{"title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-gift-songs-black-vinyl","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Gift Songs - Black Vinyl","description":"\u003cp\u003eProduct Details:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cspan\u003eBlack 140g vinyl in a standard jacket with printed inner sleeve and download card.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJefre Cantu-Ledesma returns with Gift Songs, a deep distillation of touchstones and influences drawn from the natural world and his spiritual practice. Enlisting a brilliant cast of collaborators, and blending a rich sonic palette of guitar, modular synthesizer, and acoustic instrumentation and arrangements, Cantu-Ledesma illuminates a profound sense of humanity and transcendent possibilities across a suite of five sublimely minimal compositions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing its title from Cantu-Ledesma’s belief that music is a gift, a form of magic, born from specific conditions, rather than a singular conception, and as a nod to Shaker “gift drawings,” regarded as gifts from God to maker, the slow emergence of Gift Songs provoked in the artist how one might sculpt instrumentation and arrangements to invoke experiences in the natural world: “being amongst running waters, hearing wind through trees, or the rhythm of hiking to a vista with friends at twilight.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe resulting sound, subtly influenced by Cantu-Ledesma's parallel practices as a Zen priest and a hospice worker, provokes a deep resonance with the landscape and rhythm of the seasons of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York, where he settled with his family four years prior, around the release of his last album Tracing Back the Radiance, each movement, shift, and transition built from evolutions of microscopic change. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn conceiving Gift Songs, Cantu-Ledesma embraced the possibilities of openness and chance: allowing for the interplay of sounds to guide its course under the direction of the album’s collaborators: Omer Shemesh (piano, arrangements), Joseph Weiss (engineering, bass guitar), Clarice Jensen (cello), and Booker Stardrum (percussion). What emerged was a desire to work as acoustically, and environmentally attuned,, as possible, showcasing the humanity of the performers, and an unexpected love affair with piano and percission, the rhythms and tones of which speckle across the album’s effortless flow. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the shimmering clarity of arpeggiating piano that marks the album’s first few bars, quickly submerged in dense textures of rhythm and tone, Gift Songs presents a sense of ambient grace: sonorities that dance outside of time and space, implying something far greater than themselves. Amounting to a deeply organic and introspective form of minimalism that emphasizes the distinct qualities and idiosyncrasies of each instrument and its player, Gift Songs manifests as a series of conversant movements within a greater whole. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the densities of “The Milky Sea” subside, Cantu-Ledesma arcs into achingly exposed spaces, carved by sparse piano lines atop delicate chaplain orgran drones that glacially unfold across “Gift Song I”, “Gift Song II”, and “Gift Song III”, before concluding with the rising glow of “River that Flows Two Ways”, an immersive, long-tone work for Hammond B3 and pump organs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRefined and deeply emotive, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s Gift Songs encounters the veteran, process-based experimentalist unveiling a profound meaning within the elegance of its lattice of sound, occurrence, and space.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50440925446445,"sku":"184923128314","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/MEX283_JCL-GiftSongs_LPMockups_ColorBackground_05.jpg?v=1738276239"},{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-gift-songs-cobalt-blue-vinyl","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Gift Songs - Cobalt Blue Vinyl","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTranslucent blue 140g vinyl in a standard jacket with printed inner sleeve and download card.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJefre Cantu-Ledesma returns with Gift Songs, a deep distillation of touchstones and influences drawn from the natural world and his spiritual practice. Enlisting a brilliant cast of collaborators, and blending a rich sonic palette of guitar, modular synthesizer, and acoustic instrumentation and arrangements, Cantu-Ledesma illuminates a profound sense of humanity and transcendent possibilities across a suite of five sublimely minimal compositions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing its title from Cantu-Ledesma’s belief that music is a gift, a form of magic, born from specific conditions, rather than a singular conception, and as a nod to Shaker “gift drawings,” regarded as gifts from God to maker, the slow emergence of Gift Songs provoked in the artist how one might sculpt instrumentation and arrangements to invoke experiences in the natural world: “being amongst running waters, hearing wind through trees, or the rhythm of hiking to a vista with friends at twilight.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe resulting sound, subtly influenced by Cantu-Ledesma's parallel practices as a Zen priest and a hospice worker, provokes a deep resonance with the landscape and rhythm of the seasons of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York, where he settled with his family four years prior, around the release of his last album Tracing Back the Radiance, each movement, shift, and transition built from evolutions of microscopic change. