News & goings on: Autumn 2023
New and upcoming releases on Sonic Dialogue, Past Inside the Present and Mystery Circles; Bandcamp listening party October 18th; live show in Philly December 9th
For about 3 weeks now, I’ve been living in something of a time warp that feels eerily reminiscent of April 2020: spending days at home, limiting visitors, watching escapist garbage on Netflix and forgetting what time of day it is. This time around feels a lot more joyous, though, and is also interspersed with diaper changes, milk bottles and the like. I’m over the moon with these new additions to our family. Thanks to everyone who has reached out and sent well wishes!
Despite severely limited musical work at present, there’s plenty of updates and lots to share as the year winds down. I’m happy to say that a few recordings from the last year or so will see the light of day on some great labels, including a listening party for one of them out now, and I’ll be playing an amazing show in December here in Philadelphia at the Gatherings Concert Series.
New release: “Diary #1” (Sonic Dialogue)
Readers of the blog will know that a bulk of the posts I share here are “studio diary” entries that break down my music-making process in detail. As it happens, I’ve released a collection of some of these pieces as the inaugural release on my friend Emmanuel’s new label, Sonic Dialogue, which already has built up a small roster of contributing artists including Arovane, Bahia Mansa and Emmanuel’s own Emho alias.
“Diary #1” is the first of a new series of albums he is releasing as limited cassette editions. The intent of the Diary series is to highlight works in progress - “to celebrate the raw beauty of unfinished works, showcasing the moments where inspiration strikes, melodies are born, and emotions run wild.” As such, none of the pieces are finished, and only a light bit of mastering has been done in order to offer as transparent a glimpse as possible into how the contributing artists work.
It was a fascinating exercise to write an album like this, where I knew I would have to simply “put down my pencil” after a certain point and avoid finishing the tracks. It was also an interesting test for my own ego, to be vulnerable and let the tracks go out into the world like this, without extensive arrangement or polishing them like I usually do. I’m looking forward to listening to how other artists approach this concept in future additions to this project.
I spent some time answering questions about the process, my inspiration, and track-by-track details on the Sonic Dialogue webpage. You can read all of that here: https://diary.sonic-dialogue.com/diary01
Join the listening party:
The album is out now as digital and cassette editions, and there will be a listening party on Bandcamp on Wednesday, October 18 at 3 PM EDT (9 PM CET). RSVP here and join us for live listening and discussion! Hope to see you there.
Upcoming releases
Midnight Letters: October 2023 (Past Inside the Present)
One of the most positive aspects of the initial pandemic for me, personally, was connecting with my friend Chris Bartels and kicking off a series of collaborative, remote recording sessions. Based in Minneapolis, he writes music under a wide variety of monikers and styles, and is one of the few people I know who probably exceeds my own ridiculous rate of recording: we now have a Dropbox folder of shared ideas stretching 4-5 albums deep. I’ve been collaborating with his ambient piano & guitar project Blurstem for the last few years and our debut collaboration, “Duets,” was centered on Chris’s felted piano playing as a sample source and was released through Fluid Audio last year:
Our sophomore effort was finished last year, and is finally ready to see the light of day after hibernating on our hard drives for a bit. It’s called “Midnight Letters” and will be released on Past Inside the Present later this month (October 2023). The album focuses on the electric guitar, as played by Chris and sampled/mangled by me, and I think the resulting sounds lean a little more optimistic and “light” than most of the dark and melancholic things I release. Be sure to keep an eye out on the PITP channels for more on this!
Where Substance Meets Emptiness: January 2024 (Mystery Circles)
Readers of the blog will recall that in August, I posted a preview of several tracks that form the basis of a new Murakami-inspired album called “Where Substance Meets Emptiness.” Here’s the post in case you missed it:
Well, I’m happy to report that the album is back from Taylor Deupree’s capable hands at 12k studios and is fully mastered for release on the excellent Mystery Circles label in January of 2024 (tentative) as a cassette and CD edition.
I’ve been a big fan of Mystery Circles for a long time, so it’s an honor to join the roster of artists there (BlankFor.ms, Symbol, IDRA, Endurance, etc.). I can’t wait to share this one, as I took a lot of adventurous steps in my writing process and think it’s a truly unique piece of my discography.
Upcoming performance: December 9 in Philadelphia, PA with Hotel Neon
After 10 years as a band, I’ve had the pleasure of performing in some amazing places with Hotel Neon. But my favorite, by far, is the sanctuary of St. Mary’s Church in west Philadelphia. We’ve had the good fortune of playing here several times since 2016 for the storied Gatherings Concert Series, first started in May 1992 and run by Chuck van Zyl (a dear friend and institution in the Philadelphia space music scene).
We’ll be doing it again on December 9 with our friends Lowercase Noises (Albuquerque, NM) and Slow Meadow (Houston, TX). If you’re in the area, we’d love to see you here for what is sure to be another beautiful night in the sanctuary.
