mohaski
SML's music sometimes makes me cry with joy. It is so singular in it's beauty and wit - otherworldly and futuristic, and yet, so familiar and perfect for today.. The most unique, and therefore the best LP I've heard in 2-7 years. Artfully constructed and engineered as well. Fantastic jazz for this new century/millennium.
Favorite track: Switchboard Operations.
World of Echo
Doesn't sound like anything out there right now. It sounds like it could have been a lost downtown scene NY record from the early '80s that was ahead of its time, if anything. There's the influence of Can, sure, but there's also what sounds like Liquid Liquid and ESG, and no wave. Great album and truly different. Recommended!
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$9USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
140g Classic Black Vinyl inside a heavyweight reverse-board jacket, with IARC OBI strip and poly-lined dome patterned innersleeve. Pressed at Pallas in Germany with lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST.
**Order ship from US, UK, EU**
Includes unlimited streaming of Small Medium Large
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 7 days
Purchasable with gift card
$24USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Shiny Compact Disc in a 4-panel Digipack.
Includes unlimited streaming of Small Medium Large
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 7 days
Purchasable with gift card
$15USDor more
Due to the popularity of the last two, our seasonal bundle series rolls on! For the fervent, faithful collector our label's output: the SUMMER MINI MONDO is a beautiful mini bundle containing all three albums to-be-announced across Summer 2024... Includes IARC0085 (SML), IARC0083 (Tomin), IARC0084 (Asher), on Limited Edition Color vinyl.
...with a BIG extra here: NOW WITH FREE SHIPPING, WORLDWIDE ***
...and if that is not enough... the MINI MONDO will now be shipping from our EU fulfillment warehouse, in addition to the US & UK warehouses, which will help to minimize VAT tax etc.
All items with ship together in one package around August 1st, 2024, just in time for the worldwide street date of album #2. *Please note* this means that you will indeed receive album #1 ~ four weeks after the street date, but it also means that you will receive album #3 ~ four weeks BEFORE its street date.
Bandcamp downloads will be sent via email for all the releases by or before the ship date.
US orders ship from Chicago. UK ships from the UK, EU and rest of world ships from the EU.
(Please note - if stock sells out in the EU, orders may be trigged from the UK or US, or vice versa, then potentially be subject to VAT. Subject to availability while supplies last, this is a limited quantity bundle! We cannot entirely predict or control VAT/tax charges. There may be a nominal shipping charge of ~ $0.50 due to Bandcamp's setup process)
*** For all you assholes and clowns out there, or sweethearts who are just curious, re: FREE SHIPPING, due to a technical nuance that's not worth describing here, we had to charge atleast .50 cents, so please don't be alarmed :)
...more
shipping out on or around August 1, 2024
Purchasable with gift card
$88USDor more
Due to the popularity of the last two, our seasonal bundle series rolls on! For the fervent, faithful collector our label's output: the SUMMER MINI MONDO is a beautiful mini bundle containing all three albums to-be-announced across Summer 2024... Includes IARC0085 (SML), IARC0083 (Tomin), IARC0084 (Asher Gamedze), on Classic Black vinyl.
...with a BIG extra here: NOW WITH FREE SHIPPING, WORLDWIDE ***
...and if that is not enough... the MINI MONDO will now be shipping from our EU fulfillment warehouse, in addition to the US & UK warehouses, which will help to minimize VAT tax etc.
All items with ship together in one package around August 1st, 2024, just in time for the worldwide street date of album #2. *Please note* this means that you will indeed receive album #1 ~ four weeks after the street date, but it also means that you will receive album #3 ~ four weeks BEFORE its street date.
Bandcamp downloads will be sent via email for all the releases by or before the ship date.
US orders ship from Chicago. UK ships from the UK, EU and rest of world ships from the EU.
