Abstract Rhythm in Time DigitalART With eremite records

Natural Information by Joshua Abrams natural information, joshua abrams 1st record for eremite, is another fascinating entry in a solo discography of recordings that gather aesthetic input from all over the map into vivid personal statements. at the heart of natural information is the guimbri, a three-stringed animal hide bass traditionally used by the gnawa of north africa in healing ceremonies. combining solo, trio & quartet formats with adroit use of sampling techniques abrams creates intricate psychedelic environments that join the hypnotic character of gnawa guimbri music to more contemporary musics & methodologies. brown rice era don cherry, sandy bull's "blend" recordings & can's "magic" albums are super-heavy but in this case earned & appropriate historical reference points. the wire magazine top 50 records of 2010 ni kantu top ten records of 2010 pitchfork guest list top ten records of 2010 matador records matablog top ten reco...

Represencing by Joshua Abrams represencing is the second installment of the joshua abrams sound world introduced on his 2010 eremite album natural information. recorded at home in chicago summer of 2011, abrams again organizes small group statements around the resonant grooves of the north african ceremonial instrument the guimbri with a unique & broadly assimilative compositional voice. sources from traditional musics to minimalism, jazz to krautrock, animate represencing, but Abrams is always grounded in the solidity of true working musicianship & he proves himself an artist fluent not just in styles but traditions. abrams' guest musicians embrace his polyglot approach. goaded (the guimbri is partly constructed from animal-hide) by abrams to focus on a particular facet of their vocabularies, jeff parker & emmett kelly appear as finely contrasting rhythm guitarists, michael zerang gets virtuosic on a tambourine & david boykin devotes himself to altissimo long-t...

Magnetoception by Joshua Abrams on magnetoception joshua abrams is back exploring new contexts for the guimbri, the three-stringed north african bass lute at the heart of his eremite recordings natural information & represencing. the artist's first large scale work on vinyl, magnetoception began as a commission by eremite for abrams to make a double LP based in extended performances by an ensemble of abrams, guitarists emmett kelly & jeff parker, & drummer hamid drake. the group recorded the nucleus of magnetoception live to two track, circled around vintage neumanns & a woodstove in a berwyn, illinois attic february 2013. over the next year at his chicago studio, parlor one, abrams added solo pieces for harp & clarinet, along with lisa alvarado’s harmonium, ben boye’s autoharp & percussion embellishments by drake. abrams's compositions are a fascinating nexus of ideas from non-western traditional musics, minimalism & jazz designed to catalyze h...

Simultonality by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society the follow-up to joshua abrams's critically acclaimed 2015 album magnetoception is here. simultonality, credited to joshua abrams AND natural information society (NIS), is the first recording in the project’s nine year, four album history made by a regularly gigging manifestation rather than a special assembly of friends. recorded in 2014 & 2015 in single takes by the full ensemble during & after tours of the u.s. & canada, simultonality sets out new pathways for abrams & the NIS to reach the next summit, & once more affirms the project's unique approach to joining traditional musics, american minimalism & jazz with the gnawa ceremonial instrument the guimbri. stasis, continuity & repetition, central qualities of abrams language, defined magnetoception, a double album of beautifully spacious & unhurried music that rated high on both pitchfork "the out door" & the ...

Mandatory Reality by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society mandatory reality, the new album by joshua abrams & natural information society, is here. setting aside (for the moment) the electric instrumentation of simultonality (2017) & magnetoception (2015), joshua abrams conceived mandatory reality for an eight-piece acoustic manifestation of NIS, consisting of himself on guimbri, lisa alvarado - harmonium & gongs, mikel avery - tam-tam & gongs, ben boye - autoharp & piano, hamid drake - tabla & tar, ben lamar gay - cornet, nick mazzarella - alto saxophone, & jason stein - bass clarinet. a 2 LP set, the album is comprised largely of two performances, both joshua abrams compositions, 24 & 40 minutes in length. while new to the band’s records, long duration pieces are familiar to those who’ve heard JA&NIS in concert in recent years, where elaboration on a single composition for an hour or more is not unusual. gradual tempos dominate mand...

descension (Out of Our Constrictions) by Natural Information Society with Evan Parker Rich in musical associations yet utterly singular in its voice, joyous with an inner tranquility, the music of Natural Information Society is unlike any other being made today. Their sixth album in eleven years for eremite records, descension (Out of Our Constrictions) is the first to be recorded live, featuring a set from London’s Cafe OTO with veteran English free-improv great Evan Parker, & the first to feature just one extended composition. The 75-minute performance, inspired by the galvanizing presence of Parker, is a sustained bacchanalia of collective ecstasy. You could call it their party album. This was the second time Parker played with NIS. Joshua Abrams: "Both times we played compositions with Evan in mind. I don't tell Evan anything. He's a free agent." The music is focused & malleable, energized & even-keeled, drawing on concepts of ensemble playing co...

Father of Origin by Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society FATHER OF ORIGIN, eremite’s acclaimed retrospective of early recordings by multi-instrumentalist, organizer, & archivist Juma Sultan & his Aboriginal Music Society, is finally available digitally. Drawn from Sultan’s mammoth private archive, the long out-of-print x2LP/x1CD boxed set, released in 2011, exposed some of the most extraordinary & explosive free jazz of its era to the light of day for the first time, including the earliest known recordings of Julius Hemphill, Frank Lowe, & Abdul Wadud. Working with Juma Sultan to debut these historical recordings remains one of the proudest achievements in the nearly 30 year history of eremite records, & it is with special thanks again, & mad love & appreciation, to Juma Sultan, that we make FATHER OF ORIGIN available digitally, for the time being, to the human clan. Explore 2024 recordings by Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society here jumas...

