slauson malone: a quiet farewell 2016-2018 / vergangenheitsbewältigung

A second pressing of the remarkable debut releases by New York artist Jasper Marsalis, for his Slauson Malone project and Crater Speak series, Slauson Malone — A Quiet Farwell, 2016–2018 (Crater Speak) / Vergangenheitsbewältigung (Crater Speak). A Quiet Farwell, 2016-2018 (Crater Speak) On its surface, AQF, 2016–2018 (CS) channels the emotions of the Anthropocene. I confront my participation in this horrific forcing. There are two recurring sonic motifs throughout the album: (1) the Siren/Scream and (2) the phrase, “Smile at the Past when I see it”, first said by Caleb Giles on Smile #1. I became obsessed with its implications and lack thereof. The Past is not an observable place, but creeps in the ruins of our mind’s eyes. I feel myself rubbing up against the fabric of our collective history. Things become nonsense, proxies reveal themselves, and the shape of Truth becomes flatter. (see NTS Mix: reallynathan & Slauson Malone - RAISE THE FLAG: THERE IS NO SUCH PLACE AS THE PAST, JUS PASTNESS) The years 2016–2018 mark the time that most of these thoughts came to fruition. I was dealing with profound feelings of loss. This sense of lack guided me towards new ways of Being. I realize(d) Here, objects and subjects formed from Old trusted imagination(Futurisms/Diasporas) will only lead to new Old forms of colonization elsewhere. I look away from the spectacle of statues and stars and into the mundane boringness of Life, Here, Now… I hope this album proves Being is possible between the World’s plates of definition. To claim, “that nowhere is a where. And that, “Being is and can be beyond what I/we/they say it is”. Personnel Violin: Maya Balkaran Cello: Nicky Wetherell Modular: Alex Epton Vocals: Billie Alexopoulos, Zuri Marley, Lila Ramani, and Victoria Rowell Vergangenheitsbewältigung (Crater Speak) My fear, my loneliness, my happiness. My blackness, my queerness, my objectness. My subjectness. I am haunted by likenesses. I’m haunted by my a self. _ _ _ _ like a _ _ _ _ _. Smile, Simile. Messages, Massages. (Crater Speak) is the title of a catalogue I published with Midway Contemporary Art. It is an unreliable guide of materials that influence my artistic and musical practice. There are several associative chapters that dance, outlining a perimeter. The steps draw the rim of a crater. An old absence present. Here by unimaginable heat, scale, speed, and violence. Collision to disintegration to... (see The Thing, 1982). “The rings of Saturn consist of ice crystals and probably meteorite particles describing circular orbits around the planet’s equator. In all likelihood these are fragments of a former moon that was too close to the planet and was destroyed...” - W. G. Sebald, Rings of Saturn. To become a star is to become certain death. Of stone, of (s)tar, petrified. R U SCARED? Of mud, muck, ivory, oil, and bones. A New World by refined old old oooold Death. Personnel Flute: Francesca Ferrera Bass Clarinet: Ben Chapoteau-Katz Alto Saxophone: Leland Whitty Tenor Saxophone: Ben Chapoteau-Katz Trumpet: Brandon Woody Trombone: Jonah Levine Tuba: Osita Atikpoh Cello: Nicky Wetherell Drums: Alex Sowinski DFAM: Olu Odubiro