Jon Mueller – A Magnetic Center
9.30.15 by Scott Scholz

You might have heard the well-deserved hype for Death Blues over the last few years, a multi-disciplinary project headed by percussionist/composer Jon Mueller which reached its planned finale with last autumn’s Ensemble LP/book. Ever looking forward, Mueller marked its release with a 25+ city solo tour of the US and Canada, workshopping a new set of material. Appearing with only a handmade Arabic bass drum, a microphone, and a looping pedal, he proceeded to turn a series of unassuming neighborhood bars into some of the most primal percussion liturgies this side of Z’EV.

The material from that tour has been meticulously distilled into a weighty pair of pieces just released though Mueller’s Rhythmplex imprint. “A Magnetic Center” uses a persistent, minimal bass drum foundation, over which wordless vocals are looped into massive aggregations of voices, alternately speaking over one another and coming together into powerful chorale fragments. The A-side uses simple eighth notes on the drum, leaving room for what seem like hundreds of voices to gradually overtake the mix before collapsing into an ominous drone. On the B-side, the drums are busier, and the vocals huddle themselves into archetypal 2-measure melodies that feel like an eccentric world music that somehow accounts for the entire world.

This music is maybe felt even more than heard: the whole tape hovers around 35 minutes, but A Magnetic Center is a time-distorting experience that will probably leave several hours of your life unaccounted for. Tell it to the judge. And considering the name of this piece, this is a perfect jam to present on tape. The packaging compliments the ceremonial vibes, too: a pro-dubbed tape is nested in a heavy cardstock jacket with a photo-mounted embossed cover pattern, and the whole thing is wrapped inside silver foil paper and sealed with a black dot sticker. The edition of 100 is going fast, so grip whilst thou canst beholdest.