This is the second release from The Abstractions entitled, Ars Vivende (the art of living). This growing West Coast collective continues to explore music in all its elements foregoing the rules and demolishing walls. Taking elements from a cross section of genres of post-rock, jazz, electroacoustic improv, and noise--making it an authentically intriguing and imaginative listening experience.The Abstractions, named by musician/poet/author C.J. Reaven Borosque, was formed by Bay Area musicians reedist Rent Romus and guitarist Ernesto Diaz-Infante. Taking elements from a cross section of genres, The Abstractions rip apart and redefine sonic surreal textures and ideas offering a sonic pallet of disturbance. Drawing from an improvisational body of knowledge, the unspoken words transformed to music, history, and social insight make up this unclassifiable experimental music. Featuring musicians Ernesto Diaz-Infante, acoustic guitar/vocals/4-track; Rent Romus, reeds/electronics; Dina Emerson, vocals; Matt Davignon, turntable/sampler; Bob Marsh, vibes/cello/voice; Phillip Everett, drums/percussion; Lance Grabmiller, laptop/processing; C.J. Reaven Borosque, noise predals; Marjorie Sturm, flute/lyrics; Marina Lazzara, elec. guitar; Sandor Finta, vocals (Los Angeles); Alwyn Quebido, elec. guitar; Jesse Quattro, vocals; and Scott Looney, percussion.Lyrics...The Bitter Undiscovered Alienated (male) Genius Clubthe bitter undiscoveredalienated (male)genius clubmeets tuesdays @ 5:00finally, it's love and only lovemet as the answerto homicidal despotswho havn't learned to turnvoodootricks in bed likeyou do.there isn't a hardcost realizationthat doesn't drive usto some forgotten memoryyou don't pay forcause the purpose is perpendicularthe liberation of sound & soulcult of passionparallel to the shared reality ofsquares, diamonds, measurementspiecemeal preparationsundergoneafter the infinite war of petty egoscalculating wins & lossesthe ineffable treachery ofcommon lawsonic substitutiondrunklike the Last Great Loveinward idealismof the perturbed & pervertedhugged & heldfor it's consistent vitalitycast out & forwardthe last remains ofwhat is notcorporately controlled.©2003 Marjorie SturmCultivate The Voices In The Wildernesscultivate the voices in the wildernessperceive a universal truthfeel feeble and corruptsecrete the prospects of democracychisel tall green forestscast rolling yellow hillsdispose of individual libertytake care of worldly philosophers and anarchistskneel to unorthodoxvisions of the mindbow to profound insightscrawl toward unravelingarrange ideas shapedsilence freedomstifle words and imagesmuzzle the inner light ofthe human spirithush the sweetness of tonecultivate the voices in the wilderness©2003 Ernesto Diaz-InfanteThe ThreadThrough all of my living nightmaresand waking daydreamsthere is a threadthat won't breakno matter how hard i pull itthe tension on the threadis always changingand i measure my day by itdaring to watch myselfawakeni watch myself awakenuplift a candlethat has fallenwas forgotten before sleep.then as if searching for the doorin a pitch black roomi am lostcan not be locatedhow to get back to my bodywhen all i can hearis my breathe(breathe)no salvation from the corporationthe supermarkets scare methey are a signalbags and boxestubes and testerstrial and errorwhat do they do without their want?what do they do without their want?streets filled with snakesthat all go to the theatresbut i have no ticketsto timely eventsso i wanderand wonderabout my movieeach sequence is a seancethat seeks no other momentwaving my days into marginswhere i'm no longer asked my opinionbut the conversationsthat i have with myselfi am confident others can hearthe conversations that i have with myselfi am confident others can hearmaking them awkward in my presenceso i get up & enterthe dramathat drifts me back to that placei get up and enterthe dramathat drifts me back to that placewhere no one is watchingno longer a solutiononly fleeting states of satisfactionwhere only the insane are smilingand the ecstasy is slippery.©2003 Marjorie SturmNo More Loansthe banks are on firethe basement has been floodedbarbed wire holds me backthe interiors everywherehave vanished into envelopespushing angstthe money lenders loathe their positionsas the paranoid priestsof the society fastly fallingthe stifling silenceslips into public discourseon celebritiessome get suckeredthat there is a wayto get off easynow the witches are watchingthe banks are on firealong with the billboardsbig banker watchdogno longer pacing panting patheticallysitting staring at six screensof numbing numbersthat hide children's teeth and eyeglassesthe strewn artifacts of the afterwar debristhe avalanche is inevitablewhich paradigm will proliferatethe forgotten placeof no plastics and compulsory posingwatch the banks burning.