Sound Colour Vibration (Music | Art | Film | Technology | Science | Culture)

Through the trials and tribulations to the joy and rewards of a creative path that one defines themselves, this earth affords individuals an endless scope of possibilities to further expand the worlds positive momentum. Where a modern world exists in which product can overshadow process, it’s gratifying on levels I could never summarize to experience the evolution of the modern creative spirits of this world who are trained on the highest of levels and search for everything that bridges the new and the old. When one of these spirits transcends beyond our realm and leaves only the vessel they were once attached to behind, the world reveals the closing of a door that in many cases sends shock-waves into various communities of the world. With many innovators of sound who have paved out foundations for 40+ years of their life, their passing becomes a celebration in many ways and softens this wave.

When a musician like Austin Peralta leaves this planet as he did this last week, especially at the young age of 22, hearts bleed in very harsh ways and those who had experienced and appreciated his music are left wondering what could have been next. A true visionary who walked among the best in the acoustic and electronic realms, this world has lost something huge with the passing of Austin. I was lucky enough to exchange emails with Austin last year for an exclusive interview and when I got word from dublab that he had passed, I was shocked and touched in a way I had not anticipated. I had never met him in person and I had only seen him perform once, but the exchange of energy that has taken place through his music will stay with me forever.

I had been working on a follow up to volume five in our Meditation and Relaxation music podcast series and the passing of Austin put me into a very deep mind set and I selected an entirely new batch of material in celebration of the musical path Austin walked. It was a calming and reassuring moment that made me realize how important music is in the healing process after loosing ones who have touched our lives. Small sections from Paul Horn’s mantra vocals and beautifully serene flute at the Taj Mahal are projected with the natural delay of the rooms he recorded in over Jimi Hendrix’s masterpiece 1983…A Merman I Should Turn To Be” and Popol Vu’s “Mit Haenden, Mit Fuessen”. The tranquil state of the beginning of fusion jazz appears in the Miles Davis and Joe Jawinul piece In A Silent Way. Paul Horn’s voice is again extracted over the intro of this very special Miles Davis piece.

The intro of the mix is a composite of tone scientist and founding member of The Velvet Underground Angus MacLise, avant-garde sax specialist Colin Stentson and his vortex of powerful sax lines reversed, delay treated extracts of a killer whale that Paul Horn created music with and the hypnotic middle eastern influenced guitar work of Seabuckthorn. The degrading and eventual complete decay of pastoral, elegant and analog tape loops is presented in the William Basinski piece, which is accommodated by the closing passages of Miles’ unmistakable trumpet. Omar Rodriguez Lopez’s dreamy and exotic guitar sheeting techniques from his first solo album are reversed and used as a small bridge between the cosmic fusion of Lonnie Liston Smith and the Popol Vu piece mentioned before. The intro for the Brainfeeder debut masterpiece Austin Peralta released is the defining piece on the mix for obvious reasons. King Crimson, The Caretaker, Kollektiv, Black Eagle Child, Evan Caminiti and the illustrious Imrat Khan round out this collection of music.

There is a lot I can say about this mix but most importantly I would love for those out there who may catch wind of this to sit back, relax and enjoy the deep spiritual sounds we have captured under one roof with Volume 6 in our Relaxation and Meditation series.

Music for Relaxation and Meditation Vol 6 (A Lotus Flower Forever)
Sound Colour Vibration Podcasts 147
Compiled and mixed by Erik Otis
Photography by Valentina Camila Apparat
November 2012

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Track Listing

1. Angus MacLise – Tunnel Music #1
2. Colin Stetson – The End of Your Suffering (Reverse)
3. Seabuckthorn – Fleeting
4. Paul Horn – Haida
5. Clark – Brigette + Brigette (Reverse)
6. Evan Caminiti – Become Pure Light
7. King Crimson – Trio
8. Lonnie Liston Smith – Astral Traveling
9. Omar Rodriguez Lopez – Dream Sequence (Reverse)
10. Popol Vuh – Mit Haenden, Mit Fuessen
11. Paul Horn – Mantra/Meditation at the Taj Mahal
12. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – 1983…A Merman I Should Turn To Be
13. Austin Peralta – Introduction: The Lotus Flower
14. Black Eagle Child – I Forgot
15. Sigur Ros – Ég Anda
16. Ilyas Ahmed – Golden Universe (Reverse)
17. Kollektiv – Gageg – A – Andante
18. Nice Nice – Crickets And Cicadas Pt. 1
19. Angus MacLise – Trance #2
20. Paul Horn – Unity at the Taj Mahal
21. Miles Davis – In A Silent Way
22. William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops 1.3 Volume IV
23. The Caretaker – All You Are Going To Want To Do Is Get Back There
24. Imrat Khan – Shyam Kalyan