THE SLOW MUSIC MOVEMENT​
  • Home
  • Music Tips
  • Radio/Playlists
  • Record Label/Licensing
  • Blog
  • Sound Advice
  • About
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Music Tips
  • Radio/Playlists
  • Record Label/Licensing
  • Blog
  • Sound Advice
  • About
  • Contact
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

Picture

The Slow Music Movement Blog

​Mostly we put our daily recommendations here for the blog readers among you, although occasionally we go longform.
Reading about music is a bit like looking at pictures of food - not nearly half as much fun as getting involved, so we scribble a brief intro to hopefully whet your appetite but you're better off just hitting play. Not very "slow" I know but there's a lot of music to check these days & hopefully you'll find the recommendations a handy filter.
​Trust your ears, not opinions.

31/7/2022 0 Comments

Precipitation - Glass Horizon (100% Silk)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like


What We Say

Muddying the definition of ambient on behalf of 100% Silk, Tokyo's Precipitation throws in some classic house & breaks to his mix of cosmos contemplating synth sounds & all the right natural field recordings on these long & luscious tracks that will sound as good on the sofa as they will in the car driving to your outdoor summer hangout of choice.

What The Release Notes Say

The first full-length vinyl collection by Tokyo-based producer Zefan Sramek aka Precipitation crystallizes his evolving synthesis of new age ambience, tape hiss, and house music into a riveting suite of motion and mirage: Glass Horizon. Conceived and recorded between two formative trips to Sado Island in the spring and late summer of 2020, the album feels both insular and infinite, threading paths through wet grass, along isolated coasts. Field recordings of tidepools, birds, and cicadas crossfade into fluid mandalas of bass, keys, and drum machinery, while synths glide and glisten, rising like heat off sand. 

Sramek speaks of themes of escape and estrangement, solace and desolation, visions of azure waters lapping empty shores. Weeks spent sleeping in a hammock attuned him to the extrasensory; melodies and memories materialized from the foliage, suffused with ocean air and placeless melancholy. All seven tracks swoop and swirl with patience and precision, grid-mapped golden dawns and gradient sunsets mixed live and captured on cassette. This is dance music as portal and pilgrimage, spiral environments for a refracted age

CREDITS
Mastered by Alex Nagle. 
Photographs by Zefan Sramek. 
Design by Britt Brown.

IF YOU LIKE PRECIPITATION THEN YOU MIGHT LIKE THE AMBIENT HOUSE PLAYLIST

You can stream the Ambient House Playlist on Spotify, Deezer and Youtube
0 Comments

30/7/2022 0 Comments

Singles & EPs Round Up - July 30th, 2022

Alyas - Moments (Self Release)

Vertical Divider
It's always nice when I discover a new ambient artist, even if they already have 26,000 odd monthly Spotify listeners - why didn't anyone tell me?! Anyway I'm now tuned into the ambient joys of Alyas via his latest single, a simple yet seductive drone that is drenched in summer high season haze and scattered with subtle acoustic snippets blown in on a welcome light breeze.

the Howard Hughes Suite - Demos/Sketches/Works In Progress Vol. 1 (Self Release)

Have I mentioned The Howard Hughes Suite before? Maybe as TSMM has released two albums from him :) Well this one is not on the label but if you want to help an independent artist fund his art then you can now pick up these works in progress that sound better than most other ambient Americana artists finished works, and if you ever fancied yourself as an executive producer you are also invited to give him feedback.
Vertical Divider

Nora Brown - Cumberland Gap (Jalopy)

Vertical Divider
I do like a precocious young musical talent and Brown certainly fits that bill, having immersed herself in old time American folk music with some of the scene's greats as teachers from the age of 6. Now 11 years later, she wields the banjo and tells tales with a rare depth of feeling for someone still too young to have experienced life's full range of ups and downs. Not only that, she's a multi-instrumentalist and now passing on her knowledge in true folk style as a teacher.

