Thessalonians (also known as PGR/Thessalonians) were a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

group founded by Kim Cascone and Larry Thrasher. Originally, their compositions focused on infusing

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and later integrated elements of

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and

psychedelic music Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis to ...

. Their final line-up was Cascone, Thrasher,

Don Falcone Don Falcone (born November 5, 1958) is an American producer and multi-instrumentalist, and the guiding light behind the Spirits Burning space-rock collective. In Spirits Burning and other offshoot bands and projects, his primary collaborations ...

, and Paul Neyrinck.

History

Thessalonians were formed as a collaborative project in 1986 by keyboardist Kim Cascone and percussionist Larry Thrasher. They were joined by David Gardner, David James and Kurt Robinson to form a quintet. This line-up released four albums, three under the name PGR/Thessalonians (the former being the name of an

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

project by Cascone). Two of the albums were released by Silent Records, the label run by Cascone. The last release by this line-up was the PGR/Thessalonian album '' The Black Field''. In 1990, Cascone, Thrasher, and James were joined by

on synthesizer, Doug Murdock on

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, and Paul Neyrinck on

sampler Sampler may refer to: * Sampler (signal), a digital signal processing device that converts a continuous signal to a discrete signal * Sampler (needlework), a handstitched piece of embroidery used to demonstrate skill in needlework * Sampler (surna ...

. They recorded the 1993 album ''

Soulcraft ''Soulcraft'' the debut studio album of Thessalonians, released in October 1993 by Silent. The album has been described as musically stunning and groundbreaking. Track listing Personnel Adapted from the ''Soulcraft'' liner notes. Thessalonia ...

'' for Silent. In 1996, Thessalonians disbanded and Cascone sold Silent. Twelve years after their previous album, the band released ''

Solaristics ''Solaristics'' is the second studio album by Thessalonians, released in May 2005 by Noh Poetry Records. The album comprises recording sessions that were completed between 1992 and 1996. Reception Backroad Music called ''Solaristics'' "a great ...

'', which comprised music recorded by Cascone, Falcone, Neyrinck, and Thrasher between 1992 and 1996.

Members

Final line-up

* Kim Cascone *

* Paul Neyrinck * Larry Thrasher

Previous members

* David Gardner * Pejman Hakimi * David James * Doug Murdock * Kurt Robinson

Discography

Studio albums * PGR/Thessalonians: ''

The Concentration of Light Prior to Combustion ''The Concentration of Light Prior to Combustion'' the debut split album of PGR (American band), PGR/Thessalonians (band), Thessalonians, released in 1986 by Banned Production. Track listing Personnel Adapted from the liner notes of ''The Conc ...

'' (1986, Banned) * Thessalonians: ''

The Unwinding ''The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America'' is a 2013 non-fiction book by the American journalist George Packer. The book uses biographies of individual Americans as a means of discussing important forces in American history from 1978 ...

'' (1986, Silent) * PGR/Thessalonians: '' Imbrication 2: An Investigaton Into Documenting Change Systems'' (1988, Angakok) * PGR/Thessalonians: '' The Black Field'' (1989, Silent) * Thessalonians: ''

'' (1993, Silent) * Thessalonians: ''

'' (2005, Noh Poetry)

References

External links

Thessalonians
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thessalonians Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 1986 establishments in California Musical groups from San Francisco American ambient music groups American industrial music groups American electronic music groups Psychedelic rock music groups from California Drone music groups