November 2004 Archives

there is no real social network or scene surrounding contemporary underground ambient music
i dont mean bad new age or electronic "ambient" scenes
im talking ambient music made by the younger generation, a generation informed as much by underground rock and roll as much as eno. people my age, informed, 'hip' musicians that find their zone in sleep music
there's a efw key players out there, pimped by kranky or other 'space' or 'psychedelic' labels
from that awesome label you got your windy and carl, your stars of the lid, your dubbed-out loscil
there used to be FSA, and for a second there over a decade ago, english shoe gaze music's psychedelic dream-drone became really hip
but really, the world of rock and roll is on a different pace, a different wavelength than ambient music
a music that is for private bedroom listening, not for name-dropping at a show or club. music that doesnt translate well into the now completely codified, commercialized, and politicized live "independent music" settings.
so where are these lone ambient travelers? how and why do they make such a private, spiritual, mellow, sleep inducing music? why don't they band together? why are there not marathon sleep festivals? why are there so many amazing ambient artists who get absolutely no "mainstream/indie" recognition?
i say its time to take our fuzzy dream worlds and wash out the whole lot of these shallow, commercially and socially oriented pop forms.
or at least create a secret network of people working towards similar artistic goals. the international amient underground.
are we all just so zoned-out and mellow that we can't get it together enough to do these things?
and why is it that so many so-called drone/psychedlic music lovers go for such "dark" or "rock" "academic" or "harsh" forms of minimalist and ambient music?
where are all my good vibe FSA people? my windy & carl gentle billow of good feeling people? why are they not running more little labels?
will we always make music in the shadows, misunderstood by our peers, forgotten or misrepresented by the fickle and shallow press machinery, to be ignored so much that we end up feeling (as david pearce of FSA, racked with emotional problems and in and out of mental hospitals, eventually felt) that no one really cares, and stop making our beautiful billows forever?
sure there were and are psychedelic music festivals dedicated to the outer reaches of contemporary rock and roll
but im not talking about space rock, fuzz-wah improvised hippy collectives, or even psychedlic folk

im talking about sleep inducing, mellow ambient vibe jams
these bands:
landing, tunnels, white rainbow, stars of the lid, windy and carl, brian eno, popul vuh, cluster,
why cant i think of more? some rock bands veer into ambient territory momentarily, but dont make consistently mellow enough records to put on as environmental, ambient (in the eno sense) music, or music for sleeping. bardo pond is a good example of a a band that is sometimes trippy enough to doze off to, but just as prone to sound like black sabbath. surface of eceyon is another example.

no im talking the straight dope
where my homies at?
my deeper trippers
my international ambient underground?
is there any way we can come together people
have a zome party in the high desert
build a castle out of pillows and sharper image sound soother rain/babbling brook units and surround ourselves with dim lighting, and "pump" ambient music into our ears at moderate volume levels for the rest of eternity

i for one wish we could. i wish there were more of a market for my own music, i wish there was a market for the music made by my fellow landing, or the obscure tunnels, or anyone making this sort of stuff

seems like its time for us to gently and slowly creep our way into people's lives. our music is important and respectable, not "easy to make and boring" not ignorable not passed over for something more cerebral or intense or rockin or academicor fashionable.

ambient music is NOT a side project. it is a life project. yoga for the ears. a spiritual path. a calling.

yes

we need listening stations in health food stores like the new agers got
we need to put them in the hip record stores and coffee shops across the world
we need conventions and festivals and web-societies and labels and money and zines dedicated to our vibes

wouldnt that rule?

zome festivals?

what are your favorite ambient musics, kind readers? can we help turn each other on to the good stuff
can we come together here and give each other some support and love?

is anyone feeling me or is this just the ego-centric rant of a weary artist?

so the jackie-o tour has been abbreviated down to two weeks

it looks like this:

12/02 CZ-Prague, Alternativa Festival

12/03 travel

12/04 NL-Nijmegen, Onderbroek

12/05 B-Opwijk, Nijdrop

12/06 UK-Brighton, Cinematheque

12/07 UK-London, Electric Ballroom

12/08 UK-Nottingham, Bar None!