Faris Ishaq - Evoke نَبَط (Levantine)

I was immediately struck by the less is more approach of Faros Ishaq on this, the second single from his forthcoming LP,  where he accompanies himself using leg-percussion and frame drum simultaneously whilst playing the even more ancient and evocative sounds of the nay - a 5000 year old flute, recalling Mesopotamia - that great cradle of civilisation.
Vertical Divider

0 Comments

30/7/2022 0 Comments

Glue Trip - Nada Tropical (Self Release)

What Your Ears Say & What the (Amazing) Cover Looks Like

Picture

What We Say

Summer primed & psychedelically tuned, Glue Trip come through with some easy breezy tropicalia, smooth samba soul and dreamy Brazilian pop on their new self released LP that should cover most of your feel good, fun in the sun needs and as for that cover - YES!

What The Release Notes Say

Produção Musical: Zé Nigro e Lucas Moura 
Produção Executiva: Lucas Moura 
Engenharia de Som: Fernando Rischbieter, Pedro Vinci e Zé Nigro 
Mixagem: Rodrigo Funai 
Masterização: Maurício Gargel 
Todos os instrumentos e vozes gravados nos estúdios: Matraca/YB Music (SP), Estúdio Navegantes (SP), Estúdio Cia dos Técnicos (RJ), Estúdio Casa das Máquinas (BA) e Homestudio Glue Trip (SP) 
Gravações Adicionais: Zé Nigro e Lucas Moura 
Arte da capa: Bruno Borges aka Penabranca 
Fotos do encarte por banda, Zé Nigro e Melissa Fontenele 
Glue Trip são João Boaventura, Lucas Moura, Pedro Lacerda e Thiago Leal

If you Like Glue TRip You Might Like The Slow World Playlist

You can stream the Slow World playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube & Soundcloud
0 Comments

29/7/2022 0 Comments

Andrew Tuttle - Fleeting Adventure (Basin Rock)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like


What We Say

Encouraged by Todmorden's Basin Rock and setting his gaze north east from Brisbane, Tuttle invites an impressive line-up of country cosmonauts to help him conjure the perfect ambient American soundtrack for a voyage through the sort of awe inspiring wide open spaces that only countries the size of Oz & the US can offer.

What The Release Notes Say

Andrew Tuttle's Fleeting Adventure is a musical adventure through a reimagined journey from the Australian ambient producer and banjo player. A crew of fellow travellers - including Steve Gunn, Chuck Johnson, Luke Schneider and Balmorhea - help navigate a cosmic trip into subtropical landscapes. Golden plucks of banjo, gauzy electronics and cosmic guitar shimmer into gloriously expansive melodies that conjure peace and space, comfort and wonder.

CREDITS:
​Written, produced, edited by Andrew Tuttle 
Additional engineering by Aidan Hogg 
Mixed by Chuck Johnson 
Mixed by Lawrence English 
Artwork and graphic design by George Gillies 

Andrew Tuttle: banjo, acoustic guitar, signal processing. 
++ 
Aurélie Ferrière: violin (1) 
Chuck Johnson: pedal steel guitar (3) 
Claire Deak: harp, piano, electronics (6) 
Conrado Isasa: acoustic guitar (6) 
Darren Cross: acoustic guitar, electronics (2, 5) 
Flora Wong: violin (6) 
Joe Saxby: saxophone (1) 
Josh Kimbrough: acoustic guitar (3) 
Luke Cuerel: saxophone (6) 
Luke Schneider: pedal steel guitar (2, 5) 
Michael A. Muller: electronics, electric guitar (1) 
Spencer Grady: banjo, electronics (6) 
Stephen Lewis: dobro, electronics (6) 
Steve Gunn: electric guitar (1) 
Tony Dupe: piano, electronics (6)

IF YOU LIKE ANDREW TUTTLE YOU MIGHT LIKE THE SLOW FOLK PLAYLIST

You can stream the Slow Folk playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube and Soundcloud
0 Comments

28/7/2022 0 Comments

New Mexican Stargazers - Motel Room Thunder (Self Release)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like


What WE Say

Even under frustrating retro-maniacal ferric distress, which makes this recording sound like listening to your older sibling's favourite LP through your bedroom wall, you can't keep a good New Age cosmic transmission down. So turn on and tune into this synthadelic delight from New Mexican Stargazers - the vibes are strong. Big up the ever illuminating Bandcamp Daily blog for the tip.

