Powderhorn Cranes is a not-for-profit experimental collaborative lo-fi studio project based in Saint Paul, MN. The foundational member F. James Bardozi, a veteran Twin Cities multi-instrumentalist, operates as project engineer in his low-tech makeshift home studio. The identities of the slow-building number of members - including singers, musicians, poets, fiction writers and visual artists from around the world - are kept anonymous, each member favoring an alias.
The sound focuses on texture and amateur/crude recording techniques, and most flaws are kept in the mixes. Keyboards and computer effects are used minimally in favor of no-frills beat sequencing, manually manipulated traditional instruments and stompboxes. It is in part a reaction to the growing cleanliness and slickness of digital recording and output, part an homage to experimental electrorganic artists and part a celebration of collaboration