Recently I wrote about various careers I’ve had and am still having, both accidental and on-purpose. My current sci-fi author career is so fledgling (exactly one published story) that any sensible person wouldn’t call it a career.
My dad says it’s my calling. Maybe it is. But I’m approaching it like a career, methodically and strategically. I write almost everyday, not just when I’m feeling inspired. Even though I have little to show for my efforts (so far), I can’t remember having this much fun trying to build something. At least not since the days I was sending out cassette-tape demos in padded mailers to NYC house music labels (and getting ignored). Or joining Trip ‘n Spin, a disorganized, fun-loving music label/collective in San Francisco.
It’s kinda fun being at the bottom. My friends and family (and maybe even some of you gentle readers) are genuinely rooting for me. A few might think I’m tilting at windmills, but not in a mean way (I may even inspire some to tilt at windmills of their own). I don’t have a professional reputation to protect, because I have no reputation in this field.
As I’m trying to launch a new career (fiction writing), I’m also taking stock of an old one (producing electronic music). I signed my first track in 1992, at the age of 23, to Mega-Tech records (an offshoot of the famous San Francisco disco label Megatone). I released my latest record, a reggae/breaks hybrid track, a week ago.
Breaking in wasn’t easy. I remember vividly sending out cassette tape demos in padded mailers to record labels in New York City and Los Angeles, following up via phone, and getting shot down by arrogant label runners (I’ve made a point to never be mean, running my own record label, even though our signing bar is very high).
Sometimes life just pulls you into things, and you’re happy to go there.
A raver offering up her boobies to John Digweed.
In 1994, when I was just a 24-year-old fool, I was invited to join an electronic music collective operating under the alias Trip ‘n Spin. The “initiation,” as I remember it, consisted of me playing a few self-produced dance tracks (recorded on cassette) to Sam Urton (alias Novabass), Greg Lindberg (alias The G), and Stephen Kay (alias DJ Special K or Spesh).
Jondi & Spesh -- Angles of Estrangement (Loöq Records)
I’ve been writing and publishing electronic music — mostly dance tracks — since around 1991 (the heyday of rave). In those early years I released a few tracks on my own as “DJ JD”, but the music quality took a jump a few years later when I met and started collaborating with Spesh. As part of the Trip ‘n Spin Recordings collective/dance label, we released a series of polka-dotted house music vinyl 12″ singles as Jondi & Spesh.
Discovered by John Digweed in an East Bay record store.
One of our releases, “We Are Connected,” caught the attention of a world famous (yet still up-and-coming) UK DJ named John Digweed. We learned that our odd track somehow fit into a new category of music called “progressive house.” Fine with us. The track was included on Digweed’s Bedrock compilation, and became something of a hit.
JSJ - Ghosts of You (Renaissance)
Spesh and I did our best to capture the momentum, and wrote and released a large number of dance tracks through the early 2000’s. We collaborated with Jerry Bonham on a project called “JSJ” that produced two wildly successful releases on Renaissance Recordings. We started our own record label (Loöq Records) and released a full-length album — also called We Are Connected — that did pretty well (especially in San Francisco). At the same time, we were running a weekly in San Francisco called Qoöl that for a long time was wildly popular — lines around the block and so forth. For several years running we were voted into Nitevibe’s Top 10 San Francisco DJ list. Fun times!
Too strange?
Around 2004 our music careers came to something of a fork. We released an album on Spundae Records called The Answer. It got some good reviews, but never really took off. I’m still proud of that album, but it veered away from the known dance music genres, and some people didn’t know what to make of it (maybe the incredibly weird cover art had something to do with that). Spesh and I toured the U.S. (supported by Spundae), and then did a self-organized tour in Europe that was both fun and exhausting. I knew for myself at that point that I didn’t want to pursue the possibility of becoming an international superstar DJ (even though we had a pretty good start!). It just wasn’t for me.
Spesh continued to pursue his own DJ career, and together we continued to promote Qoöl and run Loöq Records. For a time, producing as Jondi & Spesh fell by the wayside. I was burning studio time on my other music project — Momu — and Spesh was spending hours and hours listening to tracks and making mixes. In addition to all the music stuff, we’re also both married guys, and work other gigs for money (I do database/programming work, and Spesh is a freelance advertising producer).
Excuses? No way! We were just taking a breather until we figured out what we wanted to do next. After almost twenty years of producing dance music, we were both ready to try something different. The “different” turned out to be a complete change of direction — we started experimenting in the studio with some ambient tracks. Using parts from previously produced tracks, we deconstructed and reconstructed our way into an entirely new album.
The result is “Angles of Estrangement,” out today on iTunes, amazon.com, Beatport, and everywhere else. For now it’s a digital only release, though we might follow up with a CD release (and I wouldn’t rule out vinyl if it does well).
The music came together quickly and easily — it was a blast to produce. That said, we were extremely meticulous in the mixdown phase, working to get the feel of each track just right. We made every single track on the album seamlessly loopable; each one starts exactly where it begins. The original idea was that the music could be used to accompany art installations. From the (rather dramatic) press blurb:
This album is comprised of previously published material that has been radically altered. Certain rules were applied to the re-composition process. For each of the “songs” in this collection, elements of soft and loud were deliberately used in search of contrasts designed to provoke the listener. There is little or no percussion. Each composition contains a dramatic arc, and within that arc, an event. Each piece begins exactly where it ends, and thus can be played in an endless loop.
Individual interpretations guide the listener.
Uses for these compositions stretch beyond the simple delivery of sensation or emotion. They are also meant to accompany life’s occurrences as alternate soundtracks to common events or carefully constructed realities such as films or other works of art.
Let us know what you think about the project. It’s a new direction for us — a real break from the pounding four-on-the-floor stuff we’ve been doing for years. I’d love to know what you think.
Oh yeah … you can download the 14 page digital booklet right here. Enjoy!
ANGLES OF ESTRANGEMENT — SOME FULL-LENGTH PREVIEWS:
