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2002-09-10

3:32 PM - three weeks or so since the last blog. more than that since an update to the website outside of the blog. nothing new coming in means nothing new going out. anyone out there reading that? :) actually, i'm thinking of a redesign/consolidation of some areas, and opening up some others. stay tuned for more information on that.

what i want to blog about today is something i've been reading in adbusters. granted, i work in corporate america, but there were two particular themes that have been striking one chord or another in me... enough to remember i have a blogger and should use it.

first, the (ab)use of prescription drugs, specifically psycho-pharmaceutical drugs. open any magazine, and you are flooded with ads for the latest and greatest in perscription drugs. having problems getting moving? no problem, have some prozac! stuffy nose from your dairy allergy got you down? clairtin to the rescue! don't like that hair loss? propecia! can't satisfy your partner anymore? viagra! we have a drug to treat anything nowadays. of course, why am i using the word treat? having problems getting moving could be a disgust with what you are doing with you life. rather than change it, however, we now choose to medicate ourselves. rather than change our diets, we take allergy and cholesteroal medication. rather than accept hair loss, we find ways to make it come back. and for those 70 year olds, viagra to the rescue! all of these things have solutions outside of medication. none of them are illnesses, per se. it seems the pharmeceutical companies have finally made our life an illness. if you aren't perfect, remember... there is a drug for you to change it! (note: i admit there are legitimate forms of depression out there that could benefit greatly from medication, but only after all other avenues are tried. nowadays people go to psychiatrists like drug pushers)

second, there was a constant jibe in the last issue of adbusters talking about people who go to work and pretend to work while playing solitaire. i was astounded. it spoke right to me. (i hope my boss doesn't read this). i can't believe that we can survive. and then i realized that the only way this is true is if everyone else is doing it too. checking personal e-mail, blogging, talking to other people on the phone. sure, we work when we all kind of get together and realize that we should be working. however, what bothers me isn't that we are all cheating (and don't kid yourselves, we are...), it's that it stems from so many of us not wanting to do the job we have. most people don't enjoy their work. why does it have to be like that????

2002-08-23

1:02 PM - (note: mad lib posting used by permission from m/m. portions of this broadcast will go to helping yo damn self laugh)

thursday night, i got _____ at _____ trying to finish things up before the weekend started. there was so much going on that if i didn't make the time that night, there wouldn't be any time to _______ once i got to lincoln. i was at ______ until _______, at which time i finished my meal of _______, ________, and _________ and decided to turn in.

the real trip to lincoln begins at 4am friday morning, pacific standard time as i was leaving from los angeles. i woke up to the sounds of ________ talking about ________, which was really creeping me out at 4am in the fucking morning. got up, showered, finished packing my bag with _______ and threw it in the car. carry on bags are good for ________ ________ to get things through security. it was nice, however, not to have to bring my ________ this weekend. on the plane, this _____ wouldn't stop talking to me about all his goals in life. he was one of those ______ types of people who like to only hear themselves. i got to lincoln around 1pm to see A holding a sign that says "_______". i immediately admonished her and said that it's not right to advertise that sort of thing in public, especially when it has "______" written on it. a bizarre ______ fell between us, as we really didn't know each other and had to find some way to pass the time until shannon _______ off _______.

there are only four things to do in lincoln: eat, sleep, drink, and _______. so, after we did the first and third, and since it was in the afternoon and we weren't tired, A and I decided to pass the time by _________ and going to see _________. not quite the way i thought i would be welcomed to lincoln, but when a ________ offers to share her _______ with you, it is best to be a gracious guest and accept. it was humorous how ________ was so much better after _______. i wonder if my wife would be offended
if she knew?

we picked shannon up from work at 6pm, after driving around and around the same block. at one point, some _______ couldn't figure out which way they were ______ and were ______ the ______ at us, which was quite offensive, since they were so obviously wrong. whatever. we went briefly back to their apartment to drop stuff off and call
some people to go and eat. we met up with two ______, which made me the only ______ at the table. not that i minded... in fact, it was rather ________. so, the five of us went back to shannon and A's apartment to _______ for the second time that day. the rest of the evening was spent ______, ______, and going to _______. a memorable time was had while visiting C, who is a really ______ person. much to my surprise, he had saved some _______ for me. and a good time was had by all. at the end of the evening, we went to ______ _______ and ate. i hadn't been that hungry in a while.

friday we woke up around ________. the day was actually spent trying to find some place to _____, which you think in a town that has 500 _______, this wouldn't be a problem. of course, this is lincoln, ne. afterwards, we were sitting around thinking of what the three of us could do while in lincoln. the only solution, of course, is to ______ and get in a hot tub. we took some time to get ready, _______, and then headed to this place called the tubbery. the tubbery is known for as a place where people come to ______, which made this all the funnier watching couples leave this place while myself, with two _______, were getting ready to go in. i must have looked like a _______. an hour sure goes by fast while being ______ in a hot tub. ah well.

