It’s easy to speak of music in visual terms: line, texture, color. But local Bay Area ambient artists Wayne Grim [Interloper, Blakc Pullet Grimoire], Chris Golinski [Brains], and Ronald Aveling [Left Sensory Bypass] aka Jarktagons are hard at work making impressive dark and isolationist soundscapes for those willing to envision what their music would look like. This was all done through live improvisation and experimental recording in an uniquely compelling marriage. Jarktagons suggest the foreboding side of ambient pioneers like Stars of the Lid and Steve Roach, gliding sheets of tonal texture that evoke hidden spaces and endless corridors with haunting vocals. The music paints itself with stain, urethane, and vibrant colors around rich bands of vertical lines. Using piano, electric guitars, synthesizers, and other sound sources, Jarktagons conjure the common reflective properties of both their own work and their influences, musical and non-musical.
You can download their entire catolog here.
This week lead vocalist and instrumentalist Ronald Aveling answers the Kuestionnaire.
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1. Could you state your name and what you do in the band?
My name is Ronald. I’m the vocalist and instrumentalist in Jarktagons.
2. How would you describe your sound?
The soothing tones of Nina Simone enacting dentistry on a weary John Cage.
3. What is your favorite local band?
The Enablers
4. Any concerts that blew your mind recently?
Portraits, Date Palm and Nadja at the Hemlock in late 2009.
5. Any non-musical influences you would like to mention?
Haruki Murakami, Michael Haneke, Cormac McCarthy
6. If your music was to be the theme of a film/TV show, what would it be?
David Lynch’s next project. I would mention a Haneke film but he has such a minimal use of sound in his films it’s an impossibility.
7. What musician/artist would you like to collaborate with for a day?
Too many to count… [I like collaboration a lot] but it would be nice to do something with Ben Frost. He’s my incredible-du-jour.
8. What is the album you listen to on a cold rainy day?
Well I have 2 rainy faves here… Biosphere “Shenzhou” and Circle “Miljard Disc 2”.
9. List four songs you would listen to on a roadtrip?
Bear McCreary – “Dreilide Thrace sonata”.
Bon Iver – “Re: Stacks”
Kayo Dot – “A Pitcher Of Summer”
Smog – “Drinking at the Dam”
10. Where do you see yourselves in 7 years?
In residence up high on a hilltop, making loose spaced out and weird emotional braintrips.
11. What is the last book you read?
Cormac McCarthy – Blood Meridian. Best book I’ve read in 5 years!
12. Is image a factor in music or is it a waste of time?
Image is a factor in music as much as sound is a factor in cinema. But Image and Fashion are two entirely different things. I don’t like fashion as a factor in music.
13. Any embarrassing moments on stage you would like to share?
We’re yet to play out, but in March we’ll have some embarrassments to share no doubt!
14. Any favorite tour locations?
Berlin is high on our list.
15. Lastly, what is your present state of mind?
Feeling very post-winter!
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[mp3] Jarktagons – Fortuna from Jarktagons (2010)
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[mp3] The Enablers - Manly from Endnote (2004)