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Thread: Second Sufis- Any fans?

  1. #1
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    Second Sufis- Any fans?

    I've been digging this two-man improv band for several years now. Hypnotic. Intense. Relaxing (sometimes!). Always interesting. Any fans here? This is one band I have *never* seen being discussed on PE, yet I think they would be a good fit.

    Also if some of you folks are in the know, I'm looking for their older cds. I have been able to find the last 4 cds: Seven Rays, Pearl, Infectious Substance, and Sea of Sky. But their cd inserts list others: Metroplex, Soft Clock, 2 others. Anyone ever even seen these? I have never seen a single copy on Amazon or GEMM, when that used to exist...

  2. #2
    I saw your thread title and knew I had heard of them before. Then it clicked- I saw them open for The Red Masque back in 2002 in a record shop in Connecticut. I was one of just a handful of people there. I seem to remember liking what I heard, but honestly it's been a little while so it's hard to remember!
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  3. #3
    Estimated Prophet notallwhowander's Avatar
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    I have Pearl, Infectious Substance, and a CD-R the recorded one year on the steps of NEARFest. Mike Gorman was a regular here around that time (in the early aughts). I haven't heard from him for years.

    Unfortunately, I haven't found any of the earlier discs around either. They used to sell them through their website, but that's long defunct. I'm not even sure if Mike is in the US anymore.

    Mike - if you're out there, speak up my man!
    Last edited by notallwhowander; 06-03-2016 at 08:31 AM.
    Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.

  4. #4
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    Pearl is a masterpiece, in my opinion. Almost telepathic levels of improvisation on that album. The others I like to varying degrees. I saw them perform on the steps of Nearfest, in 2003, during a dinner break. Great guys and a great performance.

    I have copies of both Metroplex, and their very rare first CD Slave Labor on Mars. Slave is my second favourite of theirs, after Pearl, actually. And they have been discussed on here before, but that would be many years ago, probably in the early 2000's.

    neil

  5. #5
    LinkMan Chain's Avatar
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    Wonderful music.

    Last I heard of Mike Sufi he was here in Australia, but I have no heard from him in years.
    “Pleasure and pain can be experienced simultaneously,” she said, gently massaging my back as we listened to her Coldplay CD.

  6. #6
    Yeah, I too saw them at NF 03 and traded CD's with them. Cool stuff. for sure.

  7. #7
    Hi guys, so nice to find your comments.

    Jim Mott and I worked at a distance to get the last double CD, Sea of Sky, released in 2006 (recordings from 2003).

    Hey, I've been living in Australia for over a dozen years now getting on with life.

    For the past 18 months I've been writing and recording with Dr Errol H Tout.
    Errol has quite discography and has also attended the Guitar Craft program (although we never met until I learned he lived up the street from me here in Perth a little over a year ago).

    We've released a new CD "Luminous."

    "Luminous" has acoustic & electric guitars, guitar synth, as well as Chapman stick. I'm playing mostly my 12-string Ovation but Errol has hooked me into playing electric guitar again on a few pieces. He has this beautiful black beauty Les Paul he has for me to play. 18 pieces. Improvisational elements captured in song frameworks.

    https://www.errolhtout.com.au/products/luminous-2017

    We just performed a CD release concert to and will hopefully perform some more. Hopefully I will be able to post some photos.

    A local music rag write-up:
    http://xpressmag.com.au/errol-h-tout...ous-new-album/

    As an introduction, some free listening:
    https://soundcloud.com/errolhtout/01-summer

    Errol has other pieces from the new album on Soundcloud also – they have the florescent orange album cover as their icon:
    https://soundcloud.com/errolhtout

    Errol's page on Facebook:
    https://www.facebook.com/errol.tout
    (some pics there I believe, but I don't do Facebook myself)

    Cheers (as they say),

    Mike Gorman

  8. #8
    A short Luminous video (footage from pre-concert soundcheck)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y-DXqXT67M

  9. #9
    BTW the early Second Sufis CDs Soft Clock, Air Guitar, and Metroplex were all CDR format, so we only burned as many discs as were ordered (or given away). There is a very old hard drive somewhere with the master wave files on it. I'll have to try booting it next time I'm state-side.

    Soft clock was the first go at live loop recording (stereo hard disk recording, not multi-track) - it has bit of a Norse/Viking theme going (at least as far as the titles: Ragnarok, Tides of Time, etc.)

    Air Guitar was a short CDR with acoustic guitar looping - an experiment of sorts.

    Metroplex was multi-track but still live recording and featured midi drums and mod-mod Stingray bass as well as e. guitars and stick. I really liked that album - starts out with Gritty Kitty. Yes we watched Rent and Stimpy. Most memorable for me was the tune Industro, also very urban and gritty like highway driving through NY/NJ at night. Another tune, the prophetic Silhouettes Against the Sky, was on that album I think. Was widely propagated across the internet at that time, as was Spaceghost (also frequently watched Adult Swim).

