: Green & Red (anechoic, 2008)
  • Music for Dagger & Guitar (Aural Terrains, 2008)
  • anti-musical celestial forces (Storung, 2009)
  • The Knotted Constellation (fourteen rotted coordinates) (Monotype, 2011)
  • Subflowers - Phi (Emitter Micro, 2016)

As PGR

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  • Silence (PGR, 1985)
  • The Flickering of Sowing Time (RRRecords, 1986)
  • Cyclone Inhabited by Immobility (Permis de Construire, 1987)
  • The Black Field (Silent Records, 1989)
  • Fetish, with Arcane Device (Silent Records, 1990)
  • The Chemical Bride (Silent Records, 1992)
  • The Morning Book of Serpents (Silent Records, 1995)
  • A Hole of Unknown Depth (Silent Records, 1996)

As Heavenly Music Corporation

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  • In a Garden of Eden (Silent Records, 1993 / Astral Industries, 2018)
  • Consciousness III (Silent Records, 1994)
  • Lunar Phase (Silent Records, 1995 / Astral Industries, 2017)
  • Anechoic (Silent Records, 1996)

As Khem One

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  • Copperopolis - Guitar Study (Humanhood Recordings, 2018)
  • Modal Gauzes No. 1 - Guitar Study (Daathstaar, 2018)
  • Pollen & Fragments (Daathstaar, 2018)
  • Heliodronus - Messenger of the Sun (Silent Records, 2019)
  • Lunadronus - The Realm of Lunar Gauzes (Silent Records, 2020)
  • Threshold of Eastern Octaves (Silent Records, 2022)
  • Subtle Immobilities (Silent Records, 2024)

With Thessalonians

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  • The Unwinding (Silent Records, 1986)
  • The Concentration of Light Prior to Combustion (Banned Production, 1986)
  • Imbrication 2: An Investigaton Into Documenting Change Systems (Angakok, 1988)
  • The Black Field (Silent Records, 1989)
  • Soulcraft (Silent Records, 1993)
  • Solaristics (Noh Poetry Records, 2005)

With Spice Barons

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  • Future Perfect State (Silent Records, 1995)

With KGB Trio

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With Acéphale

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Bibliography

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References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Kim Cascone

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from Grokipedia
Kim Cascone is an American composer of electronic music, sound artist, and record label founder known for his pioneering work in ambient, drone, electro-acoustic, microsound, and post-digital genres. Born in Albion, Michigan on December 21, 1955, he is of Italian descent and has been active in experimental electronic music since the 1970s. Cascone studied electronic music at Berklee College of Music from 1973 to 1976, where he worked with modular analog synthesizers and early computer music concepts. After relocating to San Francisco in 1983, he founded Silent Records in 1986 as the city's first ambient electronic music label, initially releasing his own work under the alias PGR before expanding to other experimental artists associated with the local rave and electronic scenes. Professionally, he has worked as a sound editor for films, including as assistant sound editor on David Lynch projects such as Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart, and contributed to video game audio development at Staccato Systems, focusing on real-time audio engines and stochastic sound modeling. His compositional practice emphasizes imparting behavioral qualities to synthetic sound files through chance operations, random selection, and dense, layered textures that encourage active listening, drawing from Cageian aesthetics while rejecting sparse minimalism in favor of information-rich "New Density" approaches. Cascone has long integrated meditation and spiritual influences into his work, having practiced daily since the 1970s and developing "Subtle Listening" workshops to train heightened sonic perception and supersensory awareness. In 1999, he co-founded the influential .microsound mailing list, helping define the microsound scene, and has continued curating projects such as the Drone Cinema Film Festival, alongside releases exploring meditative spatialization and just-intonation techniques.

Early life and education

Kim Cascone was born on December 21, 1955, in Albion, Michigan. He is of Italian descent. He studied electronic music at Berklee College of Music in Boston from 1973 to 1976, where he worked extensively with modular analog synthesizers. After leaving Berklee, Cascone returned to New York for private studies. He discovered an aptitude for electronics and attended technical school. He worked as a technician for Electronics for Medicine (a company producing medical monitoring equipment), where his employer provided training in electronics, math, and physics. During this time, he developed an interest in microprocessors such as the Z80 and 6502, which led him to explore computer music concepts. In the late 1970s, he built his own synthesizer from Aries modular kits. In the 1970s, while in music school, Cascone began daily meditation practice at a Buddhist center, influencing his approach to sound perception. He relocated to San Francisco in 1983.