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn conceiving Gift Songs, Cantu-Ledesma embraced the possibilities of openness and chance: allowing for the interplay of sounds to guide its course under the direction of the album’s collaborators: Omer Shemesh (piano, arrangements), Joseph Weiss (engineering, bass guitar), Clarice Jensen (cello), and Booker Stardrum (percussion). What emerged was a desire to work as acoustically, and environmentally attuned,, as possible, showcasing the humanity of the performers, and an unexpected love affair with piano and percission, the rhythms and tones of which speckle across the album’s effortless flow. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the shimmering clarity of arpeggiating piano that marks the album’s first few bars, quickly submerged in dense textures of rhythm and tone, Gift Songs presents a sense of ambient grace: sonorities that dance outside of time and space, implying something far greater than themselves. Amounting to a deeply organic and introspective form of minimalism that emphasizes the distinct qualities and idiosyncrasies of each instrument and its player, Gift Songs manifests as a series of conversant movements within a greater whole. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the densities of “The Milky Sea” subside, Cantu-Ledesma arcs into achingly exposed spaces, carved by sparse piano lines atop delicate chaplain orgran drones that glacially unfold across “Gift Song I”, “Gift Song II”, and “Gift Song III”, before concluding with the rising glow of “River that Flows Two Ways”, an immersive, long-tone work for Hammond B3 and pump organs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRefined and deeply emotive, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s Gift Songs encounters the veteran, process-based experimentalist unveiling a profound meaning within the elegance of its lattice of sound, occurrence, and space.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50440933671213,"sku":"184923128307","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/MEX283_JCL-GiftSongs_LPMockups_ColorBackground_04.jpg?v=1738277010"},{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-tracing-back-the-radiance-black-vinyl","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Tracing Back The Radiance - Black Vinyl","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStandard 140g black vinyl housed in full-color jacket with matte finish. Printed inner sleeve. Download card included.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome records aren’t as simple as they seem. Most are capsules of beauty and creative vision, or sublime objects of expression which occupy the abstract realms. But the rare few are also discrete philosophies, realized in sound – a truth brought to the forefront by Mexican Summer veteran, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s, latest venture, Tracing Back The Radiance. A radical departure from pop drenched melodies which have defined his recent efforts, its experimental forms offer a dynamic rethinking of the terms and possibilities of discourse and collaboration – a vast ambient landscape of abstraction, texture, and tone, beneath which lingers a veiled vision, addressing the challenges of our increasingly disassociated age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA slow, delicate meditation – open space punctuated by the restrained harmonics of vibraphone, processing, flute, pedal steel, synthesizer, piano, organ, and voice, Tracing Back The Radiance grew from a few simple piano lines, a need for change, and an evolving process which fell somewhere between conversation, singular vision, and a wild game of exquisite corpse – Cantu-Ledesma acting as contributor, servant, and guiding force to the emerging album’s all-star cast of voices – John Also Bennett, Marilu Donavan, Chuck Johnson, Gregg Kowalsky, Mary Lattimore, David Moore, Meara O’Reilly, Jonathan Sielaff, Roger Tellier Craig, and Christopher Tignor, each responding and intervening from various corners of North America.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe outcome – a mood and space rather than a definable sound, slowly molded by Cantu-Ledesma over the better part of a year, delves toward the basic, but all too often overlooked drive of experimental music – the unknown. Led by the circumstances and challenges at hand – fundamental notions of voice, growth, expression, location, collective and individual authorship, the possibilities opened by collaboration, and the limitations posed when distances separate your community of peers, the materiality of Tracing Back The Radiance’s three works – “Palace of Time,” “Joy,” and “Tracing Back The Radiance,” through process, construction, and interaction, double as social metaphor and example – a conversation where each voice leads while being led – individual, yet speaking within another’s vision and voice. An interactive form of paradoxical democracy, appearing as an immersive, conversant expanse of sound, imbued with optimism – inspiring for what it is, as much as how it was made – a living, responsive reimagining of musique concrète.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith nods to historic high-water marks in ambient and electroacoustic music, as well Italian minimalist pioneers like Gusto Pio, Lino Capra Vaccina, and Francesco Messina + Raul Lovisoni, Cantu-Ledesma delves forward with one of his most ambitious, elegant, and exciting endeavors of his career, retaining every bit of the ease and openness in musical language which has guided him across the decades. A beautiful, immersive, melancholic, and contemplative balm for the troubled times in which it was made.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50444092834093,"sku":"184923125610","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/MEX256_JefreCantu-Ledesma_TracingBackTheRadiance_ProductShots_LP_02.jpg?v=1738363810"},{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-on-the-echoing-green-black-vinyl","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - On The Echoing Green - Black Vinyl","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLP housed in printed inner-sleeve. Cover artwork by Andrea Belag. Includes high-quality download of album and archival missive Hermeneutics.