Deliberately confusing humanity is a demonstration of power, so it’s no wonder that Alex Trebek and other trivia game show hosts relish their jobs so much; declaring an answer wrong is the next best thing to chemically inducing an endorphin rush or becoming God for a few hours and conforming to the “mysterious ways” of His alleged persona.
Fortunately, percussionist Jon Mueller isn’t in the business of power trips or confusing people for the sake of it, but the value of his newest album does reportedly come from its capacity to perplex, going by the storied audience reaction to its “preparatory work,” which was initially performed in dozens of cities across the US and Canada. Mueller’s minimalistic playing of an Arabic bass drum combined with “wordless” vocals looped to the point of hypnosis sent aural participants off the deep end, where the reactions ranged from a natural appreciation for the artistic content to stumbling out of one’s chair and later trying to walk through closed doors. I mean, I wasn’t there, but I can imagine after listening to the final product myself.
A Magnetic Center is out in a rather well-packaged limited-edition cassette and via digital download now. Best get on that if you want the former though, as there are only six left at the time of writing.
Here are some dates, too:
10.06.15 - Brooklyn, NY - Alphaville
10.08.15 - Turners Falls, MA - The Brick House Community Resource Center
10.10.15 - Montreal, QC - La Vitrola
10.11.15 - Ithaca, NY - Sacred Root
10.12.15 - Cleveland, OH - Bop Stop
10.13.15 - Detroit, MI - Trinosophes
11.06.15 - Iowa City, IA - Witching Hour Festival
11.19.15 - Milwaukee, WI - Inova/UW-M Peck School of the Arts
• Rhythmplex: http://rhythmplex.com
More about: Jon Mueller
