John Vanderslice's Google Earth Share 'JJOLTS'

Google Earth, the union of pioneering songwriter and producer John Vanderslice and his longtime collaborator James Riotto, have shared their second single “JJOLTS,” a foreboding collage of experimental electronica and analog synth work.

“Man, I wish every one of my songs sounded as good as this one,” says Vanderslice, “I don't even remember making this song, Jamie doesn't either. Most of this was done live with very few overdubs.” Riotto adds “I love this music so much, and yet it’s like we made it in a dream. This whole record was one of the easiest albums I’ve ever made, and this song exemplifies that.”

Google Earth’s debut album Street View (out August 9th) achieves the “hard alchemy” of combining their three main musical loves: songwriting, electronica, and jazz. In some ways the project operates as a new extension of the ever expanding music universe that Vanderslice has occupied since his relocation from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and his embrace of digital experimentation. Last month the duo announced their new project with “something complicated,” the album's meditative and restless lead single which features Vanderslice interpolating lyrics by his wife Maria.

On the new project, Vanderslice shares “It was a lifelong dream to collab with Jamie. We've been incredibly close for 15 years so this feels overdue. It was more meaningful to me than I could have imagined.” Riotto added “John and I have been friends and collaborators for a long time now, but this record feels really different because it’s sort of a culmination of years of pushing each other into more abstract electronic palettes. We didn’t set out to make a record together, either. We just met up a couple of times a month to hang and jam and have dinner together. It wasn’t until pretty far into this process that we realized we were making some very interesting music.”

Street View is surprising and entirely unique; any attempt to genre the record would be a disservice to its ingenuity. Avoiding the cold space that can be created by synth and drum machine-heavy electronica, the duo warms the record with vocals, drums, guitar, bass, and wind instruments. Long stretches of instrumental tracks churning, weaving, brooding, and pulsing forward arrive at unexpectedly familiar verse and chorus. The structure of the record nods to jazz composition, highlighting certain sounds at different times, the only constant seemingly being constant change.

Tracklist:

01 deep sea leaks

02 something complicated

03 JJOLTS

04 re-materialize

05 GESTURES

06 wouldn’t you

07 ggreen ggrid

08 tendril embrace

09 afterlife

Photo Credit: Maria Vanderslice

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