Career

Founding of Silent Records

Silent Records was founded by Kim Cascone in 1986 in San Francisco, California. The label originated from Cascone's experience self-releasing his first PGR album Silence in 1985, which convinced him to establish his own imprint to retain control over production and distribution rather than relying on external labels. Initially, Silent focused on experimental and industrial electronic music, aligning with San Francisco's open-minded experimental scene that Cascone had joined after moving there in 1983. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the label expanded its scope, releasing works by various artists in ambient, industrial, and experimental electronic genres. Cascone's own projects appeared prominently on Silent, including early PGR material and later efforts under aliases such as Heavenly Music Corporation. By around 1991, with the surge in techno and rave culture, Silent became widely recognized as San Francisco's leading electronic music label, attracting numerous demo submissions and producing a high volume of releases to sustain operations. In the mid-1990s, Silent Records encountered significant financial challenges, including a distribution agreement that failed after the distributor was acquired, resulting in approximately $30,000 in returns and preventing product from reaching major retail chains. The need to maintain a high release volume for economic viability, combined with the label's evolution toward more dominant techno and rave sounds diverging from its experimental origins, added to the pressures. Cascone's growing interest in emerging internet and digital technologies further influenced his decision to step away. To avoid bankruptcy, he sold the label to an employee in the mid-1990s, after which Silent eventually folded in 1998.

Sound design career

Following the sale of Silent Records in 1996, Kim Cascone transitioned to a career in commercial sound design and interactive audio. He joined Thomas Dolby's company Headspace (later known as Beatnik) as a sound designer and composer, where he contributed to early interactive audio applications. In 1998, Cascone moved to Staccato Systems, a spin-off from Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, serving as Director of Content. There he oversaw algorithmic sound design for video games, focusing on event modeling techniques that generated realistic, non-repetitive behaviors for in-game elements such as explosions, car crashes, and environmental atmospheres. These methods relied on stochastic density envelopes, random waveform generation, and pools of short sound files triggered variably to create dynamic audio outcomes, with patches built in Synthbuilder and bound into game engines for improved designer-programmer collaboration. His work included contributions to titles such as NASCAR 2000 by Electronic Arts, incorporating physical models and behavioral algorithms for race cars and environments. Cascone left Staccato Systems in the early 2000s, concluding his primary period in commercial game audio and sound design.

Post-digital music and later work

In the early 2000s, Kim Cascone returned to composing and releasing experimental electronic music after a period focused on commercial sound design, aligning his creative output with the post-digital tendencies he had outlined. He founded and operated the Anechoic label, which served as the primary platform for his personal work beginning around 2000. This phase emphasized microsound, glitch, and lower-case aesthetics, often exploring digital artifacts and minimal processing. Cascone produced several series during this time, starting with Dust Theories on c74 in 2001, an enhanced CD that initiated conceptual explorations of residue and digital decay. Subsequent releases included Residualism on Ritornell in 2001, Anti-Correlation on Anechoic in 2002, The Bourbaki Conjecture on Sub Rosa in 2003, Pulsar Studies on Anechoic and Sub Rosa in 2004, and Gravity Handler on CRC in 2004. These works featured abstracted electronic textures, algorithmic processes, and attention to subtle sonic failures. Into the mid-2000s and beyond, he continued with Statistically Improbable Phrases on Anechoic in 2006 and Astrum Argentum on Anechoic in 2007, both on CDr formats and reflecting sustained interest in probabilistic structures and minimalism. In 2011, The Knotted Constellation (Fourteen Rotted Coordinates) appeared on Monotype Records, marking a continuation of his experimental approach. Later releases included Subflowers ɸ on Emitter Micro in 2016, Dark Stations on Unspace Records in 2016, and the lathe-cut Copperopolis (Guitar Study) in 2018. Cascone remains active with digital and limited-edition releases through Anechoic Media on Bandcamp, including projects under his name and the PGR alias, often revisiting drone-based forms, residue-themed works such as Rust, Dust & Residues - Volume 1, and cube series entries like blueCube( ) and blackCube( ). His ongoing practice maintains a focus on low-volume, process-oriented sound and the aesthetic potentials of technological imperfection.

Musical style and aesthetics

Key writings

Kim Cascone has authored several influential essays on the aesthetics of electronic and computer music. His most prominent work is the essay "The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post-Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music", published in Computer Music Journal (volume 24, issue 4) in 2000 by MIT Press. In this piece, Cascone discusses how glitches, errors, and the "failure" of digital technology to achieve perfect reproduction have become intentional aesthetic elements in experimental electronic music. He coined and popularized the term "post-digital" to describe this shift away from the ideals of high-fidelity digital sound toward embracing imperfections. Another notable essay is "Laptop Music – counterfeiting aura in the age of infinite reproduction", published in 2002. Drawing on Walter Benjamin's concept of aura, Cascone examines the implications of laptop-based music performance and infinite digital reproduction on authenticity and presence in electronic music. These writings have contributed significantly to theoretical discussions in microsound, post-digital music, and sound art communities.

Selected discography

Legacy and influence

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