Solar Shadows

When Karthik Kakarala's free-jazz noise keyboards separated entirely from the grindcore of Pizza Party At... (formerly called Onager, disbanded finally in Fall 2005), he sought to take his sound explorations further and into a more prominent space in live performances and recordings. While the intention was to make this a solitary effort, having unfairly come to associate dealings with band members in a harsh light, his reconnections with long-time friend Doug Raber and Stephen Holliger (who already had been starting to provide acoustic drum beats in jamming sessions) made the primary live line-up a full band, forever changing the sound and the level of real-time density.

Particularly with the addition of Doug (a.k.a. Alchemy for Bunnies), an inventiveness rejuvenated the band beyond simple different performance ideas. His experiments with constructing new electronic devices (like the light-manipulating optical regurgitron sampler, or the body-contact "interrocitor," sounding easily as unearthly as its "This Island Earth" inspirations) changed the framework of the band, allowing for the sound potential of the band to change with a little time and a soldering iron.

With Karthik's ideas, Doug's abilities to make them into reality, and Stephen tie-ing it all together in percussion, the additions of soundscape musician Jeff Curran and the feedback improvisations of Kristen Nicholls, the quietest changes or blistering walls of sound can be achieved, reminiscent of Wolf Eyes and Kites on one end, to Black Dice to the acoustic-sound experiments of Smegma on the other.