Listening is more than hearing

After spending a year working on a record called Metals, and then doing a live version/tours for the record, I realized this direction had a bit more I could do with it. Combining the gong/snare vibrations I had been working with on many recent records, along with a full drum kit played densely and for a sustained period of time, I found that something else emerged – something that for me was beyond the sounds, but something more physical and emotional. When I found out that other people thought it had a similar effect, I kept working at it, and eventually started creating material for a new record, I decided to call Physical Changes.

This title made sense to me on a number of levels – the effect of the playing was essentially physically different than that of previous work I had done, and the music itself had morphed gradually over time since the Metals release and had become its own thing.

I invited others to change things even further – James Plotkin, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Dan Burke, Marcus Schmickler, and Jim Schoenecker all contributed in different ways, and I’m in awe with the results. I had also talked with David Dinnell about working on a film project sometime and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. The video work he did for the project is excellent, and though, in his opinion, he sort of rushed to get the work done, I was totally amazed at what he produced. Here’s a brief clip:

Jon Mueller: Physical Changes DVD excerpt 2 from rhythmplex on Vimeo.

So, on May 5th, 2009 Physical Changes will be released as a 3 format set – CD/LP/DVD by Radium/Table of the Elements, and I couldn’t be more grateful for all the help and the opportunity to have something like this happen.

For those interested, I’m offering a very limited number of special editions of this release in the Shop. Otherwise, look for it in May wherever you get music from – I appreciate it!