©2003 Marjorie SturmBIOS:Born in Salinas, California, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, is Chicano (of Mexican descent). He received his MFA in Music Composition from California Institute of the Arts (studied with Wadada Leo Smith and Stephen L. Mosko) and has created musical compositions that span a broad perspective: transcendental piano, noise, avant-garde guitar, field recordings, lo-fi four-track manipulations, and experimental song. ED-I has performed throughout Europe and the United States, and his music has been broadcasted internationally. He has recorded more than 15 CDs of music and collaborated with numerous musicans. In 2000, his composition, I/O (for chamber ensemble), was performed by the California EAR Unit. He has been awarded residencies at the Centre International de Recherche Musicale (CIRM) in Nice, France, The Millay Colony for the Arts, Villa Montalvo, The Ucross Foundation, among others. He runs Pax Recordings record label which is dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and contagion of music from the margins of our culture and psyches. He lives in San Francisco with the filmmaker/video artist Marjorie Sturm and their son and daughter. Rent Romus is a force spanning over seventeen years of creative improvised music. The current director and producer of Edgetone Records, the SIMM Music Series at the Studio 6 Musicians Union Hall, co-producer for the Luggage Store Series in San Francisco, Romus has introduced countless musicians from the world over and multimedia events to the San Francisco Bay Area culture and throughout parts of the world. During the mid 80's, Romus enhanced his studies at the Stanford Jazz Workshop at Stanford University, where he was blessed with the wisdom and guidance from Stan Getz, guitarist Bruce Forman, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Martin, and drummer Eddie Moore. In 1984 at the age of 16, Romus re-organized directed NAYJE (the North Area Youth Jazz Ensemble), a seventeen piece big band featuring some of the best young high school and college bay area musicians at the time. In the fall of 1986, while attending the University of California at Santa Cruz, he formed the group Jazz On The Line which became the focus for his compositions and productions. JOTL was an acoustic jazz sextet that fused jazz, blues, gospel, and hip-hop into original compositions. Romus produced three albums for this group including his critically acclaimed CD Jazz On the Line with Chico Freeman, In The Moment on Edgetone Records soon to be reissued. Mid span the group changed it's name to 2AM, and was considered one of the founding bands of the acid jazz scene popular in the early nineties parallel to Charlie Hunter and the like. In 1993 seeking a more expanded format to explore, Romus formed the modern music group RKZtet, which featured ex-ESP recording artist and drum master James Zitro and former Sun Ra Arkestra cellist Kash Killion, both noted for their contribution to the development of thenew jazz of the sixties. Later in 1994 Romus renamed the group, The Lords of Outland, and brought in soon to be film music composer Vytas Nagisetty (Brock Lee) on bass, Andrew Borger (currently drummer for Tom Waits) and Jason Olaine (Jay O), (currenlty AR director for Verve RecordsUniversal) on trumpet. The Lords of Outland recorded their first album You'll Never Be The Same, Jazzheads Records JH9493 in 1995, and were featured on the then fledgeling BET Channel National Network Show, Jazz Central as part of the Jazz Discovery program. That same year Romus self-produced his first overseas national tour of Denmark which featured many of Copenhagen's young improvisers discovering such musicians as pianist/trumpet player Jonas Muuller who has recently moved the S.F. Bay Area, and drummer Stefan Pasborg. In 1996 Romus returned to Denmark for his second tour with Jonas as the Rent Romus Sound Cirkus. The group also inlcuded San Francisco basists George Cremanchi and saxophonist Alex Weiss. After returning to the U.S. they continued on to the Bay Area to finish the tour. During that year he also assisted bluesman Paris Slim produce his first major American release with guitarist Joe Lewis Walker and Sonny Rhodes. In 1997 Romus had the honor of recording with tenor sax master John Tchicai. Tchicai is best known for his work with the NY Art Quartet, NY Ear and Eye Control, and his recordings with John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. The CD of this recording, Adapt...or DIE! was released at the end of 1997. In 1998 Romus released Blood Motions featuring his young Danish proteacute;geacute;s Stefan Pasborg and bassist Jonas Westergaard. In 2001 Romus re-opened his avant, free music lable Edgetone Records, where his current release can be found, interweaving science fiction, horror literature, improvisation, Finno-Ugric music traditions, and the inspiration of Albert Ayler.