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Brooklyn Mantra gen 15

Personnel

Ernesto Diaz-Infante (guitar)
Jeff Arnal (percussion)

Track Listing:

Side A:
Brooklyn Mantra part 1

Side B:
Brooklyn Mantra part 2

Format: 7" Record - 33 rpm
Cover art: graphite and watercolor by Ilona Sturm
Released: 2009

Brooklyn Mantra is available online

• in NYC / online at Downtown Music Gallery
• Online at Squidco
• Online in Europe at Oaksmus

Selected Press

"..a brooding collaboration that promises moody hues and long-form, lo-fi extrapolations." Stacey Anderson, Village Voice "Arnal's appearance on Brooklyn Mantra, playing duo with guitarist Ernesto Diaz-Infante, is a reminder of his eloquent, responsive ear for percussion timbre: as Diaz-Infante fingers brittle rhythm guitar, Arnal's sonorous percussion floats air through the flickering space, elongating and crushing time as he gropes skins, cymbals and woods for shifting permutations of sounds." Philip Clark, the Wire "A congenially diminutive shamanistic experience, to be played loud.." Massimo Ricci , the Squid's Ear "Arnal provides rich– but not overly busy– percussion, and Diaz-Infante sends out wave after wave of enveloping 12-string pulses. This is one hell of a mood-setting record, so flipping it is a bit of a drag. But then again, there aren't too many seven-inchers I've been this fond of playing over and over, either.." DaveX, Startling Moniker "A 33rpm 7" featuring Ernesto Diaz-Infante on 12-string bajo sexto guitar and Jeff Arnal on percussion, in a two-part piece, a kind of dirge improvised out of scratches and rubs. Almost scintillating as a texture, nice to loose yourself into for a few minutes at a time. I hadn't heard Diaz-Infante in a while, after following him closely for a few years. I'm glad to find him in such a nice shape!" François Couture "The mantra covers both sides of the vinyl, good for almost twelve minutes. I haven't heard from Diaz-Infante in quite a while, and I'm glad to hear he has lost none of his adventurous spirit. This piece takes quite a while to unwind, but the totality is most impressive. I'm not entirely sure what this guitar/percussion piece has to do with Brooklyn, but it certainly provokes plenty of thought. Let it ramble and rumble and see where you are at the end." Jon Worley, A&A "Brooklyn Mantra Parts 1 & 2" features some dark, eerie, acoustic strumming and haunting, ritualistic percussion. The effect is quite mesmerizing like some strange psychedelic ceremony being evoked. Both musicians are integral to the sound of this disc and Jeff Arnal's percussion is immensely righteous, like some spirit dancing freely on the flames of a fire." Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

 

Artist Bios

ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE received his MFA in Music Composition from California Institute of the Arts and has created musical compositions that span a broad perspective: transcendental piano, noise, avant-garde guitar, field recordings, lo-fi four-track manipulations, and experimental song. ED-I has performed throughout Europe and the United States, and his music has been broadcasted internationally. He has recorded more than 15 CDs of music and collaborated with numerous musicans. ED-I runs Pax Recordings with the filmmaker/video artist Marjorie Sturm. He lives in San Francisco. “Percussionist JEFF ARNAL’s balletic sense of time and imaginative deployment of colour have combined into a highly original concept." (The Wire) Arnal frequently performs and collaborates with a wide range of musicians and choreographers in the U.S. and Europe. Recent performances include: Ausland (Berlin), deSingel (Antwerp), German Nordwestradio (Bremen), Hallwalls (Buffalo NY), Music at the Anthology (NYC) & Music Gallery (Toronto). He has received grants and fellowships from ASCAP, Brooklyn Arts Council, Meet the Composer and Art Omi International. His music can be heard on a number of independent record labels, including Transit (Clean Feed 2009 & 2005), Dog Day with Aaron Dugan (C3R 2007), Rogue States with Gordon Beeferman (Generate 2006), MEJA with Michael Evans (C3R 2006) and with Dietrich Eichmann (Broken Research 2007 & Leo 2004). Arnal holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies: Music Composition and Filmmaking from the University of Maryland and an MFA in Music from Bennington College.

Links
www.myspace.com/diazinfante
www.generaterecords.net/JeffArnal.htm