What The Release Notes Say

THE LOVERS FIND AN OASIS AND PLACE THEIR ITEMS IN THE DOORWAY OF THE ROOM. QUARTERS ARE GRABBED FROM JACKET POCKETS AND A SODA IS BOUGHT FROM THE VENDING MACHINE JUST DOWN THE HALL. AFTER A CHANGE INTO MORE COMFORTABLE CLOTHING, THE TV'S USUAL PROGRAMMING IS OVERRIDDEN BY TORRENTED MEDIA BY WAY OF HDMI CABLE, BUT IT FADES INTO THE BACKGROUND AS THE NIGHT CONTINUES AND THE LOVERS DOZE OFF. THE JOURNEY CONTINUES TOMORROW, BUT FOR SOME REASON THEY NEVER WANT TO LEAVE.

If You Like New Mexican Stargazers Then You Might Like The New Age of New Age Playlist

You can stream The New Age of New Age Playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube & Soundcloud
0 Comments

27/7/2022 0 Comments

Thor Harris - Doom Dub II (Joyful Noise)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks LIke


What We Say

Idiosyncratic dub deviance emanating from Joyful Noise courtesy of Thor Harris and an intriguing collective of fellow musical trippers, as they  put their shoulders into the dub continuum & nudge it decidedly left-field, whilst tipping their hats appreciatively to the 70s Jamaican pioneers who made it all possible. Right, now I'm off to find volume I.

What The Release Notes SAy

What is Doom Dub? 

The beginning of Doom Dub started like this. 

I have a machine called the Kaossillator. On this machine, if you write a drum machine pattern and then slow it way down, it pixelates all the beats so that they sound really fucked up. 

Almost every music geek and musician loves late 70s Dub. This made it easy for me to involve many of my friends in the making of this record. This zine is full of their faces. If you tell anyone you need help making a Dub record, they will beg to be part of it. 

It's possible that Dub is humanity’s greatest achievement. 

Gods like King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry will once again walk the earth as today’s tyrants decay under their feet. "The Space Echo" will be the most holy object. Along with maybe the melodica or timbales. 

It is my hope that this record will bring you even half as much joy in listening as it brought us in making it. This is my humble homage to the original practitioners of the form. Dub. 

Your servant, 
Thor

CREDITS

​1. Day 32 of Quarantine (4:41) (with Lawrence English, Stine Janvin Motland) 
Mixed by Lawrence English 
Stine Janvin Motland - Vocals 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
2. Day 19 of Quarantine (4:58) (with Daniel Rejmer, Sarah La Puerta) 
Mixed by Daniel Rejmer 
Sarah “Goat” Gautier - Vocoder / Vocals 
Jared Samuel - Vocoder / Vocals 
Mike Watt - bass 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
3. Day 447 of Quarantine (7:52) (with Craig Ross, Zola Jesus, Dorian Wood) 
Mixed by Craig Ross 
Dorian Wood - Vocals 
Zola Jesus - Vocals 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
4. Do Androids Dream of Dick? (0:50) (with Adam Harding) 
Mixed and Mutated by Adam Harding 
Adam Harding - Vocals 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
5. Day 9 of Quarantine (4:07) (with Brandon Eggleston, Marissa Nadler, Adam Harding) 
Mixed by Brandon Eggleston  
Brandon Eggleston - Additional Drum sounds 
Kevin Schneider - Peculiarly Tuned Pianos 
Marissa Nadler - Vocals 
Adam Harding - Vocals 
Monk Parker - Saxophone 
Mike Watt - Bass 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
6. Day 62 of Quarantine (5:00) (with Dan Haab, Marina Tadic, Adam Harding) 
Mixed by Dan Haab 
Marina Tadic - Vocals 
Adam Harding - Vocals 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
7. Sean Cook Dub (3:56) (with Sean Cook) 
Mixed by Sean Cook 
Sean Cook - Bass 
Craig Ross - Guitar 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
8. Day 7 of Quarantine (4:42) (with Christopher Pravdica, Sarah La Puerta) 
Mixed by Christopher Pravdica 
Sarah “Goat” Gautier - Vocoder / Vocals 
Jared Samuel - Vocoder / Vocals 
Adam Harding - Vocals 
Bruce Hughs - Bass 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 
  
