Caural
Caural is the solo project of Zachary Mastoon, a 27 year-old
multi-instrumentalist and producer originally from Chicago. Zachary, initially armed with a Fisher Price cassette recorder, has written and recorded music for most of his life. You might as well start calling the man Odysseus for all of the journeys he’s taken in pursuit of loops.

After many early collaborations with friend and neighbor Stuart Bogie (currently a saxophonist for the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra), Zachary began studying jazz guitar and improvisation with Anthony Braxton at Wesleyan University. He also studied Indonesian Gamelan and Southeast Asian music aboard the Semester At Sea program, rounding out his work by studying experimental electronic music at NYU.

After releasing his debut “Initial Experiments in 3D” on Töshöklabs, Zachary would record “Paint,” his first EP for Chocolate Industries, in 2001. “Stars on My Ceiling,” his first

 



   proper full-length for Chocolate, followed a year later with its pastiche of neck-snapping beats and melodies. The “Blurred July” EP appeared in 2003, featuring a collaboration with Diverse
and a remix by Savath & Savalas. In between these releases, Zachary left Chicago for New York City, going on to remix and produce tracks for other artists, notably those on Consumers Research and Development Label, Buttermilk, Sound in Color and Plug Research.

In addition to all of these projects, Zachary has been busy performing alongside such contemporaries as RJD2, James Lavelle, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, King Britt and Dntel. A new, vocal-oriented project entitled “Boy King Islands” is in the works, along with a collaboration featuring Antibalas’ Stuart Bogie billed as “The Original Ultraviolets.” Two new Caural releases should find their way to stores soon.
 



Caural
Blurred July EP
CD/12” EP | CHLT 032



   Caural
Stars on My Ceiling
CD/2 x 12” LP | CHLT 025

Caural
Paint
CD/12” EP | CHLT 024

 
 
XLR8R March 2002
Alternative Press		   Mush Records
Caural on MySpace