Sound Sample/Video Sample

Sound and Video Sample 2013 from Jason Zeh on Vimeo.


https://vimeo.com/73114426

This is a mix of elements from various tracks combined with clips from the A Vacant Lot To Be In Artist edition VHS.

NMASS Podcast

This Podcast contains some tracks from many of the New Media Art  and Sound Summit participants. My contribution is a track off of my forthcoming cassette release on Banned Production. I am really hoping that my copies will be here on time for my tour. Check it out.

It includes the tracks (not necessarily in order):
Coppice - Compound Form
Jason Zeh - A Series of Objects 2
Bryan Day - Moon Crumbs
Melmann - Igual y Dulce
the Dialtones - Johannes
Vanessa Rossetto - Cebra
Brent Fariss - 4 Environments Collapsing
Brekekekexkoaxkoax - “Dugmahrak”
Derrick Fore and Mohadev Bhattacharyya - Last 3 times
Cinders - Lonely Eskimo
The Space - Gusts

A Vacant Lot To Be In currently available.

Here is the  info from the label.

Order now from CIP

WHOO HOO! JASON ZEH'S "A VACANT LOT TO BE IN" IS NOW READY TO SHIP!

I'm overjoyed to announce that the regular edition of this LP is ready to ship; see below for information on the artist edition.

CIP24: Jason Zeh: A Vacant Lot To Be In LP
edition of 300 copies, silkscreened back sleeve and mounted risography image on the cover.
$16 ppd in the US; if you're overseas, inquire first for shipping costs.

Jason Zeh is a hands-down master of cassette tape and cassette playback devices. Using magnets, metal, plastic, car stereo tape adapters, cassette players without tape, cassette tape loops, modified tape decks, and sand paper (among other devices), Zeh creates two tracks that swim through hiss, grit, and wavering, fractured soundwaves to create some of the most engaging audio I've had the pleasure to hear.

This recording reflects not only Zeh’s dedication to mastering and refining his source material of choice, but also a drive to explore and mine new facets of that source material for some truly rewarding audio.

Artist Edition:

There is an artist editon, but please note IT IS NOT YET AVAILABLE; as it's the end of the semester, both Jason and I are a bit slammed with student needs, and the production and assembly process takes a bit of time. However, here are the details and the pricing.

the artist edition includes:
--a cassette with an alternate mix of side 2 one one side and a reworking of source material on the other
--a vhs tape of video treatments Jason has been working on; very much a visual interpretation of his audo processes (approx 20 minutes)
--a combination cloth / custom wallpaper wall hanging wrapping the entire release (featuring, naturally, Jason's distinctive artwork)

this will be limited to 33 signed copies; it is $33 US; again, overseas folks please contact me first.

people are welcome to reserve an artist copy, but please DO NOT send payment until I shoot you a confirmation email--the artist edition should be available by mid- to late- May at the latest.

thanks,
Blake

 

A Vacant Lot To Be In from Jason Zeh on Vimeo.

Coppice Playlist

Here is a play list that my friends Coppice put together. It features a track from an early cassette of mine called To Be Small In A Small Place.

Jitters on Sum of Your Life Broadcast

A selection from Jitters was recently played on the Sum of Your Life. Follow this link to see the playlist and to download or stream the broadcast.

More Tracks on Bandcamp

I just found out that my live collab with David Reed (Envenomist, Luasa Raelon) that was released as a split cassette with Sword Heaven is now available for streaming and download on Bandcap. To check it out, follow this link.

Show In KCK

FOKL

Thursday, November 29th
8:00pm
556 Central Avenue Kansas City Kansas

$5 to help out the touring acts.

 Piper Harrow: KC's Piper Harrow breaks, smashes, and regurgitates songs and collaborates with a wide array of like-minded miscreants in the area.

Time and Temperature: Val sings beautiful and haunting songs about lesbian nuns and other stuff. She is on tour from Columbus, OH. You can sample and buy her music on her Bandcamp page. 

John Bellows: From Chicago, Bellows brings tender, psychedelic, grunge-folk. He has a recent LP on Moniker Records. Follow the link for a sound sample or, check out this video.

Jason Zeh: This recent transplant to Kansas City plays extended technique cassette music. Recent work has appeared on Chondritic Sound and Handmade Birds.

Jitters

I now have copies of Jitters available. You can also purchase and stream it on Bandcamp.
Follow this link.

Stream "Polarity" Now

A Handmade Birds mixtape is now up on Brooklyn Vegan featuring a track from my cassette release, "Polarity." I am in good company here with recordings from a number of great artists including Our Love Will Destroy The World, William Fowler Collins, Locrian and Christoph Heemann and Theologian. You can find the streaming mixtape here.