9. I Miss You So Much (2:46) (with Adam Harding) 
Mixed by Adam Harding  
Adam Harding - Vocals 
Everything Else Played by Thor Harris 


Lyrics: 

"Day 7 of Quarantine" 
Another kind of conquest. 
Began very very sloooooooowly. 
Very Very Sloooooooooooooowly. 
Will they endure? 
Will they endure? 
Will they endure? 
These "paint people" 
The transmission was watered down. 
English translation was watered down. 
It was watered down. 
Left to pray in the church. 
Will they endure ? x 3 
Another kind of conquest began very very very Slooowly 
Slooooooowly 
Very. 
Very. 
Life has changed. 
Life has changed. 
Life has changed. 
Life. Changed. 
Life isn't supposed to be. 
isn't supposed to be. 
Life isn't supposed to. 
isn't. 
life. 
Life isn't supposed to be silence x 2 
silence. 
it was another kind of conquest. 
Will they endure? 
Will they endure silence? 
silence. silence. silence. silence. silence. silence. silence. silence. silence. silence. 



"Day 447 of Quarantine" 

Christ don’t generate a feeling 
A road that I am wary to take 
Christ don’t take away my weeping 
A road that I am wary to take 
Christ leaked down from the ceiling 
A road that I am wary to take 
Light broke my body into pieces 
The road that I was wary to take 
  
Shall I be a wound for you? 
  
Shall I leave the tomb for you? 
  
Shall I clear the room for you? 
  
Shall I be a star?
0 Comments

26/7/2022 0 Comments

Gylden - Island Friend (Seil)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like


What We Say

Tuning his clarinet and accompanying synth to the frequency of the "bells, buoys, and ocean sounds" of his island surrounds, Gylden marks the the passing of his father  in the most beautiful way possible, with this calming, considered reflection on love, loss and our fleeting moment in the cosmic sun for Seil Records.

What the Release Notes Say

Tuned to the bells, buoys, and ocean sounds surrounding a small island off the coast of Maine where I spend most of my time. 

Contra alto clarinet, Elektron Digitone, and cassette tape were used to convey the feeling of loneliness and comfort it provides me. 

Island Friend is dedicated to my father who passed away at this time last year.

CREDITS
​Music by Gylden 
Mastered by Nathan Moody at Obsidian Sound 
Artwork by Pedro Figueiredo 
Design by Aoki & Matsumoto 

Published by Seil Records 
© All Rights Reserved 


*** 10% of Seil Records earnings go to charity. *** 
It is our goal to make the world a more optimistic place. And music is one way to reach it. But we also want to help good people do good things. So every quarter we donate 10% of our label earnings to support a small non-profit organization, as there even humble amounts can make a real difference. These are organizations in the fields of helping the environment, fighting racism or providing music education to underprivileged groups. On our social media channels we let you know every six months to which charity our donation went and help spread the word about their work.

IF YOU LIKE GYLDEN & SEIL RECORDS YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY THE SLOW AMBIENT PLAYLIST

​You can stream the Slow Ambient playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube and Soundcloud
0 Comments

25/7/2022 0 Comments

Marc Codsi - The Silence Between The New World And The Aftermath (Ruptured)


What We Say

Poignant neoclassical infused ambient music emanating from Lebanon via Beirut's Ruptured Records as musical autodidact, prominent Lebanese alternative musician & current French émigré Marc Codsi ruminates on the recent revolution in Lebanon that has been protesting the inequality, corruption & sectarianism in the country. Beautiful music rising out of hardship and chaos.

