Sounds of Impetus Vol. 1

I have no memory of how Ao Vivo, specifically, came into my life (the man's discography is enormous), but it became a turning point in my musical interests. Now, I rarely attempt to rank records because it is so variable and contextual, but this one is forever in my top three - I don't even know what the other two might be, but it's that special. In college, I used to run live sound at a country bar half an hour from my aparment and when I left at one or two in the morning, I'd listen to it on my drive home, obsessively. Driving back roads alone in the dark juxtaposed with the wildest sounds streaming from my little Honda's stereo.

I was first introduced to Hermeto in a modern music ensemble I was a part of in college (shout out to Dr. Riepe). I distinctly remember the sounds of pigs, so looking back it was definitely Slaves Mass I had heard. The titular tune opens with a call and response between a pig and fingerpicked guitar. This was a formative moment for me. New rhythms, new harmony, and new sounds. It was jazz, but it was foreign. It was foreign, but familiar. And so deeply rooted in nature.

Hermeto was born in an area of Brazil with no electricity. His family worked the fields, but because of his albinism, he wasn't able to. Instead, his father taught him accordion and he'd play it for hours and hours at home. Today, he's a virtuoso on any instrument he's ever touched. Miles Davis is even alleged to have said that he's 'one of the most complete musicians on the planet.'  The two actually collaborated on Davis' 1971 record Live-Evil, featuring three of Hermeto's pieces, introducing him to international audiences.

Recorded at Montreux Jazz Festival in 1979 (look up the rest of that year's lineup by the way - oof), Ao Vivo has everything; the energy of a live performance, a wildly fanatic audience, incredible dynamics - going from full band to a chamber trio in moments - and easily some of the most impressive improvisation I've ever heard.

As I will with all records in this series, I encourage you to listen to this one from beginning to end. I can all but guarantee you'll be hooked in the first two minutes after the announcer introduces the band to the stage.

The audience simmers, the percussion begins to rumble, and then the first chord on the Rhodes hits. You're in another world.

Music mentioned:

Slaves Mass

Live-Evil

Mornings in my bicycle repair shop are often melancholic and slow. Time is passed cleaning and preparing projects for the day. Sipping coffee and listening to music. Before my studio mates arrive I am able to fall into an album in a rare way. Life seems to have filled up with a whole lot as of late, and as things have gotten busier I've found myself valuing the moments where I can sit down with an album and actually digest it. When there is nothing but time to listen to music, I tend to kind of tense up mentally and end up recycling a sort hypothetical greatest hits of the past 15 years of my life instead. Having to make time for it, makes me find and appreciate things I might not have otherwise. I found Michael C. Sharp's record Never Enough Time (Holodeck, 2017) during one of those busy life moments, and 4 years later it still takes me right back to those moments and places. To a different bike shop in a different state, when I lived near Sharp and could often find him tending bar on my lunch break.

Sharp's resume is getting to be pretty long at this point, his content across a myriad of genres is dizzying, Sungod, Uniform, and many others. Trip Further (Aural Canyon, 2020) is his latest solo outing and is slowly coming into focus as I shuffle around my shop trying to find my footing. As the album opens I am still in a fog and the slow build of “Choleric” quickly grabs my attention and almost without noticing I have ceased my seemingly aimless busy work and am seated quietly at my desk taking it all in.

As with previous releases a myriad of synths and keys build swirl around creating an atmosphere all their own, and I am delighted to find a screaming reverb laden guitar featured in a way he has not touched on before. It plays wonderfully to the arpeggiated patterns weaving themselves together that has been the touchstone of his solo work. This carries throughout the record, “Open Society” feels like a second movement to the opener, again building into a mass of synth and guitar patterns.

Without knowing where I am in the record, still sitting quietly at my desk, “Oaxacan Anesthetic Void” begins and I can feel, with some sadness, that things are coming to a close. A sense of contented loneliness falls over the song and I am able to stand up again, deeply moved, and extremely happy I made time for myself to stop and listen this morning. As the record ends I feel certain hat it will become one that I play many more times and find something new with each visit, which is something I appreciate greatly about all of Sharp's solo work. The ability to make music that is blissfully chilled out and engaging, all while seemingly new each time is a marvel. Highly recommend Trip Further.

Trip Further, by Michael C. Sharp

7 track album

Aural CanyonAural Canyon

I first encountered the melodic waves of American Matt Gardner, also known as Terekke, in the sonic journeys curated by the Swiss maestra Sassy J. She was co-hosting a three hour The Do!! You!! Breakfast Show with Charlie Bones on NTS on September 29th, 2017 to be exact. I think I heard this edition on archive sometime in the summer of 2019 while living in Austin, Texas. I remember soaking in the usual triple digit temperatures in Central Texas, developing a habit of listening to long form mixes as a way to pass time during the hottest parts of the day.

The Do!! You!!! Breakfast Show w/ Charlie Bones & Sassy J 29th September 2017

How Do You feel this morning? Different? Me too. Do!! You!!! Whats going on? Who knows! Lets ask. Hang loose with Charlie Bones, and guests.

