Jon Mueller
Has been involved the groups Telecognac, Pele, and Collections of Colonies of Bees, playing drums, percussion, piano, and narrative. Always interested in the mysterious result of collaborations, he has recorded or performed with a broad range of artists, including guitarist Chris Rosenau, violinist Aranos, saxophonist Boris Hauf, vocalist/pianist Jarboe, saxophonist Steve Nelson-Raney, multi-instrumentalist Hal Rammel, saxophonist Bhob Rainey, table-top guitarist Adam Sonderberg, sound artist Asmus Tietchens, cellist Matt Turner, sound artist Achim Wollscheid, and he has also performed as part of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra. He has composed music for dance and film, has appeared on numerous CDs and LPs on labels throughout the world, and has performed throughout the U.S. and Japan.
personal website
Has been involved the groups Telecognac, Pele, and Collections of Colonies of Bees, playing drums, percussion, piano, and narrative. Always interested in the mysterious result of collaborations, he has recorded or performed with a broad range of artists, including guitarist Chris Rosenau, violinist Aranos, saxophonist Boris Hauf, vocalist/pianist Jarboe, saxophonist Steve Nelson-Raney, multi-instrumentalist Hal Rammel, saxophonist Bhob Rainey, table-top guitarist Adam Sonderberg, sound artist Asmus Tietchens, cellist Matt Turner, sound artist Achim Wollscheid, and he has also performed as part of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra. He has composed music for dance and film, has appeared on numerous CDs and LPs on labels throughout the world, and has performed throughout the U.S. and Japan.
personal website
Clarity Cycles
**numbered edition of 25 copies** Clarity Cycles focuses on various sized glass instruments made by Jeremy Popelka in mid to late 2018. They were played by Jon Mueller using various drum, gong and cymbal mallets and recorded and mixed throughout late 2018 and early 2019. The cover photographs were taken by Jeremy Popelka at his studio in Sturgeon Bay, WI, where the instruments were made and the recording session took place. Jeremy Popelka is an artist based in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Over …
Prima Materia
**numbered edition of 25 copies** "These Pieces are the Result of a long Process which lasted ten Years or more. I’ve been in Touch with Jon off and on, exchanging Music for each to work on. Working on Tracks and leaving them to rest. On the Surface, nothing much happened. The Music was somewhere filed up, almost forgotten. We didn’t make music together for Years to come. Then early 2018 there was a sudden Breakthrough. The Pieces now published on this LP are the Result from this... I strongly s…
Canto
**300 copies** Jon Mueller is a multi-faceted percussionist, presenting his latest body of work in Canto for gongs, voice, and percussion. In his solo work that spans two decades, Mueller has embarked on a lengthy exploration of the timbres, the dissonance, and the physicality of repetition from his array of percussive instruments. Gongs had long been a part of his repertoire, but here on Canto he addresses their specific sonic attributes in conjunction with extended vocal techniques bolstered t…
See Through
Limited edition of 300 copies. White/Clear splatter vinyl, housed in a heavyweight 350gsm, matte-finished sleeve. See Through is a new collaboration between Aidan Baker (Nadja), Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer, Mara, Sige Records) and renowned percussionist Jon Mueller. "The project was brought to life through Baker exploring textural rhythms created by sampling small, sharp and abrupt sounds on the electric guitar and then sequencing them in a drum machine to form the bedrock of the tracks. Mueller th…
dHrAaNwDn
Another multifaceted, all-out release from percussionist Jon Mueller, whose tribal trajectory has exploded since the release of Tongues. This album is a percussion fan’s dream. But it’s much more than that: it’s also a historical tribute, and has the potential to send listeners into a meditative trance, connecting them with their forebearers (A Closer Listen). "On May 23, 2016, Jon Mueller played four drums for over six hours in the Meeting House at the Shaker Historical Society in Albany, …
Tongues
Since the early 2000s, the work of Jon Mueller has examined various translations between ideas and rhythm. His records about spiritualist movements and impermanence consciousness were maximalist displays of bombastic trance signifying life-affirming energy, while his earlier focus on vibrating drumheads revealed the sonically electrical qualities of acoustic instruments; an unexpected current within dormant material.