at this point, we rallied the troops for a night of drinking. of course, this doesn't prevent us from ______ before leaving, since it would be much more difficult later on to _____ after drinking, not to mention it's not socially acceptable. so, i got a tour of the lincoln bar scene. first, we stopped at jake's, which was a _____ bar if i ever saw one. of course, the three of us (shannon, myself, and R) shared a pitcher of a local microbrew, which was ______. we met another of shannon's friends, R2, there. after deciding this place was pretty odd, we decided _____ and then go to another bar.

next was sandy's, which was an establishment created with the sole purpose of _______. there were bars everywhere with lot of room to _______ for everyone. we shared a pitcher of orange juice and _______, which was probably where i should have stopped drinking. alas, this was not the case. final top for the night was a place called the bricktop, where there was a dj spinnning ______. pretty good. more mixed drinking, while shannon and i shared a _______ off to the side, where many people weren't looking. how scandalous we were sharing with R and R2! the night closed up, and while we were waiting outside for a ride by to shannon and A's apartment, a ________ happened outside, which involved a lot of ________ and ________. the cops came, broke it up, and hauled a good friend of R3, a _______ we met in the bricktop, who
decided to join us back at the apartment for ________ and _______.

after a short jaunt back to the apartment, we set ourselves up for an _______ of _______, probably against my better judgment. shannon decided to _______ of me while i was sitting in the chair passing out. the smile on my face was probably not the best thing to see, as i looked so peaceful. i got up to use the restroom, came back out, and _______ in the computer chair, where shannon came by to ridicule me. well, at least i didn't _______ that night because of all the ______ and _______! ha!

i woke up around 10am, and R gets up to proclaim that he can't lose that _______. so, kind of as a farewell gesture, shannon, A, R, and i all decided to _______ before getting some food at a wonderful mexican place. i had to get to the airport by 4pm to make sure i got on the flight, though after waiting for _______ to get on the plane, it will be known that i never plan on getting there that early again. got a ______ to eat while waiting, and had issues with the _______ machine to get anything to _______. flight to denver and flight to burbank went by in a blur.

of course, many people asked why i would fly all the way to lincoln, ne to _________ when i could do the same thing back in denver with my wife? the answer, of course, is the company. shannon and A, and the rest of the lincoln crew, were actually quite gracious _________ and very friendly with their _______, which is a radical shift from either being in ______ or ______. i came to this weekend with absolutely ______ intentions, which worked out wonderfully. besides, living in the ______ age makes it easy
to already know someone when you visit them, so then it comes down to just ______ and enjoying each other's company when you visit. and that made it all the better. quite honestly, i can't wait to go back, but my first opportunity will be after ______, which is a while away. though next time, i need to bring my wife, as i'm sure she'd love to spent all weekend _______ with shannon and her friends.

thanks for a wonderful time, shannon! :)

especially the ______! :)

2002-08-15

1:46 PM - future sound of london/amorphous androgynous - the isness

to truly understand the album takes some work. if you are a passive music lover, then download before you buy. this album is an artistic statement that only make sense in the context of its release, the previous releases, and the metaphors that go behind explaining it. allow me to try to communicate why i think this album will be the best of the year, far and away, possibly one of the best albums of all time.

first, and foremost, it's an artistic statement, not just a bunch of cool tracks thrown together. the more i get into music, the more i like concept albums. an album should work together as a coherent grouping of tracks all related in some way. otherwise, it's nothing more than a compilation of potential singles, which i see a great deal of albums released today. this doesn't mean that an album that doesn't meet this criteria is bad, but having a consistent vision attached to it gives it that extra feeling of cohesiveness.

second, it is such a radical switch. i first heard the album and started to get really pissed off about it. what happened to garry and brian? what kind of foolishness are they up to? where was the cold beauty of the vacuous space in dead cities? my judgments were already set on high that i immediately proclaimed it was mediocre at best and let it go.

that's when i started to think about the album, the vision that is gives, the progression out of the dead cities, away from the cold, dead sound of ambient electronica that gaz and brian spawned. what is left of the dead cities? they are, after all, dead, right?

this is where understanding the history of gaz really helps. after dead cities, garry became super ill and modern medicine couldn't cure whatever was happening to him. rather than accept his fate, he grabbed empty credit cards and headed out to try alternative medicines in india and around the world. being influenced by indian sounds and the past days of psychadelia, he started to see life and beauty all around the world. the experienced changed his outlook, made him realize that the world is *not* a dead city. we aren't just lifeforms. we are much more than electronics transmitted through an isdn line. all of these things came together. even after the illness was traced to the mercury fillings in his teeth, he realized that there is much more to the world.

