Here’s some photos of Eric’s forthcoming The Friend Is This Animal. The tape (7$) and the cd (10$) are now up for pre order.
Posts Tagged ‘eric sarmiento’
The Friend Is This Animal tapes
Sunday, July 24th, 2011Eric Sarmiento ‘The Friend is This Animal’ out August 16th!
Saturday, June 18th, 2011We are tickled to death to announce the release of Eric’s awesome new record ‘The Friend Is This Animal’ on July 26th! Prepare yourself for this one now because it’s a beast of gargantuan proportions. From the beat driven, melodic rush of tracks like So She Says, Alejandra, and Strange Power to the deep and unearthly beauty of songs like Husbands and Wives, Awake, Dust and We Waited For Nothing, this album is something new, fresh and strikingly original. It touches upon the complexity of jazz or classical, while retaining the appeal and dressed in the garments of pop, electronics, R+B and rock and roll. Eric’s lyrics are similarly unique in their ability to express complex subjects, feelings, relationships and ideas in a way that is immediate but yields increasing depth over many repeat listens. Overall it seems to be something of a commentary on the state of the world here in the 21st century as seen through the eyes of the relationships between individuals and extending out from there to all things. It’s also kind of like a map telling you You Are Here.
Stay tuned for more details and goodies as we draw closer to the release. As usual it will be available in both limited edition cd (10$) and a c40 cassette (7$) as well as digitally. Here is the cover art and the track listing.
1. Alejandra
2. So She Says
3. Strange Power
4. Dust
5. There’s So Much
6. Bilumsman
7. These Little Winters
8. Sunset Burned The City Down
9. We Waited For Nothing
10. Husbands And Wives
11. Awake
Alchemist Video Series1: Eric Sarmiento
Sunday, May 8th, 2011Our next installment in the Alchemist Video Series1 is from Eric Sarmiento. He’s debuting a new track called ‘Awake’ from his weighty and brilliant next record ‘The Friend is This Animal’ which is coming soon. This intimate performance peels back some of the layers of the album version to reveal the jewel inside in skeletal form. In addition to this track he’s got a cool version of ‘Strange Power’ (which will incidentally also be on the new record) here. Enjoy.
Eric Sarmiento live 3/19/11
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011Eric will be dropping by to debut some new material at the charming pub Frank and Lola‘s of Bartlesville Oklahoma on 3/19/11. As you can see from this poster his long awaited forthcoming new LP will be called “The Friend Is This Animal” and you’ll be able to hear some of the new tracks and if you’re lucky you might even be able to pick up an advance copy of the album. While your in town check out Frank Lloyd Wright’s only ‘skyscaper’ The Price Tower and lot’s of other interesting architecture. It’s a hidden gem!
Alchemist Covers EP
Sunday, July 18th, 2010Apropos of nothing but our appreciation for your visit, sometime this week we’ll posting a free EP of covers. Here’s the track listing and cover:
1. I Won’t Be Found (The Tallest Man on Earth) by I and I
2. House of Cards (Radiohead) by Eric Sarmiento
3. Tangled and Strangled (The Pistol Arrows) by Illus Ocean
hypnosis video
Sunday, April 4th, 2010How does movement (or lack thereof) through space relate to the way our identities develop? What do places have to do with the way we think about ourselves and define the limits of the possible? Is the material world a “scaffold of memory” or do our memories provide foundations for the ongoing production of the world? Or both? That’s what this song and video are about…on one level, at least.
Strange Power
Friday, October 9th, 2009Music can have interesting synesthetic qualities. Certain songs can seem to reflect and even shape your experiences and the world around you. The way we feel, the thoughts we have and the events that happen can all have interesting relationships with the songs that seem to be fitting accompaniments. A song you hear today you may love but tomorrow may not be that intriguing or appropriate for your mood. Sometimes you can’t stop wanting to hear a song because it fits so well with the season and the mood you’re in. Two such songs that I’ve been really hooked on lately have been Eric’s forthcoming single “Strange Power/So She Says”. Something about these two songs seems to codify the falling leaves, cool breezes and confusing changes that Autumn always brings with it. They speak of relationships and strange powers that affect us in ways we can’t explain and can’t ignore. They convey a mood, much like Autumn, which is invigorating like the first cold winds that blow but that has an element of sadness and the poignant fleeting nature of life.
