Michael Garfield's Love Without End Tour Newsletter

18 October 2012

A Heavy Bevy of New Beats & Treats

"Reason can know nothing of Beauty, Truth, and Love...but it can be put in their service."

– Charles Eisenstein

Daily Previews of the New Album

I've been having a lot of fun previewing this album one track at a time, letting everyone soak in it before moving on. Each solo guitar piece is paired with a painting by one of a dozen visionary artists I'm lucky enough to call my friends: Adam Scott Miller, Randal Roberts, David Titterington, Rae Vena, Bonnie Goodson, Emily Kell, Bryce Widom, Dadara, Geoglyphiks, Kimberly Kite, Chaeli Cardenas, & Gregory Pettit.

Together, the music and art create an interference pattern, a transmedia journey into the heart of the visionary space...this is an album for listening while looking, so click on the preview below and gander for yourself:

The whole thing will be public on October 27th, when everyone who preordered it will immediately receive their download code for the album in hi-res audio, the triptastic 34-page liner notes, and other unannounced treats...

[Listen & Order Here]

MG on Expanding Mind w/ Erik Davis

"Evolution, improvisation, and the living network of festival culture: a talk with musician-poet-thinker Michael Garfield." My second appearance on this amazing radio program where culture critic and occultist Erik Davis spends an hour each week "exploring the cultures of consciousness" with magicians, authors, neuroscientists, and other questionable characters. Myself included:

[Listen Here]

This time we discussed...a lot, including the dance between mind and geography, festival media ecosystems, and "cyberacoustic" music's place in human evolution. It's a real treat to have such intelligent conversation and I definitely suggest you check out the show's archives!

(Here's my first appearance, from last year. I also looove Rich Doyle's second appearance. Seriously.)

Custom Hats

Many of you are just here for the art. The big live paintings come more slowly, these days...my apologies for that, but you know it's worth the wait. Meanwhile, you also know where to go for hats! These are the latest I painted for my friends at The Headspace. Hit me up if you'd like one of your own inspiration...

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Shows This Fall

This weekend I'm playing Main Stage at one of my favorite festivals, Austin's Art Outside – details here:

I'm hunkering down in Texas this fall, where I have the honor of joining some great lineups with my homies Papadosio, Octopus Nebula, Holding Space, & The Floozies:

MG + SuperSeed Magazine

These guys give out festival guides all year round – a great way to get informed about what's going on in the open-air jams universe. Their latest issue has my art on the cover and a special offer inside for readers:

Thank You!

Being employed in the service of an infinite and ineffable evolutionary force means I find all the support I need...but it takes a lot, to stay independent and keep inspiring people for a living. So thank you, everyone who has picked up some of my art or music, and all of you reading this...have a magnificent day!

03 October 2012

Love Scenes & Field Recordings

"The sound of love opens doors."

– Jeff Buckley

With last week's Harvest Moon, we're now full-speed into autumn and the wildest, most transformative summer of my life is now officially on the books. Between festivals, house concerts, indoor raves, yoga studio gigs, and other bizarre diversions, I ended up with not only some of my finest paintings yet, but also over 24 hours of recordings from concerts I played all over the country.

The resulting collection, Love Scenes & Field Recordings, gathers my favorite performances on "cyberacoustic" solo guitar & effects into one two-hour, twenty-eight song journey through the mystical realms of music at once ancient and futuristic, familiar and totally new.

In partnership with Re:Evolution Media & Solpurpose.com, I've been releasing one track per day since the most-awesome holiday of Michaelmas on September 29th. You can hear everything available so far by clicking through the time portal:

Love Scenes & Field Recordings

I'm really proud of this album; but Love Scenes & Field Recordings is not just about the music – for this release I was lucky enough to collaborate with a dozen amazing visionary artists on a gorgeous 34-page liner booklet with art by Geoglyphiks, Rae Vena, Adam Scott Miller, Dadara, Emily Kell, Chaeli Cardenas, Gregory Pettit, Bonnie Goodson, David Titterington, Kimberly Kite, Bryce Widom, Randal Roberts, & Kathi Stutler Schmeider.

The hi-res pdf liner notes are part of each album download. Here is just a taste (click to enlarge):

Preorder it at Bandcamp before October 27th and you'll also be on the list for some exclusive treats...in the meantime, you can stay tuned via my FB or Twitter pages to hear each new track as it's released.

New Futurology Talk Online

This is the wildest, weirdest, most free-range mashup of a talk I've ever given – pretty much every topic I've ever discussed made it in there somehow, and the result is one hell of a rant. I offer it to you here as a gift for your enjoyment and inspiration. Excerpts below the link:

On Our Narratives of Evolution, Past & Future

"The Singularity really only means this horizon of incomprehensibility. It means this point beyond which we cannot imagine. And that point is constantly moving! And in fact, it's not one point; it's different for everyone, because we all exist of a different biochemical and electromagnetic constitution. None of us are exactly the same pattern, and so therefore the horizon of our sensibility varies slightly, from model to model."

"The Grey alien I find uniquely compelling, because it represents this isomorphic projection into the future of what we currently understand as the trend in [our] evolution leading up to this moment – which is that we become sexually mature adults at earlier and earlier phases of development."