Chondritic Sound

Greh Holger finished a mock up of the artwork for my new cassette, "Jitters," that he is putting out on Chondritic Sound. The finished J-Card will likely be gray on metallic orange paper, but the image below gives an idea of what it will look like. It should look pretty awesome when it is done. The image that you see below is kind of a collaboration between Greh and I. Years ago, just before he moved to California, Greh and I had discussed doing a Xerox art collaboration together. I sent him some scraps of my work to play around with and nothing ever came of that. We had been talking about having him do a tape for me for many more years. I think it might have been 2005 when he first asked me to send him a master. Life got away from me and I never got around to actually doing it until about 6 months ago. When we started talking about cover art, I suggested that he try working with some of the material I had sent him in 2009 or 2010. Below is the result. Some of it is manipulated material from me. Some of it is stuff that Greh made from a sculpture he xeroxed. All of it is run through the standard Chondritic Sound process. For as long as I have known Greh, his label has always produced beautiful stuff. The artwork is always printed on really nice paper and his releases have a refreshingly cohesive aesthetic. Sadly, he no longer prepares the releases by closing them in a box of burning incense. But, the result is still cool.

I recently posted a video with a sound sample. Here it is again.

Jitters

NoInputVideo1 from Jason Zeh on Vimeo.

This is a video that I made of my first attempt playing around with a collection of video editing hardware I have been working on amassing for a few years.  It isn't anything amazing, but I think this is the start of a cool new direction. I have been wanting to do some VHS manipulation that draws on my experience with audio cassette manipulation techniques since at least 2004. I have a lot of ideas that could lead to interesting results. In addition to the video, this piece features a clip from my upcoming cassette on Chondritic Sound. It is called "Jitters."

I rarely listen to things I have recorded. But right now I am trying to finish up a piece for this new record that should be out in January or February. Side B needs some edits. I was unsure about the composition, wondering if it was any good at all. Aaron Dilloway suggested that I merely edit the beginning. Really, It could be more accurately described as an introduction as it is a brief bit that leads into the main body of the piece. In any case, I listened to the track thinking that it might require significant revision. However, it seems that since I have forgotten what the track sounds like, it is actually much better than I remember. I still agree that the intro needs to be worked on, but I m quite pleased with the rest. I have been trying out a few ways to change the beginning and think I might be onto something. Perhaps I will be able to finish it tomorrow.

As I was saying, I rarely listen to things I have recorded. While trying to determine how to edit this piece, I listened through the track that will be side A of the same record. I wanted to remind myself of what that one sounded like for 2 reasons. The first is that I wanted to make sure that any of the changes I was thinking about making would actually fit: I needed to make sure that the tracks would still be thematically linked given the changes I was about to make. The second is that I wanted to make sure that the tracks would not be too similar in narrative structure.

The result of this new listen is that I have a renewed love of both tracks. It is nice to be away from these pieces long enough to be able to discover them fresh. In this case, it had been since the summer that I last listened to them. That seemed to be just enough time and distance for them to sound better than I had remembered.

After listening to these two tracks, my Itunes went to a track of mine from quite a while ago: "Heraclitus." I often remember liking the CD but am usually afraid to listen to it. I fear that if I listen to it, it will be no good. Probably the last time I listened to this CD was in 2009. Hearing it again just now, felt good. The record is good. It is really nice to be reminded sometimes that doing this work is not futile and sometimes it works out okay.

For your information, here is a link to Frans DeWaard's review of the cd from when it originally came out.

"JASON ZEH - HERACLITUS (CD by C.I.P.)
In the very first few minutes of Jason Zeh's debut CD (following several CDR releases including one on Gameboy Records) we hear a 'tabletop cassette recorder over a candle flame while recording'. This is the very basic thing that is used to create the rest of the composition - all melted into one piece, from start to finish. The processing stages this went through all deals with cassettes, in which literally everything from the cassette, the shells, guide rollers and pressure pads is used to alter the sound. All of these stages were recorded and from all these recordings the final composition was created. A dense work, which at times had some similarities to the work of Howard Stezler (especially his most recent work 'Bond Inlets') or Brutum Fullmen, of corroded sounds, rotten sounds and decay in general. Divided into several parts, with quite some dynamics (although things never get really loud), this is simply one of the most engaging things I heard recently. While on one hand connected to the world of microsound, mainly through the final composition, the techniques are more or less ancient, yet even by any old standard, this all sounds mysterious and not muffled, or hidden in a bath of hiss, like many of his ancestors did sound on tape. It owes in the technique department more to the old masters of musique concrete, yet with an entirely different outcome. As Heraclitus said you can never step into the same river twice (panta rhei), you can loop a tape, but it never sounds the same. Highlight, for me, of this week. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cipsite.net"

Also, on an unrelated note, here is a sound sample Frans recently posted. It is a clip of Brombron 16 that Ben Gwilliam and I recorded in Nijmegen Netherlands last October. The CD should be out now on Frans DeWaard's Korm Plastics.