time is the greatest illusion
Time.
the early part of 2018 i spent filling out proposals, or following up on proposals, or sending out demos. all of which were unsuccessful, which is fine. i'm not mad. but it did wear me out. more so than i thought. so much so that i recorded zero minutes of solo work all year. that is not to say i was completely unproductive. i played shows, recorded with my new band (more info on that below) but had no energy for any new solo work. then i turned 40.
the only thing that was not a bummer about this year was the times i spent making or listening to music with tothers.
so with that the 2 releases i am most proud of this year are the 2 that were collaborations:
first up for those that might have missed it, back in early 2017 i invited my friend Akosuen to record some improviations on violin and voice with me at Experimental Sound Studio. This past summer Scripts Records released those 3 pieces we did here https://scriptsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cinchel-akosuen-2
I am exceptionally proud of not only the recording but the friends i've made through this recording. Akosuen has been a wonderful source of creativity and inspiration. Ed and Dave of Scripts have been super helpful and kind as have all the other artists i've met through the label. do check out everything that Scripts has released so far, all of it is excellent and highly varied. here's a video from the release show we played early this summer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmZ8cqAdz5o
the only other recording i'm truly happy with is this https://muzaneditions.bandcamp.com/album/what-the-photograph-reproduces-to-infinity-has-only-occured-once which is the first release of the band i've been playing with for about 2 years now. We call ourselves "Mirror of Nature" and we are an ambient/slow jazz trio of guitar (me), synth (Neil Jendon) and precussion (Mike Weis). i wrote about what the band means to me here https://cinchel.tumblr.com/post/180960335704/mirror-of-nature . In short its an honor make music that is this good with 2 people who i have the highest respect for. i look forward to making more music with them soon.
while i didnt record any new solo work in 2018 i did release some. the wondeful Patient Sounds released "A Sad Study in Temporal Dissonance" around this time last year. https://www.patient-sounds.com/ps095---cinchel---a-sad-study and i was truly honored to have one of my favorite labels release some work of mine. it even made some year end best of lists (Tabs Out and High Bias both of which are truly great lists and full of other amazing music you should check out)
remember those demo's i mentioned above that were panned. i stubbornly decided to make them tapes myself. Sustain / Sustain is a collection of pieces from 2016/2017 that explored the layering of short loops to make dense shifting textures. It's heavily inspired by Wolfgang Voigt / GAS. Similarly , In Chaos, explores layering loops of odd patterns that together are more or less odd. The full title of the tape is "Finding Patterns in Chaos to make it More Chaotic".
the only thing i hate more than time is capitalism, meaning that while i did pay to have these recordings mastered (Andrew Horton did In Chaos and Zac, who runs Doom Trip Tapes, did Sustain / Sustain ) and had the tapes professionally duplicated by Milwaukee Cassette Works , all the digital downloads are pay-what-you-want/FREE and if you buy one tape i will most likely send you both of them. if i'm going to waste money at least its providing you with music. as evidenced from these emails, my writing is terrible, but i still want to tell stories. these recordings are my stories. thanks for listening.
if you find yourself in Chicago soon i have a show and a DJ set coming up soon:
show @ an.open.space in Humbolt Park https://llllllll.co/t/open-space-01-13-19-bedroom-cinchel-arthhur/16952/9 its a nice low key house show on a sunday afternoon. during this past year of prolonged writers block i spent the time thinking about my solo work a lot. i've decided for 2019 that all solo shows will no longer be guitar bassed and for this first show i am working on some ideas using this small synth called the Microbrute.
