AF JONES & DEREK ROGERS: Cedars
sedcd064 | Released in 2017 | Ltd Edition 300 copies | $12
***A ink to three excerpts from Cedars can be found at the bottom of this page***
Cedars is a document of a live performance in May of this year in Dallas, Texas in the “listening room” of Full City Roosters. It is a remarkable collaboration between AF Jones and Derek Rogers, both significant players independently in the US experimental electronic music scene. Remarkable, as these artists work from very different places on several levels including the musical equipment itself but also in the result of the performance, not only overcoming so many of the pitfalls and clichés this scenario usually begets for so many musicians but transcending both the artists’ independent sensibilities into a truly attention-grabbing experience. This purely improvised continuous set generated a magical result of unfolding textures, mystifying sounds and radiant atmospheres with Derek working the foreground with melodic and rhythmic elements and Jones executing in nearly microscopic detail throughout. It must be added that documents of live performances rarely capture the moment of being present but Jones, who mastered this document and who is the number one “go to” by many others for mastering their work, was able to bring the room to life as much as possible for this release. Sedimental is eager for you to hear this piece and more than satisfied it is one of the two releases breaking our 40+ month hiatus.
Jones adds: “Derek and I could not be more different in our approaches to our own work. In addition to being a dear friend, I know Derek as a thoughtful and precarious musician who continually stuns me and other followers of his work with an impossible range of choices that somehow funnel into a singular voice. We share a common desire to be challenged in our own music, often to the point of discomfort. Performing and composing with each other has been a class in diplomacy; with the other giving a little, to reach into territory he otherwise might not explore, and to discover dynamics otherwise unreachable between two musicians who share a love for the process itself. Repetend, Parallax (Glistening Examples) demonstrated this willful collusion in a controlled environment. With Cedars, we brought only our instruments, a vague respect for the clock, and our egos to the event. In listening back, I hear traces of each of these things, shadowed by the unexpected, and by the formulation of music we could never replicate or otherwise attribute to ourselves. My sincerest thanks to Derek, Michael Wyatt, Lily Taylor, and Rob Forman.”
https://soundcloud.com/subjockey/sets/alan-f-jones-derek-rogers-cedars-sedimental-sedcd064