Martin Glass
Mercury inside the bubble, Martin's output for brand and business remains prodigious to the point of cynicism.
Seldom longer than 90 seconds, his recent collection of corporate miniatures were made entirely to order, and at near industrial scale. Their purposes range from sonic ID (Cato, Krutch), through to customer hold music (Skytrack, Canute) and even office soundtrack design (Infinite Auden, Floem). More extended efforts tend to be ambitious, often rejected commissions for company events and / or specific executives (Tangerine, Milo).
As such, this collection - assembled from a cast list of several hundred career commissions - is a puzzling picture of miscellany. At times Glass appears to grapple directly with a clear client brief (Vox Proxima, Now Industries), while at others his own sonic wanderings seem to overpower any immediate professional objective (Ruffle, Dickens).
As evanescent as the audio itself, only a handful of these businesses remain alive today, the brave futures they once promised now faded from sight...
www.floem.org
www.skytrackrailway.net
The future for magnetic bubble memories – and there still is one – was more modest now.
Glass knew it. And knew he had to un-know it. Not productive, Mr. Glass.
Because for now, in green quiet, Martin was enjoying the sharp minty spike of his cocktail.
All the while, a dragonfly – coloured in brilliant metal – arced and spiralled around his recliner.
Pleasure’s bubble and hum.
Hugging the horizon, the observation deck reveals a panorama over the crystal bay.
Against the slow sky, the Pacific…
… and a wavy, patterned ice-cream.
Exiled in Taiwan working on a deal that never gets done, an American businessman falls under the hypnotic spell of the Pacific. His is an Asiatisch fever dream - seaside lovers, translucent virtual vocalists, glass-y '80s synthesisers and multinational muzak. It's an ode to Pacific bubble decadence, beamed from a lilo or a roof garden (or both)... all fizzing arpeggios, melancholy marimba symphonies and sunken yacht karaoke.
In terms of sonic references: forgotten '70s nippon pop, Sakomoto + Glass sweeping neo-classicism, Haruomi Hosono driftwood, Susumu Yokota floral pretty-ness... it's all there somewhere...? A postcard dream brought to you with love and sounds from: Hiroshi Yoshimura, KR Leimer, Yasuaki Shimizu, Martin Denny, Susumu Yokota, Haruomi Hosono, Mikori Takada and Aragon. The Pacific Visions of Martin Glass is a joint release with our friends Dramatic Records.