The evolution of a headbanger
Local artist releases ambient music compilation to benefit Doctors Without Borders

If you think your friendly local record store clerk is just the guy who rings up your purchases or tells you about the latest releases, you’d be undersold. Take Cooper Stapleton, the face behind the counter most days at Southwest Sound, Durango’s Main Avenue go-to for all things music: vinyl, plastic or otherwise.

Cooper, whose father, Robert, owns the business, is actually one of Durango’s leading – if not only – aficionados on ambient music. A subgenre known as drone music, to be exact. (For a primer on ambient music, google Brian Eno, of Roxy Music fame, who is considered the godfather of the form. His album with Robert Fripp, “No Pussyfooting,” is de shit among ambient connoisseurs.)

“The album was the beginning of electronic music,” Cooper said, “taking the ideals of punk and rebelling against what makes music music.”

And while Eno and Roxy Music might (almost) be house-hold names, drone music not so much. “If you asked 10 people what drone music is, no one would know,” he admitted. (For the record, he said it basically is what the name belies: simply, a sustained chord or harmony that is continuously played through most or all of a piece.)

“It’s purposefully obtuse but also real, pure expression,” Cooper said.

And while it may not be marketed to the sheeple, curious listeners can get a taste with a new collection of recordings that Cooper released on his own label, A Moment of Clarity Recordings (which, BTW, is a tape label. As in cassettes – yes, full circle, people). But the compilation, “Vibrations of the Celestial” – which contains pieces from artists from around the world and clocks in at a respectable three hours – is not available at any record store, including Cooper’s own. It’s only available for digital download at bandcamp.com, an independent artist file-sharing site. Money raised from the sale of the compilation will go to Doctors Without Borders, a charity that was chosen by the artists.

“There is no commercial motivation for it,” he said. “It’s just to raise money for something that does some tangible good and showcase these artists.”

As for the album’s name, Cooper said it comes from a fascination of the world outside our own – it’s not uncommon for sounds from NASA space missions to end up in his recordings as well. “I liken ambient music to the music of the spheres, the background movement of celestial bodies,” he said.

In what may seem a far cry from ambient music, Cooper played in a metal band in his days at Durango High School.

However, soon after, he got his first taste of ambient when he saw a show by Tucson’s Sunn 0))) (pronounced “sun,” a takeoff on an amplifier name – it’s a musician thing.) “They’re kind of legendarily loud,” he said. “It was the loudest thing I’d ever experienced; it did something to my body; the moment they stopped playing, my body felt different and I thought, ‘OK, we gotta do this.’”

Speaking of loud, Cooper said he engineered the album’s sound levels so as not to deliver any unwelcome surprises. “I don’t want to blow anybody’s speakers,” he said.

He said he got the idea for the album from a similar compilation by the Black Metal Alliance, “Crushing Intolerance,” which helped raise money for anti-discrimination groups. His project got its start when he put out a call to about 200 artists on Reddit. Among the 19 artists featured on the album is Cooper’s own band, Zakarion, which he formed

with his FLC classmate Dylan Rupe. The two collaborate remotely – Rupe now lives in Denver – with Cooper working synthesizer and keyboards; Rupe on guitar, pedal board; and both singing vocals.

However, as is the case with ambient music’s ethereal nature, seeing them live may prove elusive. “We did a show a couple of months ago in Denver but it was just word of mouth,” Cooper said. “We had posters, but they had no date or time.”

Alas, about a dozen intrepid souls showed up – which was just fine. As Cooper admits, it’s not for everyone. “We see it as creativity feeding creativity,” he said. “It’s like extreme mood music.”

You can listen to “Vibrations of the Celestial” on bandcamp.com or tune into Cooper’s weekly radio show on KDUR, “Heaviest Matter in the Universe,” 10 p.m. – midnight Fridays.