(Please note - if stock sells out in the EU, orders may be trigged from the UK or US, or vice versa, then potentially be subject to VAT. Subject to availability while supplies last, this is a limited quantity bundle! We cannot entirely predict or control VAT/tax charges. There may be a nominal shipping charge of ~ $0.50 due to Bandcamp's setup process)
*** For all you assholes and clowns out there, or sweethearts who are just curious, re: FREE SHIPPING, due to a technical nuance that's not worth describing here, we had to charge atleast .50 cents, so please don't be alarmed :)
...more
shipping out on or around August 1, 2024
Purchasable with gift card
$78USDor more
IARC0085 Limited Edition "Sedimentary Orange" Color vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited Edition 140g "Sedimentary Orange" Color Vinyl inside a heavyweight jacket, with IARC OBI strip and poly-lined dome patterned innersleeve. Pressed at Pallas in Germany with lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST.
**SOLD OUT but STILL AVAIL as part of our SUMMER MINI MONDO**
Includes unlimited streaming of Small Medium Large
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
SML is the quintet of bassist Anna Butterss, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu, saxophonist Josh Johnson, percussionist Booker Stardrum, and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann.
Their debut album 'Small Medium Large' began as a collection of long form improvisations recorded during two separate two-night stands at beloved Highland Park, Los Angeles venue ETA. Unfortunately, this major development site for the burgeoning new West Coast jazz & improvised music sound closed its doors permanently at the end of 2023.
The venue, perhaps best known outside of LA for Jeff Parker's 2022 album 'Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy', was the perfect location for the start of SML, especially given that both bassist Anna Butterss and saxophonist Josh Johnson are part of Parker's quartet that held down a regular gig at ETA since the venue's early days (and hence thoroughly documented, heard on Parker's album). 'Small Medium Large' was engineered and recorded in stereo direct to Nagra by Bryce Gonzales and compiled, arranged, and edited with additional production, recording, and studio composition by SML across their various home studios.
While editing, chopping, and rearranging stereo mixed improvisations is hardly a new idea (for a modern and relevant example we can look to Makaya McCraven's output on IARC) these results are a stunning expansion of the Teo Macero / Miles Davis editing concept explored on classics like 'In a Silent Way', 'On The Corner', and 'Get Up With It'. Stylistically though, these recordings have more in common with the proto-trance repetitions of Harmonia, and with Holgar Czukay's re-assembly technique used in his work with Can. Throw in a supremely intuitive utilization of polyrhythmic floating patterns (a la Susumu Yokota), and the result is a truly innovative take on time-clocked electronic rhythms augmented with live instrumentation that never loses that elusive human sway.
'Small Medium Large' is a sublime assemblage of circulatory grooves and textural anomalies, at different moments recalling the synth-laced improvisations of Herbie Hancock's Sextant, the jagged dance punk of Essential Logic, the rhythmic revelry of Fela Kuti, the low-end elasticity of Parliament/Funkadelic, or the glitchy dub techno of Pole. Taken in totality, the album captures a euphoric creative synchronicity between some of today's most exciting musicians.
credits
released June 28, 2024
All music composed by Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, Gregory Uhlmann. Performed live by SML.
Anna Butterss - Electric Bass
Jeremiah Chiu - Synthesizers, Live-sampling, Aux Percussion
Josh Johnson - Saxophone, Electronics
Booker Stardrum - Drums, Percussion
Gregory Uhlmann - Guitar, Effects
Engineered and recorded in stereo direct to Nagra by Bryce Gonzales at ETA, Los Angeles (October 12–13 2022 & April 8–9 2023). Overdubs by SML (2024).
Produced by Jeremiah Chiu & SML.
Mixed by Dave Vettraino & SML.
Sequenced by Scott McNiece & SML.
Mastered by David Allen.
Cover art by Miranda Javid.
Insert photos by Brian Guido.
Layout by Jeremiah Chiu.
International Anthem is a Chicago-born recording company that produces and promotes progressive
media.
The IARC mission is to make positive contributions to the changing state of the music industry, and to vitalize the demand for boundary-defying music by presenting unique sounds in appealing packages to untapped audiences....more
