…the only extemporaneous music label?
We have a passion for recording in an impromptu fashion.
Multidimensional music experiments exploring time, space, chaos theory, and spontaneous composition.
Rhythm based music about the lack of rhythm in parts of life. Making sense of it all through music.
Found sound, machinery, tools, and industrial environments used as musical instruments.
Seasonal and thematic recordings, reinterpreted through experimental and improvisational lenses.
A movement meant to move.
Foundational garage-experimental band that led to the creation of Glistening Trail Records.
Songs centered on human connection, intimacy, vulnerability, and emotional resonance.
Environmentally inspired music reflecting climate, ecosystems, and humanity’s relationship with nature.
Genre-bending reggae, rock, and improvisational fusion rooted in spontaneity.
In the 1980s, I was in my twenties and had been experimenting with sound engineering and production since my teens. I decided to start writing my own songs and formed a band called The Electric Slugs. The band was an experimental garage band pushing the limits of home studio recording. By the end of the 80s, I had produced seven different projects. After massive rejection from record labels, I decided to start my own record label and named it after what Electric Slugs leave behind — Glistening Trail.
In September 1992, I created what I believe to be the first “home digital recording studio.” The other band members nicknamed me Digital Yoda. At first, I took offense to the name, but eventually embraced it as I realized I had pioneered digital home recording.
Since that time, the music industry has seen a dramatic shift in supply and demand. In 1992, we created one of the first websites and put the first record company on the World Wide Web. In 1994, we introduced the first subscription streaming/download service. By 1995, the first pay-per-download service. By 1997, we determined it was more economical to give the music away for free. By 2000, over 40,000 songs were available for free download and streaming. BMI, ASCAP, and the RIAA tried to stop us — they failed.
Music as a Universal Language: Music has the power to communicate emotion universally. Certain melodies, harmonies, and rhythms evoke shared human experience across cultures and backgrounds.
ExperiMental Music: The music and lyrics are written and recorded extemporaneously. Spontaneous improvisation — jamming, freestyle, impromptu creation — is closely related to pure chaos. The work evolves from sensitive initial conditions, much like “a butterfly flapping its wings in China causing a hurricane in the Atlantic.”