{"product_id":"s-kvern-neil-doctor-dancing-mask-pianoisms","title":"S. KVERN, NEIL - Doctor Dancing Mask: Pianoisms","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLimited edition of 555 LPs, hand assembled with love. First ever vinyl pressing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNeil S. Kvern’s \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDoctor Dancing Mask: Pianoisms \u003c\/em\u003eis a near mythical marker on the map of late 20th century experimentalism transpiring in America’s Pacific Northwest. A sublime, spacious effort of left field DIY minimalism constructed from recurring piano pieces, hypnotic percussion, and a peppering of diverse instrumentation, vocals, and invisible effects,\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDoctor Dancing Mask\u003c\/em\u003e illuminates a hidden but remarkable legacy of a young composer at the height of his creativity and consciousness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBorn in 1958 and raised in Northern Idaho, Kvern moved to Seattle in 1979 following a stint at \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhitman College\u003c\/strong\u003e in Washington State. It was during this period that he met Eugene, Oregon-based musicians \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eCarl Juarez\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBrian Magill\u003c\/strong\u003e, who introduced him to a vibrant community of artists and inspired him to make music of his own. Kvern’s oeuvre of compositions –  loosely inspired by minimalists like \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTerry Riley\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePauline Oliveros\u003c\/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePhilip Glass \u003c\/strong\u003e– that would emerge on a small handful self-released cassettes between 1983 and 1987 represent a largely unrecognized node of West Coast experimentalism during this period and establish important links between the \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEugene Electronic Music Collective \u003c\/strong\u003e(\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eEEMC\u003c\/strong\u003e) and \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSoundwork\u003c\/strong\u003e, a public-access electronic music studio and performance space in Seattle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSelf-taught, working independently and within a close network of friends and family, Kvern emphasized spontaneity in his music, constructing pieces from layered, improvisational overdubs, and drawing from a palette of piano, recorders, guitars, saxophones, marimba, and nearly any other instrument he could get his hands on. Poignantly, he recognized the distinct possibilities respectively activated by live and recorded music, and elected to exclusively realize his work in the latter format. Kvern’s recordings represent the music as it was intended to be encountered, with the multi-tracking process consciously approached as a means to rework and reimagine pieces as they evolved toward their final form; notes on magnetic tape, applied in much the same way as another composer might place a pen to the page. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFollowing a debut cassette, issued earlier in 1983, the twenty five year old Kvern set to work on an ambitious follow up; what would become the sixty plus minute \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDoctor Dancing Mask\u003c\/em\u003e. Mostly recorded on a \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eTascam 244 Portastudio 4-track\u003c\/strong\u003e, using piano and various acoustic instruments (notably, tenor recorder and percussion), he was intermittently joined by his brothers \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOlav\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eCraig Kvern\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eCharlie Spear\u003c\/strong\u003e on guitar, \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eConstance Maytum\u003c\/strong\u003e on vocals, and \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGlenn McNutt\u003c\/strong\u003e on percussion. Over a handful of months, the rotating ensemble cultivated an entirely distinct form of minimalism, blossoming with touchstones in diverse cultural traditions - African percussion, marimba, gamelan, and various folk idioms - and improvised jazz, that dances amongst the traces of effects processing and experimental approaches toward his instruments and the systems of recording alike.   \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBuilt around a series of circular piano lines and deconstructed melodies, and carried by arching percussive drive, \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDoctor Dancing Mask\u003c\/em\u003e represents a fascinating juncture of creative streams, folded into a singular, shadowy statement. Blending the tangible directness, immediacy, and textures of DIY recording with a clear consideration of minimalist \/ post-minimalist strategies and avant-garde techniques, the album engages an active broadening of the known context 1980s West Coast minimalist experimentalism that included artists like \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eHarold Budd\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIngram Marshall\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMarc Barreca,\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eK. Leimer\u003c\/strong\u003e, while resting with equal ease amongst an expansive constellation of maverick, international composers that began to emerge during this period, including \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGiovanni Venosta\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePriscilla Ermel\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMorgan Fisher\u003c\/strong\u003e, and\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Dominique Lawalrée. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eKvern recalls the recording of \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDoctor Dancing Mask\u003c\/em\u003e as a deeply intimate and responsive process: “I just listened to the instrument, tried to hear what it wanted to do. Being present to the sound, rather than bending it to your will, and trying to have a perspective similar to \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eanapanasati\u003c\/em\u003e in Zen meditation.” The resulting ten compositions, ranging between roughly three and fifteen minutes in length, unfold as discrete journeys, each following their own logic and taking constantly unexpected evolutions and turns, while remaining remarkably cohesive across the album’s two sides. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOriginally released in 1983 as a small cassette edition largely distributed to friends and via word of mouth, Neil S. Kvern’s \u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDoctor Dancing Mask: Pianoism\u003c\/em\u003es arrives again January 27, 2023 on vinyl and digitally as part of \u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003euncommon¢\u003c\/strong\u003e (“uncommon sense”), an open-ended, serialized endeavor from Freedom to Spend that provides new meaning for rarefied recordings from music's outermost fringe.\" - Freedom To Spend\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Freedom To Spend","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":44858266845403,"sku":"","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2295\/2925\/files\/dancing1.png?v=1707920959","url":"https:\/\/www.fusetronsound.com\/products\/s-kvern-neil-doctor-dancing-mask-pianoisms","provider":"fusetron","version":"1.0","type":"link"}