the dust settles
glue, Stationary, Haxa, Stipple
hi everybody -
Happy tax day, and also happy birthday to my paternal grandfather that I really never knew, Flay Weathers. It’s his violin that I transduced audio through on my record A Cardinal With A Sign of Blood. Walking on the sidewalk in downtown Denver this afternoon I’ve found myself calculating how long I might last if I sold all of my music gear, bought a van, and followed the Platte deep into the plains. Depending on the van I think I could get at least a few years out of it. Unfavorable conditions piled up this morning and an inopportune detour around the Denver aquarium was the final straw. But then I remember: music is relationships, glue. Tonight I’ll play in a saxophone quartet accompanying Eric Theise’s cartographic projections, hopefully we’ll make a compelling sound together. Matt & Carl have recently taken to calling me a trucker, and they’re not necessarily wrong. There’s momentum and music has to happen, but music is still a job for me and even the best job can shove it.
Last week I moved into a new studio space in downtown Pueblo. I haven’t had a studio separate from my home since I worked out of Second Dream in Oakland, coming up on a decade ago. Making space is a vital precursor to my practice and the new space feels primed with potential. I am nervous about the financial expense and the feeling of distance from my tools, but work has remained strong for about nine months and I want to meet that momentum where I can. I’m looking forward to seeing what the space opens up. It was stationary and it remains stationary.
At the beginning of the month, the great new LA label Variable Recordings put out my first cassette release in ages. It’s called Haxa and stems from a live performance approach I was working with a few years back. A system intended to confuse me, a swirl of cut-up field recordings and modular synthesis, metal objects on lap steel. It’s something unique in my catalog, and not something I’m likely to return to in the near future. Pick up a copy from VR, and while you’re at it check out the rest of their catalog. I’m excited to see where Ian goes with this project.
Late last night, I released a new CD on my small imprint, Glomar Editions, the first duo release between Matthew Langford and myself. Sometime this last winter we had a too-brief recording session at an abandoned pool in Fountain. Matthew and I met last year through the usual tangled web of music and we’ve become fast friends and collaborators. He’s a great player and I love being compelled to keep up. We’re working on a lot more to come.
If you haven’t yet, give my new online-only label a follow: Bastard Countryside. We’ve got our next release available on Friday. Getting back into a curatorial swing has been satisfying, the rest of the year looks to have a lot of great music in it. Thanks for reading this so far, this has been an exceptionally business-heavy post. I’m off to soundcheck at the DMV, see you around. Write me if you have a record that needs mixing or mastering, write me if you have a notion about the following rivers: Brazos (bræzəs), Arkansas (ɑːrˈkænzəs). See you around.