Album Notes

Jobim, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, born in 1982, has been working with electronic and experimental music since 2000.

He created his debut album "Round Mi" in his late teens, between 2001 and 2002, under spartan conditions: only one synthesizer (a Roland XP-30) and a home computer for recording and mixing. Despite these conditions the album met with positive reactions and reviews. Here's two of them:

"Round Mi is a unique and excellent take on Berlin school from Brazil.

This exceptional CD opens with solid sequencing and a great melodic progression, drawing the listener in quickly. "Lament": a piano deftly maneuvers through synths and the sound of a gentle rain. "Procession" changes things dramatically, with a single pounding tympani-like beat. Organ music adds to the procession as the feeling grows. "Leaving the Atmosphere" changes moods yet again. Throughout "Round Mi," but particularly so in this fourth movement, I'm reminded of how Klaus Schulze blends classical and modern synthesizer influences, although Jobim's sound is all his own.

"Clouds": soft textures and atmosphere, a laid-back sequence starts going into the fifth minute, gradually picking up speed. Jobim then rides this mesmerizing phrase all the way through. Synth oboes are beautifully rendered, very much like classic Tangerine Dream. With only subtle changes over its course, "Clouds" captivates.

"Loopsurf - Loopsearch" chugs energetically along in a sequence not quite like anything I've heard before, low and mechanical. A brighter hypnotic loop merges over the top. Gradually, more synths are added. It's a distinctive hybrid between the likes of Klaus Schulze and Philip Glass. After moving briskly along for the first half, the latter half drifts into deep space with bleeps and blips of an otherworldly kind."

© 2004 Phil Derby / Electroambient Space
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"Jobim created a set very difficult to describe. To say diverse is to say nothing. To my mind, most of it will appeal to fans of the Berlin School, but the range of sounds and influences on this album is huge.

"Floating Tones Around Mi" has a very rich synth sound and propelling sequence. Pretty exciting stuff. "Lament" fittingly features slow and darkish piano playing coupled with other instruments, nature sounds and light synthetic touches. There's also funeral-like bass line underneath it all. "Procession" is rather doomy and sounds influenced by chamber music. "Leaving the Atmosphere" shows strong progrock influences and really sounds like a chamber/progrock piece sans drums.

"Clouds" is an epic that starts with drawn-out ambient tones but after a while a sequence starts and increases in pace. It then takes center stage and dominates the bulk of the track. It all has an airy, bright sound, really, which pretty much corresponds to the title. The track doesn't change a lot throughout its course but it does manage to create a hypnotic and somewhat calming effect, in spite of the fact that it's rather upbeat.

"Loopsurf-Loopsearch" is the best one. It's rather experimental compared to what has gone before and features a lot of loops and sequenced elements. I can hear some Klaus Schulze influence here, but the track doesn't sound much like anything Klaus has ever put out. It's the most synthetic sounding piece.

I do notice a few bum notes and out of sync elements but Gustavo is only in his early-to-mid twenties which is a very young age for progressive music. Recommended. [Note: Jobim finished recording "Round Mi" in July 2002, when he was 19 years old.]"

© 2004 Artemi Pugachov / Encyclopedia of Electronic Music
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Description and the making of Round Mi's artwork

Jobim also created all the artwork for "Round Mi". The conceptual cover artwork shows what's "around me": it's a photo of the view from his bedroom window, rotated 90 degrees to the left and treated digitally. The lower border is actually the scanner's cover.

The CD's back cover is a tiny portion of the front cover, hugely magnified and giver further digital treatment. The back of the front cover is also based on the same photographic material, but also showing the front cover again in reverse, under several layers of more graphics, as if this was a booklet with many transparent pages

The inside image of the booklet shows a black and white psychedelic photo collage also made by Jobim based on a single photo taken of him.
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More information

After "Round Mi" Jobim released several experimental music albums as free mp3 packages. He's now looking for a label to release "In Awe", the follow up to "Round Mi". Jobim's setup haven't changed much, however; "In Awe" was created under the same conditions as "Round Mi". Only recently Jobim managed to purchase more equipment: a Microkorg and a Korg Poly-800.

Solo Discography:
2002 - Round Mi (CD, Som Interior)
2005 - Symphony No.1 in F minor ("Piano") (free mp3)
2006 - MarCHian Sketches (Because they were made in MarCH) (free mp3)
2007 - The Art of Boredom (Seven piano pieces for brave ears and well-humoured minds) (free mp3)
2008 - In Awe (unreleased)
2009 - Trapped In a Day Job (unreleased)
2009 - Archive Series Vol.1: Naïf (Solo Piano) (unreleased)
2009 - Archive Series Vol.2: Found Sounds (Electronics) (unreleased)
2009 - Archive Series Vol.3: Inner Sounds (Ambient Electronics) (unreleased)

Collaborations:
2005 - Cristovam, Giraknob, Jobim: Tempochuva (free mp3)
2008 - Gustavo Jobim and Friends: Belles Alliances (free mp3)

Current projects:
1. Archive Series: four albums spanning the years 2000-2008, including some of Jobim's earliest synth recordings. Currently Jobim is working on the fourth and last volume of the series: collages made of old unreleased piano recordings.

2. USB flash drive in hand-crafted package featuring all the free albums in FLAC and mp3, exclusive brand new music and original artwork.

More samples of ROUND MI, including all 8+ minutes of track 4, and other music can be heard at www.myspace.com/gustavojobim.

Gustavo Jobim is also the keyboardist for Zumbi do Mato ("Zombie from the Woods"), one of the most important bands in Brazilian underground. The band has a unique blend of styles and sounds; their latest album was released as a free mp3 package at www.zumbidomato.com .

Official site: www.gustavojobim.com

Latest update: March 12th 2009