Palace of Lights

About

Palace of Lights flickered into existence in the early 1980s, a brief yet potent luminescence in the American experimental soundscape. Kerry Leimer, the label's primary architect, orchestrated a catalog that resonates with process-driven investigations and site-specific soundscapes. The label's ephemeral three-year lifespan birthed a mere 13 releases, each a sculptural artifact of exploratory sound. The label's oeuvre is a repository of minimalist compositions and tape manipulation, with vinyl and cassette formats as its canvases. Marc Barreca's "Music Works for Industry" (1983) and Kerry Leimer's "Imposed Order" (1983) are notable exemplars, the former a testament to early tape experimentation, the latter a fractal exploration of imposed sonic structures. Savant's "The Neo-Realist (At Risk)" (1983) stands as a bold commitment to avant-garde vinyl, pushing the limits of the medium. Palace of Lights operated within a liminal space, merging field recordings with conceptual installations, creating soundscapes that were as much about the absence of sound as its presence. Its regional influence, rooted in the Pacific Northwest, whispers through releases like "Regional Zeal, Mouth Music From Olympia Washington" (1982), capturing the interdisciplinary spirit of the scene.