100% of all purchases of this release will be donated in full to the Chicago Abortion Fund (www.chicagoabortionfund.org).

Their mission: "is to advance reproductive autonomy and justice for everyone by providing financial, logistical, and emotional support to people seeking abortion services and by building collective power and fostering partnerships for political and cultural change. We envision a world where everyone has the freedom and autonomy to create lives, families, and communities that are healthy, safe, and thriving and where the full range of reproductive choices, including abortion, are accessible and affirmed."

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'Cascadian Variations' is collection of revisions, refractions and renderings of improvisations originally found on Ian’s “Sketches” and “Sustain” releases. Listeners of the originals will recognize Sketches 11, 14, 15 and 16.

This is music to get through monsoon seasons, both literal and metaphorical.

Invoked May 2022-July 2022 at the Little Black Rain Cloud and Hemlock Abbey Studios, Vancouver.

www.thekonspiracygroup.com
kuma.bandcamp.com

www.katbryanmusic.ca
katbryan.bandcamp.com

twitter.com/musicophiliamix
musicophilia.wordpress.com
ianmanire.bandcamp.com


Kuma's Notes:

1) A Raincloud Through A Hole In The Sky (Kat Bryan Version)

When I proposed the idea of doing some remixes to Ian, the first person I thought of getting involved was Vancouver producer Kat Bryan. Most recently celebrated for her single on Manchester’s Analogue Trash label as part of Bandcamp’s June 2022 Best Of Electronic Music list, she went in a different direction entirely. Weaving layers of piano around the initial version I sent her, Kat built a completely different beast. Glass-like arpeggios fall as a rainstorm truly appears where the sun just sat a minute ago in a hole in the sky.

2) Madly In Love (Kuma Version)

Slow it down, chop it up and then invoke the spirit of Robert Fripp at the end. Yes, many things are backwards.

3) Before They Take Away The Light (Kuma Version)

Make it darker he said, so I did.

“We monitor many frequencies. We listen always. Came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. It played us a mighty dub.”

- William Gibson, Neuromancer

4) So Long, Goodbye, Good Night (Kuma Version)

Ever try and listen to music playing while in a floatation tank? That’s what the Wurlitzer reminds me of.

5) A Light Through A Hole In The Sky (Kuma Version)

A fitting coda, taking us back to where we started, but before the raincloud arrived. There’s a pipe organ in there.


Ian's Notes:

The music I make is entirely a surprise to me--I have no preconceived notions, and no skill with which to plan anything anyway. I move my fingers, and move them some more, and see what happens. That anyone has taken the time to listen, and that the sounds connected with anyone, is a blessing. When Kuma reached out and said he'd like to de/reconstruct my work--I was astonished, but delighted. And I'm simply amazed by the results, for which all credit is due Kuma and Kat. It would mean a lot to me at the best of times, but in these dark days of isolation and mourning, it means even more. The Pacific Northwest was once my home, too, probably where I felt most truly "home". So these 'Cascadian Variations' have special resonance.