"In the fertile & interconnected Chicago music scene, Josh Abrams has been a discreetly important presence for over 20 years: jamming with Tortoise, backing Will Oldham, sharing band members with Ryley Walker, playing bass with a constellation of local jazz notables. Of late, his energies have been concentrated on this shifting collective, where his hybrid of spiritual jazz & the most patient kind of minimalism can be fully realized. Mandatory Reality, the fifth NIS record, is their best yet, with Abrams' guimbri --a three-stringed African lute-- leading his crack band through long-form trance-outs that are equal parts Don Cherry & Phillip Glass. "In Memory's Prism" sustains the mood for a stately 24 minutes, only for "Finite" to take up directly where it left off, & run for another 40. The restraint, especially from the horn section, is astonishing: the overall effect absorbing to the point of transcendence." --John Mulvey

"joshua abrams & natural information society bottle hypnosis on mandatory reality"

friends of eremite records, here's an update on the forthcoming joshua abrams & natural information society record, mandatory reality. eremite is sorting out some production issues with the pressing plant --vinyl manufacturing 2019, WHAT IT IS. JA&NIS will have copies of the double LP for sale at their continental europe concerts in march, tour itinerary below. pre-sale for direct mail order copies of the double LP (mte-70/71) & double CD (mte-71/72) coming soon --here. april 12, 2019 is the new 'official' release date.

JA&NIS EUROPE MARCH 2019

07 III  art institute  chicago (pre-flight, supporting body/head)

09 III  trafo  budapest

12 III  cankerjev dom  ljubljana

13 III  bad bonn  dudingen

14 III  taklos festival  zurich

15 III  le bourg  lausanne

16 III  sienna 

17 III  caos  terni

18 III  santeria social club  milano

19 III  dobia lab  staranzano

20 III a4 bratislava

thanks steve gunn