#jeph jerman

[dustedmagazine]

Jeph Jerman, Aram Yardumian — Listen — Jeph Jerman in Conversation With Aram Yardumian  (Errant Bodies Press)

The new Errant Bodies Press publication, Listen — Jeph Jerman in Conversation With Aram Yardumian, aims at excavating the enigmatic work of American experimental musician Jeph Jerman. As an anthropologist, Aram Yarduminian would seem particularly well-suited to unearthing the 40-year history of Jerman's work and his thinking behind it, interviewing Jerman on everything from his early sound experiments to his lesser-known visual work. Extensive photo documentation of Jeph in concert with various projects or solo, his room installations, self-made sound objects and work with text add a welcome visual context to the interviews.

Born in 1959 while his father was stationed on a U.S. Air Force base in Guam, Jerman moved around a lot as a child and learned drums early on. After leaving home, he spent time living in various towns around The Four Corner states, all the while playing guitar, bass or drums in various outfits as diverse as reggae groups, cover bands, freak-out noise projects and free-improvising ensembles. Parallel to all this, Jerman delved into his own experiments with concrete sound, starting in 1981 with his Early Recordings that included, among other things, a recording of a swamp cooler and a fast food stand outside of Albuquerque.

Work of this sort would prove to be more of what Jerman would turn his focus to as the 1980's wore on. Not just environmental recordings themselves, but altering and processing these with reel-to-reel machines, samplers, four-track cassette recorders and various electronic treatments found their audience in the home taping and electronic music scenes, with Jerman releasing scores of cassettes through the 1980's and coming into contact with artists like John Hudak, Eric Lunde, G.X. Jupitter-Larsen and Dan Burke.

Much of the sound sources for Jerman's work involved detritus he'd find while out exploring in the field near places where he was living at the time. Sometimes this junk would be recorded as is, interacting with the natural environment, and other times Jerman would play the refuse he came across, trying to draw out the acoustical qualities of the most mundane, discarded objects. Jerman also spent much time recording the natural sound environments while he searched for these objects. With access to various radio stations where Jerman was working as a presenter in the early 1980s, he was able to use their studio facilities to make his first experiments composing with these different sounds, working with them as a kind of malleable concrete material.

With time Jerman became, in his words, more interested in the sounds themselves, than in trying to figure out what they 'mean' or how they fit in to some larger context. And this is perhaps where the interviews become most interesting, as Aram Yardumian probes into the thinking behind Jerman's approach to listening. It becomes apparent at some point in the course of the talks that Jerman himself cannot put a finger on what his approach is other than, The experience is essential. In a nutshell this distills Jerman's practice down to its very essence and what he's trying to bring to the listener —an awareness of their own focus (or lack thereof) through Jerman's use of sound as a point of departure towards a realm where all that matters is a way into the present moment, of being one with a particular sound.

In the end, aside from a brief rundown of Jerman's history and evolution as an artist, Listen — Jeph Jerman in Conversation With Aram Yardumian might not really bring the reader that much closer to understanding Jerman's work, which seems to be too elusive for any kind of formal anaylsis. It's kind of like saying, explain the wind, what does the sound of the running stream mean? But what does arise throughout the book is a fascinating look in to what it means to listen. How do we listen? Why do we listen? What is listening about? How can we approach the space of listening?

For Jerman, all these questions would most likely seem completely superfluous to the very act of listening itself, which should need no explanation. Anyone can pursue this, it's just a matter of focusing on the sounds around us. Jerman's insights throughout the book explain why this form of pure listening is today more important than ever, bombarded as we are with near-constant input from our phones and computers, a perpetual intrusion into a private space which has now somehow become completely public.

Listen — Jeph Jerman in Conversation With Aram Yardumian will prove useful as an introduction to Jerman's work. But like the Sonoran Desert — in Spanish, the sounding desert — not far from where Jerman now lives, we will need to go out and find our own sounds to truly understand what it means to listen.

Jason Kahn

[ozkar-krapo]

V/A

"An uncommon Nature"

(LP. Anomalous rcds. 2001)

[thomasmartinnutt]

Chance Encounters #010

https://www.mixcloud.com/thomasmartinnutt/chance-encounters-010/

Jeph Jerman, Kasja Lindgren, Lucio Capece & Werner Dafeldecker, Philip Jeck, DJ Shadow, Marina Herlop, Deep Listening Band, Lasse Marhaug & Paal Nilssen-Love, Walter Ruttmann, Dave Philips, Catherine Lamb, Ilhan Mimaroglu, Carlos Casas, Delphine Dora (feat. Gayle Brogan & Le fruit vert), Michael Pisaro-Liu, Bing & Ruth, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Clara de Asís & Mara Winter, Wendy Carlos, Zhu Wenbo, Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vanessa Rossetto, Jan Bang & Erik Honore, Shakali, Jed Speare, Eric Glick Rieman, Leslie Dalaba & Stuart Dempster, Cheikh Tidiane Fall, Bobby Few & Jo Maka, Dick Higgins, Adela Mede (feat. Martyna Basta), Red Wine and Sugar, Prefuse 73, Unknown Recordist, Chamber 4, Alessandro Bosetti, William Hooker & Phill Niblock, Richard Bernas & Robert Wyatt

[of-chitin-wrought-peering]

jeph jermans journal..

