PRESS:
On Timewinder
Spiralling cascades of 70s-style synth wonderment that reminds me of Tangerine Dream's Phaedra."
~BOA Melody Bar
"Excellent cassette on Lieven Martens’ label from a duo with a jones for the primitive electronica of 80s underground synth, electronics and tape music. At points they orbit the lonely sound of early Harmonia or even some of Mark McGuire’s more Kraftwerk-fixated work but there’s an alien, homemade quality to the sonics that is extremely appealing. Lieven compares it to some of Colin Potter’s early work and that makes a lot of sense. One to get lost in."
~Volcanic Tongue
On ITCZ
"only the title (after an excellent digitalis outing) we’ve been able to stock from this seattle area synth duo (bonus’ jamie potter on alesis s4korg triton, and roland mt-32 & jason e. anderson on yamaha motif es6roland d50, and korg x5). already causing something a stir around the mms offices here due to their careful channeling of both synth library & brad fiedel/john carpenter-ish modes. as the synth music” scene begins to eat it’s own tail, these guys are inarguably in the forefront in regards to new directions to take it all in..."
~Keith Fullterton Whitman, Mimaroglu Music Sales
"2010 starts with a quiver; this is the second Brother Raven release I've had the pleasure of hearing, released as part of the excellent & most recent Gift Tapes batch. The aesthetic of Gift is spot on - elusive landscapes, submerged collages of dark colour produced to a high, consistent standard. Diving into the Pineapple Portal was one of my 09 highs, and we see similar synth perceptions here; playful, toying movements cut into 8 sections as opposed to Diving's 3. This is the main criticism to be made - too many cut-ups, not enough slow merging. Merging works. In this sense it reminds me of the Mark McGuire solo acoustic LP, which also saw a standout artist most acquainted with longer formations moving into the unknown territory of more 'normal' song lengths. That's not to say longform 'drone' (I use this in the broadest sense, you know what I'm getting at) can't ever be segmented in this way, it just generally sprouts zoning problems. Back to my main thrust: Itcz calls upon a few selected techniques and manages to apply minimal manipulation in producing what often sounds like field recordings played out on a synth - subjects could include forests, zoos and underwater hideouts. In reality it's a merging of these ostensible influences that sets the Raven apart in the new revival."
~Dialobewarriorz
On Nellie
"It seems like more and more folks on the cassette tape underground are dusting off their old synthesizers and letting themselves go in the drift of mellow electronic tones. Not sure why that is exactly, but it makes me happy so I'm not too concerned. "Nellie" is really a treat because of the focus and restraint evident across its five tracks. The whole tape maintains a cohesive mood without feeling inert, and the compositions are all carefully put together in terms of tone and melody. There's something about the feel of the tape that reminds me of German synth stuff from the 1970s, but on the whole considerably less romantic and melodramatic, and definitely pre-New Age. Brother Raven are taking heavy cues from that era but their stuff has it's own place."
~Raf SpielmanEggy Records and Distibution
"Brother Raven features Bonus'Jamie Potter & Jason Anderson doing some very convincing early 80's synth minimalism."
~Keith Fullterton Whitman, Mimaroglu Music Sales
LIVE mentions
"Brother Raven's music burbles and pulsates in a cosmic eternal now, unspooling fractals of clean-blooded analog-synth tones (or a convincing digital facsimile thereof) that ripple and disperse into that bright light filmmakers flash when characters cross from reality into dream/fantasy."
~Dave Segal, The Stranger
"Local duo Brother Raven (Jamie Potter and Jason E. Anderson) eschew their billmates' decibellicosity and strive for cosmic consciousness-raising, like many a highly evolved synth-sorcerer before them. Their cassettes Diving into the Pineapple Portal and A Sound Like Wailing Winds Is Heard (Gift Tapes) are primo chill-out soma, beatless balm that avoids crystal-clutching tritenessand achieves a Zenlike state of calm (sorry for the rhyme, but I swear on a stack of Alan Watts tomes that it's true). Creating music that tranquilly bubbles, sparkles, and drifts without inducing yawns or eye-rolling is terrifically difficult, but Brother Raven achieve this exalted condition. Their tracks belong both in the academy and in the temples of holistic health."
~Dave Segal, The Stranger
"...the duo had their analog gear out and brought back memories of the numerous releases of electronic music on Sky Records from back in the 1970's and 1980's. For those of you who didn't grow up with those around, I should explain that they put out LPs of gentle, melodic synthesizer music with experimental flourishes. The best known examples from their catalog would be Cluster and the first four albums by Asmus Tietchens. The emphasis here is drifting off into soundworlds, not the sequencer driven drivel of post-Krautrock Tangerine Dream. It is an area that seems to be getting explored more lately by the likes of James Ferraro from The Skaters and others. Brother Raven really nails the cosmic aspects of this stuff though."
~Eric Lanzillotta, Dissonant Plane Blog
"Brother Raven are fairly new on my horizon, a local duo (J.Anderson & J.Potter), they purvey a stunning wash of uber spaced out cosmic synth worship. They seemed to take a wholly improvisational journey, navigating dense bass swells interspersed with thoughtful quiet parts. It was as if Klaus Schulze took a less conventional route through the Moog cosmos."
~Kurt D of Sparkle Girl
"Brother Raven are a couple guys from Seattle that make music from synthesizers that will take you on a dreamy journey through outer sea and inner space."
Andrew Lench, Slow Music Meltdown Blog
"Seattle’s Brother Raven leads drifting undersea excursions through hypnotic blips and vast ambient washes."
~Impose Magazine