What The Release Notes Say

“The Silence Between the New World and The Aftermath” is the 4th solo album by Lebanese musician, composer and producer Marc Codsi, following ‘Faded Postcards’ (2010), ‘Works & Coincidences’ (2013), and ‘The New World’ (2019). 
The album consists of a collection of pieces composed between 2019 and 2021, and assembled to form a homogeneous ensemble, a poem of sorts. The ten compositions consist of Codsi’s reactions and responses to the events taking place in Lebanon during this period of two years, from feelings of hope spurred on by the Lebanese revolution that began in earnest in October 2019, to the strong sentiments of alienation brought on by its eventual demise, all of the chaos that ensued, and the final, desolate silence. 
“The Silence Between the New World and The Aftermath” deploys a series of poignant musical vignettes, reflecting different events in Codsi’s life, where the political and the personal are often intertwined; where fragments of songs meander into instrumental noisescapes; where the analog meets the digital; where electric guitars, rudimentary synths and disembodied voices contort around one another gracefully at first, then less and less so. 

Marc Codsi is a prominent member of Lebanon’s alternative music scene since the early 2000’s. His music career began in 2002, when he joined post-punk band Scrambled Eggs as a guitar player. Codsi founded electro-rock duo Lumi with chanteuse Mayaline Hage in 2006, and devoted himself full-time to this project following his departure from Scrambled Eggs a couple of years later. Despite a sporadic work schedule, Lumi managed to release two highly successful albums, entitled ‘Two Tears in Water’ [EMI, 2007] and ‘The Night Was a Liar’ [Keeward, 2017]. Between those two albums, Codsi played in a variety of bands, including Lebanese shambolic rock enigma The Incompetents and Zeid Hamdan’s Arabic-pop collective Zeid & The Wings. He also founded electropop duo Zalfa in 2018, releasing first full-length album ‘Fi Dam’ in 2019. 
Codsi’s first forays in solo territory came in 2011 with the release of ‘Faded Postcards’, a collection of ambient explorations and guitar soundscapes self-released and handed out during various concerts in Beirut. Released in 2019, ‘The New World’ was an intriguing exploration of analogue synthesizers by way of complex Arabic scales and tunings, released for renowned Lebanese imprint Annihaya. “The Silence Between the New World and The Aftermath” is Codsi’s fourth solo album, and the results of two years of short sessions conducted in spurts between 2019 and 2021. Currently living and working in Paris, Codsi has also worked extensively in the field of cinema, collaborating with various directors and producers for soundtrack and sound design work

CREDITS

​
All music composed, performed and produced by Marc Codsi 
Recorded in Paris between 2019 and 2021 
Vocal samples on Hangar #12 by Lynn Adib and Marie Abou Khaled 

Mixed by Marc Codsi in March 2022 
Mastered by Cedrik Fermont at Syrphe, Berlin 

Photo by Tanya Traboulsi 
Layout & design by Maya Chami

IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU MIGHT LIKE THE SLOW AMBIENT PLAYLIST

​You can stream the Slow Ambient playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube and Soundcloud
0 Comments

24/7/2022 0 Comments

Channelers - Time, Space and Thought (Inner Islands)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like


What We Say

Seemingly designed to make the world a more loving place the latest transmission from Channelers is currently resonating through your local ley line from the Inner Islands retreat. Put your ear to the ground and tune in as Eastern mysticism wafts into the path of spiritual jazz vibrations & folk meditations to condense into New Age Clouds. Your Sunday is now complete.

What The Release Notes Say

“‘Time, Space, and Thought’ was realized, in bulk, around the first two weeks following the new year. An important part of the process was entering the sessions with as few preconceived ideas as possible and letting a more instinctual and automatic path take shape: cast the net and see what jumps in, without judgement. The resulting pieces were produced almost like minimalist action paintings, trying to capture these fleeting feelings in as few aural brush strokes as possible. I didn’t sleep a lot. I didn’t talk to many people. I gave myself time and space to get deep into thought, deep into intuition, deep into following whatever wanted to come out in those moments. 

Improvisation is a pillar to this work, with the majority of the pieces being rooted in this practice, save for ‘Seeker And Finder’, ‘Pass’d To Another Way’, and parts of a couple others. Improvisation, for me, in part, is about becoming a clear and filterless conduit for a feeling to pass through. Of course, there are always filters and aesthetic is one of those. These pieces still fall into the familiar, yet expanding realm of the Channelers catalogue, building on last year’s ‘Another Entrance’ with additions of EWI saxophone, electric piano, and fuzz guitar to the usual palette. This work also falls into an ongoing personal ancestral dialogue with the folk musics and drone-based traditions from the British Isles and Ukraine.” –Sean Conrad 

Instruments used: guitars (acoustic, electric, bowed, ebow, slide), dulcimer, bass guitar, EWI saxophone, Mellotron (vibes, bass flute, cello), electric organ, Fender Rhodes, harmonium. Recorded on a Tascam 488 MKII 8-track cassette recorder. 

