(graphic by Ray Istorico)

Background:
Audio:

• November 4 download 2.7 meg - very much a soundscape, with a detuned deep low C from Jim anchoring the proceedings.
• Breaking Gravity download 1.7 meg - probably the most driving piece we've done so far, motored along by numerous overlapping rhythmic loops.
• Voice in the Ruins download 3 meg - a dark, more aggressive piece than many of the others, with lo-fi abused tape loops and Jim's howling backwards slide.
• Sundial download 3.2 meg - a very gentle and spacious track, with harmonics and loop fragments coming in and out.
• Waterwheel download 3.6 meg - a hypnotic drone while aggressive squeals and chordal shards poke through, mostly from my new microcassette Dictaphone.
• Missing at Sea download 2.7 meg - a pastoral, meditative sketch, abstracted by live detuned, reversed loops.
• Cities on Cities download 5.6 meg - a nice taste of Jim's fretless acoustic and some ultra-high loops, before I add some strumming, Jim starts slashing at big oblique chords and it all ends with a naked backwards line.
• Only in Hindsight download 2.7 meg - Jim really took the lead on this brooding excerpt, I'm mainly just providing a loop and adding a bit of commentary.

Jim Goodin is an excellent guitarist from New York, who I got acquainted with through the Net via common musical interests, especially looping. Though we've never met in person, we've been playing frequently via Ninjam and have developed a real musical rapport. We're already discussing a recording project for 2007, and though at least part of that will likely take place in a "real" studio, it's been interesting to play remotely, with its attendant limitations and quirks, such as the latency and lack of face-to-face interaction.

We're both playing acoustic instruments, he on steel-string and myself on nylon-string, and we both use looping equipment to build up accompanying parts and generate interesting textures. Everything is improvised, though we've hit on some great themes and may consider referring to them again in the future (or not...). The music has tended to be largely thoughtful and ethereal, but there have been some sections recently that are much more aggressive and sinister. I'm very excited about the possibilities of this collaboration, and will be posting excerpts from our online sessions here.