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the Echoing Green is an elegant work of lush, shimmering sound, rendered with a singular touch by eternal electric romantic Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn contrast to the haze and hermetic process of previous albums, Green was conceived as a deliberate experiment in clarity and collaboration: “I was interested in trying to bring out more overt pop elements, to let them come to the front and be present. I also have more trust now in letting things happen – trusting other people’s musicianship, and being open to people’s ideas. Eventually, things emerge.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat emerged from this bond are nine rapturous and richly melodic slow dives of swirling guitar, bass, synthesizer, piano, and drum machines, dramatically accented in places by heavenly arcs of voice courtesy of Argentinian singer-songwriter Sobrenadar. Cantu-Ledesma encouraged chemistry and intuition in the studio by beginning the album without any demos for reference; he and his collaborators pursued patterns and hypnotic textures across long-form improvisations until gradually songs began to take shape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is music of growth and grandeur, of ascent and exploration, played with purpose and passion by a craftsman in tune with the beauty of sound and the harmony of light. In his words: “[This album] feels like spring – things coming alive, blooming, emerging from winter.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50444104859949,"sku":"184923121216","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/OnTheEchoingGreen_Front-800X800.jpg?v=1738364025"},{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-on-the-echoing-green-cd","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - On The Echoing Green - CD","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCD housed in full-color gatefold wallet.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"lightweightBreak\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the Echoing Green is an elegant work of lush, shimmering sound, rendered with a singular touch by eternal electric romantic Jefre Cantu-Ledesma.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn contrast to the haze and hermetic process of previous albums, Green was conceived as a deliberate experiment in clarity and collaboration: “I was interested in trying to bring out more overt pop elements, to let them come to the front and be present. I also have more trust now in letting things happen – trusting other people’s musicianship, and being open to people’s ideas. Eventually, things emerge.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat emerged from this bond are nine rapturous and richly melodic slow dives of swirling guitar, bass, synthesizer, piano, and drum machines, dramatically accented in places by heavenly arcs of voice courtesy of Argentinian singer-songwriter Sobrenadar. Cantu-Ledesma encouraged chemistry and intuition in the studio by beginning the album without any demos for reference; he and his collaborators pursued patterns and hypnotic textures across long-form improvisations until gradually songs began to take shape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is music of growth and grandeur, of ascent and exploration, played with purpose and passion by a craftsman in tune with the beauty of sound and the harmony of light. In his words: “[This album] feels like spring – things coming alive, blooming, emerging from winter.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50444108136749,"sku":"184923121223","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/OnTheEchoingGreen_CD-FRONT-800X800.jpg?v=1738364196"},{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-a-year-with-13-moons-black-vinyl","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - A Year With 13 Moons - Black Vinyl","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBlack Vinyl cut at 33 RPM housed in an uncoated matte LP jacket. Includes download card.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eOn A Year With 13 Moons, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma is hitting a new high. A companion to his last album Love is A Stream (Type, 2010), 13 Moons is a dense, swirling mass. Hypnotic guitar and drum performances coalesce with Modular synth squalls and otherworldly textures –– combining overdriven guitars, avant-garde composition with the informal approach of underground tape weirdos (like Robert Turman, K. Leimer) into a lovely brocade of harmony and dissonance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe album was recorded during a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts, which allowed Jefre the time and freedom to \"let the music create itself in a way, to lead me rather than trying to force it down a path.\" Cantu was interested in ways of \"conveying memory in music without being sentimental - translating the fog of images, people and places that (he'd) experienced in the last two years into a body of work that could still be ambiguous \u0026amp; leave space for the listener to enter.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eLedesma has released notable collaborations with Liz Harris (aka Grouper) as Raum, with Alexis Georgopoulos of Arp and The Alps, as well as filmmaker Paul Clipson. He also founded the influential label, Root Strata, who have released music by Oneohtrix Point Never, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Grouper.