Jewelled Antler is a musical collective created in 1999 by

Loren Chasse Loren Chasse is an American musician, sound artist Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hy ...

and Glenn Donaldson as an extension of their work in the organic drone folk-noise group Thuja. The idea was to release handmade

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

's of various

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

and collaborative projects and one-off bands, encompassing drones,

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

s, electroacoustic sound manipulation, and

field recording Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...

s. Jewelled Antler is perhaps best known for its "Nature

Psych ''Psych'' is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks for USA Network. The series stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observ ...

" or "Outdoor

Folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

", in which whole

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

s are recorded "in the field" and/or incorporate

field recordings Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibrat ...

and the sounds of

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

. Indeed, besides a wide range of traditional and exotic stringed things and low-tech electronic equipment, some of the " instruments" on their albums include

pine cone A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers a ...

s, creeks, branches and crude

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

s built from fallen trees. The Jewelled Antler Collective is a term that has been applied to a larger group of musicians working with Chasse and Donaldson or on their own in similar areas: Steven R. Smith, Rob Reger, Donovan Quinn, Christine Boepple, Greg Bianchini, Keith Evans, Eleanor Harwood and Kerry McLaughlin. Projects such as the Blithe Sons, OF, the Ivytree, The Franciscan Hobbies, Floating Birthday Children, The Buried Civilizations, Tomes, the Famous Boating Party, Hala Strana, The Skygreen Leopards, Glassine, Child Readers, Dead Raven Choir and more have released albums under the Jewelled Antler banner. Many of these groups have moved on to slightly more high-profile releases on

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

s such as Catsup Plate, Strange Attractors Audio House, FAT CAT,

Jagjaguwar Jagjaguwar is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Jagjaguwar is a label included in Secretly Group, which also includes ...

, Soft Abuse, Family Vineyard and Music Fellowship.

External links

Jewelled Antler Library ReissueFakejazz interviewSF Weekly feature
American experimental musical groups {{US-experimental-band-stub