Moods 65: Abby Echiverri
As the year comes to a close, Abby Echiverri soundtracks the cycle of death and rebirth with komorebi—“sunlight leaking through trees."
Sound practitioner, synth player, and Tonal Fiction conductor Abby Echiverri takes pause from a busy tour schedule (as apart of LCD Soundsystem, or as one of North America’s best disc jockeys) to bless Moods with a poignant work of art. Go for a winter walk, get the kettle going, stoke the fire, press play.
Liner Notes: Komorebi
This mix is inspired by the Okunoin Cemetery in Koyasan, Japan. The vast, ancient graveyard coexists with a majestic forest and is a revered sacred site. I wouldn’t describe myself as a particularly spiritual person, nor am I devoted to the macabre, but I was immediately drawn to its enveloping tranquility. It can be eerie at night when you follow lantern-lit pathways soundtracked by chanted sutras in the distance, and yet there is a loveliness in the daytime when the sun streams through the tree canopy onto the mossy Jizo statues smiling at you. I wanted to evoke that juxtaposition between the dark and the light that I often love about ambient music. I rarely get the chance to DJ music meant for deep listening.
Where, geographically, did you grow up? Was it a single place or many places?
I grew up in a small town outside of Chicago. My parents emigrated from the Philippines before I was born and over the years my extended family followed. As a first gen kid, I toed the line between presenting as a bored suburbanite while overachieving at academics and classical music. My love of obscure art, music, film and books stems from a desire to escape both that Middle American mediocrity and the pressures of my competitive upbringing.
Can you pick one song in the mix and explain where you first listened to it?
I’m not sure if I have that association with any of these tracks, but I’m pretty sure I can thank Patrick Russell for finding out about the Sakamoto album “Esperanto.” If I remember correctly, he DJ’d “Dolphins” once and that left my jaw on the floor. “A Carved Stone” is definitely part of that world. They both have that perfect amount of space. It’s an accompaniment for an incredible dance piece by Molissa Fenley and was only released internationally recently.
Who "introduced" you to these songs? Was it a person, a radio station, a CD?
The internet. I’ve always been a music digger, spending too much time on Discogs making connections between labels or IDing tracks from DJ mixes.
Where and when did you first hear techno? Who did it sound like it was for?
As a freshman college student, I had written off techno. I thought it was soulless. I was misguidedly convinced that italo disco was the greatest dance music that existed. My first true exposure came from my late collaborator Eric Mendenhall (DJ Elliptic) recommending the Mnml Ssgs podcast. After that, I started sneaking into the Bunker starting around 2011. I remember being blown away by an Ectomorph live set because I had such a deep respect for analog gear. At that time I was playing in a post-punk band (Dream Affair), DJing cold wave parties, collecting house and disco records, and techno was another obsession I never thought I’d get into. The crowd and the programming of the Bunker made it easy to “get.” A couple years later, I became head of audio/production manager at Output and became ingrained in the world of techno.
You've got the microphone. What do you want to say to the techno community?
For producers/djs looking for advice: failure is the best teacher. Recognize your weaknesses and ask for feedback and critique. Always be curious, always be studying something new, always practice, and improve your skills.
For the stranger in the club: lead with kindness. Look out for your neighbor. Ask for consent. Tip your bartender. Buy music from friends.
For the friend: meet outside the club. Seek out connection without drinking or drugs. Learn to be a listener.
For the human: From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Anything else to share?
If you’ve been in the states and are trying to get my latest vinyl EP, Deformation, it will be available on the DFA store this week (Dec 11). Tonal Fiction airs every month on a Thursday on the Lot Radio and I love to have guests, so hit me up. Go check out an LCD Soundsystem show sometime to see me doing my day job. All my future gigs are most regularly posted to Instagram Highlights.
Tracklist -
Agostino Nirodh Fortini - Sphere 2
Hideki Umezawa & Andrew Pekler - Dokkyaku
Sebastiano Carghini - Ice Stream
O Yuki Conjugate - Binary Glow
Masashi Kitamura & Phonogenix - Variation - III
Yumi Iwaki & Ryan J Raffa - Spiral Flow
Susumu Yokota - Wave Drops
François Bayle - Train Noir
Atom ™, Tetsu Inoue, Bill Laswell - Second Nature
Piero Umiliani - Bongos in Suspense
Zoviet France - Come To The Edge
Uwalmassa - Kabut Zaman
Eiko Ishibashi - EXIT
Sugai Ken - Headwaters Of The Tone River
Mads Emil Nielsen - Constellation
Ryuichi Sakamoto - A Carved Stone
Francis Dhomont - Chambre d’enfants
Taro Nohara - Miyadaiku
Dialog - Side B
Bana Haffar - Sit Still
Lee Evans - Dawnstar
Yasuaki Shimizu - Destiny No. 1
~<3
We paired Abby’s mix with a ghost print by Edgar Hock E Aye Vi Heap of Birds; a monoprint from his recent collection of single prints is what he calls a "ghost" print (he paints the plate, lays paper on and pulls ink for the first print, then repeats the process with whatever ink's left - the "ghost" from the first pull). We think both are the right way to end the year.
Keep up with Abby on Instagram: abbyechiverri
And read more about Heap of Birds in this 2015 book by Bill Anthes.