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50444111151405,"sku":"184923119817","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/MEX198-ProductShot_hires.jpg?v=1738364526"},{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-a-year-with-13-moons-cd","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - A Year With 13 Moons - CD","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCompact Disc (CD) + Digital Album\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eOn A Year With 13 Moons, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma is hitting a new high. A companion to his last album Love is A Stream (Type, 2010), 13 Moons is a dense, swirling mass. Hypnotic guitar and drum performances coalesce with Modular synth squalls and otherworldly textures –– combining overdriven guitars, avant-garde composition with the informal approach of underground tape weirdos (like Robert Turman, K. Leimer) into a lovely brocade of harmony and dissonance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe album was recorded during a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts, which allowed Jefre the time and freedom to \"let the music create itself in a way, to lead me rather than trying to force it down a path.\" Cantu was interested in ways of \"conveying memory in music without being sentimental - translating the fog of images, people and places that (he'd) experienced in the last two years into a body of work that could still be ambiguous \u0026amp; leave space for the listener to enter.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eLedesma has released notable collaborations with Liz Harris (aka Grouper) as Raum, with Alexis Georgopoulos of Arp and The Alps, as well as filmmaker Paul Clipson. He also founded the influential label, Root Strata, who have released music by Oneohtrix Point Never, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Grouper.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50444112953645,"sku":"184923119824","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/MEX198-Cover_hires.jpg?v=1738364849"},{"product_id":"jefre-cantu-ledesma-gift-songs","title":"Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Gift Songs - Sea Glass Blue Vinyl","description":"\u003cp\u003eProduct Details:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cspan\u003eSea Glass Blue 140g vinyl in a full color jacket with printed inner sleeve and download card.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJefre Cantu-Ledesma returns with Gift Songs, a deep distillation of touchstones and influences drawn from the natural world and his spiritual practice. Enlisting a brilliant cast of collaborators, and blending a rich sonic palette of guitar, modular synthesizer, and acoustic instrumentation and arrangements, Cantu-Ledesma illuminates a profound sense of humanity and transcendent possibilities across a suite of five sublimely minimal compositions.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDrawing its title from Cantu-Ledesma’s belief that music is a gift, a form of magic, born from specific conditions, rather than a singular conception, and as a nod to Shaker “gift drawings,” regarded as gifts from God to maker, the slow emergence of Gift Songs provoked in the artist how one might sculpt instrumentation and arrangements to invoke experiences in the natural world: “being amongst running waters, hearing wind through trees, or the rhythm of hiking to a vista with friends at twilight.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe resulting sound, subtly influenced by Cantu-Ledesma's parallel practices as a Zen priest and a hospice worker, provokes a deep resonance with the landscape and rhythm of the seasons of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York, where he settled with his family four years prior, around the release of his last album\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eTracing Back the Radiance, each movement, shift, and transition built from evolutions of microscopic change.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn conceiving Gift Songs, Cantu-Ledesma embraced the possibilities of openness and chance: allowing for the interplay of sounds to guide its course under the direction of the album’s collaborators: Omer Shemesh (piano, arrangements), Joseph Weiss (engineering, bass guitar), Clarice Jensen (cello), and Booker Stardrum (percussion). What emerged was a desire to work as acoustically, and environmentally attuned,, as possible, showcasing the humanity of the performers, and an unexpected love affair with piano and percission, the rhythms and tones of which speckle across the album’s effortless flow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the shimmering clarity of arpeggiating piano that marks the album’s first few bars, quickly submerged in dense textures of rhythm and tone, Gift Songs presents a sense of ambient grace: sonorities that dance outside of time and space, implying something far greater than themselves. Amounting to a deeply organic and introspective form of minimalism that emphasizes the distinct qualities and idiosyncrasies of each instrument and its player, Gift Songs manifests as a series of conversant movements within a greater whole.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs the densities of “The Milky Sea” subside, Cantu-Ledesma arcs into achingly exposed spaces, carved by sparse piano lines atop delicate chaplain orgran drones that glacially unfold across “Gift Song I”, “Gift Song II”, and “Gift Song III”, before concluding with the rising glow of “River that Flows Two Ways”, an immersive, long-tone work for Hammond B3 and pump organs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRefined and deeply emotive, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s Gift Songs encounters the veteran, process-based experimentalist unveiling a profound meaning within the elegance of its lattice of sound, occurrence, and space.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mexican Summer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51543175823661,"sku":"843563198124","price":26.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0846\/5802\/8845\/files\/JCL-GiftSongs_Mockup_SeaGlass-1.png?v=1760037710"}],"url":"https:\/\/mexicansummer.myshopify.com\/collections\/jefre-cantu-ledesma.oembed","provider":"Mexican Summer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}