Alias & Tarsier

In 2003, shortly after issuing his instrumental album Muted, the California-based Anticon producer Alias received an unsolicited letter from New York resident Rona "Tarsier" Rapadas, an artist whose name he did not recognize. She expressed admiration for his music, urged him to hear her Brooklyn indie electronica group Healamonster & Tarsier, and inquired whether he might ever consider adding her vocals to a remix of Muted. Alias found her submitted samples compelling enough that he promptly forwarded her four beats and invited her to select one and layer her own vocal performance on top. This exchange initiated a 21-month correspondence conducted entirely by email, during which the pair continued trading music files without ever meeting in person until just before the 2006 release of their debut album Brookland/Oaklyn and the EP compilation Plane That Draws a White Line.