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Jon Mueller

Biography

Renowned percussionist and drummer Jon Mueller is celebrated for his uncommon technique, rigor and virtuosity.

Mueller’s aim has been to move drums, percussion and rhythm from its anticipated backbeat to a central musical focus, something more intuitive and natural than usually imagined. Audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United Kingdom have experienced this idiosyncratic point of view as, paradoxically, both ‘cathartic’ and ‘meditative’. Notable solo performances have taken place at the Guggenheim Museum, New Museum, Issue Project Room, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Alverno Presents, Columbia Experimental Music Festival, SXSW, Big Ears Festival, Hopscotch Fest and Witching Hour Festival.

From 2013-15, Mueller created and directed the multi-disciplinary project Death Blues. The project issued four critically acclaimed recordings. Rolling Stone cited non-fiction as one of the ‘20 Best Avant Albums of 2014’. Ensemble, created with multi-instrumentalist William Ryan Fritch, was featured on NPR’s ‘First Listen’.

Outside of his solo work, Mueller has performed and recorded with the groups Who is the Witness?, Mind Over Mirrors, Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees and Pele, and has worked in depth with artists Aaron Turner, Faith Coloccia, Dawn Springer, Chris Hefner, Jason Kahn, Hal Rammel, Asmus Tietchens, Z’EV, Andrew McKenzie, Rhys Chatham, Jarboe, James Plotkin, Duane Pitre, Jonathan Kane, and Raymond Dijkstra.

His solo work has been released by Table of the Elements, Type Recordings, Important Records, Taiga Records, SIGE Records, American Dreams, and others.

Jon Mueller plays Dream Cymbals.

Recent Press

“…music that suggests gaping, unfathomable voids and distant threats.”

New York Times

…an audacious ringleader for new music.

– Pitchfork

The music registers as a vibrating, moving force rather than a mere drum solo.

– Wire Magazine

…cerebral, emotional and spiritual in nature.

– a closer listen

The drumming is euphoric and revelatory, somehow both meditative and bombastic, and sounds absolutely huge.

– Decoder Magazine

Recent Discography

Jon Mueller

Duality

Digital, Room40 (AU), 2024

James Plotkin & Jon Mueller

The Injured Healer

CD/digital, WV Sorcerer Productions (FR), 2024

Olivia Block

The Mountains Pass

LP/digital, Black Truffle (AUS), 2024

Audio

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