well the first set went so well, that we decided to break and try to jimmy something up so that we could record. apparently some cords were missing. and, the rest is probably best categorized under: music for apartments – acoustic.

it had been my wish to simply post the entirety of the two sets we did manage to record from sunday. but when i thought about it, i realized that might be a hell of a lot of material to listen to. to write about, etc, etc. so we’ll hold on to it for later occasions. (it’ll come in handy, i’m sure…)

so highlights, anyone?

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sundaykindoflove
this one was just so necessary. i don’t see how we could have not played this tune. i found the leadsheet giving us the somewhat confusing bridge and we launched into it. one of the best compliments you can receive for such a gambit is that it “looked” like we were reading it, but people weren’t sure… because it sounded like something we’d played before. well, we have and we haven’t. so i hope this serves as a hint to the kind vibe that afternoon.

lately
i recently learned this one for a gig at the Monticello casino in Liberty, NY. its one of Stevie’s greatest ballads. why i haven’t just sat down and learned the entire Wonder catalogue… well i don’t know. listen for the super-ECM-like-piano-solo… very period. like played by a white guy in a dashiki and in the 70s. (don’t think i don’t work on odd shit like that)

valentinesday medley
its just a favorite. we’ve been doing this one since the last october, when we figured out the arrangement during a weeklong journey to maine and back again. (see entry the shipMimetik)

bodyandsoul
Osamu is the sunday morning chef at Saje. and a solid jazz guitarist in his own right. during the first set break he said noticed we were going for the jazzier side of things. he asked if we did Body and Soul. to be honest, i don’t think i’ve ever sung the song. but i have accompanied people on it dozens of times, and i love to call it at jam sessions. i happened to have the lyrics handy… so we did it.
… and the food was excellent.

listenatall
during the course of the afternoon we did generate some new original material. to keep things on the up and up, we figured it might be nice to have originals in the mix. don’t want to just become a lounge band. or a soul cover duo. so listenatall. remember this one, anyone? bittergarden? bembe? ah well, whatever.

it’s summer time and that means summer romance. summer lovin’ (happened so fast….). and also… sweet summer rain (which we’ve had a little bit of a few days back). the good thing about having been on the downtime for so long is that we have a lot of new material. material we flipped to the back burner while all the shazzlebeenazzlebees were going down. as we attempt to make that available to you, i do have some great tracks live from the weekly Saje sessions.

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i heard you

this is a tune that came to pass during one of those loooooooong tuesday nights when we keep seeming to run through more tunes than we have and we’re forced to come up with something new (you’d think after coming up with all the new stuff we’d stop running into this problem, but…). a groove based primarily on misconceptions which worked out to be in seven – which was weird. fortunately, luke is not stranger to un-even time signatures and he kept the momentum, churlishly chugging along. so, despite its best efforts to thwart us, we made it through. started the song and finished it… without losing control and… well… losing control. and so, the draft-version of i heard you was born.

the Mimetiks. Press Release.
1. don’t want
2. superman
3. since i fell for you
4. the keeper
5. knowher(e)
6. blackbird

emma’s theme (9)

Q (& A)

mind the mixes. they’re… a doozy.

(from a) second story window

a song about complex storm patterns. what else?

- akie

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

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

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.

MP3:
• knowher(e)
• feverish

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.

its fortuitous. i bang the side of the world – behold! light in the palm of my hands and words – that fall fluid from my lips in the shape of a swirl and collapse in the frame of a man. -akie bermiss

but the mimetiks is also the word for jaster and bermiss (bermiss and jaster?!) when they collaborate in the studio or behind any number of projects (singers, film soundtracks, incidental music). it is a band, it is a sound, it is the windmills of your mind. music for the long, dark tea-time of the soul. music, they intend, that will create shape in a vacuum.

soul, jazz, funk, hiphop – it deliberately defies description. it is better still to call it medicine.