Broadcast live on the Youngbloods Morning Show on Eaton Radio, my pal John Moses invited me to walk through the making of my new single, Cynkill, for a Story In Sound.

Dakou

Cynkill

Cynkill - Story In Sound

From Caural's mini-LP "Handmade Evil", available on caural.bandcamp.com. 

All sounds played by hand on two hardware sequencers: absolutely no sequencing, software, or smoke and mirrors.

Handmade Evil

Crystal Keys

CEIBA

Sanza Eclipse

Born worshipping vinyl through his parents’ living room stereo, Caural (born Zachary Mastoon)based temples at his sparkly blue drum set, the Casio PT-80 and guitar. He was soon skinning his knees skateboarding with childhood neighbor Stuart Bogie (Arcade Fire, TV on The Radio, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra), and capturing youthful interpretations of early 80's Hip Hop, new wave and pop radio hits together on cassette. Playing an amalgam of jazz influenced punk in their early teens, they went on to co-found Transmission in 1991, a group which later took a more experimental turn with the addition of saxophonist Colin Stetson. 

Equally in love with rap and shoegaze, Mastoon clarified his voice with Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University and an around-the-world gamelan orchestra aboard Semester At Sea; however, it was during his final year at NYU in 1999 that he began fusing his disparate influences quite literally with a Yamaha SU700. A CD-R of his first four compositions was slipped from his coworker at the turntablism-pioneering Asphodel Records to the head of Toshoklabs, and the first Caural album had found a home. 

A critically acclaimed catalog of original material and remixes for Chocolate Industries, Mush, Plug Research, Sound in Color, and other early foundation builders of the "beat scene" followed. It was in early 2006 that he teamed up with LA emcee Busdriver to tour with everyone from Aceyalone through Deerhoof, often bloodying fingers and accidentally tearing knobs off his sampler on stage.

Crystal Keys

Caural

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