Liminal - No. 1 (Construction) (1993)

Temple Music by Liminal

The trio of Thomas Deater, Brent Gutzeit and Blaine Townsend that played together on the Linkage track "Ugly Bell Suite" performed under the moniker Muzak for Llamas while at Western Michigan University. The band, formed to highlight the sculptural instruments made by Gutzeit, would expand, shift lineups and become Liminal. Liminal released a cassette No. 1 (Construction) in 1993 on Deater's Gentle Giant Records.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a copy of this cassette nor any of the music thereon. But in 1999, Gutzeit's own label BOXmedia did release Temple Music, a 1993 Liminal live performance held in WMU's Rotunda Gallery. It helps fill in what the cassette might have sounded like keeping in mind the band's fluid lineups. On Temple Music, the nucleus is, of course, Gutzeit's instruments. They are uniquely percussive—in ways only handmade instruments can be—outside of any classical and familiar resonances. His instruments are also sculpted with the live space in mind and can sound cavernous as the tones emitted tumble and layer, reverberating in the room and against themselves. The result is an entropic ambience whose amplitudes level anywhere between balm and bombast.

Becky Cooper's flute, playing Eastern-influenced tonalities, is the other omnipresent sound and only melodic ingredient on the recording. She adds a meditative layer that elevates the music to something more mystical. Thomas Deater (guitar,) Michael Hartman (percussion,) Josh Remy (synthesizer) and Todd Carter (sampler) further accent the soundscape and bring structure to the, only somewhat, controllable chaos at the music's center. Together, the improvisations build a space greater and more strange than a gallery; akin to a temple, yes, but also revealing of the fantastic therein: the liminal, you might say.

Temple Music is available for purchase here. Special thanks to Brent Gutzeit for his generosity in sharing these albums and answering my questions.

Here is the approximate discography surrounding Liminal's cassette:

No. 1 (Construction)

Temple Music (1999 release of a 1993 live performance)

04.16.94.21.24.20 (1995 track from The Miracle of Levitation compilation)

Kalamazoo 04.16.94 (1997 track from The Miracle of Re-Creation compilation)

Brent Gutzeit BFA Exhibition 1994

Pass the Headphones!!