Jesse Paul Miller and his wife Linda Peschong packed up and traveled through Asia for six months in 2008. I reckon about two months of that was in Indonesia on the islands of Bali, Java and Lombok. While there Jesse made numerous recordings of music and the sounds of life which he has started publishing on limited edition CDRs. “Asia Archive 2008” is concerned solely with the Muslim call to prayer heard throughout Indonesia. Most of the disc was recorded in Solo (Surakarta), an old royal city in central Java. The call to prayer comes from all directions in Javanese cities as mosques are everywhere. Not only that, they seem to all run on a slightly different clock as the calls from each mosque start at different times. This means that five times a day there is a beautiful overlap of loudspeakers, often broadcasting quite distorted, mixing with the sounds of the town, in this case the sleepy city of Solo. It is constantly variable and Jesse even captured the sound of the tape being reversed one day, as well as several nice musical performances which appear toward the end of this 77 minute disc. A small fragment of call to prayer (ironic recorded at the Buddhist momument Borobudur) is also included on “Jalan Jalan - Street Atmospheres and Music in the Heart of Java“. There are 16 tracks on this disc and they cover a wide range of material including street musicians, markets, food courts, rain and radio. A more varied disc, this should definitely appeal to fans of the Sublime Frequencies label. Compiled in a similar manner is “Bali - Converging Orchestras of Life and Rebirth on the Island of the Gods“. While obviously shifting its focus to another location, it also reveals how different culture is on these two neighboring islands (they are separated by a mile wide strait). The Bali disc is full of ceremonial gamelan including much from a mass ceremation of 54 bodies in Ubud. Also added to the mix are cock fighting, beach drumming, children, birds, night sounds, kecak and of course more gamelan - all filled with the wonderful energy of Bali. The whole disc is fantastic, but is easily worth it alone for the Gamelan Beleganjur recording (marching gamelan). Rounding out our Jesse Paul Miller selection is “Constellation” which collects recordings made closer to home in Colorado, Hawaii and Washington States. A 53 minute collage of monsoon rain, frogs, highway overpass, hummingbirds and children, ice breaking in a tiny bay, oysters, bamboo forest, and “all that accompanies”. This disc is subdued, a relaxed exploration of sound. All four are exceptional and frequently enjoyed at home. Also, they are very limited self published released CDRs in editions of only 20 to 40 hand numbered copies. Given that Jesse also sells these discs to shops in Japan, they probably won’t be around too long.