In a way, this new single evokes a similar feeling and kinship with one of my favorite records (and one that was influential in getting me back into music after a hiatus) The Pistol Arrows ‘Look’. That being said these new songs are definitely fresh and new and unlike anything that Eric has previously recorded. I guess it would be appropriate to call this single a true double A sided single. Neither song is a B side or lesser accomplishment. ‘Strange Power’ the lead off, starts off with ominous piano and drums not unlike the children’s song ‘Halloween’s Coming’ and from there it maintains this thumping pensive groove under lyrics of the Strange Power of attraction. There is a full sparseness here that feels like nothing extraneous is present and all the parts are working synergistically together. The song does away with the traditional A, B type structure as it enters an upbeat outro section that nicely segues into the feeling of the second song. The outro lyrics evoke the poignant feeling I mentioned earlier and there is a sense of resolve about the fact that many things in life are never resolved. ‘So She Says’ starts off with a mysterious upbeat modern New Wave type vibe and progresses along that line interweaving synths, drums, guitars and vocals in ways not often heard this side of something great like Modern English’s ‘Melt With You’. “It’s too dark in this house” nicely encapsulates the sentiment of a lot of the lyrics which explore parting and relationships and the “houses” where such things take place.
In short, this has been an attempt to describe how much I love these songs and to preview what you will soon be hearing when they are released early next month. We have a lot of other good releases on the way which we’ll be mentioning in future postings. I will soon be heading over to Norway to play some I and I shows. You can read more details on that on my iandimusic.com site and I hope to post some stuff here and there on the trip. For now I’ll leave you with the cover of Eric’s new single below. Appropriately it’s a photo of Eric’s friend trying to catch the setting sun.
Adam
New e-single and video from Eric Sarmiento available
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009After working for four years on his 2008/2009 full-length ‘the declaration of interdependence’ Eric had more than a few ideas for new songs stored up. “At some point in the album making process, I kind of decided I had written everything I was going to write for ‘the declaration’ and from then on I was just tweaking and reworking the original batch of songs for that record” he says. “But during that process of refining the album, tons of new ideas were coming out of the work, as well as the stuff that was going on in my life. I didn’t have time to flesh out the ideas, but most of them I got down in a kind of rough draft, demo form.” As soon as the final mixing and mastering work was done on ‘the declaration’, Eric started work on exploring the cache of demos he had built up, some of which turned into the two songs on the new internet-only single ‘Alejandra Told Me/Hypnosis’.
Both of the new songs were influenced by the energetic grit, beauty, and earthy grandeur of Valencia, Spain where they were written. “I loved walking around the labyrinth of tiny streets winding through stone buildings, listening to headphones or the crowds of people hanging out late at night,” Eric tells us. “One night I went to a party that, while not unusually cool or exciting -just full of nice and interesting people talking and listening to good music- somehow became the site of some heavy revelations for me. I went home and wrote ‘Alejandra’ that night.”
The ‘b-side’ of the single, ‘Hypnosis’ is a quieter affair, delving into spaces of memory, by way of a hazy wash of reverb-laden voices, guitars, harmonium and synths. When pressed for comment on this one, Eric told the following anecdote: “I had breakfast with some friends a while back, and one couple there had just come from somewhere in Arizona, where they entered some kind of nexus of energy, I think they called it a “vortex” which happened to be occupied by a sauna. The interesting thing is that they couldn’t just go straight to the vortex by going to the sauna, but instead had to walk through a series of spaces in the desert and nearby towns and then go to the sauna before arriving at the vortex.”
…. Whatever that may mean, we’re glad to say that the creative flows set in motion during the finishing stages of ‘the declaration….’ are reportedly still going strong, and Eric plans to release several more e-singles over the coming months. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, the new release can be checked out here, where you’ll also find links to itunes, emusic, and other online retail sites where you can buy the tracks. To see Jeffrey Palmer’s brilliant video for ‘Alejandra Told Me’
Finally, speaking of ‘the declaration…’, you can now purchase downloads of the whole album at a plethora of online retail sites as well. To do so, click here where the record can be listened to for free, and cd copies can be ordered directely from us.
