Mazurek, Rob

Mazurek, Rob

Desert Encrypts Vol. 1

Monofonus Press / Astral Spirits

***Desert Encrypts Volume 1, is a two-part suite based on observations from the desert in and around Marfa, TX. It also explores ROB MAZUREK's ongoing fascination with social, psychological, and physiological structures, both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial. The composition includes written music and graphic scores for improvisation. For Desert Encrypts Vol. 1 Mazurek has put together an awe-inspiring new ensemble featuring KRIS DAVIS on piano, INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN on bass & CHAD TAYLOR on drums. Recorded live at the Crowley Theater in Marfa, TX during Mazurek's inaugural Desert Encrypts Festival in August 2018, Desert Encrypts Vol. 1 captures the quartet burning through Mazurek's newest compositions like they've been playing together for years (to be fair some of them have been playing together for years).

Mazurek, Rob

Love Waves Ecstatic Charge

Monofonus Press / Astral Spirits

***Love Waves Ecstatic Charge uses visual material to construct sonic architecture. The visuals are one hundred and six still images taken from an experimental video which was initially shot when ROB MAZUREK was in residency at Abbaye Royal de Fontevraud, France, 2005. Upon his return from the residency he discovered the camera broken and barely operational other than the fact of being able to extract frame by frame 106 distorted still images and fragmented skipping sound that would on occasion burst through. This material sat untouched for numerous years until recently, whereupon a reinvestigation of the material had such a depth of feeling to it that he used these images and sound to start to construct sonic pieces based on color shifts, granulation, bursts, shape, distortion, texture and finally text. The text is an affirmation of Life and Breathing, Love and Ecstatic Charge, the constant shifts that occur in daily life creating Waves of Joy and Sorrow and everything in between. Other Sound was eventually collected from various sources, specifically in and around Mies van der Rohe's iconic Farnsworth house in Plano, IL and processed through modular synth and computer. Some of this sound can be heard inside the film he made in collaboration with filmmaker Lee Ann Schmitt titled: The Farnsworth Scores.

Mazurek, Rob

Psychotropic Electric Eel Dreams Iv

Monofonus Press / Astral Spirits

***In Spring of 2017, Experimental Sound Studio (ess.org) presented Psychotropic Electric Eel Dream IV, a four-channel sound composition for the ESS Florasonic sound installation series at Lincoln Park Conservatory Chicago. The installation was in conjunction with ROB MAZUREK's solo exhibition "The Shaping Light" (ess.org/esscalendar/2017/3/12/opening-the-shaping-light) at ESS's Audible Gallery. What you hear in the Fern Room is Psychotropic Electric Eel Dream IV by composer, musician, and visual artist, Rob Mazurek. The sounds in this composition were generated by electric eels at the National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil. Mazurek recorded them between 2000 and 2008, and has since used them in several music compositions, recordings, and installations. In this iteration of the work, he combines them with analog/digital synthesis to create an undulating and radiant sonic texture. By placing the sounds in loudspeakers overhead, our typical relationship to the eels is reversed: they are above us, not underwater, and we can imagine ourselves submerged.

Mazurek, Rob

Chimeric Stoned Horn

Monofonus Press / Astral Spirits

***Chimeric Stoned Horn is the official follow-up to Mazurek's Vortice of the Faun cassette we released back in 2015. Chimeric Stoned Horn is also released in conjunction with Mazurek's art opening Constellation Scores at URDLA in France, September 16th. This is Mazurek's first recording featuring Piccolo Trumpet, acoustic and processed with his modular synths, with modules by Make Noise, Industrial Music Electronics and Doepfer, alongside voice incantations and mystic bell projections. It is also one of the first Mazurek albums recorded entirely in his new home in Marfa, Texas. Chimeric Stoned Horn picks up where Vortice left off, but goes much deeper and in different nuanced ways throughout the 40 minute run time.

Mazurek, Rob

Vortice Of The Faun

Monofonus Press / Astral Spirits

Astral Spirits is unbelievably stoked to unleash a brand new Rob Mazurek tape “Vortice of the Faun” into the world! This is Mazurek’s second tape release after the absolutely stunning “Alternate Moon Cycles” release on International Anthem last year. But more interestingly this is Mazurek’s first solo electronic outing since his equally stunning “Sweet and Vicious Like Frakenstein” way back in 2004 on Editions Mego. This tape holds 80 minutes of pure abstract beauty: at times harsh, at times soft, but always moving forward into new territories as Mazurek has done throughout his 25 year career.“Vortice of the Faun is Mazurek’s latest cassette release and was entirely constructed through electro-acoustic means, utilizing oscillators and modules designed by The Harvestman (Seattle) and MakeNoise (Asheville), some of which sample acoustic sources, though most of the cassette is created from purely electronic sounds. Hundreds of samples and audio colors were collected, and the portable rack that contains these devices – a recent addition to his quiver – has granted a tough additional dimension to Mazurek’s canvas. Furthermore, this set is not entirely solo – one piece, “Arc in Light of Faun Tiger Born” features four separately conducted rabeca tracks performed by Thomas Rohrer that have been woven into a landscape of glitches, fluffs, and flinty whirrs. Mazurek has never appeared to merely augment his brass with electronic resources; rather, his dedication to electronic music is an extension of the brass tradition. There’s physicality, often abrupt but always shaped, to this music – at...