Journey to Nada (1989) — Mercury Max

In 1989, Mercury Max recorded Journey to Nada at his Wizard's Workshop in Santa Cruz. Mercury Max's Blue Crystal powered his synthesizers while maintaining its connection to the denizens of the Glimmerlight who had settled on the Offworld Colony. The title of the cassette referred to the Sanskrit word Nada, meaning the inner or primordial sound from which all music is said to arise. Within the newly forming traditions of the Patchoulilight, Mercury Max understood Nada as the electronic current from which the Synthesists drew their sonics, long before the coming of the Progbarians. . . . Among later Sagegazers, Journey to Nada was often regarded as Mercury Max's most introspective recording. Its sonic landscape suggested that the greatest journeys were not measured in distance, but rather in perception. At a time when many feared the coming of the Progbarians, Mercury Max turned his attention to the one practice that had always distinguished the Sagegazers: the discipline of listening before speaking or acting. . . . The Sagegazer understands that those who learn to listen deeply will never lose their way.