Self-Portrait Jumping

Legendary for his acquaintance with William S. Burroughs and the Master Musicians of Jajouka and foremost for inventing the hallucination-inducing lampshade known as the dream machine, Brion Gysin was a conceptual artist, poet, and composer whose work was seminal in the formation of the avant-garde. This CD collects songs, poems, and stories read over musical backings from Ramuntcho Matta, who has worked with avant-garde jazz legends such as Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Elli Medeiros, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Caroline Loeb, Abdoulaye Prosper Niang, and Polo Lombardo, among others. The first half of the disc contains stunning musical accompaniment, while the latter half is closer to the minimalism of Brion Gysin's tape loop work, which later became the blueprint for an entire generation of experimental music. An excellent reading of his poetry, though listeners new to his work are advised to first check out the CD on Perdition which documents his early recordings from the '60s to the '80s or to his astonishing work with the Master Musicians of Jajouka.