Off The Sky

Off the Sky
Biography
“Tender as a hypersensitive turntable needle scratching whale-song at dusk, Off the Sky sharpens the edges of low fidelity; a shy waltz between brittle circuitry and the dynamic of natural substances. Jason melds loose elements - both natural and artificial - of minimal ambience and acoustic sensibilities with an uncanny sense of composition. Melodically, there in lies a gentle relationship of shuddering respirator breath like patterns leaning against blurry walls of sonic swell. Seemingly written as love letters from a ghost in the shell, his music beckons a quiet admiration under a pale moon-lit cityscape from afar...”
- Matt Yarington, Abandon Building Records
Believe it or not, the moniker “Off the Sky” was originally birthed as a simple misinterpretation of an obscure line from that famous film Trainspotting. Random as its conception was, Off the Sky is an all too apropos title summating the dub-atmospheric and acoustic solo projects emanating from Jason Corder’s studio in Kentucky, USA. It is a humble hande that reflects both his mild mannered nature and his usual “in-the-clouds” mind-set.
The close of 1977 marked the time Jason Corder fell “off the sky” into this world. As soon as his mind gave flight he began wandering down his own alley of musical experimentation. Such oddities as broken electronic gear, a cheap Casio keyboard, and an old-time Wurlitzer piano all played their roles in the melding of his young subconscious sense of composition (or decomposition). To this day the old dusty Wurlitzer still sings a quiet tune every now and then buried deep inside the hull of Jason’s music (literally).
Curiosity did not shy itself from Jason but befriended him with a strong arm. At 15 Jason discovered himself buried inside his own mind in an obscure world of tracker software and of computers bleeping in rapid fire patterns. Wielding an axe of determination, he began desperately chipping away at the thick pine of his software learning curves in hopes of carving a nitch for his style. Venting several years in this fashion produced many strange tunes with much experience gained. But reality checked itself in and he was forced to put his musical hat on the shelf to leave the solace of his studio for college.
Several years later he returned to producing with a wild-fire drive for actualizing his extraordinary vision of underground electronic music forging a style loosely inspired by the likes of Monolake, Gas, and Christian Fennesz. One might find him actively engaged in one of his numerous loves: lapgazing in his studio, performing live fractal-visuals and musical shows, indulging in an obscure book, spinning the silicon out on his college radio show, playing guitar and laptop in his post-rock band, or simply just having a laugh with a friend or two. Although he is a mind of many facets, his focus remains clear and can be best summed up as “an honest attempt to achieve a time-less creative end through means of desperate experimentation”. And in so few words, Off the Sky is just that.