This is Sean Conrad’s thirteenth full-length release as Channelers following "Another Entrance" and "Messages From One of Deeper Within" last autumn.

Art and music by Sean Conrad. Recorded from December 28, 2021 until January 30, 2022 at home in Oakland, California. Mastered at The Gentle Ways. Much love to all.

​
​**For people in the UK/EU, the tape is available from Juno Records** 
www.juno.co.uk/products/channelers-time-space-thought/889597-01/ 

**For people in Japan/Asia, the tape is available from Tobira Records** 
tobirarecords.com/products/channelers-time-space-and-thought-tape

IF You Like The Channelers You Will Probably Vibe On The New Age Of New AGe Playlist

You can stream The New Age of New Age playlist on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Youtube and Soundcloud.
0 Comments

23/7/2022 0 Comments

Carlos Niño & Friends - Extra Presence (International Anthem)

What Your Ears Say & The Cover Looks Like


What We Say

Being a musical man about Los Angeles town, Carlos Nino invites more guests (many TSMM faves) than your average hotel to indulge in this unhurried journey through improvised realms for International Anthem where he manages to conjure a harmonious cosmic refuge in America's increasingly fractured landscape, that pulses with spiritual, psychedelic & New Age vibrations.

What The Release Notes Say

EXTRA PRESENCE is a 90 minute, 17-track collection showcasing Los Angeles modern music scene pioneer Carlos Niño’s unique, highly developed, self-described “Spiritual, Improvisational, Space Collage” sound, and featuring an incredible cast of collaborators (including Jamael Dean, Nate Mercereau, Shabazz Palaces, Deantoni Parks, Sam Gendel, Laraaji, Jamire Williams, Iasos, and more). It's an expanded edition of a 10-track suite called 'Actual Presence' that Niño self-released exclusively via his Bandcamp page in 2020. 

EXTRA PRESENCE liner notes by Marty Sartini Garner: 

When Carlos Niño is performing with his friends, he is embedded in the present. And from there, it seems like he can see anything: every possible place a song might go, how a sound might evolve, whether or not it will make his listeners and collaborators feel seen and appreciated. He is a maestro of arranging time and space into supportive containers, somehow completely in sync with the moment and beyond all chronology. And over the past couple of years, when the concepts of space and time have dilated and gone sideways for so many of us, Carlos’ attempts to crystallize the moments he and his friends produce and present us with songs ripe with possibility, chance, and the care that radiates naturally amongmusicians who love and trust one another has felt like an act of profound kindness. 

In 2020, when the world entered into lockdown, Carlos engaged in his studio in Woodland Hills, CA, where he pored over tapes from past improv sessions. One in particular stuck out, a February 2019 Just Jazz gig with Devin Daniels, Jamael Dean, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and Randy Gloss. On stage that night, he’d been confused and uncomfortable, he didn’t understand his relationship with an audience. “I had a revelation that night,” he says. “What I present in concert is sonic journeying—not a set of songs, or a program, or a performative energy.” 

Using the Just Jazz tapes as a guide, he mixed and remixed, overdubbed synthesizer and pulled from his extensive battery of percussion instruments. He invited his collaborators—his friends, though we should all be so lucky to have friends as talented as these—to add their own overdubs, then, working the controls, he turned out a collection of songs that seem to have entire worlds encased within them. He worked with a sense of necessity. “The urgency was to share a message,” he says, “that we would get through this.” 

