A self-described "song workshop," Stargrazer is the project of bassist/multi-instrumentalist Peter Richards. There are two distinct sides to Stargrazer: the strummy, veritas acoustic bass side, which treads on the grave of Nick Drake as much as it dips its paws into the Portastatic and Morphine cookie jars; and the wild cut-and-paste lo-fi recording side that pairs up disconnected beats or heavily processed keyboard-scapes with found sound, samples, and left-of-center sonic experiments.
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A self-described "song workshop," Stargrazer is the project of bassist/multi-instrumentalist Peter Richards. There are two distinct sides to Stargrazer: the strummy, veritas acoustic bass side, which treads on the grave of Nick Drake as much as it dips its paws into the Portastatic and Morphine cookie jars; and the wild cut-and-paste lo-fi recording side that pairs up disconnected beats or heavily processed keyboard-scapes with found sound, samples, and left-of-center sonic experiments. Stargrazer is part of the GTG Recordings family, along with such bands as The Plurals, The Break-Ups, Head And Toe, and Crookedsound. Richards is also a member of "quiet noise" duo The Nanobots, and self-releases various projects under his It Takes A Village To Make Records imprint. On November 20 of 2010, Stargrazer's first official release (the "Trieste" EP) was digitally released at http://stargrazer.bandcamp.com as a pay-what-you-will download. The Trieste EP is an instrumental retelling of the January 23, 1960 dive to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of any of Earth's oceans -- a record-setting dive that has never been replicated by man or machine. Trieste marries Stargrazer's minimal approach to the sort of cyclic ambient works one might expect from Brian Eno, Eluvium, or To Rococo Rot. A full-length release comprised of eleven songs is in the works at Eric Merckling's (ex-Calliope) studio CrookedSound, for release sometime in 2011. Stargrazer springs from the same fertile Michigan music scene that birthed Frontier Ruckus, Calliope, Chris Bathgate, Breathe Owl Breathe, and Drunken Barn Dance. For fans of Acetone, Calvin Johnson, Low, Grandaddy, Guided By Voices, Benoit Pioulard, Sparklehorse, Dos, Bill Callahan, or His Name Is Alive.
