PGR

American composer and sound designer Kim Cascone may be more recognizable in his former role as head of Silent Records, the label he founded in the mid-'80s, but his recordings during the early '90s as PGR, Spice Barons and Thessalonians plus during the mid-'90s as Heavenly Music Corporation, were equally as visible. A soundtrack composer through the early '80s before striking out on his own, Cascone studied electronic music arrangement and composition formally at the Berklee College of Music in the early '70s before studying in with Dana McCurdy at Manhattan's New School in 1976. Subsequently working as assistant musical supervisor under director David Lynch on both Twin Peaks and Wild at Heart, Cascone left Hollywood for San Francisco in the mid-'80s to pursue solo composition, forming Silent Records in 1986 after self-releasing his first PGR album, Silence. Though far more abrasive and conflicted than much of his later work, PGR's use of texture and compositional chance is a constant through the whole of Cascone's oevre. A number of PGR titles followed, including 1992's Chemical Bride and 1995's The Morning Book of Serpents, though Cascone later went on to record primarily as Heavenly Music Corporation, releasing the bulk of his work through Silent. Cascone finally left the label in 1996 to pursue design and composition at Headspace, a multimedia company started by Thomas Dolby. Three years later, he reappeared on the recording scene with Blue Cube, an album released as himself. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide