I still feel guilty for peering over his shoulder, but I had to
look. Musicians usually launch their work into the world from onstage,
yet here he was, doing one of the bravest things any artist can
do: waiting in line at the post office to mail a stack of demo
discs to various labels.

It’s an anonymous act that compels musicians to wonder at the fate
of their work. Someone either says yes and agrees to champion the
music, or the uncertain, uneasy void—few labels take the
time or have the courtesy to send rejection letters
anymore—continues and maybe grows.

Peering over Timm Mason‘s shoulder, I espied his moniker,
Mood Organ, affixed to packages bound for labels famous and unknown.
Every artist gets rejected; by the time we find them, the ones we know
and love have been ignored, rebuffed, and rejected countless times. Yet
Mason seemed calm, as if mailing Christmas cards. The pensive, gloaming
tones of the disc, Visiting a Burning Museum (Debacle),
reflect this confidence. Mason inscribes his music with poetic details
that reward headphone listening: lonesome guitar, rustles of wind,
swelling tones, and keyboards that sound like they’re underwater,
blurred by shivering eddies and ripples.

Mood Organ celebrates the release of the excellent Burning with an in-store show (Fri Aug 28, Dissonant Plane, 5459 Leary Ave NW,
784-5163, 7 pm, free). Previous performances have ranged from a set on
solo electric bass to pieces for prepared piano and harmonium; expect
an approach that explores a continuum from the visibly instrumental
to abstract, unseen sound.

Another local sound artist, Colin Andrew Sheffield, shares
the bill. Sheffield performs too infrequently; but when he does (full
disclosure: I’ve only had three short conversations with him, but I
opened for his duo performance with James Eck Rippie in 2007), he hews
glacial, heaving drones from a turntable and an old-school sampler.
Released earlier this year, Sheffield’s gorgeous Signatures (Invisible Birds) processes bird recordings, freezing skyward
shrieks and swooping wings, into drones that refract hidden,
shimmering harmonies.

Burning is another installment in “The Emerald City
Debacle Vol. II,” an ongoing series by Debacle Records devoted to
documenting local experimental music. From scabrous electronics such as
on the eponymous Summon Thrull to charmingly perverted
plunderphonics, most notably Fuck Rockin’ in American
Airspace by the Broken Penis Orchestra, this series
testifies to a gradual revival of the avant scene in Seattle. Be warned
that Emerald City Debacle follows the current (and probably permanent)
trend of avant CDs toward limited-run (usually 100 or less) discs that
can get hard to find quickly. If you want it, get it. My list of
discs I’ve missed gets frustratingly longer every week!
recommended

Christopher DeLaurenti is a composer, improvisor, and music writer. Since the late 1990s, his writing has appeared in various newspapers, magazines, and journals including The Stranger, 21st Century Music,...

4 replies on “The Score”

  2. Hi Chris,

    Well, “courtesy of a rejection letter” is a problematic assumption because recording labels don’t always ask for demos, and/or in the case of my label, the FAQ page of the website makes it clear that sending one is at the artist’s own risk with no promise of feedback, so if the artist did proper research before sending their demo, they should have known what they were in for. The growing ratio of artists to labels is staggering, so self-releasing one’s music and working with “micro-distros” (small distribution networks) is the way for many artists (and small labels) to go. This has been the case for at least the past 10 years.

  4. @2 Hi Dale, As most labels don’t clearly enunciate a demo policy (btw, and/OAR is exemplary and an exception in this respect) I think it’s fair to expect the courtesy of a rejection note, with the except of incongruent submissions (e.g. a string quartet sent to a rock label).

    Your suggestion of micro-distros is a good one: Decades hence, there will be one heck of a collector’s market!

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