Afterlife Cartoons
In late summer of 2021, I woke in the night and couldn't fall back to sleep. It was then that I discovered a tweet by Sarah Hennies that read, "does anyone want to perform at my gallery?" After not playing in public for so long due to Covid, such a normal question seemed extraordinary. I thought about the last time I played there and imagined what it would be like to be there again.
SOLO
Throughout July of 2021, I performed a series of solo concerts with no audience. Each performance was arranged with a traditional venue and each concert lasted 30 minutes. But there were no announcements, no audiences, and no merchandise. There was only the performance and the music and my experience with them.
Remaining Time
Loosely based on understood phrases, but with undetermined structures, Jon Mueller’s Remaining Time performances and recordings reference his improvised work pre-2008 while involving aspects of repetition, momentum, space, and energy that have been significant in his work since 2008. Exploring the drum set in this focused way is a form of celebration of his 35-year relationship with this instrument.
Codex Intueri
Rhythm is a universally understood element. The intuition to move in response to rhythm, or at least recognize the feeling, speaks to the relationship between rhythm and our bodies. It’s an intuitive language. Intuition is also at work in creating rhythms. What combination of notes causes the deepest resonance? When does the connection to them feel strongest?
Clarity Cycles
Clarity Cycles is a collaboration with Sturgeon Bay artist Jeremy Popelka. For this project, Popelka created a series of glass instruments inspired by the work of Harry Partch in mid-to-late 2018. These instruments were then played and recorded in Popelka's glass studio by Jon Mueller using various drum, gong and cymbal mallets throughout late 2018 and early 2019.
House Blessing
A house blessing is something usually done to a building. This project is evidence of what a building can do to you.
Within Things
In May of 2018, Rhythmplex launched a brick and mortar curiosity shop called Within Things. Now located in downtown Sturgeon Bay, WI, Within Things stocks a variety of collectable - and in some cases rare - books, art, recordings, instruments, objects and other curiosities related to folk traditions, esoteric philosophies, spiritual pursuits and other cultural and ideological interests. Some of the items have been involved in or are related to previous Rhythmplex projects.
BEGIN
BEGIN is a new creative music series held in the studio above the Artists Guild in Sturgeon Bay, WI. Organized by William Bradley and Jon Mueller, the series will feature nationally and internationally known artists working in improvised and other creative approaches to sound and instrumentation.
Another
Another is comprised of a group of Milwaukee-based artists that reimagine classical elements within contemporary performance settings. The group combines sound composition, dance, movement and chance procedure to embody the poetic nature of the present moment and to experiment with the visceral experience of the passage of time. Featuring choreography by Dawn Springer, piano by Erin Wolf, lap steel guitar by Shawn Stephany, percussion by Jon Mueller, and dance by various artists.
A Magnetic Center
A Magnetic Center is the culmination of years of work and focus on time, repetition, ritual, communication, expression, endurance, emotive action and movement by drummer and percussionist Jon Mueller.
INITIATION
INITIATION is a record by Jon Mueller. Written and recorded over the winter months of 2014, using four bass drums, voice, and bells, the compositions reference ritual, trance and origins of music at a hypnotic and rhythmic bpm.
Death Blues
Death Blues is a multi-disiplinary project by Jon Mueller that addresses the inevitability of death as impetus to become more present in each moment.