[sublimeretreat]

  "The Memory Of Things"  by Bruno Duplant & Seth Nehil reviewed by Jeph Jerman in The Squid's Ear. "And I see that certain writers have picked this example as one of the best releases of the past year. I'll not be one to argue."

[writingbyrobertbarry]

Reviews of books by/on Jeph Jerman and Brandon LaBelle plus a noisey sound art exhibition in Greenwich in the new Wire magazine.

[musicmakesyousmart]

Jeph Jerman - Debitage

Unread

2021

[radiophd]

jeph jerman / tim barnes -- relic denisty

[dustedmagazine]

P.G. Six — Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites (Amish)

Parlor Tricks and Porch Favorites by P.G. Six

Lately, you’re likely to hear PG Six’s Pat Gubler shading Garcia Peoples’ guitar sprawl with folky modal melodies or wigging out alongside New England psych mainstay Matt Valentine in Wet Tuna or beefing up an already guitar-centric sound in acid folk’s Weeping Bong Band. But before all that, he, along with Valentine, did a lot to invent the whole freak folk genre in Tower Recordings. This debut solo album, originally recorded in 2001 and expanded with eight live and unreleased tracks, comes just after that and continues on from there. Its lysergic takes on ancient tunes make you realize just how freaky the folk genre is, even before you start to fool with it.

Gubler accompanied himself in a range of stringed and keyboarded instruments, some familiar, some not, as well as a mystic flute. His main partner for this disc was Tim Barnes, a drummer who has collaborated with rock and experimental artists including Tony Conrad, Ikue Mori, Sonic Youth, Jim O'Rourke and Jeph Jerman.

The original disc opens and closes with versions of “Letter to Lilli St. Cyr,” one in flute, the other in a reedy, staticky keyboard and the overtone haunted strumming of something like a dulcimer. The sounds are traditional but stretched and distorted into stranger shapes. The traditional song, “When I Was a Young Man,” gets this treatment, too, starting in a ren faire lilt of folky flute and sunlit guitar, a patter of hand drums moving its stately rhythm. Not only elapses, however, before a fuzzed electric shoulders into view, putting buzz and friction under this melancholy frolic. The song ends in a tug of war between its folk and psychedelic forces, with splintered distortions of electric guitar winning out in the end.

That latter song is one of the more well-behaved and gentle cuts from this original collection. The longer cuts push further into alchemical amalgamations of folk and free-rock jam. “Go Your Way,” an Annie Briggs cover and the album’s clear centerpiece, changes shapes like a wizard sloughing off forms. Its radiant picked purity giving way to fluttery sung melody slapped into motion by north African desert rhythms. It dissolves, late in the cut, into pure tone and timber, the sawing dissonance of stringed instruments smoldering, throwing off sudden bright sparks.

“Go Your Way” comes up again in the extra tracks, via a sparer, less free-ranging acoustic version performed at the Dwars Festival in Amsterdam. “When I Was a Young Man” also gets a second look, this time from a radio performance on New York’s WNYU, and an alternate take of “Divine Invasion” was recorded live at the Flywheel in Easthampton; I’m pretty sure I was there. These extra tracks are, to a one, warm and unfussy and assured, Gubler’s clear, unhurried voice drifting over complex webs of crystalline picking.

This expanded version of Parlor Tricks documents a free-wheeling turn-of-the-century scene in which New Weird America was just getting started. Hippie enclaves in California and rural New England had got to wondering, what if you took old British tunes and chords and got them really, really high? The answer was surprisingly wonderful, an art with roots in the past and heads in the clouds, and P.G. Six was as good as anyone at it. Parlor tricks, indeed! This stuff is magic.

Jennifer Kelly

[riseofthecommonwoodpile]

Another round down, and hoo boy! Look at all those fucking 9's and 9.5's! On the one hand, I think it was a uniquely strong selection (and there were just *so many* albums this time), but on the other, I think I'm probably just becoming more lenient with my scoring as I go on, and we come closer to approaching the end of this. Oh well! Who cares!

Alice and John Coltrane- Cosmic Music (8.0/10)

Arthur Russell- World of Echo (8.5/10)

Bedhead- Beheaded (8.0/10)

Black Tape for a Blue Girl- Remnants of a Deeper Purity (8.5/10)

The Body- Master, We Perish (7.5/10)

The Brian Jonestown Massacre- Methodrone (10/10)

The Brian Jonestown Massacre- Their Satanic Majesties' Second Request (8.5/10)

Buffy Sainte-Marie- Illuminations (10/10)

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band- Mirror Man (7.5/10)

Caroliner Rainbow Susans and Bruisins- The Cooking Stove Beast (9.0/10)

Cecil Taylor- Unit Structures (8.5/10)

CHIHIRO (チヒロ)- BEST 2007-2013 (6.5/10, deleted from library)

Chris Corsano- Another Dull Dawn (7.5/10)

Clams Casino- Instrumentals (8.0/10)

Codeine- The White Birch (8.5/10)

