Name: Mind Maintenance
Brand: Mind Maintenance

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

DC778

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "DC778"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2021-06-11

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0781484077817

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "0781484077817"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Mind Maintenance

Genre GB

Jazz

Label GB

Drag City

Drag City is a renowned music label that was founded by Dan Koretzky and Dan Osborn. With an impressive roster of artists, Drag City has established itself as a leading force in the music industry. Known for their diverse range of genres, the label has consistently released groundbreaking and influential albums. From indie rock to experimental folk, Drag City continues to push boundaries and nurture innovative talent.

Since its inception, Drag City has been dedicated to supporting artists who defy conventions and create unique sounds. The label's commitment to artistic freedom has allowed musicians to explore their creativity without limitations. This approach has resulted in a catalog of critically acclaimed albums that have resonated with audiences worldwide.

With an unwavering focus on quality over quantity, Drag City carefully curates its releases, ensuring each album receives the attention it deserves. Their meticulous attention to detail extends beyond the music itself, with beautifully designed album artwork and packaging that enhance the overall listening experience.

Mind Maintenance are the duo of Joshua Abrams playing guimbri and Chad Taylor on mbira. This is where the music begins but Mind Maintenance can’t be described with a summing of parts and players. It’s not about world music, it’s not about jazz. It’s about mind maintenance.

The songs of Mind Maintenance exist in a zone somewhere between composition and improv. Based in melodies that unspool over time as they move between the two instruments, they benefit from the players’ intimately enmeshed sensibility and the intensity with which they listen to each other. Chad and Joshua have been playing together forever - or, if you need to think of it more tangibly, since around 1994. Sticks and Stones was their first band. They played together on the session for the O’Rourke-produced Alan Licht / Loren Mazzacane-Connors album ‘Hoffman Estates’ in 1998. They live in different cities but play together whenever they can - whether it’s with Sam Prekop, Natural Information Society or Joe McPhee. Or just a jam. After trying out the guimbri–mbira combo for a show at Chicago’s MCA, they made Mind Maintenance a thing.

Engineered by Cooper Crain, whose vibrational sensitivities have been displayed on his own Bitchin Bajas recordings (including their 2015 collab with Natural Information Society, ‘Automaginary’), ‘Mind Maintenance’ captures full spectrums of playing and listening, sound and music.

Mind Maintenance, using old technology (in the form of a three- stringed lute and a thumb piano) make a new thing for today rooted also in the way of things as they’ve been for millennia. In other words, when these sounds bounce off your cerebral cortex, the feeling you get is that of your mind breathing freely in the presence of something it has known forever.

The pairing of guimbri and mbira is more than unusual but more important to the music of Mind Maintenance is the shared ground of inspiration that both instruments occupy. The guimbri is used by the Gnawa people as part of prayer and healing rituals, as well as for social and popular music. Traditional Shona mbira melodies transposed to guitar are essential to Thomas Mapfuno’s widely-loved Chimurenga music; Miles Davis sought to represent the mbira vibe in his own music when making ‘Kind of Blue’. Mind Maintenance pursue their inspirations on these instruments down similarly transformative paths.

Music GB