Slight Freedom by Jeff Parker repressed! jeff parker's magnificent first solo album -slight freedom-, a new york times best albums of 2016. 2nd edition pressed on premium 120-gram audiophile vinyl by RTI, presented in a retro flipback jacket. slight freedom, jeff parker’s first ever solo record, presents the first opportunity to hear the guitarist in fully self-revealed circumstances. recorded 2013 & ’14 in the hollywood hills as he relocated from chicago to los angeles, parker combines the dark tonal palette & percussive attack he’s long been known for with real-time processing elements & field recordings, deftly crafting a unique world of solo guitar music --multilingual, mysterious, alive with extraordinary sonic events, with a sturdy intelligence in charge & a raw homestyle vibe. the record is yet another defining moment for parker in 2016, a year that already includes a brilliant ensemble album (the new breed) & tortoise’s 25th anniversary tour & ...

Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy by Jeff Parker ETA IVtet -Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy-, x2 LPs of long-form, lyrical, groove-based free improv by acclaimed guitarist & composer Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet is at last here. Recorded live at ETA (referencing David Foster Wallace), a bar in LA’s Highland Park neighborhood with just enough space in the back for Parker, drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, & alto saxophonist Josh Johnson to convene in extraordinarily depthful & exploratory music making. Gleaned for the stoniest side-length cuts from 10+ hours of vivid two-track recordings made between 2019 & 2021 by Bryce Gonzales, -Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy- is a darkly glowing séance of an album, brimming over with the hypnotic, the melodic, & patience & grace in its own beautiful strangeness. Room-tone, electric fields, environment, ceiling echo, live recording, Mondays, Los Angeles. Jeff Parker's first double album ...

Since Time Is Gravity by Natural Information Society The next chapter of the Natural Information Society is here. Since Time Is Gravity, credited to Natural Information Society Community Ensemble with Ari Brown, presents a newly expanded manifestation of acclaimed composer & multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams' nearly 15 year, 7 albums-&-counting mainest ensemble. Joining the core NIS of Abrams (guimbri & bass), Lisa Alvarado (harmonium) Mikel Patrick Avery (drums) & Jason Stein (bass clarinet) are Hamid Drake (conga, tabla, tar), Josh Berman & Ben Lamar Gay (cornets), Nick Mazzarella & Mai Sugimoto (alto saxophones & flute), Kara Bershad (harp) & Chicago living legend of the tenor saxophone Ari Brown. Recorded live to tape at Electrical Audio & The Graham Foundation, cover painting Vibratory Cartography: Nepantla, by Lisa Alvarado. 2023-04-14 release date. eremite edition pressed on premium audiophile-quality 120 gram vinyl at RTI from Kevin...

The Ancients by Isaiah Collier, William Hooker, William Parker arriving north america on eremite 2025-01-31, europe via our parter aguirre records, the debut recording by the ancients, the intergenerational coalition of isaiah collier, william hooker, & william parker formed by parker to play concerts in conjunction with the milford graves mind body deal exhibition at the institute of contemporary art los angeles & now a working group. across x2LPs of side-length long-form improvised sets recorded at 2220 arts&archives in LA & the chapel in san francisco, the ancients bring the free jazz trio languages first explored by the cecil taylor unit & ornette coleman’s -golden circle- band (expanded upon in later eras by sam rivers' trio & parker’s collective trios with charles gayle/graves & peter brötzmann/hamid drake) into their own unique & scintillating realms of expression. as we tumble further into the throes of history’s tides, people of hope ...

Perseverance Flow by Natural Information Society Announcing Perseverance Flow, the latest album from acclaimed Chicago-based ensemble Natural Information Society (NIS), release date 2024-10-24. After a trilogy of double LPs by expanded manifestations of the band that began in 2018 with Mandatory Reality & continued through Since Time Is Gravity (a Pitchfork Best Jazz & Experimental Album of the Year selection & Mojo’s #1 Underground Album of 2023), NIS returns to its core formation of Lisa Alvarado on harmonium, Mikel Patrick Avery on drums, Jason Stein on bass clarinet, & composer/multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams on guimbri for one continuous 35 minute composition across a single LP. As the rocket boosters on spaceship earth sputter closer to burnout, lower your stylus into a soundfield that grows stronger the deeper you travel into it; a dose of the medicine many of us look to music to deliver awaits you inside. One of the deep contemplations of this natural ...

Onilu by Joe Chambers, Kevin Diehl, Chad Taylor onilu is an all-percussionist trio utilizing the extensive family of drummed & tuned percussion instruments to deliver beautifully composed, arranged & executed small ensemble music. nothing about this all-percussion band feels rarified, or missing anything musical. to the contrary, onilu create a soundworld where nothing is missing, & everything is musical —defying the stereotype of modern percussion ensembles as esoteric or academic pursuits, reaffirming the powerful social & sacred musics made in african diasporic communities & across cultures by drum & percussion groups since the beginning of human time. the members of onilu are: kevin diehl, leader of the enduring philadelphia-based afro-cuban yoruba free-jazz ensemble sonic liberation front; chad taylor, artistic director of jazz studies at the university of pittsburgh & esteemed drummer of long standing in many scenes. highlights of taylor's rece...