Caural

Chicago-bred instrumentalist and producer Zachary Mastoon grew up playing jazz (he was one of the founders of the group Transmission along with Stuart Bogie and Eric Perney until they left for college) and funk (his band ended up backing rapper Diverse), though he didn't discover the kind of downbeat experimental electronica and hip-hop that interested him most until enrolling at NYU in 1997 (after stints at various colleges studying different things). There he began delving into Prefuse 73 and Daedelus-styled production under the name Caural (pronounced like "coral"). In 2000 his debut album, Initial Experiments in 3-D, came out on Toshoklabs, followed by a move to Chocolate Industries and the release of the Paint EP and Stars on My Ceiling full-length in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Eventually, Caural was signed to Mush, and Remembering Today was issued in 2005. The next year, Mirrors for Eyes, which featured vocals on some tracks, came out.