Craig Finn- I Need a New War (8.0/10)

Crass- Christ: The Album (8.5/10)

D/P/I- redneks 2013 (8.5/10)

Dean Blunt- Skin Fade (7.5/10)

Destroyer- We'll Build Them A Golden Bridge (8.0/10)

Digable Planets- Blowout Comb (9.0/10)

DNA- DNA on DNA (8.5/10)

Dusty Springfield- A Girl Called Dusty (8.0/10)

Enya- Dark Sky Island (8.5/10)

Enya- The Memory of Trees (8.0/10)

esc 不在- midi dungeon (7.0/10, deleted from library because i just have too much vaporwave)

The Ex- Joggers and Smoggers (9.5/10)

Ferry Corsten- Blueprint (9.0/10)

Fuji Grid TV- Prism Genesis (8.5/10)

The Fun Years- Baby It's Cold Inside (8.5/10)

Germs- (GI) (8.5/10)

Harry Pussy- What Was Music? (8.0/10)

The Haxan Cloak- Excavation (9.0/10)

Heatmiser- Dead Air (7.0/10)

Hijokaidan- Noise from Trading Cards (8.0/10)

Hiroshi Sato- Super Market (7.5/10)

Hüsker Dü- Warehouse: Songs and Stories (8.5/10)

Hype Williams / Paradise Sisters- Crowned Regional Sadat X Awareness Project (8.5/10)

Iannis Xenakis- Orchestral Works Vol. I (9.5/10)

James Ferraro- Skid Row (8.5/10)

Jeph Jerman and Tony Whitehead- Placed (7.0/10)

The Jesus Lizard- Liar (8.5/10)

Julee Cruise- Floating Into the Night (7.5/10)

Leatherface- Mush (9.5/10)

Lemon Demon- View-Monster (8.0/10)

Leonard Cohen- Various Positions (9.0/10)

LiLiPUT- Kleenex / LiLiPUT (8.0/10)

Lolina- Live in Paris (8.5/10)

M83- Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (8.0/10)

Madonna- Madonna (8.0/10)

Man is the Bastard- Thoughtless (7.5/10)

Marvin Gaye- Let's Get it On (7.5/10)

Mater Suspiria Vision- Inverted Triangle II (7.0/10)

The Mekons- The Edge of the World (8.0/10)

Melvins- Gluey Porch Treatments (9.0/10)

Menomena- I Am the Fun Blame Monster (8.5/10)

Merzbow- Rainbow Electronics 2 (7.0/10)

Meshuggah- Selfcaged (7.5/10)

Miles Davis- A Tribute to Jack Johnson (8.0/10)

Minutemen- What Makes a Man Start Fires? (9.0/10)

Miranda Lambert- Four the Record (8.5/10)

Morton Feldman- Rothko Chapel + Why Patterns? (9.0/10)

Naked City- Radio (7.0/10)

Neu!- Neu! 2 (9.0/10)

Nine Inch Nails- The Slip (8.0/10)

Philip Jeck- Stoke (8.5/10)

Whitehouse- Birthdeath Experience (4.5/10, deleted from library)

[thomasmartinnutt]

Chance Encounters #008

https://www.mixcloud.com/thomasmartinnutt/chance-encounters-008/

Barry Truax, Fred Moten, Aaron Dilloway & Jeph Jerman, Jun-Y Ciao, Wild Up plays Julius Eastman, Nyokabi Kariũki, Christopher Kirkley, Manja Ristic, Hong Qile, Alvin Lucier, Masahiko Okura, Gunter Muller & Ami Yoshida, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Minoru Sato, Keji Haino, Jim O'Rourke & Oren Ambarchi, Hekla, Dylan Henner, Kazuya Ishigami & Tamako Katsufuji, Masayoshi Fujita, Grahamn Dunning, Leticia Castaneda, Robbie Lee & Lea Bertucci, Marina Rosenfeld, Greg Davis, Sonic Youth, Bernard Parmegiani, Jay-Dea Lopez

[idealrecordings]

Incipientium is a rather new Gothenburg-based one man project who is succeeding to dive deep into some kind of rusty, unwell ambient sound. There are connections to stuff like Organum and Jeph Jerman but he has a unique voice, and is a much needed injection in the Swedish scene. Negativity as positive energy. This is the second album by Incipientium, the first one partly being a reissue of a super limited CDR. So this might be considered as a debut album to you who like stuff like that. idealrecordings.bandcamp.com https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca7eQnAsa0D/?utm_medium=tumblr

[babilano-celentano]

https://www.mixcloud.com/babilano/put-your-face-in-gwod-366th-revival/

tracks by: The Reverend Lester Knox Of Tifton Georgia, Streets of Lhasa, Bruno Maderna, Joy Orbison, t3g3lst3n, Queen, Throwing Snow, Cola Boyy, DJ Floor, Kucka, Goody Goody, Equiknoxx, Raider Klan, Eli Keszler, Stubborn Heart, Dialect, Marc Almond, Llyr, Car Culture, Jana Rush, Drake/Future/Jana Rush, Li Yilei, 100% Manmade Fiber, Jeph Jerman, The Smiths.