The Place We Began by John Luther Adams

"... unique and engaging music that springs from an experienced intensity of absolute listening. "– Kevin Macneil Brown, Dusted






Some advice on how to slow down your brain with John Luther Adams' "The Place We All Began"

I woke up today, after my first week of working with preschool-aged kids every day (it's exciting but tiring), and for possibly the very first time, felt like "it was the weekend". I felt like the world was ahead of me, and though I was lazy for the most of the week on my time off, I was full of energy today. After a few errands and one simple coffee - just one, I don't know what was so special about it - I started practicing... and my head started exploding.

I'm sure it's part caffeine, part living in NYC, part my brain, but it's like the synapses in my head were going crazy, and anytime I thought about anything or played anything, I would make a bunch of associations and end up scribbling ideas. Around four, I felt exhausted and decided to take a nap. Then I decided to listen to something calming to nap to. Then I decided to try to find something in my itunes instead of online, and came across a John Luther Adams album I never really listened to. I didn't manage to nap, but listening to the four electro-acoustic tracks took me on a trip in my imagination that was beautifully polar to the state I was in earlier. 

Do yourself a favor and check it out. I didn't make any conscious effort to meditate or visualize in a specific way, but this is definitely some good music to do that to. The mind games I played were: avoiding to think of any words or speech, trying to think and see in sound, being a floating rock in space, and walking indeterminately in white sands. Or you can just press play and see where your mind takes you.  Here's a link to John Luther Adams' site for more information and excerpts:

http://www.johnlutheradams.com/recordings/placewebegan.html

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