THE MIMETIKS

here’s a quick odd sort of post. someting about the creative process or some such bullshit. we’ve been over it a couple of times since we opted out of the session for greener pastures 4 or 5 hours ago. as far as i can tell, kyle and i have been writing the shittiest music of our lives everytime we open protools:

how’s everything

then hours later — its good. so the title is probably as apropos for the song as for the situation. its tuesday but we’re posting something new for consumption. and how are you? mind you — we quit on this one early so there’s no drums yet, no actual fucking lyrics, and no real structure whatsoever. just organ, bass, guitar and some frustrated humming from yours truly about how fucking lame i felt at the time.

so enjoy this — well — shit.

akie

we just got back into brooklyn from our first long distance Mimetik venture.  notes on the trip (a mixture of day jobs, other gigs, noir vignettes, and in-car bacchanals) to follow soon.  tonight is for rebooting.  and rediscovering one’s own apartment.

akie

another month of sundays has gone by.  as always, we have been working furtively (under the cover of night) to produce new music for anyone who cares to dig it and listen.  The writing process has been a little hampered by work and gigs and bills and life — but, like all things essential, its goes on.  through sleepless nights and endless car rides, though it rains, though it shines:  we bring you music.

the measure 

this week’s post is a single track.  a single track made, ostensibly, in a single day.  for sometime we’ve been pushing around the idea of writing music with a purpose or intention.  something kyle said we should call music for an apartment.  so we took all our shit, put it in my van, brought it to kyle’s place, set it up, and started recording.  the result was “the measure.”  while it is a departure from the straight acoustic sound, its all coming from the same place.  the acoustic thing is definitely still going on (we’re bringing it to Colby College on the 27th of October) but music for an apartment is more about what we can do with some of the instruments we have laying around the house as well as the usual stuff.  there’s more of this coming, many ideas in the working, and with any luck a complete statement before year’s end.  if you do dig it, let us know, or let SOMEBODY know.  send this shit around.  give it as a gift.  be a jerk — keep it for yourself.  play it in your apartment.  i mean, that’s what its for.

that’s it for this sunday, ya’ll.  word and peace.

 akie

We’re looking into t-shirts and merch and the like… mainly ’cause, uh, we give everything else away for free. So anyway, i knocked up a couple logo-styley thing-a-ma-bobs, and thought I’d try to test ‘em out on the die-hards before going into production. Isn’t this a great opportunity to say something nasty? Let us know what ya think…I’ve been trying to figure out what our ‘look’ is – difficult since I still haven’t figured out what our ‘sound’ is, hence the aesthetic schizophrenia. I was inclined to just write ‘lions and tigers and bears oh my!” over and over and then somewhere interrupt it with ‘the mimetiks’ – but that’s just bananas, right? (which, unfortunately, was another idea…I have just realized I use way to many ellipses)

On a somewhat different note – look for our new flash player in the next week, it’ll keep you from having to actually click on anything to hear us, which might be nice. Also, if you happen to be in Maine on Oct 27th you can come check us out live at Colby College (more on this, I’m sure, when Akie posts…alas he is, recuperating and I have been left to my own devices…).

(promising to be the first of many sunday night updates)

The days have not been altogether kind to us. Nor have they been completely unkind. But whether it bring joy or whether it bring pain — we are bringing you music. Since that first spurt of productivity we’ve been hitting the stacks to find some standards to rework and workshopping some new material. this blog represents that work in progress. there are three new joints to check out.

alchemy-1 and alchemy-6: kyle suggested a look at those changes at the beginning of “corcovado.” we jammed on it one night and came up with some workable ideas. it seemed appropriate as the first tune we listened to together (during those unbearable days of August 2001 in the unair-conditioned rooms of Tewksbury at Bard College) and broke down. i took them back to the fender rhodes to work them out until a lyrical idea came through. Once we had that, we took it to the rig and tried it in like seven consecutive takes. it came out as an original called alchemy. the first take — we hadn’t decided on the form or the length (or the lyrics to anything after the first two lines, really) but it cohered in the taping and it made sense. the intervening takes were all about structure. We finished up with the closest thing to a final track we could come up with in a 2-room street level flat in bedstuy. that is: alchemy-6.

some time later we finished recording alchemy and bunch of other projects (that we’ll post as soon as they are ready) and just kept playing (and recording). the result was yesterday’s-boy.

that’s it tonight. sunday is officially over. so is the update. enjoy the music.

Akie Bermiss and Kyle Jaster have (separately and/or collectively) shared the stage with with:

• Joe Lovano
• John Esposito
• George Clinton and the 420 Funk Mob
• Brad Mehldau
• The Slip

(Continued)

the mimetiks is – word – a concept. the duo pairing of two interleaved musical minds. akie bermiss and kyle jaster have been writing and playing together for over five years. Having cut their teeth in the jazz and jamband scenes, they set out to cover new ground with a more sparse approach. the mimetiks concept is simple: the singing, virtuosity of mr. jaster’s bass playing and the broken sweetness of mr. bermiss’ voice-and-piano style exploring the musical abyss; whirling in the darkness of absolute sound. they strip it all down to get to the visceral heart of a song and make it brilliantly clear.

(Continued)