New Spaces, New Sounds

November 2011: New Spaces Session by Jazari

I live in an apartment that shares no common walls with any other apartment, which makes my building something of an architectural freak. For a couple years I’ve been under the impression that this unique layout allowed me to make a lot of robot noise without disturbing anyone, and I was half right. The neighbors on my floor can’t hear me from their apartments, and I thought the same was true of the neighbors above me. But I was wrong. Apparently, one upstairs neighbor has been suffering through late night jam sessions while wrapping her annoyance into a tight ball of passive-aggressive Minnesotan rage. Because I’m a nice guy, and because I got tired of electromechanical furniture dominating my living space, I rented a real rehearsal space.

As it turns out, this was a great idea in its own right. Being able to play with normal volume is very liberating and completely changes how I practice. I’m able to balance the instruments better, build up thicker textures, and simulate a real performance. I got a little giddy with that freedom during my first full day in the space, and I dropped my planned session of scales and rhythm exercises for hours of self-indulgent jamming, which in a one-man improvisatory band, is actually the point of the enterprise. Who else would I indulge? But I digress. I recorded about half an hour of spontaneous beat creation and melodic noodling, and while there are some awkward moments and some loops last too long, I like the overall vibe. Unlike earlier tracks, these are mellow beats that aren’t in a hurry to get anywhere. Synths amble around in a bouncy reverberant space grounded by regular patterns in the djembe and auxiliary percussion, and enough weird stuff happens to avoid ambient chillout blandness. That said, it’s background music. Anyone listening for structural narrative in the modulation scheme will be…well, let’s just stop here and say that anyone who listens for the structure of modulation schema probably endured a harsh, though rigorous, upbringing in the former East Germany and deserves our support and patience. But that person will be bored Scheißelos by this track. Other people, however, may enjoy listening to this session while distracting themselves with homework, chores, or any one of the many brilliantly stupidly brilliant single-serving tumblrs on the internets. I recommend Fuck Yeah Menswear.