Back in June, 2013 painter & musician SiLas Be Ritchie went in for a double lung transplant.  Silas had been ‘on call’ for a while & we all knew this could come at any time.  An unfathomable situation to me – you wait & wait, then out of the blue a phone rings, “hey, we’re ready to rip that giant organ out of your chest and replace it with a new set”…  I certainly didn’t imagine that I’d be out of town when the call came – in Indianapolis, performing the horror-score to NoExit Performance production of “This Is Not Shakespeare’s MACBETH“.  We had received the stems for this remix project prior to the surgery.  When I heard SiLas was going in, I went right to work on a BRAIN GRIMMER contribution ~ trying to send out sonic good-vibes to Si while he was in procedure & recovery.  We’re all grateful that he came out of surgery just fine and has been living his life full of breath!

Fast forward to November, 2014, the more recent good news is… the Tea Life: Wabi​-​Sabi Remixes album has finally dropped!  It has been well worth the wait to hear the wonderfully crafted and varied interpretations that have resulted in these remixes.  Kudos to Si for putting this together!

”  Wabi-Sabi is the second track off of Tea Life 2, the sophomore record by Silas Be and Brian Tairaku Ritchie (Shakuhachi master & bassist of Violent Femmes). The 4 stems of music that assemble the song (Drums, Flute, Bass, Chime samples) were sent to an array of musician friends. I asked my friends to create a new composition using any amount of the original music, except zero. What returned are these transmission. Enjoy.  “

If you choose to pay $25 for the album, include your address in a message, and I will create and send to you an original Silas Be watercolor painting.

Album Cover Art: Silas Be

Track Art by: Andrew Jay (except “Ghost” by John Praw, Image by John Praw, and Wabi-Sabi art by Silas Be)  

The BRAIN GRIMMER contribution, ‘crop dance’, is one of my favorite tracks that I’ve worked on… it’s also been the most difficult to mix & master.  For the last 3 months I’ve been working on/off towards re-mastering the track.  I’ll be releasing a new BRAIN GRIMMER ep some time in early 2015, comprising of remixes, guest-producer features, and cover songs from the last 2 years.  More on that in the coming months!