Listen – Jeph Jerman in conversation with Aram Yardumian

Jeph Jerman (1959 - ), sound artist, field recordist, percussionist, and visual artist, has released over 200 untraditional sound works since 1980, both under his own name and under the moniker Hands To, as well as with countless collaborators. Improvising with a variety of sound sources—natural found objects, crude homebuilt devices, tape machines, and occasionally traditional instruments—Jerman investigates the properties of sound on media and in live performance, both alone and in collaboration. Having lived and worked in four states across the American West, he now makes his home in Cottonwood, Arizona.

This book-length interview traces Jerman’s life and the evolution of his creative process from his earliest sound experiments, free rock and jazz units, and postal collaborations, to his more recent work with decaying matter and landscape. Profusely illustrated with unpublished photos, this highly readable conversation recounts the various phases of Jerman’s artistic life and offers insights into the thought behind his work. The narrative, in tandem with the book’s Introduction by Aram Yardumian, also serves as a sketch history of the 1980s American home-taping and electronic music scene, in which Jerman was a key figure, and brings together a community of anti-luminaries such as G.X. Jupitter-Larsen, Eric Lunde, Mark Schomburg, Tim Barnes, Dave Knott, and Dan Burke. In addition, Listen includes a selection of Jerman’s visual art.

Jeph Jerman’s interlocutor in Listen is Caucasus-based writer Aram Yardumian.