jason (FMA Admin)
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jason on 06/14/2010 at 03:00PM
Jason Ajemian & The Highlife: Let Me Get That Digital
Jason Ajemian & The Highlife is a sixpiece jazz/rock ensemble from Chicago, working off of scores that Jason Ajemian composed using the Architectural Drafting software program "AutoCAD". The CAD stands for Computer Aided Drafting, but you'd never be able to tell as the result feels so fluid and organic. Or maybe it is apparent, since AutoCAD is a useful tool for designing three-dimensional works of art.
As a bass player, composer, and improvisor Jason Ajemian has played a part in an array of projects including Born Heller (with Josephine Foster), Who Cares How Long You Sink, Lay All Over It, Hush Arbors, Helado Negro (Asthmattic Kitty), Dragons 1976, and collaborations with Mary Halvorson and Ken Vandermark. Highlife brings these various endeavors together with a mix of styles both composed and improvised, guided by children and computers alike.
"Monsters" is from the Monsters and Animals 7'', with songs inspired by Ajemian's three-year-old niece Madeline. "Soak Up the Sun" is from the new album, Let Me Get That Digital. Both releases are available for pre-order from Ajemian's own Sundmagi label, where a donation of any amount will also allow you to "get that digital" (in mp3 format) of any Sundmagi release, including "a performance transcribing Black Sabbath's Into the Void from 1971 to a new version of the song performed backwards by a ten piece orchestra with a vocal accompaniment."
