Experimental electronic LP The Clearing was originally self-released on vinyl in 1988 by A Produce (the moniker used by the late Barry Craig) who was a prolific artist operating on the fringe of the ambient electronic and avant garde DIY music scenes of California from the 1980's up until his premature death in 2011. First becoming known in underground circles as guitarist in early 80’s postpunk group Afterimage, then via his Trance Port Tapes label, Craig was responsible for documenting what he coined in his own words "the growing trance music scene" emerging in LA at the time. Craig described his privately released, small-run debut LP as "an album of conceptual space," rooted in LA's early post-punk / DIY scene but containing an intersection of styles incorporating the new experimental or 'trance' music that was starting coalesce in the mid-to-late 80’s. The result is a masterpiece of flow and cohesion, blending early electronic rhythms with keyboards, guitar and synthesizers which careen from lively, hypnotic grooves to deeper, inward-looking minimalist ambient passages. In 2008 Craig re-mastered the album with the help of electronic artist Loren Nerell, and self-released a very limited CDr version which included one bonus track (Raga Riley) that was included on the Independent Project Records compilation Source in 2021. The original album was licensed to the UK label All Night Flight in 2019 for a limited edition vinyl re-issue of 500 copies, and this will be the first time that the album is being made available as a replicated CD. For this first release in IPR's extensive reissue campaign of his catalog we’ve added three more bonus tracks, solo recordings that Craig included on his three L.A. Mantra compilation cassette releases on Trance Port Tapes between 1983-1985. This will be the first time these three tracks have been made available since their original cassette tape release in the early-to-mid 1980’s, and include several recordings dating back to 1979.
Six different cover variations were created for the letterpress-printed CD jackets of The Clearing, closely mimicking the geometric designs of the original vinyl LP release from 1988, which also featured six different cover designs created and printed at Independent Project Press by Bruce Licher and Barry Craig.
Track Listing
1. Farming In Arabia
2. Tunnels
3. Owachomo
4. Pulse
5. October 1st
6. Ashes of Love
7. For Jackson Pollack (#3)
8. The Raw Silk, The Uncarved Block
9. The Clearing
10. Raga Riley
11. Erosion
12. Dorian Imagination
13. Industrial Edge
A PRODUCE The Clearing Expanded SPECIAL EDITION CD
"A sleek blend of electronic rhythms and textures with spaced-out guitar and violin, The Clearing both presages a lot of the electrified ambient music that would come after it, and stands apart from it... Eclectic, imaginative, and entertaining all the way through (including the four bonus cuts added to this edition), The Clearing heralded a bright future for this moody texturalist."
—Michael Toland, The Big Takeover
"'Farming in Arabia' kicks off The Clearing with hand drum underscoring a powerful melody on organ, with some occasional blasts of unusual sonic effects and imaginative flights of rarified electric guitar. 'Tunnels' takes a bold step into a more gentle sequenced soundworld with broad sweeping textural drifts, while 'Owachomo' grooves over a slightly funky beat with sparse swaths of organ and guitar. 'Pulse' offers a faster, more upbeat pace with unusual voices and viola by guest Josie Roth. Other musicians guest on this track or that throughout the original album’s nine tracks as well as the four bonus cuts that adorn this edition. Perhaps the most unusual cut, by comparison to the others, is the song 'Ashes of Love.' Floating in on an ambient carpet but quickly turning into a song with a steady groove and jangly guitar sprites, and vocals by guest singer / bassist Daniel Voznick (who was also a member of Afterimage). 'The Raw Silk, the Uncarved Block' is another instrumental standout that spends a fair anount of its near-nine minute duration drifting through an ambient field of bells and gongs before turning into a fast-paced drum furrow for guitars and unusual effects. The title track caps off the original album with a haunting melodic shimmer that wanders through cavernous dreamscapes. Of the four bonus tracks included, the standouts would certainly be the warm and cyclic 'Raga Riley' and the mysteriously colorfully sequenced 'Dorian Imagination.' The Clearing is a masterful collection of well executed ideas that grows on the listener."
—Peter Thelen, Exposé Online
"As we music writers know, premature passings almost invariably make for musical martyrs, not to mention an inevitable shift in the way we listen to and appreciate the music they left behind. An example is the late Barry Craig, who was known as a pusher of the experimental DIY music scene in Los Angeles from the late 1980s until his untimely death in 2011. Craig’s music was of the haunting new wave variety. It carried with it a deep sophisti-pop sheen that could have only come from the city of angels... Dystopian city pop heaters like the showstealing ‘Ashes Of Love’ (which could’ve very easily have made it onto an alternative Liquid Sky soundtrack), are interspersed with dark ambient mood pieces like ‘The Clearing’ and Coil-esque subtexts like 'Owachamo.’ An attention to detail and taste for collaboration permeates the entire project, with fellow faces from the late 20th-Century LA scene including guitarist Richard Franecki, little-known experimentor Josie Roth, and Underworld collaborator Brian Daly all in tow for cameos on such far-flung instrumental contrbutions as viola, conga and harp."
—JIJ, Juno Daily