NTS RadioNTS Radio

Nestled after a heady Goan psych track around the 38 minute mark, JQM from the 2017 release Plant Age (L.I.E.S.) gracefully gives the listener a chance to catch their breath. Judith mixes out of twangs into an underwater ambiance so crisply, it feels as if you swan dove off an Indian subcontinental cliff into an aquamarine sea. Charlie and Judith break the trance with a track ID and a brief shoutout to L.I.E.S. proprietor Ron Morelli. JQM just suspends you as they chat. Terekke seems to find an edge between noise and electronic house and tip toes it with ease. The effect is perfectly relaxing, equally at home playing in an upscale lounge or in headphones while sinking into focused work.

The rest of Plant Age follows suit. The entire record finds this underwater groove with steady lo-fi distortion and ringing piano melodies. Tack sings, while Bb2 drops you deeper into the ocean of bass. Need U slows the tempo down a bit, the water gets more shallow, and light dances along the bottom. If Need U is a snorkel along the shallow, Swim is a walk through the lapping waves along the beach. The second half of the LP is a bit more spaced-out. The aforementioned JQM is dark but in a relaxing, sensory-deprivation-tank sort of way. Closer feels like drifting along the stars in the deep-purple-black you see at the top of your periphery looking out the window of an airplane.

Next Steps

Terekke's first EP on L.I.E.S, Damn, was arguably ahead of its time. Thrumming drum and bass with super tight snares aren't really a new concept but for some reason appears to have stayed in fashion through various forms throughout the last decade. Any time Damn cycles through my rotation, I can't help but link the sounds to the Baikal Acid EP by similar artist, Khotin. There's no doubting the cross-polination between the Vancouver scene and releases out of New York.

Plant Age is a great place to start in Terekke's discog. If it strikes your fancy, another step deeper is to dive into LM024 on Libra Mix. Deep linking is tough from Libra Mix, but navigate a new tab to https://libramix.org and scroll down to LM024. You can play and download this mix for free.

In addition to dropping some Moodymann and Theo Parrish bangers in the mix, Terekke slips in an alternate version of Amaze from his 2013 release YYYYYYYYYY (also on L.I.E.S.) right around the half way mark. While the version in the mix isn't drastically different from the official release, its drop is perfectly timed and alludes to the underwater soundscapes found later in Plant Age.

Deep Cuts

Never Noise creator and fellow contributor Corey owns a copy of Improvisational Loops (Music From Memory). I'm not as prone to throw on 40 minutes of ambient music, but I appreciate the even deeper side of Terekke's discography. Loops feels to me like one long spaced-out interlude, or how I feel at work on Monday after being spun for the weekend. That's not to say it isn't good, but it doesn't put me in the breezy mood of Plant Age.

While we're on the subject of archived L.I.E.S. releases, we would be remiss not to mention this absolute heater from Steve Moore.

Support Terekke, Steve Moore, and the rest of the L.I.E.S. lineup on Bandcamp.

I have to recount a story. Not long after moving to San Francisco, I stumbled upon tickets to a contemporary music night called Sound Box, hosted in a smaller venue behind the Davies Symphony Hall. The venue was only a handful of blocks away, so I stuck my earbuds in, lit my joint, and began my stroll. I scrolled through my playlists and found a nice ambient selection I'd put together a few weeks prior - some mix of Bing & Ruth, Stars of the Lid, and probably some Chuck Johnson. But notably and most relevantly, Hiroshi Yoshimura. I'd been listening to his first album Music for Nine Postcards pretty incessantly at the time, moved by its simplicity and subtleties.

I arrived at the venue and waited patiently in line for the doors to open. As they did and I began to move forward, Clouds came on. I was able to listen for a few minutes before I was let into the venue and took out my earbuds. In the most serendipitous turn, the same song was playing over the loudspeakers in the pre-show mix, nearly right where I left off. A wide smile pulled across my face. It was the perfect welcome and I felt as if it were meant for me.

For me, Yoshimura's music is pure delight.

Now imagine my delight after discovering that the label Light in the Attic was re-issuing his 1986 album, GREEN. Before now, your only option was to either shell out for an original pressing (~$1,000 last I looked) or stream it on YouTube. Interestingly enough, YouTube has been responsible for a noticeable resurgence in the Japanese Ambient sphere - Midori Takada being another musician to receive a recent re-issue as a result.

I received my copy yesterday after a long pre-order period, nearly forgetting I'd purchased it, but alas it arrived. The sleeve contained a translucent green record and a lovely fold-out of Yoshimura's mixing notes for the record. In Yoshimura's original liner notes, he remarks, "GREEN does not specifically refer to a color. I like the word for its phonetic quality, and song titles were chosen for their similar linguistic characteristics. I hope that this music will convey the comfortable scenery of the natural cycle known as GREEN."

The album opens with a marimba-like sound, optimistically arpeggiating while parts slowly fade in and out behind it. While Music for Nine Post Cards was lead by the sound of the Rhodes keyboard, GREEN is dominated by the classic DX7 digital synth. Despite not having the same quality of hands striking keys striking metal tines, it is no less dynamic and intentional. The sounds float in and out of time - reacting to each other almost as if they were all played live at once. One thing that GREEN adds is tonal variety; synthesized flutes, struck basses, warbly pads. They all live in the same universe, but each tells their own story of contemplation and calm.

I tend to rotate through Sunday morning coffee records and I think this one will sit at the front of the stack for a while. Rainy days, decompression, and introspection; I've found it all here.

While we'll never see new music from Yoshimura, we can look forward to a new and continued appreciation for the art he was able to share with us.

Light in the Attic

GREEN (Vinyl, Bandcamp, Spotify)