The Hem of His Garment is Jenks Miller (Mount Moriah, Horseback, Un Deux Trois, In the Year of the Pig), Aaron Smithers (In the Year of the Pig, Mount Moriah, We Will Die, Jolly John and the Jellymakers), Lincoln Sward (Armed to the Teeth, In the Year of the Pig), Grayson Currin (It's Reigning Men), David Harper (In the Year of the Pig, We Will Die), Scott Endres (*SONS, SunTan), Heather McEntire (Bellafea, Un Deux Trois), and Rich Ivey (Street Sharks, Crossed Eyes, It's Reigning Men) in some combination. The Hem's performances frequently involve additional local musicians. Most recently, these musicians have included Crowmeat Bob (Savage Knights, Kolyma, The Nein, various ensembles), Chuck Johnson (Spatula, Pykrete, Idyll Swords, Ivanovich), Brad Cook (Megafaun, DeYarmond Edison), Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, DeYarmond Edison), Drew Robertson (Phon), Evan Williams (Mount Weather), Robert Biggers (The Nein, ColdSides, Audobon Park, Le Weekend) Ryan Cooke, Nick Williams, Eric Teshudi, Jon Morgan, Dave Cantwell (Cantwell, Gomez, and Jordan, The Whole World Laughing, In the Year of the Pig), and Kerry Cantwell (The Scene of the Crime Rovers).
Influences
Most laws of physics, and the generally favored doctrines of magic(k).
Sounds Like
In this case, it is easier to agree than disagree.
The Hem of His Garment is a loosely-defined heavy-drone collective functioning in Chapel Hill and the greater Triangle area of North Carolina. Originally created by members of Mount Moriah, In the Year of the Pig, Rockets and Mortar, Armed to the Teeth, Bellafea, Un Deux Trois, Horseback, and It's Reigning Men, The Hem has continued to expand in flux, performing in ensembles ranging from three to as many as fourteen contributing musicians.
The Hem's compositions most often involve some direct manipulation of phase (or frequency) cancellation, which at high volumes creates phantom-like, unharnessed rhythmic effects. Ideally, listeners will be able to react physically to the sound waves: to this end, The Hem usually employs slowly modulating bass and sub-bass tones which can be felt as well as heard.
Additionally, The Hem is interested in exploring performance spaces and the effect that a room's dimensions will inevitably have on an established sound. The size of a particular room -- as well as its material content and its reflective surfaces -- therefore plays a pivotal role in differentiating each of our live compositions; in this sense, as far as we are concerned, the room "plays" with us as an additional instrument (or performer).
In order to achieve our goals in a live setting, The Hem sets up in an arc (or semi-circle) around the listening audience. The relative positioning of amplifiers allows sound waves of similar frequencies to meet and clash and the middle of the arc, thereby establishing the dynamic rhythmic patterns crucial to the ensemble's identity.
While its members find the performance of this music fresh and exciting, The Hem wants to humbly acknowledge its antecedents, as there are many. Listeners might correctly identify similarities to Earth's and later, SUNNO)))'s heavy-drone/psych metal sound. Equally as important, however, are the experiments of specific modern composers and musicologists, many active in New York in the 1960's. The recorded (and theoretical) work of LaMonte Young, Tony Conrad, and John Cale's project The Theater of Eternal Music/The Dream Syndicate and the deep listening approach of Pauline Oliveros, for examples, have been a crucial touchstone as we develop our own musical agenda. Lastly, the harsh noise genre (which has finally gained some prominence in popular musical discourse, thanks to Important Records, Load Records and the like) has proved to be a lingering influence. Ideally, The Hem academically (if not actually) reconciles these disparate subgenres, exploring their convergence in that place where music is visceral, immediate, and "real" in a nearly tangible sense. But really, we're just out to have fun ...
Musicians we have been very lucky to play with:
Rhys Chatham Essentialist, Jack Rose, Yellow Swans, Mouthus, Gowns, pulsoptional, Kolyma, phon, and more
Thanks for the friendship! The special ANNUAL OTSECHKA 2007 (PDF) edition is OUT! You can get it: www.otsechka.com - dOSSIER/tracks OR come to my myspace. Also, listen to "The Compilation Of The Moment - OTSECHKA 2007". Free download ! visit: www.otsechka.com greetings ))
I had a dream the other night that The Hem of His Garment was playing at this huge outdoor festival on this like 80 foot high metal scaffolding platform stage thingie. And carrying all the amps up the stairs was really tiring. And then it rained.
Hey, Jenks, et. al.!
Here are addresses of videos from the eXXXcellent show at Nightlight this week. I've included the other performers' vid info as well since I won't have those addresses publicly posted elsewhere until my next blog update.
You know, I can speculate as to why I like The Hem of His Garment, but it still puzzles me that I find it so invigorating! Thank you for putting together a wholly unique experience for us. It was so worth it!!!
The Hem of His Garment (3), 4/4/07 Nightlight http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020154280
The Hem of His Garment (4), 4/4/07 Nightlight http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020179366
The Hem of His Garment (5), 4/4/07 Nightlight http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020187954
Jack Rose (1)“Kensington Blues” clip, 4/4/07 Nightlight
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020486877
Jack Rose (2)“Cross the North Fork”, 4/4/07 Nightlight http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020498194
Jack Rose (3)“Cross the North Fork”, 4/4/07 Nightlight
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020505847
Jack Rose (4), 4/4/07 Nightlight http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020665523
Jack Rose (5 lap steel), 4/4/07 Nightlight http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020691748
Jack Rose (6 lap steel), 4/4/07 Nightlight http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2020702421
