Music composed from recordings of seemingly random sounds or with the debris discarded by mainstream society is almost inevitably imperfect. Then again, is perfection more than an approximation or an ideal in an imperfect world? Milwaukee's Jeff Winkowski and Jason Mohr were fascinated by the value of imperfection when they organized the record label and book publisher Imperfect Music and Literature in 2001. Their inspiration was the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi Sabi, which finds beauty in things imperfect and unfinished.
"It was a big revelation for us and a 'no shit' moment," says Winkowski, who currently lives in Chicago. "I've been into punk music for 21 years now, my favorite Replacements songs is 'Answering Machine.' Perhaps you know what I'm getting at. I like it when it's rough."
The latest venture from Imperfect Music is a compilation CD by various artists, Traveling, released in conjunction with Sunrise Acoustics, a kindred Milwaukee label. The disc consists of unconventional music by Winkowski a.k.a. Moth, Milwaukee's German Shepherd, South Carolina's Brian Grainger and Tennessee's Millipede. Like a conceptual art project, the album was organized around a theme, international travel, and given a formal parameter. Each artist had 15 minutes to explore the idea of movement from place to place.
Why border crossing travel? "Only 13 percent of Americans have passports, so I thought it was a good idea," Winkowski says.
Whether or not it serves as a call to slip the bonds of insularity, Traveling flows on a sonic journey through mellifluous and caustic passages whose antecedents can be found in the dreamier side of Krautrock and the experimental edge of industrial. Some of the sounds have a spooky ring, especially Moth's track, which includes recordings taped by Winkowski in the Virgin Islands. "There's some old slave rum mills there. You can actually here the slave spirits in the tape," he says. "I'm not crazy but I think you can. That's why I like working with tape. The texture traps a lot of sacred sounds that my Macbook can't."
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Traveling is for sale at Rushmore Records.
