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Azusa Plane
Where The Sands Turn to Gold
rgirl83, Release Date: 30/1/2012This luxuriously and lovingly packaged double CD with DVD is a labour of love in memory of Jason DiEmilio (1970-2006) aka the Azusa Plane. Two CDs feature over two hours of music spanning the breadth of the Azusa Plane catalogue. The DVD features a thirty-minute live set and 65 MP3s split between 11 folders; which include rare tracks, never released Azusa Plane live recordings, an interview with Jason and a previously unreleased recording. An expansive booklet is included with the release which contains essays, thoughts, reflections and memories of DiEmilio's life and musical output.
An integral part of Philadelphia’s experimental scene, the Azusa Plane was the lo-fi, drone-rock, improvisational recording and live project of Jason DiEmilio of Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. Performing almost exclusively on a Fender guitar and usually through numerous effects pedals, DiEmilio was very prolific releasing three full-length studio albums, a live disc, a number of singles and tracks on various compilations. (Full discography included in the booklet).
Here are some extracts from Apples author Richard Milward’s piece in the liner notes about the Azusa Plane:
Your eardrums were designed to listen to the Azusa Plane. Leaving no electrical frequency untouched, the music of Jason DiEmilio, Jason Knight and sometime percussionist Quentin Stoltzfus is at once dense and sparse; the musical equivalent of sleepwalking on feathers with ton-weights attached to your hands and feet. At times heavily distorted—at others, light as cloud matter—the guitar sprawl swims back and forth from one end of the musical spectrum to the other; creating the most wondrous, devastating, effervescent soundwaves. It is music which both challenges and celebrates the senses.
While the Azusa Plane exemplifies the term ‘experimental’—in fact, at times, the pieces seem almost like scientific research into atonalism, feedback manipulation, circuit bending, and the search for ‘full consciousness of the hidden harmony’—there is such obvious soul to the music, it never appears clinical, or sterile. The band was not merely a group of La Monte Young-a-likes in lab coats. Recognising the guitar as an electrical, endlessly-exploitable machine, DiEmilio pushed that machine to its very limits and, in doing so, purged the darkest limits of his emotions. His guitar was like a six-stringed stress-ball; a release from what he described as ‘the ever despair and struggle of my life… a constant battle against depression and the ever feeling of heading absolutely nowhere with no control whatsoever… and so music gives a good place to sort this all out.’
An extract from Jason DiEmilio’s eulogy:
Jason suffered from a chronic and seemingly incurable pain. He had a seriously debilitating condition known as tinnitus and hypercusis that was brought about by extreme sound exposure; a result of playing in bands most of his life without protection for his ears. The nerve damage was severe and irreversible. Recently it had become even more acute. He held out for as long as he could and lived as he died. With grace and indefatigable courage. Jason was open to the simplest beauties of the world and never could stop being enraged at what fouled it.
An album launch party in Philadelphia in October should provide fans and the community surrounding the Azusa Plane with a celebration of Jason’s life work.
FULL TRACK LISTING FOR THE DVD:
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30 Minute live concert of Azusa Plane
Azusa Plane Music MP3 folders:
01 RESONATING SUBTLETIES
Hi, How Are You
Ode To The Mountain Goats
Pop World
George Harrison Plays Sitar
Emeralds
Underground Velvet
Cambridge
Pop World II
Khyber
Dream
02 7" SINGLES 1996-1997
Fall
Meander
Beyond Infinite
Every Wave Has Its Own Integrity
Hal
A Minimalist Plot To Destroy Modern Rockism
Fender: Six Strings Of Tonal And Atonal Vibrations
Moog: 32 Keys Of Polar And Bipolar Oscilations
She Was Into S&M And Bible Studies.
Calvin Johnson Has Saved Rock For An Entire Generation
Lou, Nico, Sterling, John, And Maureen
An Unrecognizeable Paradigm Shift
Mechanical Sound Constructions
03 7" SINGLES 1998-1999
The Last Of The Famous Electronic Playboys
Live At Leeds
Philadelphia 1999
Song For Claudia Cardinale
United States Direct Investment In Other Countries
04 10" and 12" SINGLES
Lou, Nico, John, Sterling And Maureen (Live)
Hi, How Are You (Live)
Autumn Lament (Live)
Pop World (Live)
Lou, Nico, John, Sterling And Maureen (Live)
Autumn Lament (Live)
1863
1872
1875
1875 Part 2
A Magnetic Breakthrough
Eric Gaffney
Cheltenham 1
Cheltenham 2
05 COMPILATION TRACKS
Me And Wayne Rogers
Shooting Speed With Lou Reed
Two Views Of The New Zealand Landscape
Imperivm Neptvini Regis
Death Of A Microphone
Drinking Scotch With Delmore
06 MAGAZINE COMPILATION TRACKS
You Said I Could Bring My Guitar
An Acoustical Triumph
Song To The Killers
Tokyo Guitar Flashback
Implications Of Holomovement (Live)
07 CASSETTE TRACKS
Erone
Panic On The Streets Of London
Nebraska
Listening For The Dinosaur
The Magic Of Psychoacoustic Sound
08 TERRASTOCK 1 LIVE OUTTAKES (26thApril 1997)
Terrastock 1 Song 1
Terrastock 1 Song 2
Terrastock 1 Song 3
09 THE GARAGE LONDON LIVE OUTTAKES (14thSeptember 1997)
The Garage Song 1
The Garage Song 2
10 INTERVIEW WITH JASON DIEMILIO / UNRELEASED TRACK
Jason DiEmilio Interview
Silver Simeon
Tracklisting
- CD ONE: Two Views Of The New Zealand Landscape
- Meander
- Every Wave Has Its Own Integrity
- Eric Gaffney
- Tokyo Guitar Flashback
- Death Of A Microphone
- Shooting Speed With Lou Reed
- Lou, Nico, Sterling, John And Maureen
- Live At Leeds
- Fender: Six Strings Of Tonal And Atonal Vibrations
- You Said I Could Bring My Guitar
- United States Direct Investment In Other Countries
- CD TWO: A Magnetic Breakthrough
- Ode To The Mountain Goats
- George Harrison Plays Sitar
- Beyond Infinite
- This Is Not Spacerock
- Calvin Johnson Has Saved Rock For An Entire Generation
- Cheltenham 1
- Cheltenham 2
- She Was Into S&M And Bible Studies. Not Everyone’s Cup Of Tea, She Would Admit To Me....
- The Last Of The Famous Electronic Playboys
- Me And Wayne Rogers
- Mechanical Sound Construction
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