without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most wonderful things about creating music in this modern digital age, is getting to meet, pass time, share thoughts and collaborate with like-minded artists. since the dawn of this new internet age brought about the revolutionary change of being able to productively work with those situated far outside your neighbourhood, town, city, county, country, continent even... it has been possible to find those souls which share the desire to create art in such similar ways.
getting to know that each of us, or each few of us are not alone in our desires to approach our work in these similar ways, along with drawing enthusiasm and inspiration from them, i could, and very likely shall someday draw a list together of each and every person i have work with in the past, collaborated with, jammed with, share tales and experiences with, shared the road with, slept on floors with, walked dazed through unfamiliar cities with... but for now, the simple facts of it can be found even from the list of folk made up within my steadily expanding list of releases.
yesterday, as a perfect example, saw the release of the long-awaited official
debut album from tree dusk muir. i cannot exaclty recall how, or precisely the first time i came to know about their music. although i do have fond recollections of passing by their
myspace page back in glory days, eagerly anticipating hearing the darkly disturbing sounds coming from their music player. it sounded like some kind of hallucinogenic swampland music, doused in lyrics picturing scenes not far removed from the kind of grindhouse horror movies the soundtrack conjured in my mind.
gladly, a dialogue began between us, possibly begininng with
james p honey's contact with
wormhole out in
hawaii, possibly from direct contact from ovate, whom i remember receiving kind word from at an early stage. after lines were exchanged across continents, there came about the opportunity to collaborate on a track for their forthcoming album,
an immense posse-cut which would feature contributions from both
james p honey and myself, along with our staggeringly talented collaborator jamie romain on cello. i cannot recall exactly when we made the song, but i remember it being around the summertime, perhaps it was the summer of 2008. in a way the track was an aethestic departure from the majority of the work i was engaged in at the time, but how it felt like such a natural mode to slip into. writing to that song came like a lucid dream within a hazy, hot summers nights' ritual.
james p honey and i then had the wonderful fortune to be able to cross paths with
ovate,
toobz and
rezult in
richmond, virginia, as part of the 'our accents sure are pretty' tour with
thesis sahib,
pierre the motionless,
roma and
funken, gladly that night also being joined by the imposing might of the masterful
moshe, not to mention being housed, fed and watered by the incomparable
isaac ramsey, aka swordplay. it was such a wonderful night indeed, to feel so safe and relaxed amongst friends, especially having had the terrible experience of passing through the oppressive misery of
washington dc the night before.
i recall it to have been a hot, spring evening in
richmond and how james and i had wandered round the corner from the venue to the gas station for some supplies before the show and, upon our return, being greeted by the smiling, strangely familiar face of
ovate outside the venue, greeting us with warm wishes and the kindest of words and introducing us to
toobz and
rezult, and even hailing
wormhole on the cellphone. they had driven three or fours hours down from
roanoke for the show, bringing with them a cd of their, at that time, almost-finished album, along with a whole bunch of prints of
toobz artwork and a few sculptures for us too. as is almost uniformly the case, far from being strange, unapproachable types, they were so very open, friendly, filled with positivity and such kind words of our own creative efforts and equally glad that our paths had crossed on the long odyssey that was that particular tour.
since having crossed paths that spring night in
virginia, it has been a pleasure to continually engage with them in dialogue and
to collaborate on brief, but incredibly enjoyable occassion, as has been the case with all the other artists whom i have been lucky enough to come into contact with. and so it stands. just last night i was working intensely on a beat for
ovate &
staplemouth to be featured on their upcoming release on
planck length, having a wail of a time extracting the darkest, most psychedelic sounds i could from the
microkorg, layering them over three storming beats i had assembled in the sequencer. the enjoyment that creative collaboration brings will always be unmatched.
so, do be sure to
download the new tree dusk muir album as soon as time permits, and be on the look out for the
ovate &
staplemouth release in the coming months. not to mention all the other various release from all the folk mentioned above, and everyone else operating within the scene. there are so many talented people, pushing the boundaries in so many directions, all of whom survive on the support, encouragement and enthusiasm of their listeners. so many people risking it all in their attempts to create something filled with a meaning true to them, which can be shared with those eager to listen. a worthwhile cause in a meaningless world indeed.
keep safe
jamesreindeer
