Jon Mueller

Early life and education

Jon Mueller was introduced to music through his parents, and began taking guitar and piano lessons at an early age. After quitting both, he became interested in the drums after his friend inherited a drumset. The instrument appealed to him due to its focus away from melody. Mueller states, "Hitting the drums and cymbals sounded good, no matter the combination." He then began taking snare drum lessons before moving to a full kit.

In 1990, he studied with jazz musician Hal Russell while attending Columbia College in Chicago.

In 1995 he graduated from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, WI with a degree in English, and in 2008 with a Masters in Business Administration degree.

Career

In the 1990s, he met guitarist Chris Rosenau, with whom he developed a long-time association with. Together they founded the groups Pele and Collections of Colonies of Bees. The latter group later co-founded Volcano Choir with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. Their debut album Unmap reached number 92 on the Billboard top 200 chart.

He has also worked with a variety of musicians such as James Plotkin, Rhys Chatham, Asmus Tietchens, Z'EV, Jason Kahn, Marcus Schmickler, Bhob Rainey, Jack Wright, and others.

In 2003, he began experimenting with vibrating drums on top of speakers. This direction is documented on his What's Lost is Something Important CD, Metals CD, Physical Changes LP/CD/DVD, and Alphabet of Movements LP.

He has performed solo and in various groupings throughout North America, Europe, United Kingdom, and Japan. His solo concerts have been at places such as New Museum (New York), Arnolfini (Bristol, UK), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, (Montréal, QC), Issue Project Room (New York), Guggenheim (New York), and Cafe OTO (London, UK). His solo and collaborative recordings have been released by labels such as Table of the Elements, Polyvinyl Records, Type Recordings, Jagjaguwar, Hometapes, Important Records, Taiga Records, and many others.

In 1999, he formed the record label, magazine, and music distribution company Crouton. Crouton published over 40 releases, mostly in limited editions, featuring the work of The Hafler Trio, Asmus Tietchens, Daniel Menche, Robert Hampson, Robert Haigh, Jarboe, Lionel Marchetti, Jason Kahn, Aranos, Alessandro Bosetti, Osso Exotico, Z'EV, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Pele, and many others, as well as his own releases. Crouton also organized events in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas. These were documented by the press and even filmed as part of a PBS documentary (on Ken Vandermark). The business closed in 2009.

In 2009, he was referred to by Pitchfork as "an audacious ringleader for new music."

In 2011, he started his Death Blues project, described by Mueller as, "a multidisciplinary project that addresses the inevitability of death as impetus to become more present in each moment." Performances for the project took place throughout the U.S., including Hopscotch Fest and Alverno Presents.

Public Speaking

He has spoken to audiences about creativity and new business approaches at The Music Forum: Loyola University (NOLA), WMSE’s Radio Summercamp (Milwaukee, WI), Viva! Festival (Montreal), Wesleyan University (Middleton, CT), PRSA (Milwaukee, WI), and MARN (Milwaukee, WI).

Writing

He has written a novella, Pianobread (1999), a box of short stories, Endings (2004), and has contributed non-fiction writing and reviews for ChangeThis.com, Pear Noir!, The Shepherd Express, OnMilwaukee, Amoeba Records Hollywood, and contributed to The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (Penguin/Portfolio) by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten.

Solo

Collaborations

Collections of Colonies of Bees

Pele

(also released on the Rosewood Union (UK)), 1998

Telecognac