"If we are going to talk about things in terms of information, then the entity that we describe as the internet has to be regarded as a much more complex, intricate, and dynamic informational entity than any human being, or community of human beings, and is therefore in some sense transcendent to us."

Custom Painted Hats

A few of my recent projects. I'm always accepting new commissions, so if you'd like one of your own don't hesitate to hit me up!

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These four are my first productions for the increasingly-impressive collection of unique artist collection hats at The Headspace – they also have great work by my buds Omar Chow, Tourmaline Todd, Elisa Rose Mountain, and Andy Reed, among others...

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Upcoming Shows

Some great gigs coming up for my friends in Colorado, Kansas, and Texas! I'm especially excited for return gigs at Art Outside Festival and shows with the always-excellent Papadosio & Octopus Nebula in November. The amazing Topher Sipes of ARTheism will be joining me for live digital animation for my sets in Boulder and San Marcos, and possibly a few more.

Click the schedule for more info on my homepage:

Thanks for reading and have a magical day!

14 September 2012

New Painting From Rootwire, SCI & Dark Knight Hats, Videos Galore

“How is it possible

that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes,

such enchanted musical instruments as the ears,

and such a fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain

can experience itself as anything less than a god?”

– Alan Watts

"You can get better at dissolving the distance between you and nature."
– Richard Doyle, information scientist

"Cabochons"

32" x 32" – Paint Markers on Stretched Canvas

(click to view closer)

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Buy 11" x 17" Prints

Bid on the Original Painting

Painted Live At:

• 2012 07 27 The Parish (The Nadis Warriors, Paul Basic, Metranohm)

• 2012 08 04 Frank (Sheer Khan and the Space Case, Henry and the Invisibles)

• 2012 08 16, 18 Rootwire Music & Arts Festival

(Papadosio Live PA, Futexture, Kaminanda, Mazeguider, Random Rab)

Back to the good old days with this gemmy abstraction, although working on such a rough canvas (and yellow!) was new to me. Kind of reminds me of gecko skin. Someone said it looked like a crown, very regal. Maybe if you were emperor of some Radium Age sci-fi Martian tropical kingdom...!

Hand-Painted Custom Hats

Got some really fun commissions, recently – including hats that show off people's love for Batman and The String Cheese Incident (heroes about as different as can be imagined). If you want a hand painted, water-proofed custom lid designed to your specifications, email me with your hat size, style, color and pattern preferences, and budget (usually starting around $100, including the hat and shipping).

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Videos Galore

Get yourselves ready for a treat! Boulder virtuoso chalk sign artist Bryce Widom recently used one of my guitar instrumentals in a time-lapse video of his gorgeous clock-themed piece, "Tempus Fugit." Bryce is the guy who does the murals at the Mountain Sun & Southern Sun pubs in Boulder; he's kind of a legend, and it's not only an honor to be the soundtrack to his artwork, but it worked out really well:

"Tempus Fugit" by Bryce Widom

Watch "Tempus Fugit" by Bryce Widom on Vimeo

...and here are the last three videos from my April concert at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport – a set that emphasized my origins as an acoustic singer-songwriter, rather than my destiny as a psychedelic avant-guitar mad scientist.

It may or may not be crazy enough for everyone's liking, but if you're into the raw strength of the song, the clarity of the voice, and the simple truth of one man and a guitar, then check these out:

"Tin Heart" | Live at ABIA

A bluesy anthem on the perils of incarnation, closing with a jagged cyberacoustic groove.
Watch "Tin Heart" on Youtube

"Underground River" | Live at ABIA

A throbbing, impassioned ode to the powerful yin allure of a gentle woman.
Watch "Underground River" on Youtube

"Just Say When" | Live at ABIA

A sultry, slow-burning lounge ballad with a lively fingerstyle outro.
Watch "Just Say When" on Youtube

You can download the entire album for free here.

Upcoming Shows

This fall marks my third appearance at the amazing Art Outside Festival, one of Austin's finest by-the-artists, for-the-artists events. Outside of Burning Man (which is about fifty times as big), I'd be hard-pressed to name another festival that is so overflowing with beautiful surprises...I traveled all the way from Colorado to attend my first two years, and wherever you are, I encourage you to make the trip – this is a truly world-class party.

Also, I'll be back in Colorado and Kansas in this next month for a few intimate concerts – click through to check my blog calendar for full details and event page links:

Announcing My New Album

Starting on September 22nd, tune into my facebook music page or my twitter page for one track from my new live album per day for 28 days! These are the best of this summer's instrumental cyberacoustic guitar improvisations, culled from over 42 hours of recordings from events all over the United States. I'm proud of these performances and can't wait to show you some of the most evocative, coherent, and profound guitar work I've ever accomplished.

Timed to ride the waves of next week's Autumnal Equinox/Full Moon (also the night of my sunrise set at Alloveus Festival in Austin!), I'll make each new track free for one day before moving on to the next – and taking preorders on the entire 125-minute, 28-track album the whole time. Anything you contribute helps realize my next, LONG-delayed full studio LP, The Age of Reunion...an album already more than five years into pre-production and so pregnant it hurts!

So stay tuned for that, and as always thank you so much for your time and attention. Have an inspired day!