It’s a feeling that was made manifest across Actual Presence, and is extended in this new version, entitled EXTRA PRESENCE. When I first heard these songs in 2020, I was astounded by how expertly Carlos was able to guide his listeners through a three-dimensional soundscape. It felt miraculous, as if we were getting a new view of free jazz and new age and hip-hop, being brought into the cells of the music to see how all its constituent parts fit together. The implication seemed to be that every moment of every song—not just these songs, but any song—was ripe with possibility, that decisions were being made at every moment, and that because of that, other decisions might be made. Free jazz and free improv are both predicated on this very idea, of course, but where that sense of freedom often yields dissonance and confusion, Actual Presence seemed to suggest that something like spiritual harmony could be reached on the fly, that it was hidden in everything if you were willing to try and find it. 

What I didn’t hear then, but hear now, is that this sense of harmony wasn’t just coming from Carlos’ remarkable studio skills. It was inherent in the playing itself, and in the way the players relate to one another. There is an emotional coherence to this music, a collective ache at its core that starts with the majesty of Jamael Dean’s piano and runs through even the smallest of instruments. No matter who’s playing on any given track—or when they were playing it—everyone is watching one another, patiently waiting, not moving forward until everyone is ready. That could feel ponderous, but here it feels generous. You expect “Youwillgetthroughthis” to move out its foyer, but the kalimba finds an interesting groove there, so they all gather around to explore it, which gives a deeply tender organ space to open the song in a completely new direction. It’s music as a series of cleansing exhales, as re-grounding, slowing down to move at a speed that allows it to examine itself. 

As its title suggests, EXTRA PRESENCE gives us another hour of these explorations. The new tracks were all recorded around the time Carlos was working on Actual Presence and its followup, More Energy Fields, Current, and they show that the sense of possibility that first suggested itself in these songs wasn’t a mirage. Rather than simply remixing old tunes, Carlos opens new doors that reveal new rooms. “Youwillgetthroughthis with Koto” isn’t just augmented by a koto; it’s wound up in a new tension that was barely suggested in the original track. “Luis’ Special Shells,” an Actual Presence highlight, dips us into an subaquatic world painted in inky blues and forest greens, the shells themselves the only clear element that remains from the original. 

Most strikingly, it’s capped by the 23-minute ambient piece “Recurrent Reiki Dreams,” a dramatic extension of the album’s “Mushroomeclipse.” The track’s length, and the lightly undulating silkiness of its textures, makes it feel as though the entire album has been sliding into this primordial space, as if the whole of EXTRA PRESENCE is something like a symphony. Or maybe like all of those views Carlos and his friends have offered have all been different ways of saying this, variations on a way of articulating a feeling that exists here in its purest form. It’s like staring into the object with which this music has been abiding. 

What I didn’t hear in 2020 but hear now, as the world has changed and continues to, is that the sound of EXTRA PRESENCE is the sound of being ready to face yourself. Or, more precisely, it’s the sound of what happens when everyone pauses what they’re doing and rallies to support a wounded friend. Yes, these songs are technically dazzling, constantly surprising, and expertly constructed. But at its core, EXTRA PRESENCE is about sitting down, being with, trying to draw from a sensation or a mass that’s much bigger than we can understand. Yes, this is mystical language, but this is mystical music. “It is a way of describing the awareness of Eternal Now,” Carlos says.” “It is a way of expressing the consciousness of Being.”

CREDITS
​
Produced and Mixed by Carlos Niño 
Mastered by Benjamin Tierney and David Allen 

Cover Art and Insert by Nep Sidhu 
Design and Layout by Craig Hansen 

1. Devin Daniels - Alto Saxophone, Randy Gloss - Pandeiro, 
Jamael Dean - Piano and Synth, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - 
5 String Violin and Effects, Carlos Niño - Percussion and Synth 

Thanks to Leroy Downs, Recordist Lee Escobar and 
the Staff of the excellent Just Jazz: Live Concert Series 
at Mr Musichead Gallery in Hollywood, California. 

