{"product_id":"jeff-bruner-four-corners","title":"Jeff Bruner - Four Corners","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJeff Bruner\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eFour Corners\u003cbr\u003eEM Records\u003cbr\u003eUSA\/Japan, 2026\u003cbr\u003eLP\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eOsaka’s EM Records compiles wide-ranging works spanning six decades from an undersung West Coast American minimalist composer. The 21-minute “Magic Mbira” utilizes tape delays and thumb pianos to create a chattering, hypnotic soundworld reminiscent of Terry Riley. The shorter pieces on the B-side range from two mixes of a leftfield, post-punk reggae tune to contemplative solos for gut string banjo and piano respectively.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=637797756\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/emrecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/four-corners\"\u003eFour Corners by Jeff Bruner\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFROM THE LABEL: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e \u003cspan\u003e\"Four Corners\" is a compilation that showcases the various facets of American West Coast minimalist composer Jeff Bruner, with pieces from the 1970s to the 2020s displaying a cohesive set of aesthetic concerns. Bruner has a kinship with the composers Harold Budd and Daniel Lentz, the latter being a mentor to Bruner, and one can hear a relationship with the music of other minimal\/post-minimal composers such as John Adams and Terry Riley.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1979’s “Magic Mbira”, a key piece in this collection, particularly highlights a Riley-esque element, and with its skillful use of tape delays reminiscent of Lenz's \"cascading echo system.\" Bruner and his mbira piece also have musical affinities with Roland P. Young and his classic Isophonic Boogie Woogie, in their shared melodic and structural concerns, as well as a desire to perform their compositions in a wider range of performance spaces, away from traditional recital halls.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnother side of Bruner is revealed in the funhouse-mirror “Reggae Foes”, a deconstructionist calypso-reggae tune and\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e skewed Black Ark filtered through Cunningham\/Toop’s General Strike. The remaining two pieces are melancholy beauties of solo instrumentation: “Cold Rain and Snow” is a fretless gut-string banjo re-imagining of an American folk song; “Remembrance in a Pale Room” is a lovely piano piece dedicated to Lentz. Bruner has built upon a tradition, altering and adding to it with his individual vision, giving us this collection of intriguing and beautiful music. Available on CD\/Vinyl\/Digital, and the physical version includes E\/J liner notes by Jeff Bruner, rare photos \u0026amp; the score for \"Magic Mbira”.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-----------------------------------------\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I first came across Jeff’s mysterious \"Reggae Foes\" 45 in the mid-2000s at the legendary Logos book\/record store in Santa Cruz, California (RIP) - the kind of generic sleeve and label that gives you nothing more than a font and some scant shards of text to go by (luckily this text was “A Flying Saucer Came Down and Burnt My Baby's Neck”). What I heard upon bringing it home felt like some kind of alternate-timeline post punk calypso, unknowingly adjacent to the deconstructions occurring at the Black Ark or in David Cunningham’s early productions. When I finally talked to Jeff many years later, I was even more surprised to learn that he was also entrenched in southern California’s post-minimalist composer scene in the 1970s alongside many of my compositional heroes, work which this compilation presents for the first time. Couldn’t think of a better place for it to be transmitted from than EM!\" (Spencer Doran\/Visible Cloaks)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44063968395398,"sku":null,"price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/Jeff_Bruner_-_Four_Corners_album_cover.jpg?v=1781301968","url":"https:\/\/seasonalworkrecords.com\/products\/jeff-bruner-four-corners","provider":"Seasonal Work","version":"1.0","type":"link"}