I dont DJ often, maybe only once before this, but the arts program i was a resident with is having its 10 year aniversary and to celebrate they are having a show every Tuesday of Janurary at the Hideout https://www.hideoutchicago.com/event/1803187-high-concept-labs-hideout-chicago/ I will be DJ'ing before/between bands on Jan 23rd.
lastly, for those near and far, i will be on m50 radio show Feburary 8th playing a live set. here's how you can find the show if you are not within broadcast range of WNUR http://m50.net/playlists/news/news_broadcasts.html
-cinchel
the early part of 2018 i spent filling out proposals, or following up on proposals, or sending out demos. all of which were unsuccessful, which is fine. i'm not mad. but it did wear me out. more so than i thought. so much so that i recorded zero minutes of solo work all year. that is not to say i was completely unproductive. i played shows, recorded with my new band (more info on that below) but had no energy for any new solo work. then i turned 40.
the only thing that was not a bummer about this year was the times i spent making or listening to music with tothers.
so with that the 2 releases i am most proud of this year are the 2 that were collaborations:
first up for those that might have missed it, back in early 2017 i invited my friend Akosuen to record some improviations on violin and voice with me at Experimental Sound Studio. This past summer Scripts Records released those 3 pieces we did here https://scriptsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cinchel-akosuen-2
I am exceptionally proud of not only the recording but the friends i've made through this recording. Akosuen has been a wonderful source of creativity and inspiration. Ed and Dave of Scripts have been super helpful and kind as have all the other artists i've met through the label. do check out everything that Scripts has released so far, all of it is excellent and highly varied. here's a video from the release show we played early this summer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmZ8cqAdz5o
the only other recording i'm truly happy with is this https://muzaneditions.bandcamp.com/album/what-the-photograph-reproduces-to-infinity-has-only-occured-once which is the first release of the band i've been playing with for about 2 years now. We call ourselves "Mirror of Nature" and we are an ambient/slow jazz trio of guitar (me), synth (Neil Jendon) and precussion (Mike Weis). i wrote about what the band means to me here https://cinchel.tumblr.com/post/180960335704/mirror-of-nature . In short its an honor make music that is this good with 2 people who i have the highest respect for. i look forward to making more music with them soon.
while i didnt record any new solo work in 2018 i did release some. the wondeful Patient Sounds released "A Sad Study in Temporal Dissonance" around this time last year. https://www.patient-sounds.com/ps095---cinchel---a-sad-study and i was truly honored to have one of my favorite labels release some work of mine. it even made some year end best of lists (Tabs Out and High Bias both of which are truly great lists and full of other amazing music you should check out)
remember those demo's i mentioned above that were panned. i stubbornly decided to make them tapes myself. Sustain / Sustain is a collection of pieces from 2016/2017 that explored the layering of short loops to make dense shifting textures. It's heavily inspired by Wolfgang Voigt / GAS. Similarly , In Chaos, explores layering loops of odd patterns that together are more or less odd. The full title of the tape is "Finding Patterns in Chaos to make it More Chaotic".
the only thing i hate more than time is capitalism, meaning that while i did pay to have these recordings mastered (Andrew Horton did In Chaos and Zac, who runs Doom Trip Tapes, did Sustain / Sustain ) and had the tapes professionally duplicated by Milwaukee Cassette Works , all the digital downloads are pay-what-you-want/FREE and if you buy one tape i will most likely send you both of them. if i'm going to waste money at least its providing you with music. as evidenced from these emails, my writing is terrible, but i still want to tell stories. these recordings are my stories. thanks for listening.
if you find yourself in Chicago soon i have a show and a DJ set coming up soon:
show @ an.open.space in Humbolt Park https://llllllll.co/t/open-space-01-13-19-bedroom-cinchel-arthhur/16952/9 its a nice low key house show on a sunday afternoon. during this past year of prolonged writers block i spent the time thinking about my solo work a lot. i've decided for 2019 that all solo shows will no longer be guitar bassed and for this first show i am working on some ideas using this small synth called the Microbrute.
I dont DJ often, maybe only once before this, but the arts program i was a resident with is having its 10 year aniversary and to celebrate they are having a show every Tuesday of Janurary at the Hideout https://www.hideoutchicago.com/event/1803187-high-concept-labs-hideout-chicago/ I will be DJ'ing before/between bands on Jan 23rd.
lastly, for those near and far, i will be on m50 radio show Feburary 8th playing a live set. here's how you can find the show if you are not within broadcast range of WNUR http://m50.net/playlists/news/news_broadcasts.html
-cinchel
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