2. Same as 1. with additional Collage, Arrangement, 
Editing, and Sound Design by Carlos Niño 

3. Deantoni Parks - Drums, Jamael Dean - Piano, 
Nate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Electric Bass, 
Carlos Niño - Percussion, Arrangement, and Editing 

4. Jamael Dean - Piano and Synth, Carlos Niño - Kalimba, 
Percussion, Synth, Arrangement, and Editing 

5. Sam Gendel - Alto Saxophone and Effects, 
Nate Mercereau - Guitar Synth and Electric Bass, 
Carlos Niño - Percussion, Arrangement, and Editing 

6. Jamael Dean aka Jira >< - Beats, Synth and Production, 
Sharada - Vocals, Carlos Niño - Gong, Percussion and Arrangement 

7. Jamael Dean - Keyboards, Jamire Williams - Drums, 
Carlos Niño - Luis's Special Shells and Percussion 

8. Jamire Williams - Drums, Josh Johnson - Synth, 
Jamael Dean - Keyboards and Synth Bass, Sharada - Voice, 
Nate Mercereau - Guitar Synth, Carlos Niño - Percussion 

9. Jesse Peterson - Guitar and Synth, Carlos Niño - Percussion, 
Synth, Soundscapes, and Arrangement 

Thanks to Legendary Waterman Mike Stewart for 
finding this song and being inspired to create a 
beautiful Video for it. Sea You out there . . . 

10. Iasos - Celestial Sounds, Carlos Niño - Soundscape, 
Synth and Percussion 

11. Jesse Peterson - Koto and Synth, Carlos Niño - Kalimba, 
Percussion, Synth, Arrangement, and Editing 

12. Shabazz Palaces - Lyrics and Vocals, Sharada - Additional Vocals, 
Jamael Dean - Beats, Effects, and Keyboards, Carlos Niño - Bells, 
Chimes, Cymbals, Gong, Shells, and Arrangement, 

Thanks to Andy Kravitz for Recording Ish's Vocals 
and to Benjamin Tierney for Mixing Ish's Vocals 

13. Sharada - Vocals, Jamael Dean - Keyboards, 
Carlos Niño - Bells, Chimes, Cymbals, Gong, 
Shells, and Arrangement, 

14. Jamael Dean - Keyboards, Carlos Niño - Luis's Special Shells and Percussion 

15. Laraaji - Zither, Nate Mercereau - Guitar, 
Carlos Niño - Percussion, Synth, Soundscape, and Arrangement 

16. Thandi Ntuli - Piano, Nate Mercereau - French Horn, 
Carlos Niño - Percussion, Arrangement, and Editing 

Thanks to Andy Kravitz for Recording Thandi, 
and Thandi, Thank You! You are Amazing! 

17. Iasos - Celestial Sounds, Carlos Niño - Soundscape, 
Synth and Percussion 

Carlos would like to Acknowledge: Bandcamp, Bandcamp Fridays, Justin Hansohn, Anandamide, Leaving Records, Black Nile, Dexter Story, Scottie McNiece, International Anthem, Alex Kelman, Third Side Music, Adam Rudolph, Pablo Calogero, Phil Ranelin, Kamau Daaood, Mia Doi Todd, Dwight Trible, The World Stage, Travis Lett, Helen Nishi, Jason Lader, Jada Rose, Be Hussey, Tiffany De Leon, CJ, Cindy Aikman, Amber Lee, Rajni Perera, Todd Westendorp, Josef Leimberg, Kamasi Washington, Don Hernandez, Mark Maxwell, Duval Timothy, Taj Williams, Sassy J, Angel Bat Dawid, Linafornia, Jimetta Rose, The Voices of Creation, Novena Carmel, Louie & Netty Ryan, Alix Fischer, Katalyst, Ken Barrientos, Randal Fisher, Will Logan, Caleb Buchanan, Diego Gaeta, Lionmilk, Pink Siifu, Quelle Chris, Knxwledge, Mndsgn, Teebs, Surya Botofasina, Andre Benjamin, Dntel, The Village, The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Luis Pérez Ixoneztli, Carla, Claudia and Azul Niño, Poesy, All of my new friends on-line who wrote and shared with me via email and apps during 2020 and 2021, All of the Contributors to this Record, and Annelise Stabenau. 
Thank You all so much!

IF YOU LIKE CARLOS NINO YOU MIGHT LIKE THE SLOW JAZZ PLAYLIST

0 Comments
<<Previous

    OUR MISSION STATEMENT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS

    Lazy Days, Hazy Moments & Dancing to a Slower Groove

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    April 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Lazy Days, Hazy Moments & Dancing To a Slower Groove