Podcast 860: Kenneth James Gibson

In May, Kenneth James Gibson released Murals For Immersion, a collaboration with saxophonist Paul Carman who played and recorded with Frank Zappa. It was the latest ambient album that Gibson—a musician based in California—has released under his own name. Active since the early ’90s, after being born in Canada but raised in Texas, he has led several musical lives spanning everything from experimental dub to country and psychedelic rock. But his drive towards the immersive ambient music he shares as Kenneth James Gibson began in late 2021 when he started a new label called Meadows Heavy Recorders. In 2022, he released Groundskeeping and Ssih Mountain, two albums that draw on synths with analog instruments to deliver something cinematic—file them next to Trent Reznor’s soundtrack work—and now comes Murals For Immersion. In late 2022, Gibson and Carman started laying down tons of saxophone sounds—layers of drones, melody lines, and off kilter noises. Gibson proceeded to process, sculpt, and arrange these sounds into full fledged pieces of music. To celebrate the release, Gibson has delivered an XLR8R podcast, filling it with some of his favorite artists: Mica Levi, Miles Davis, and Loscil, plus a handful of his own originals. Expect 80 minutes of contemplative, breathing textures, and slow morphing harmonies.

01. What have you been up to recently?
It has been busy times I must say. I live up in the mountains of Idyllwild, California part time and in Los Angeles part time. Slowly working on a new, for lack of a better word, ambient album based on a few themes. I’m not exactly sure where it’s going yet, but it will be shaping up soon I hope. I run a label called Meadows Heavy Recorders, which is also the name of my studio up in Idyllwild. Outside of my own solo music, I’ve been producing albums for artists such as Head Shoppe, Francesca Brown, and my band Toler Gibson. Head Shoppe’s self-tilted album was just released and I also play in the live band. It has a psychedelic ’70s-Italian-horror-film-score-vibe-meets-sci-fi-meets-western-thing happening! Toler Gibson is slowly chipping away at a new album with a new single just released. I compose a lot of music for television, film, and recently apps. This really takes a big part of my time these days.

02. What have you been listening to?
I’m all over the map! Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Dorothy Ashby. I love the way her records sound. They feel very summer time-y. Herbie Handcock’s Sextant and Death Wish albums have been getting a lot of play! Lots of Chet Baker too. Marine Eyes is one of my favorite current ambient artists that I have been listening to a lot lately. Stunning dreamy vocals on top of beautiful ambient guitar sounds. Mica Levi’s film scores have been at the top of my list as well! Scott Walker, Gabor Szabo, Less Bells, Mothers of Invention, Tangerine Dream, Gene Clark, New Riders of The Purple Sage, and Edan Ahbez have also been getting a lot of Play. I could go on….

03. I understand you have a new album out. What can you tell us about it?
I have a new album out titled Murals For Immersion which is a collaboration with a fellow named Paul Carman. Paul is an incredible saxophone player who spent some time recording and touring with Frank Zappa as well other great folks. Other than some Moog Prodigy bass on a couple tracks this a pure saxophone album. Paul would come by the studio and lay down drones, melody lines, and various noises and sounds and then I would sculpt, process, and arrange them into full fledged pieces of music. You can do so much with the saxophone. This was one of my favorite albums that I’ve worked on in a long time.

04. Where and when did you record this mix?
A few weeks ago up in Idyllwild at my studio.

05. What setup did you use?
I used Ableton with an Allen & Heath mixer for this.

06. How did you choose the tracks you’ve included in it?
Just tracks that I love and that felt good putting next to each other. Good blends. I wanted to take folks on a little journey and not stick with one feel and sound

07. Where do you imagine it being listened to?
In a warm pool at night in the summer under the stars with a we bit of fungi in the system would be the perfect setting.

08. What’s next on your horizon?
Hopefully a follow up album to Murals with Paul. Music… lots of it. We’ll see where it goes!

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Intro words… Chet Baker
02. Kenneth James Gibson & Paul Carman “Finding New Language” (Dismantled Mix) (Cassauna)
03. Marine Eyes “To Belong” (Past Inside The Present)
04. Mica Levi “Love” (Rough Trade)
05. Ffwd (The Orb And Robert Fripp)”Hempire” (Inter-Modo)
06. Tangerine Dream “Movements Of A Visionary” (Virgin Records)
07. Kenneth James Gibson & Paul Carman “Above Suicide Peak” (Cassauna)
08. Miles Davis “Nem Um Talvez” (CBS)
09. Moondog “Witch Of Endor” (Columbia)
10. Head Shoppe “Seance” (Meadows Heavy Recorders)
11. Dorothy Ashby “Soul Vibrations” (Cadet)
12. Popol Vuh “Dream Part 49” (Liberty)
13. Loscil & Lawrence English “Violet” (Kranky)
14. James Bernard “Lull” (Ambient Mountain House)
15. Kenneth James Gibson & Paul Carman “Murals For Immersion” (Cassauna)
16. Less Bells “A Failure Of Horses” (Meadows Heavy Recorders)
17. Brian McBride “The Guilt Of Uncomplicated Thoughts” (Kranky)
18. Kenneth James Gibson “Far From Home” (Kompakt)
19. Pink Floyd “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” (Capital)
20. Chet Baker “I Get Along Without You Very Well” (Pacific Jazz)

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