The Squid's Ear Magazine

Mazurek, Rob

Psychotropic Electric Eel Dreams IV

Mazurek, Rob: Psychotropic Electric Eel Dreams IV (Astral Spirits)

Recordings from the 4-channel sound composition for the ESS Florasonic installation series at Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago, of Rob Mazurek's work using recordings of electric eels from National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil, combined with analog/digital synthesis to create environments of beautiful undulating and radiant sonic textures.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Rob Mazurek-modular synth, computer


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Label: Astral Spirits
Catalog ID: AS114
Squidco Product Code: 27992

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Sound source of electric eels were recorded at National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil.

Psychotropic Electric Eel Dream IV A and B were constructed at M.E.S. (Marfa Experimental Studio), Marfa, Texas, in 2017.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"In Spring of 2017, Experimental Sound Studio (ess.org) presented Psychotropic Electric Eel Dream IV, a four-channel sound composition for the ESS Florasonic sound installation series at Lincoln Park Conservatory Chicago. The installation was in conjunction with Mazurek's solo exhibition "The Shaping Light" at ESS's Audible Gallery. What you hear in the Fern Room is Psychotro

"In Spring of 2017, Experimental Sound Studio (ess.org) presented Psychotropic Electric Eel Dream IV, a four-channel sound composition for the ESS Florasonic sound installation series at Lincoln Park Conservatory Chicago. The installation was in conjunction with Mazurek's solo exhibition "The Shaping Light" at ESS's Audible Gallery. What you hear in the Fern Room is Psychotropic Electric Eel Dream IV by composer, musician, and visual artist, Rob Mazurek.

The sounds in this composition were generated by electric eels at the National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil. Mazurek recorded them between 2000 and 2008, and has since used them in several music compositions, recordings, and installations. In this iteration of the work, he combines them with analog/digital synthesis to create an undulating and radiant sonic texture. By placing the sounds in loudspeakers overhead, our typical relationship to the eels is reversed: they are above us, not underwater, and we can imagine ourselves submerged.

Initiated in 2001, Florasonic commissions artists to create sound installations for Lincoln Park Conservatory's Fern Room. Florasonic is the only ongoing sound installation commissioning program in the United States."-Astral Spirits

pic Electric Eel Dream IV by composer, musician, and visual artist, Rob Mazurek. The sounds in this composition were generated by electric eels at the National Institute of Research and Technology in Manaus, Brazil. Mazurek recorded them between 2000 and 2008, and has since used them in several music compositions, recordings, and installations. In this iteration of the work, he combines them with analog/digital synthesis to create an undulating and radiant sonic texture. By placing the sounds in loudspeakers overhead, our typical relationship to the eels is reversed: they are above us, not underwater, and we can imagine ourselves submerged. Initiated in 2001, Florasonic commissions artists to create sound installations for Lincoln Park Conservatory's Fern Room. Florasonic is the only ongoing sound installation commissioning program in the United States."-Astral Spirits



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Rob Mazurek is an American electro-acoustic composer, cornetist, improviser and visual artist living in Chicago, Illinois. As a composer, Rob Mazurek has written over 300 original compositions over the past 30 years, and has released 55 recordings on various labels. He currently leads a number of ensembles, including Exploding Star Orchestra, Pharoah and the Underground (featuring Pharoah Sanders), Chicago Underground, Pulsar Quartet, São Paulo Underground, Skull Sessions, Sound Is Quintet, Starlicker, Mandarin Movie and Throne of the House of Good and Evil, each of which possesses its own distinct musical personality.

He has collaborated with a wide variety of artists, such as Bill Dixon, Pharoah Sanders, Mike Ladd, Roscoe Mitchell, Yusef Lateef, Fred Anderson, Naná Vasconcelos, Mamelo Sound System, Kassin and Marcelo Camelo and others. Additionally, Rob Mazurek works as a visual artist (incorporating sound, painting and video) with numerous international performances, exhibitions and artist residencies."

-Rob Mazurek Website (http://robmazurek.com/)
6/25/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Psychotropic Electric Eel Dreams IV A 22:06

2. Psychotropic Electric Eel Dreams IV B 21:35

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Sound, Noise, &c.
Field Recordings
Electronic Forms
Installation Sound Work
Solo Artist Recordings
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

Search for other titles on the label:
Astral Spirits.


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