Recently I was asked to participate in the questionnaire-based interview blogazine 12 Questions from Laughing Mouse Press. I decided to have fun with it and answer as many questions as I could with sound. Below is a link to the site.
Unreleased Early Recordings
Over the past few years I’ve been asked with some frequency about reissuing some of my out of print back catalogue. While I understand those early recordings are a part of my history, I usually just like to move forward. Also, like most artists, I’m extremely critical of my older work.
Irony caught up with me early this spring. I happened across a couple drawers in my basement/archive filled with close to 100+ hours of old 4-track cassettes, all well over a decade old. Curiosity got the better of me and I unearthed my old Yamaha MT400 that was used to create these recordings. As I began to listen, for the first time in over 10 years, I was transported back in time by what I heard. My studio during that period was about the size of a small, narrow walk-in-closet with accommodations for barely two people. There were no windows and only a single door (I remember it would get pretty hot in there during the summer months.) These 4 track recordings were all created in that wonderfully claustrophobic space circa 1997-1999. Some were sketches for later compositions. Others were soundtracks for the performance works, videos and installations I was creating at that time. Most of this music fits in nicely with my early experimental ambient albums Shoreline Of An End, Space Between Beginnings and Still.
After much deliberation, I’ve decided to compile what I feel are the best of these recordings for a multi-volume series of archive collections. If all goes as planned, look for a late summer early fall release through Slo Bor Media’s upcoming archive series.
Below is 5 minute excerpt from one of the first cassettes I listened to. Around the time of the recording [1997-98] I was heavily into deep electronic drone music and was listening to a lot of La Monte Young and Terry Riley. According to the notes I made on the cassette inlay card, I was experimenting with an Ebow for one of the first times. This tool went on to become a staple item in my studio and during live performances. The full composition runs around 48 minutes and will be released in it’s entirety with the upcoming archive collection.
Asleep in the Ocean and Breathing the Sky
[5:14 edit] [recorded on 4-track cassette circa 1997-98]
alseep_archive_recording.mp3
jason.sloan & erik spangler live excerpt
// Jason Sloan & Erik Spangler Live March 31, 2011
jason.sloan and erik spangler’s live illbient improvisation recorded live as it happened at the wind up space in baltimore march 31, 2011. this is a 19 minute excerpt taken from the full 40 minute performance.
jason.sloan: electronics, loops, guitar & live scanner.
erik spangler: turntables, loops, samples & electronics.