ghosttropics
i was introduced to this masterpiece of an album years ago by my best friend who is no longer on this earth. it's held such a special place in my heart, not only in grief but also in life, and has always conjured images of the kind of place i'd imagine my friend now resides, cruising the cosmic afterlife in it's infinite wisdom. to now see that m. geddes gengras wrote this as a means to traverse his own grief and to honour his loved ones journey just makes such perfect sense to me now <3
colophon100
This is the one. First time I heard this album I was walking along the coast; I stopped, stared out to sea, and watched the waves roll in (as I listened to the .wavs roll in) for the next half hour. Wow. If you haven't heard this, I envy you the first time. In a way, we've all been granted a new "first time" with this remix. Really looking forward to hear what new things I can discover in an old familiar friend. (Now I just have to get back to the beach. ) Thanks, MGG -- this one means a lot!
Favorite track: Threshold.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$8USD or more
Cassette + Digital Album
First time on cassette! new master pro-dubbed on high-bias tapes with new artwork, signed by the artist. please note this is a PRE-ORDER and tapes will ship in August.
Includes unlimited streaming of Ishi - 10th Anniversary Edition
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Brand new mix (by MGG) and master (by Angel Marcloid/Angel Hair Audio) of the 2014 album with an exclusive cassette edition. Previously unseen artwork from the original drafts by Nicole Ginelli.
Recorded in 2013 and originally released on Leaving Records/Stones Throw in 2014, ISHI occupies a very special place in my life. An expression of a process I had been developing at the time, ISHI was born and found its conceptual foothold in the wake of several deaths in my orbit. Improvisations for mono-synth became a form of meditation. Obsessively processing and modifying these improvisations through half-working obsolete hardware was a backwards way to process grief.
Almost every piece of gear I used to make this record is broken now.
Before I had therapy, I had music.
Ishi used a story I remembered from my childhood to express the feeling of being out of place. Beyond that, I wanted to make something that these souls could carry with them. I tried to stretch the moment of passing across 35 minutes of music, drawing a map but also weaving a blanket. I wanted to make something useful. A Make Noise Phonogene randomly sampled what I played, spitting out a low res digital ghost, floating over the landscape, contorted and quivering via the Publison DHM-89 B2. The unstable early digital effects, the smear and saturation of tape delay, the flashes of dissonance are there to respect the complexity of experience. Even in a moment of bliss, there is a storm somewhere miles away, rolling closer. To paraphrase Mike Watt, Do You Want New Age Or Do You Want The Truth?
The original edition, special as it is to me, shows my limitations at the time in its mix and master. Having never been totally happy with either, I decided to reopen the sessions a decade later and clean them up. These new and improved mixes were made complete by a fully 3D third-eye-opening master by Angel Marcloid, who graciously ran with my directive to "make it sound like steam" and brought out details and textures I didn't know were there. The result is what I can proudly and without hesitation call the definitive version of this album. After 10 years of staring up at it from the outside like a monolith, I can finally sit right in the middle of the world I built.
The first edition was dedicated to the memories of J.G.P., J.H., N.H., & H.B., in 2024 I want to add B.L., M.G.G., J.K., and M.C.S., who gets a special acknowledgement for being the first person to tell me i needed to redo the master, several months before the album came out. I'm still learning from you.
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"It’s tempting to call Ishi ambient music, but it possesses too much presence to fade into the background. It possesses an insistence that just stops short of dominating your attention. Although Gengras’ current mode relies heavily on slow-attack synth pads, he frequently works in dissonant leads and unexpectedly harsh tones that can disrupt the peaceful mood you might find yourself lulled into. It’s a soothing record, but one that’ll still keep you on your toes. [...] Ishi is remarkably well designed to block out the world around you. The serene energy it gives off it makes for an effective psychic refuge—put it on in a train station during rush hour and it immediately begins to block out the atmospheric anxiety hovering over the crowd, like an umbrella against the rain. The headspace it produces is calming but frequently, dreamily surreal, and it often seems like a better place to live than the world outside it." Miles Raymer - Pitchfork
"when you got the music, you got a place to go" Jeremy Kelly
credits
released July 9, 2024
recorded 2013 at Green Machines MKII, Boyle Heights CA
originally released as LR040 on Leaving Records / Stones Throw
remixed 2024 in the Basement, Hudson NY
mastered 2024 by Angel Marcloid at Angel Hair Audio
angelhairaudio.com
art by Nicole Ginelli
www.nicoleginelli.com
cassette layout by Brin
thank you matthew/leaving for building this record a nest.
this would not be without brian foote, miles cooper seaton & gabrielle valenti.
