The new EP by Klangding Ray will feature guest appearances by man of the moment Ben Frost as well as Alva Noto, on whose Raster Noton label the record is due to come out.
[audio:Kangding Ray – pruitt igoe (ben frost demolition).mp3]The EP draws its inspiration from a gigantic social housing project Pruitt-Igoe, completed in 1955 in the U.S. City of St Louis, Missouri. Heralded as a milestone of modernism at the time of its development, the buildings by architect Minoru Yamasaki (also responsible for the World Trade Center) soon became dilapidated.
Designed according to the principles of modernism, and by the same architect who would later build the World Trade Center, the project saw a disastrous and violent decline after only a few years, plagued with vandalism and massive criminality, leading to its complete destruction from 1972 onwards.
The Klangding Ray original and Alva Noto mix on side A are dedicated to the projects construction, while Ben Frost’s contribution on side B reflects the demise and eventual demolition of the project (of which footage is to be seen in Koyasniqatsi).
Kangding Ray | Konstruktiv (Automne Fold, 2008)
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=sXpi5mcWMlg
Anticipating Kangding Rayʼs forthcoming album, due this winter, comes Pruitt Igoe, a 4 track EP on which both Alva Noto and Ben Frost have been invited by Kangding Ray to produce sonic variations on a contemporary architectural myth.
Pruitt Igoe is more than a post-modern icon, it represents an ancestral movement of hope and disillusion, of perfectly planned models and evaporated dreams. It serves as a judicious metaphor for our era, where the feeling of imbalance and doubt has replaced the certainity of eternal progress and endless economical growth.
http://www.kangdingray.com | http://www.raster-noton.net
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