'Clarity Cycles' focuses on various sized glass instruments made by Jeremy Popelka in mid-to-late 2018. They were played by Jon Mueller using various drum, gong and cymbal mallets and recorded and mixed by him throughout late 2018 and early 2019.
'Clarity Cycles' was also released as a limited edition LP by Des Astres D’Or, Netherlands.
Jeremy Popelka is an artist based in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Over his 30 years of professional practice he has sought out artistic and creative collaborations involving installations, commissions and working with practitioners of different disciplines. This includes creating glasswork for other artists projects, teaching at the Corning School of Glass, and facilitating a hot glass studio in Bangkok, Thailand. Popelka received his masters degree from the California college of the arts and his work is in many public and private collections.
For over 20 years, Jon Mueller’s aim has been to move drums, percussion and rhythm from its anticipated backbeat to a central musical focus, something more intuitive and natural than usually imagined. Audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United Kingdom have experienced this idiosyncratic point of view as, paradoxically, both ‘cathartic’ and ‘meditative’. Notable solo performances have taken place at the Guggenheim Museum, New Museum, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Alverno Presents, SXSW, Big Ears Festival, Hopscotch Fest and Witching Hour Festival.
From 2013-15, Mueller created and directed the multi-disciplinary project Death Blues. The project issued four critically acclaimed recordings. Rolling Stone cited 'Non-Fiction' as one of the ‘20 Best Avant Albums of 2014’. 'Ensemble,' created with multi-instrumentalist William Ryan Fritch, was featured on NPR’s ‘First Listen’.
Outside of his solo work, Mueller has performed and recorded with Mind Over Mirrors, was a founding member of the bands Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees and Pele, and has worked in depth with artists Dawn Springer, Chris Hefner, Jason Kahn, Asmus Tietchens, Z’EV, Andrew McKenzie, Rhys Chatham, Jarboe, James Plotkin, Duane Pitre, and Raymond Dijkstra.
His solo work has been released by Table of the Elements, Type Recordings, Important Records, Taiga Records, SIGE Records and others.
credits
released November 15, 2019
Audio mastering by James Plotkin.
Cover photograph by Jeremy Popelka.
Cassette packaging design by Jon Minor.
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