Glochids is one James Roemer, of Tempe, Arizona; Succulents field researcher, gamelan experimentalist, cross country cyclist, and bricoleur extraordinaire. James plays many instruments and objects, including gamelan (with his band sungsang), a language learning computer replete with old school punch card interface, cactus quills (glochids), street sweeper kalimba, and electronics. His field recorded snapshots of these sounds tend to blur with their backgrounds until focal point becomes the ear of the beholder.
Upon receiving these extraordinary vignettes, we queried as to their method of realization, but coy evasions and sly allusions were all we garnered, though we know there to be a wealth of field recordings from South America (bus station cumbia, Chilean apartment keyboards, La Paz Museo de Instrumentos Musicales in Bolivia, kids playing by Incan ruins), as well as passages from snowy Wisconsin, a Sonoran desert campfire, under a freeway overpass, and we suspect there to be a recorder kept handy during lengthy cross country bike rides!
The balance of delicacy, robustness, as well as the playful spirit in which these songs were created, is what attracted us to Originals in the first place, and what, even after innumerable listens, proves to retain the mystery and delight we experienced when encountering it for the first time. We hope you enjoy as much as we do!
credits
from Weird Ear Sampler,
released February 14, 2014
released 15 March 2013
Thank You Wright Mier & Jason Fickett
Thank you Weird Labelpeople Raub & Dianne
Thank You Portable MiniDisc & Yamaha Keyboards
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