Similarly, his new solo effort, Tongues, is an invigorating and ecstatic …
Inverted Torch
Wisconsin's Jon Mueller and New Orleans' Duane Pitre are both towering figures in the world of avant-garde sound. Mueller has notched up an astounding amount of albums and collaborations in the past (including two on this very label) and while most of his time is spent eking out unusual textures from his plethora of percussive instruments, he can also be spotted moonlighting as the drummer for main-stage indie act Volcano Choir. Pitre, having retired as a professional skateboarder (serious…
Death Blues
The six songs that comprise Jon Mueller's Death Blues are each their own doorway to both a bold new musical statement from the renowned drummer/percussionist and an unprecedented journey into a conscious contemplation of death -- and the life that surrounds it. Released in tandem with a multi-part manifesto, Death Blues transcends its own existence as a 34-minute, earth-cracking rock album. Much like Mueller, whose landmark solo work stands alongside his role in notable bands Volcano Choir…
Terminal Velocity
Jon Mueller and James Plotkin first combined forces on Physical Changes, scorching the leading LP side of Mueller's 2009 multi-format collaborative investigation. Forging Mueller's blistering percussion and rolling hills of drums with Plotkin's searing guitar and melting electronics, a sturdy alloy was formed. When both musicians were asked to perform at the Utech Records Music Festival in June 2011, at which they appeared as a duo, the pair spent the proceeding days spontaneously unfurl…
Alphabet Of Movements
With the music of Milwaukee-native Jon Mueller, patience is the key. His radical snare workouts are meditative master-classes in drumming, but require a distinct offering of time and attention to truly enjoy the dense clouds of sound his music creates. After crafting 2010's critically-acclaimed The Whole, Mueller decided to put together a live set that, while not reflecting the over-dubbed nature of the album itself, reflected the philosophy held within. The result was "I Almost Expect To…
The Whole
LP version. Includes an exclusive bonus CD of 30-minute album, The Whole -- mixed by Olivia Block. The Whole might be avant-percussionist Jon Mueller's first album for the Type imprint, but it's far from his scene debut. Working in a plethora of bands for many years (including Collections Of Colonies Of Bees and Volcano Choir with Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver), Mueller has honed his sound to a distinct peak, and over the course of umpteen solo albums and collaborations has cemented his status …
Phase
With the seemingly limitless mass of drone albums out there, it is tempting, even for a sympathetic listener like myself, to dismiss much of the lot as the sonic equivalent of a warm bath: immersive and pleasant but little more than a balm for overtaxed ears. With Phase, there is no such temptation. This is drone in its more intense, bracing form and it is far from soporific. The album consists of a single 39-minute piece. It is an amalgamation of recordings by Jason Kahn and Jon Mueller that we…
Physical Changes
CD+DVD+LP. Mueller's mammoth new solo percussion work. If his previous solo effort "Metals" was about pummeling rhythms & frequencies, this drives the whole idea into oblivion, as the sounds here are something to be felt as much as heard.
Topography
Percussionist Jon Mueller continues his amazing run of releases (he appears on eight Table Of The Elements titles in the first half of 2008!) with Topography, a collaboration with Zürich-based sound and visual artist Jason Kahn. As a drummer, Mueller propels Collections of Colonies of Bees and the occasional guitar army of Rhys Chatham; he also finds time to collaborate with artists ranging from Wilco's Glenn Kotche to Swans' Jarboe. Kahn draws on electronic and acoustic sound sources to create …
Strung
Table of the Elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the third installment in its Guitar Series Vols. 3 & 4. Peripatetic composer, performer, improviser, and designer Jon Mueller is a busy guy, and both the rock and experimental music scenes are the richer for it. As a drummer he propels the ecstatic whorl of Collections of Colonies of Bees and the occasional guitar army of Rhys Chatham; alternately his solo project, Metals, is the most harrowingly intense percussive barrage yo…
Metals
Percussionist Jon Mueller works with rhythms that come from gong frequencies, from vibrations of the bodies of bass drums, and the surprising sonorities that occur with the combination of these elements. Now he applies these techniques to his latest solo effort, to stunning effect: Metals is, as its name suggests, a bold, all-percussion foray into heavy metal. No theatrical silliness here; just sheer exhilaration; the fundamental power of loud, organized, precise rhythms; ringing, heavy anti-mel…
Acht Stücke
Second collaborative effort between german sound manipulation pioneer Asmus Tietchens and american improv-drummer Jon Mueller. The CD features 8 tracks that run up to 53 minutes. Jon Mueller on the second collaboration: "The previous collaboration between Asmus and I involved me using only sounds derived from drum heads. For Acht Stuecke, I've used only Chinese gongs and cymbals, so a completely different range of sound occurs. The performance of the percussion material was from various non-mech…
Brombron 13: Bowl, Helicopter
Korm Plastics is proud to present the thirteenth release in the Brombron series. Originally a co-production between Staalplaat and Extrapool, it is now hosted by co-curator Frans de Waard. In the year 2000 Frans de Waard and Extrapool started the Brombron project. Two or more musicians become artists in residence in Extrapool, an arts initiative in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, with a fully equipped sound recording studio. These artists can work in a certain amount of time on a collaborative projec…
What’s lost...
Jon Mueller either spent the necessary time to teach his drums how to actually sustain something, or he found them lying in the same swamp as the Warner Bros. frog. In any case, he has coaxed a gorgeous CD out of them: complex textures of sustained snares, nocturnal bells, and asymmetrical rhythms arising as if from within the drums; all subtly ordered, sometimes melting from passage to passage, sometimes popping with tape-edit precision. The pieces have the gravity of fine drone work, but they …
7 Stücke
First collaboration between Tietchens & Mueller, the man behind the fabulous crouton music label. On '7 stücke' Tietchens has reworked Mueller's drum head sounds and formed them into a subtle yawning, moving and buzzing soundstream. a beautiful work, creating a language totally its own. Limited to 500 copies.