Centripetal Force, Transitory Tapes, and Working Name Studios have announced the release of Coincidence, a collaborative improvisational music experience featuring Laraaji, Agnes Martian, and Music for Connection. This is a must-have for experimental music listeners, and the album is presented in a 150-copy cassette pressing and is available for pre-order now.
A companion Risograph zine and a digital edition of the album are also available. The album and zine will be released on May 31st.
Who collaborates on this unique music experience? Oakland’s Agnes Martian is a group that soundtracks an imaginary planetarium that charts undiscovered constellations of inner and outer space. The project was founded in 2019 by Benjamin Rodgers (guitar/synths) and Zekarias Thompson (saxophone). The duo collaborates with artists from various musical backgrounds.
Music for Connection is a free-improv collective organized by Bus Tomizuka that explores experimental and ambient sound collages. Collaboration is at the heart of its mission, and the group often travels the open road, creating connective musical narratives with different artists at each stop.
New Age pioneer Laraaji is a musician, mystic, and laughter meditation practitioner based in New York City. His career has spanned more than four decades and includes over 50 releases, several of which are collaborative in nature. The man is an absolute legend, and his music and spirit have inspired many in the ambient and sacred music circles.
Hair and Space Museum is the duo of Emily Pothast and David Golightly, who are also the co-founders of the band Midday Veil and the record label Translinguistic Other. The duo’s projects are multimedia mediations on the generative, cosmic properties of sound.
Coincidence consists of four tracks, all of which I imagine are rather long. However, I’ve only listened to the one available on Bandcamp right now, “Numinosity.” That song extends over ten minutes and is a wild yet soothing sound bath featuring spacey synth and various other interesting noises.
Listen to “Numinosity” below:
Mike from Centripetal Force explains that the Coincidence recording occurred on September 17, 2023, when the mysterious ways of the universe brought all these excellent musicians together.
There was a massive jam session, which was fortunately recorded and documented and is now being released to the world. It’s “over an hour’s worth of spellbinding musical journeys,” Mike said in an Instagram post. “All improvised. And like the forces that brought them together, all coincidence.”
I’m psyched to hear the rest of the album, but I’m even more excited about the companion zine that’s available. As explained on Bandcamp, the zine contains reflections written by Agnes Martian members and Music for Connection members in the months following the impromptu recording session. The writings examine not only their memories of that evening of spontaneous music-making but also elucidate their approaches to collective improvisation more generally.
I am very interested to hear their thoughts on improvisation for a few reasons. First, we cover a ton of improvised music here at The Third Eye. Second, I’ve always been amazed by the musical properties of improvisation and how music is made that way. There’s almost a spiritual quality to it, the way musicians can connect on a deep level and lock in with each other.
Anyway, this is a fascinating release that I’m really looking forward to. This feels like the type of deep underground recording that could become a cult classic one day, but maybe that’s just my speculation. Enjoy!
Pre-order Coincidence on Bandcamp here.
You can support Centripetal Force Records by finding them on Bandcamp, their official website, or social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook).
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