Rewind and Fast Forward

This is MAY 2018 – two, no, three! major releases are coming out nearly at the same time! A debut and a debut reissue, two new beginnings.
The newest one is throwing deeper roots on the ground and shooting up higher than ever in the sky. It is the freest and probably at the same time the most accessible i’ve done in ages. Its home is the great jazz label Clean Feed and it’s the eponymous debut album by the SPACE QUARTET. Hugo Antunes (double bass), João Pais Filipe (drums) and Ricardo Webbens (modular synth and electronics) all performed amazingly into uncharted grounds.

Space Quartet’s CD cover

It is interesting to take this long, stretched rope (the longest it’s ever been), as we look back at the other end of it and there’s this beautiful, perfectly crafted vinyl reissue of my debut album, Sound Mind Sound Body, as a double LP with new material recorded on purpose for the reissue (such as the first studio recording of AE2, a piece from 1988). It’s pretty mindblowing to look back and realize that stuff was done 30 years ago and it’s a very uplifting feeling to see it stands well and doesn’t show its age. It’s already been said it sounds as fresh today as back then. Being on the far opposite end from Space Quartet, the timing of this reissue is accurate, as i become more open to find ways to re-integrate an appoach to ambient music in what i’m developing (Moon Field is a first sign of that).

The mastering and cut was done by Rashad Becker at D&M in Berlin, and i couldn’t be happier that it’s coming out on the impeccable Drag City label, from my beloved Chicago. The cover was done from scratch and it’s now looking better than ever.

Sound Mind Sound Body’s LP cover

Drag City reissued both records previously reissued on CD under their wing by the hand of Jim O’Rourke in the mid-late 90’s, the other being another object that turned out to be fascinating to look back at.
Wave Field, originally released in 1995 (Moneyland Records), was then considered a groundbreaking work and it’s great to come back and stay with it for a while. The cover was re-done as well (i unearthed an old video tape with the live footage the cover image was taken from) and both the image and the print seem to glow with warm light. It’s a mystery to me how such a strange synthesis of music surfaced in Lisbon, and it sure seems to be standing well. It was mastered and cut at D&M as well like Sound Mind Sound Body.

Wave Field LP reissue’s cover