songs from the hermetic theater (2001)
American Magus 14:03
In The Very Eye Of Night 11:16
The Nerve Key 9:29
Beuysblock 16:13
Personnel
John Zorn - Electronic And Computer Music, Bass, Water, Drum, Flute, Glass Bowl, Metal Pipes, Wax Paper, Mud, Staple Gun, Etc.
Jennifer Choi: Violins (Track 4)
Track Information
Make a person think that they think and they love you; make them think and they hate you. - Harry Smith
1. AMERICAN MAGUS
Electronic Music
2. IN THE VERY EYE OF NIGHT
Electric Bass, Water, Wooden Flute, Bass Drum, Piano, Glass Bowl and the voice of MAYA DEREN
3. THE NERVE KEY
Electronic Music
4. BEUYSBLOCK
Metal Pipes, Honey, Wax Paper, Mud, Flower Pots, Mustache Scissors, Dried Leaves, Trowel, 78 Rpm Records, Mason Jar, Power Saw, Rubber Ball, Tissue Paper, Tallow, Bricks, Dirt, Razor, Writing Pad, Pencil, Lightbulb, Machine Parts, Chalkboard, Clothes Pin, Electric Fan, Metal Bucket, Phonograph, Tree Branches, Felt, Fat, Polaroid Land Camera, L-braces, Zippers, Wooden Cane, Hardcover Book, Water, Nail Clippers, Old Dust Jackets, Keys, Rubber Stamps, Blood, Door, Carcass Of A Hare, Clamp Light, Staple Gun, Hair, Newspaper, Hammer, Vacuum Tubes, Heavy Duty Garbage Bags, Towel, $82 In Cash, Paintbrush, Coffee Can, Surgical Tubing, Rusted Metal, Rubber Sole Shoes, Toy Megaphone, Maracas, Piano, Strings
Production
All music composed, performed and realized by John Zorn
Producer - John Zorn
Associate Producer - Kazunori Sugiyama
Recorded And Mixed March 2001 by Jamie Saft at Frank Booth, Brooklyn
Mastered by Allan Tucker at Foothill Digital, NYC
K2 Technology by JVC Disc America
Cover Art Ostende by Joseph Beuys
Painting by Harry Smith
Inlay Two Girls Watching Vulcano and Geyser by Joseph Beuys
Design - Heung-Heung Chin
TZADIK Blurb
In March 2001 Zorn entered the recording studio to create four very different compositions. American Magus is Zorn's first piece of purely electronic music, and it is dedicated to the underground innovator Harry Smith, whose legendary paintings, groundbreaking films, eclectic collections (ranging from Ukranian Easter eggs, string games, found paper airplanes to cassettes of New York City ambiences) and encyclopedic mind has continued to excite, confound and inspire artists worldwide. BeuysBlock, a bizarre meditation on the work of conceptual/performance artist Joseph Beuys, is scored for piano, string orchestra and an incredible array of homemade sound devices, all performed by Zorn himself. Also included is Zorn's tribute to Maya Deren, dancer, filmmaker, authority on Haitian voodoo and one of the most important and influential figures in the New York underground and the mindbending sonic hieroglyphs of Codebreaker, Zorn's first piece of computer music. An essential collection of dialogues from one generation of the underground to another.
Series: Composer Series
Catalogue Number: TZA7066
Release Date: June 2001