interview
Through The Looking Glass
Photo by Ben Collins, taken at The Smell on February 13th, 2011.
The last few weeks have been important, if muted, to the Psychic Temple Continuum. On July 7th, 2011, we assembled 10-strong, at the Long Beach Museum of Art and, against all odds, attempted a mass inversion of sea, air, and sound. Our vantage point was obscured and it was difficult to tell when and if we succeeded, but there were many kind words when all was said and done.
A few days prior to the performance Ian Patterson at All About Jazz reviewed Psychic Temple: “It would’ve been difficult to imagine a follow-up recording more beautiful or conceptually refined than Twilight and Ghost Stories, but Psychic Temple achieves just that; for 33 minutes, this sublime meditation sees Schlarb work his minimalist magic as never before… Psychic Temple seduces with its unrelenting beauty; the perfect antidote to an increasingly noisy, hectic, and often senseless world…”
I also had the pleasure of discussing Psychic Temple with musician, journalist, and arts champion extraordinaire, Sander Roscoe Wolff of the Long Beach Post: “Psychic Temple is far more composed. In four movements it is expansive, restrained, but always beautiful. It is melodic, with arrangements that feature strings, horns, voice, pedal steel guitar and more traditional instrumentation. Although the musicianship is excellent, it never favors athletic playing, instead focusing on the aesthetics of the whole Idiomatically, it feels elusive, but it is engaging and something any lover of music can enjoy.”
PRISM index
What if you could buy an entire art installation for $22 and keep it on your bookshelf? Well you can, it’s called PRISM index. A few years ago, I was asked to contribute four interviews with Twilight & Ghost Stories collaborators Mick Rossi, Bhob Rainey, Parker Paul and Ray Raposa. These interviews, discussing struggle, inspiration, and the creative process are collected and printed only in the pages of PRISM index. I am honored to have my words sit alongside sounds, images, and poetry by James Jackson Toth, Diane Cluck, Bill Plympton, and Michael Hurley. PRISM index is a hand-bound, silkscreened, mixed-media art compilation, available in a limited edition of 500. It also includes an 88 minute DVD and a 72 minute CD.
Watch the video and then buy something real.
Interviews, Reviews & You
As of today Twilight & Ghost Stories has been out for exactly a month’s time. In the days that have passed since its release I have been surprised by the reactions that people have had to the album. Honestly, it has surpassed the expectations that I placed on it and I can only thank those who have listened and written about the record as thoughtfully as they have. I have gathered more than a few of the press reviews here for further perusal.
Recently, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by a few fine writers, Ian Patterson from All About Jazz and Chris Ziegler from The District Weekly, and both of those articles have now been published online. Both writers asked questions that provoked in me new reflections on the creative process that went into Twlight. This week also saw the online publishing of a print feature with Josiah Hughes of XLR8R Magazine.
In late November I was canonized alongside a great many number of artists who have contributed to Dusted Magazine’s Listed column and a few days after that was featured on NPR’s Second Stage with Robin Hilton.
And so to wrap up this densely assembled post I am asking for a little help from anyone who has enjoyed listening to Twilight & Ghost Stories. A few people have already posted very thoughtful and kind reviews on iTunes and Amazon.com and I would ask that if you have a minute or two, perhaps you will consider leaving short review there. It really does help encourage people to check out the album when they see others have enjoyed it as well.
Again, here are links to the album at Amazon.com, iTunes and even eMusic.com
Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your reviews!
If it is possible to bribe my small (but intelligent) audience in some way, perhaps a previously unreleased I Heart Lung performance recording will persuade you?
I Heart Lung live at Pehrspace [mp3]
Recorded in Los Angeles, California
August 27th, 2007 // 320kps
Disclaimer: No reviews are required to listen to or download the above recording.
Paper Thin Walls and Stereo Subversion Features
Both Paper Thin Walls and Stereo Subversion have published interviews within the last few days. The interview with Stereo Subversion was an enjoyable duet with Tom Steck regarding I Heart Lung and the other was a feature story about the weekend I lost to Sean Carnage a few months ago.
Many thanks to Jessica Suarez at Paper Thin Walls and Dave Cantor at Stereo Subversion for deftly sifting through all my words.
37signals Interview
One of my favorite blogs (and favorite little companies), 37signals, published an interview with yours truly today. I use their Basecamp web-based software to help run Sounds Are Active and keep my many affairs in order. I focused mainly on the process of working on 40 BANDS/80 MINUTES! but there is some interesting stuff in there about Twilight & Ghost Stories too.