Press Release for Gravity Wave

Gravity Wave, a new CD label, curated by composer Michael Pisaro, designed by Yuko Zama and distributed by Jon Abbey (via ErstDist) will release its inaugural recordings in October 2010: two discs of Pisaro’s compositions as performed by his close collaborator, master percussionist Greg Stuart. The label will at first primarily serve to release works by Pisaro.

Gravity Wave 001: ricefall (2), a 72-minute piece for 64 separate tracks of rice falling on objects. This recording is the second part of a trilogy of the first disc length works by Stuart and Pisaro (an unrhymed chord is the first part, and A wave and waves is the third). The dynamic range of the recording is extremely wide. In the second of the four sections, there is a storm of falling rice that is certainly the loudest music the duo have made; the final section is an unbroken 16 minutes of lightly falling, slightly pitched sounds. The release features a short essay by Pisaro on working with Stuart.

Gravity Wave 002: July Mountain: three versions, contains a re-release of this 21-minute piece for field recordings and percussion (the original .point engraved edition is sold out), along with two additional versions (one with alternate field recordings by a range of artists, and one with the percussion parts alone, which can either be listened to on its own or combined with field recordings of the listener’s choice). The work is a translation of Wallace Stevens’ poem “July Mountain” into sound. There are 20 field recordings and nearly 100 separate percussion tracks.

Reviewing the initial release, Brian Olewnick wrote in Just Outside, “[It] sounds … extraordinary, mysterious, life-abundant. Twenty phased field recordings done in mountain or valley areas mix with percussion extracts (performed superbly by Greg Stuart) sourced from specific instrumental orientations covering an enormous range of timbre and pitch, all sequenced in a temporally exact manner. A great, great work, one I can easily see listening to for many years to come.”

Jesse Goin in Crow with no Mouth wrote, “July Mountain is a universe in 21 minutes, and from my vantage point, Pisaro is creating some of the most vital and extraordinary music available to us today.”

Gravity Wave will be distributed exclusively via ErstDist (contact erstrecs (at) gmail.com, distributor inquiries are welcome). Contact the label at mpisaro (at) gmail.com.