12/09 UK-Bristol, The Cube

12/10 UK-Leeds, Holy Trinity Church

12/11 NL-Amsterdam, Paradiso

12/12 D-Köln, Kulturbunker Mülheim

so we'll be back on the 13th or 14th

european people: prepare to be tryyped
portland people, see you when we get back

expect at least some tour blogging action
hopefully lots of pictures and videos

until then, i gotta make some white rainbow and world cds to sell!

love

a

AIM IM with uncleboatshoes
1:45 PM
uncleboatshoes: what the heck are you listening to?
uncleboatshoes: HWIHWIHWIWHIWHWIHW
uncleboatshoes: I'm DEAD
mothsounz: sunroof

new camera:

cool

duders
its cold in portland. ice-y and clear.
we finally finished mixing the new jackie o motherfucker record today
which makes me feel better than yesterday when i almost had a panic attack trying to plug all of my stupid effects pedals together in a tidy manor. a process that took 4 hours, long enough to run out of time and not be able to record new world material. sometimes just looking at cords makes me want to kill something. or someone. or myself. how stupid is that? getting mad at these very nice things that do nice things for me. being broke changes everything. every perception. every situation is tainted by the debt. shit sucks. can i repeat: dont bring your cellphone to europe, people. also: expensive pedals break. always. no question. so do expensive cars and computers. everything breaks faster than you planned. and you wont have the money to fix them. thats just the way it goes. also: things get progressively better. thicker and more full of flavor. loves all around. like that war song. its like that.

days zoom by in a blur here in portland. i cant remember this town being any other way.

listening to: this new little wings GROW album
electric ladyland
this audioscrobbler thing is cool, i guess. if you're a nerd

charlambides solo sets tonight at dunes

love

man oh man
if you go to europe, people, do NOT bring your cellphone
jesus chrust
just got my bill and almost had a heart attack
so i'm selling a bunch of stuff on ebay and hustling around town for money (coat check at berbati's, putting up posters for shows, etc) to get some cash to pay that and my crazy credit card bill (for this fucking, er...., amazing computer).
at least we're leaving again soon

besides that, i had an intense beginning of the week. two nights of GBV final shows. jake longstreth came up to see night one, and his lady friend willow andsteve and mark from dunes and i went. total triumph. then steve and i went back for night two. we were crusty and tired and burnt out but the show was pretty good. seemed like the band was crusty and tired too, but they slugged out the hits. an end of an era, those dudes quitting. i remember when steve and jake were so into GBV that they would go up to seattle and vancouver with stan mcmahon (mr giant bug village) ripping show after show. it was deep. remember when jay was in giant bug village and opened for the real gbv? and then jake was in it at the end...damn

then devendra and andy came into town....new band, new dudes, awesome times
it was great to erally meet brendon viking moses, and his songs and vibes were very very tight
i played with them that night so we had 4 guitarists and the crowd was happy and dancing and totally mt tabor pub. then we had a steppers party at dunes with steve playing the smooth and heavy hits and everybody dancing some more

wish i had photos. maybe steve does.

yesterday i rested. and liarbird played at dunes. so mellow and natural and nice. sold warren one of my echo pedals and talked about jason wall and jason traeger. fell asleep while honey cleaned. today is ebay day, maybe poster evening and coat check night.

the dudes from charlambides are playing solo sets at dunes on sunday. i was bummed i missed their show last night at holocene. i heard it was crushing.

yeah

we leave for tour in a week and a half!

i need to get the world and white rainbow CDs ready! and finish the dave longstreth remix! and make covers! and eat and sleep and work too!! and not let the bill collectors get me down.

love
adam

working on a new yarnlazer.com
working on a dave longstreth remix
working a new world cd
working on a new white rainbow cd
thinking about how we are going to package these things
still very broke
dont know what's going to happen about that any time soon.
going back on tour in two weeks with JOMF
sorry i never wrote about the tour with devendra, but anyone who reads this and doesnt know about teamyacht.com should go over there right now and check out jona's awesome ongoing tour journal

here's a cool picture of World that i made from daniel's photos. check out his blog urbanhonking.com/kill awesome strobe photos, dude. it was fun

until i write again

love
adam

touch vibe central eternity spectrum crow feather found light at the deep end of the psychedelic jazz pool sundown noise fest with his brother native, crippled reggae dusty crunk together in light together in song celebrations and togetherness
it was some fucking journey taking it deep and mellow into the infinite beyond bruising their shins and stubbing their so-called "teva protected" exposed toes
digerido horn called for the now-forever echoing dub vibrations through the ether of forgetfulness
quiet storm of the infinite thump
thump of the sun song
wind sound
tired reggae soldier
dream song of the crow's tooth
the eagles eye
the talon of nectar
behemoth monster of Tuh
quiet your crys in light of the universal understanding
proud baby lion's roar into the echo canyon of night
we find truth
we build freedom
this is togetherness now vibrations
this is the spirit of love
these are the people of light
we will not wear uniform sports shoes
we will not be carried into the forest
the forest will echo with laughter
bequeath the sheeba thunder
sky opens to the forever sunset
splendorous and wide
covering her shadows with the deepest of crimson
uniting lazer of truth
like fog machines slow breath creating tunnels and fans