Biography
Jay Crocker of Canada leads the JOYFULTALK project, whose mesmerizing polyrhythmic works draw on an expansive range of sources such as techno, Krautrock, minimalism, avant-jazz, and Japanese environmental music. Plurality Trip, issued in 2018, featured jagged, propulsive constructions assembled from instruments Crocker himself constructed. A Separation of Being, arriving in 2020, presented a more luminous and polished statement shaped as an enormous graphic score, while Familiar Science from 2022 pursued an improvisation-driven jazz-rock path.
Crocker, originally based in Calgary, has produced experimental music and indie rock since the mid-2000s, both solo and with groups including Cousins and Ghostkeeper. He relocated in 2011 to the small community of Crousetown, Nova Scotia, where he constructed and maintained a home studio. After several years shaping a new creative path, he began presenting detailed electronic pieces as JOYFULTALK and developed the Planetary Music System, a method of visualized composition. A self-released cassette from 2014 led to the debut album MUUIXX, which employed more than a dozen self-built instruments and modified synthesizers and appeared on Drip Audio and Backward Music in 2015. Working with live collaborator and Cousins bandmate Shawn Dicey, Crocker crafted the darker, hazier Plurality Trip for Constellation Records in 2018.
The project’s third album, A Separation of Being, followed two years later as a major shift from prior material: a buoyant, precisely layered post-minimalist suite derived from a graphic score conceived as a giant mural. Familiar Science, released in 2022, moved into electro-acoustic avant-jazz territory by merging chaotic improvisation with intricate compositional frameworks and glitchy effects.
Crocker, originally based in Calgary, has produced experimental music and indie rock since the mid-2000s, both solo and with groups including Cousins and Ghostkeeper. He relocated in 2011 to the small community of Crousetown, Nova Scotia, where he constructed and maintained a home studio. After several years shaping a new creative path, he began presenting detailed electronic pieces as JOYFULTALK and developed the Planetary Music System, a method of visualized composition. A self-released cassette from 2014 led to the debut album MUUIXX, which employed more than a dozen self-built instruments and modified synthesizers and appeared on Drip Audio and Backward Music in 2015. Working with live collaborator and Cousins bandmate Shawn Dicey, Crocker crafted the darker, hazier Plurality Trip for Constellation Records in 2018.
The project’s third album, A Separation of Being, followed two years later as a major shift from prior material: a buoyant, precisely layered post-minimalist suite derived from a graphic score conceived as a giant mural. Familiar Science, released in 2022, moved into electro-acoustic avant-jazz territory by merging chaotic improvisation with intricate compositional frameworks and glitchy effects.
Albums
Singles
