SPEAK.

nature of the soul

The Steoples EP now available

The Steoples EP is now available via your favorite digital retailers including iTunes, Amazon, Beatport, Juno and many others. Spread the word, give us your feedback, and enjoy!

VIDEO: GB - "Psychic Imprints"

GB - "Psychic Imprints"
video and music by GB

The Provider EP up for download

If you didn't grab the 12", The Provider EP is now available in downloadable formats on our Bandcamp page. Minimal suggested offering as usual.

new music and other 2012 updates

Many of you know that we quietly released The Provider EP in a limited quantity pressing of 150 hand-painted and silk screened units in six different color varieties. Although these have all sold out by now, a Japanese exclusive version is now available via Jazzy Sport (check out the music shop section at www.jazzysport.com). The Provider EP will be available digitally next week at giftedandblessed.bandcamp.com, then via most digital retailers in February.



Next, we have a new 12" release coming on Dublin's All City label called "7 in 24." This will be in stores January 25. Have a listen here:

We have much to look forward to in the coming months, including new releases from The Steoples (GB/A Race of Angels), The Abstract Eye (Eglo), and more. Upcoming live performances and new music will continue to be announced via the facebook and twitter pages.

Stay tuned....

GB's Mix for Hepcat Radio

Enjoy this mix of electronic and tonal music, assembled for Mamiko Motto's Hepcat Radio. Artwork by Stephen Serrato.

Frankie Reyes - "Earth Songs in the Age of Technology"

This sound collage explores the healing songs of the indigenous peoples of North America as represented by the Sioux, Apache, Navajo, Hopi, Taos Pueblo, Ponca, Kiowa and Mesquakie nations.

The attempt here is to demonstrate the power of these healing songs, even in an age where many of us have grown disconnected from the earth, as technology has overridden much of that to which mankind was once inextricably connected. Technology is used here as both a tool for enhancement as well as to demonstrate how it has interrupted the music of the earth.

Summer 2011 European Tour Complete

I'm happy to say the tour of Europe with AFTA-1 was a big success. Many thanks to everyone who shared space with us, enjoyed the music, and held us down in every city we visited. Over time we may upload a few videos of our journey, but in the meantime you can catch a few glimpses of the tour in photo form at www.facebook.com/giftedandblessedmusic. Something tells me another tour will be coming up real soon...

GB in Europe with AFTA-1

I'm currently in Europe with AFTA-1, playing music in several cities over the next couple of weeks. Dates are as follows...

Aug 18 - Strøm Festival, All City Showcase (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Aug 19 - 45 Special (Oulu, Finland)*
Aug 27 - Life Bar w/Floating Points and Funkineven (London, England)
Aug 28 - Stadtmusik Festival (Basel, Switzerland)*
Aug 31 - private event (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Sep 1 - V2 (Rotterdam, Netherlands)*
Sep 2 - Bonnefooi (Brussels, Belgium)*
Sep 3 - Patchwork, Dachstock Reitschule (Bern, Switzerland)
Sep 4 - The Bernard Shaw (Dublin, Ireland)

*event includes both GB and AFTA-1

The Reflektor - "Verdadero" (2008)

This song appeared on Reebok's "Future Sounds For My Classic Generation" promotional compilation in 2008, compiled by our friend Jay Scarlett.

The Abstract Eye - "Cool Warm Divine" EP available for download

also possibly still available in vinyl format at www.rushhour.nl

Drums of Intent

A simple experiment involving a Roland TR-606, Simmons SDS 200, Ibanez AD 202 and tape recorder, circa 2008.

Industrial Complex

These three pieces are a hopeful farewell to the dying and decaying modes of industry in the modern world....to the ineffective production and distribution of rations in the food industry...to the cancerous nuclear power industry...to the rancid systems that control the distribution of clean water and our other natural resources...to the deathly medical industry...and to the outmoded and perverted music industry.

State of Grace

"Literature is a state of culture. Poetry is a state of grace, before and after culture."
- Juan Ramon Jimenez

Does poetry happen only in words? How might one use electronic musical instruments to create poetry? Are the subtleties of diction restricted to the use of verbal and/or written language? Or can the inflections of musical tones, rather than words, constitute a form of poetry in their own right? While written or spoken poetry can only be understood by those who know the dialect in which it is transmitted, music possesses a uniquely universal quality in that it may be felt and understood on a biological level without needing to be received idiomatically. This piece is an exercise in using tones poetically, if you will, in reaching for the state of grace often attained in linguistic poetry.

Rapid Fire

instruments used: Roland TR-808, Korg Poly 61, Sequential Circuits Pro One, EML Electrocomp

I intentionally allowed the tape to run as I experimented and chose not to edit anything as an excercise in presence. I had no preconceived song structure in mind. You can hear me stopping and starting the sequence again even a few times, but I decided to share the entire moment with you, not just what I would consider to be the "best" parts. It's a more accurate snapshot of my process that way.

ViDEO: Study in Synchronization and Synthesis No. 7

For Valum Votan, Red Spectral Moon (1939-2011)

Amidst the news of natural disasters, radiation and warring nations, the majority of us has no doubt about the seriousness of this unique pivotal moment in time. Many of the cultures of antiquity foresaw the coming of these days. The indigenous people of the earth have almost universally agreed that the planet will be undergoing a major shift in consciousness during these times, almost unanimously pointing to the year 2012 as the culmination point in which we will have shifted into a new mode of being. One of our planet's leading scholars of so-called "Mayanism" was Dr. José Argüelles, otherwise known as Valum Votan, the Closer of the Cycle. It was prophesied that Valum Votan would help humanity overcome the imbalances we have created in our lives since adopting our current 12:60 artificial timing frequency several thousand years ago. Argüelles recognized that by reclaiming a lunar-based 13:20 natural timing frequency, we would begin to know harmony on Earth again. Argüelles's 13 moon calendar is observed by thousands worldwide in almost every country. Dr. Argüelles was also one of the creators of the idea of celebrating Earth Day. His ideas will be an important touchstone for many years to come should time continue in the way that it has thus far. For more information about Dr. Argüelles, visit www.lawoftime.org or read any of his several books detailing his ideas and research.

GB's Carmen McRae Remix on Sealy's Super Bowl Commercial

The Universal Constant

This two song project was recorded in 2001 and never released until now. "Soul of the World" serves as an ode to the common thread that bonds us all as one unit of life and spirit. The title track pays tribute to the glue of love that bonds all life together. This music is best enjoyed in solitude, in nature, or in any other intentional lovespace.