  10. #10
    Here's something just recorded with Jerome Pier of Learning Kurve. Jerome was on a number of Second Sufis albums and he created this incredible track with Linstrument/Biotek that I added an acoustic guitar track for. It's called 'Into the Forest.' Hope you enjoy.

    Into_the_Forest

  11. #11
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    Nice tune, thanks for posting the link! Hey if you ever do get the chance to reboot your old computer with the Second Sufis masters on it, please do so! I would love to hear them, even if on YouTube or whatever means of dissemination would be most straightforward for you.

  12. #12
    Thanks arturs, I won't forget.
    Jerome and I have just started a new collaboration project called pāla.

    https://pala-pala.bandcamp.com/track/into-the-forest

    For free downloads and new tunes as they are created visit our site on Bandcamp: http://pala-pala.bandcamp.com

  13. #13
    I'd never heard of this band, thanks for the recommendation arturs!

    Interestingly, Sufism, the religious/spiritual movement, places music at its foundation. The Sufi tradition in Northern India (where I was traveling through last year) and Pakistan has birthed a really interesting music culture that borrows from Persian, Arabic, and Indian musical roots.

    Really recommend that you check out some Sufi music. Lots of emphasis on vocals generally (look up "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan") but the rhythms are definitely interesting

  14. #14
    arturs, I've started uploading some choice tracks from Second Sufis Metroplex.

    Currently uploading 109 MB 16-bit wave file: http://projectstudio.swanriver.com.a...x_INDUSTRO.WAV

    This was my fav track on the album: imagine driving on I95 through Connecticut and New Jersey at night through the maze of shadowy buildings in the darkness obscured by petrochemical fog.

    (more soon)

  15. #15
    Also a new release by pāla.
    At the moment it is on Spotify and Apple Music:
    https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/pla12/changeling

    This is an electronic vocal/choral piece, much different than anything else. It features the Alter Ego vocal synthesis along with human voices with orchestral and world instruments. Hope you like it.

  16. #16
    Here's another track from Second Sufis Metroplex, resurrected from an ancient hard drive:
    http://projectstudio.swanriver.com.a...ex_SCHERZO.WAV

    This has some awesome thunderstruck stick playing and shows the kind of call and response we used in group improvisation. Reverse envelope effects were reminiscent of orchestral strings.

    Arturs, let me know if you'd like more.

  17. #17
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    Mike, thanks, yeah, absolutely. I hope some other folks here on PE are checking out these tracks too. Truly unique stuff. cheers, arturs

  18. #18
    OK, here's another. Effect-laden self-indulgence? Yes. But it has some Jim Mott wielding a Sting Ray bass as a dynamically modulated weapon. I've lopped off the first two minutes of the original track. At the time we thought it would be interesting for listeners to hear how the music came out of nothing, but in hindsight I think we might have retained more listeners back then if we had only trimmed our tracks a little more. I'm experimenting with Korg A3 DSP (e.g. digital whammy bar) on this one. The title, Gritty Kitty, comes from the adorable Ren and Stimpy cartoon show.
    http://projectstudio.swanriver.com.a...RITTYKITTY.WAV

  19. #19
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    You are lucky to be in Australia. Did you have a premonition that the US was gonna take a big slide in quality in the upcoming years and decide to split, or was it just a lucky coincidence?

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sean View Post
    You are lucky to be in Australia.
    Not the part I live in at the moment

    “Pleasure and pain can be experienced simultaneously,” she said, gently massaging my back as we listened to her Coldplay CD.

  21. #21
    Hi Chain hope you are ok, the flooding is so bad in Townsville they intentionally opened the levies and let the water inundate hundreds of homes.

  22. #22
    the cd that followed Metroplex was 7 Rays. It was originally on CDR but we eventually sent them out for manufacture. This track is an excerpt I just remastered in 24-bit, I also removed the first 8 minutes leaving only the 'Splinter' climax of Annihilation 1.

    http://projectstudio.swanriver.com.a...ter-Climax.wav

  23. #23
    Met a girl under the moon.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Exile View Post
    Hi Chain hope you are ok, the flooding is so bad in Townsville they intentionally opened the levies and let the water inundate hundreds of homes.
    Thanks Mike

    they had to open the gates to let water out to protect the dam. It was running at over 200% capacity
    “Pleasure and pain can be experienced simultaneously,” she said, gently massaging my back as we listened to her Coldplay CD.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Exile View Post
    The title, Gritty Kitty, comes from the adorable Ren and Stimpy cartoon show.
    http://projectstudio.swanriver.com.a...RITTYKITTY.WAV
    Gritty Kitty is a snarling beast. Perfect title. Not a minute too long at 16'. Thanks for posting it.

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