so, what do you do at this point? you bring it all together. call up friends, bring in indian ragas, pickup the dusty acoustic in the corner and start to understand and make sense of it all, while remembering the glimmer of hope that began back with accelerator, specifically with papua new guinea.

papua new guinea was probably the richest work they had done to date, and have the remix mania, making it more dance-oriented, turning it into a commodity, they got pissed and decided to explain to the world what they were doing, what they wanted. these truly were a translation of the song into what they wanted it to be, where they were going, and to prepare us for what was to come.

look at translations. it starts with the '12" original', giving everyone a common starting point. next, the futurisitc 'papsico', which was what they were targetting until it spiralled into the dead city with that route, it was the route they wanted to go and failed. 'the lovers' is the direction they wanted to go now. returning to the purer, 70s, rhythm-enhanced symphonic work that was abandoned for all the bloops and blips. 'wooden ships' was an advancement on the same theme, pushing a little further into that realm. but first, they had to tie up what remained with 'the great marmalade mamma in the sky', giving a heavy, grunged out version of the track, expelling all the angst of their previous years. 'reqiuem' follows, acknowledging the passing of the old into the new. 'things change like the patterns and shades that fall from the sun' tries to offer a musical explanation as to why they were making the shift, as words don't do the cause justice. and finally, 'the big blue' gives a hint at what is to come, what we can expect, and how we are going to get there.

this is the true meaning of the translations... a final farewell to the cold, methodic, organic, destructive music of the old future sound of london. people immediately upon listening to the new psychadelic-charged album thought that it wasn't the future at all, but a relapse into the past. but the future is what we make it, and the future that they were creating was cold, destructive, and dead. why create a dark, dreary future after seeing the wide world and all the good things in it? why not create a new future, going back to when music was more pure, more alive, and more universally positive.

this background gives us the proper state to understand the isness. what is this blast of retro-70s infused electronic progressive rock opera album? it's the start of something new, for better or worse. the bass has been stripped away in favor of the hi's. it focused more on positive thinking, positive lyrics, positive sounds, and contemplation towards the state of the world yesterday, today, and perhaps tomorrow. the future sound of london is what we want it to be.

the album begins with 'the lovers', a shorter version of what appears on translations to continue that vein. while 'wooden ships' is gone, it moves right into the contemplative 'the isness', the title track, full of meandering sitars, keyboards, and steady sounds. following that is 'the mello hippo disco show', a gritty, 60s rock infused ballad of perceived nonsense, more of a wake up call to the rest of the world to come out of the serious shells we have placed ourselves in, to lighten up and join the rest of the world. we also get the first taste of gaz's lyrics, which are questionable, but make more sense later on.

'goodbye sky (reprise)' is almost a final farewell to the old dead city, out into the lush fields of life, where the sky is bigger and brighter. 'elysian feels' is a true example that this is still the future sound of london, merging keyboards, pan flutes, and upbeat drums into a rolling cosmic jam. 'go tell it ot the trees egghead' reminds us that acoustic instruments are still valid instruments, with lots of live instrumentation merging with some noodling. it's almost as if they want to remind us that they remember their roots, and are returning to them.

'divinity' is my favorite track. gaz's voice is not the greatest in the world, not even something i would consider to be very good, but this isn't about being good at it, but to deliver a message, regardless of what anyone thinks. it's such a positive message, acknowledging that we are all not who we would like to be, but we want to make it there. this tracks puts together so many elements into a symphony of sound. ultra emotional, ultra moving. a true artistic work. every time i hear this track, i tear up, sometimes cry, sometimes laugh.

'guru song', 'osho', and 'her tongue is like a jellyfish' are quick two minute ditties, with lots of electronic noodling of live instruments in that way that only future sound of london can do. all three interesting in their own way. all of this moves into 'meadows', another largely acoustic piece that begins with asking what would happen if all the meadows were gone? next to last is the deeply meditative 'high tide on the sea of flesh', which explores the minimal sounds of sitar, bass, and sampled sounds.

what ends the album? 'the galaxial pharmaceutical', a 15 minute space rock opera. the true masterpiece of this album. combining all the meditations, the innovations, the vision into one great explosion of sound and samples, reminiscent of pink floyd and the who. it trails off as the message of the album. the call to wake up from the dead cities in our mind, acknowledging that it isn't the place we want to go, and move forward into the lush, organic, open skies.

truly a masterpiece. the first album this year deserving of 10/10 rating, for concept, execution, production, and boldness.

'and if you need a friend, i'll be standing right by your side/and if you need a lover, you must leave it all behind/and if you need direction, the world can seem unkind/so listen closely, my love... you have time/you're doing fine...' - gaz cobain, 'divinity'

2002-08-13

2:26 PM - wow.

wow. wow. wow.

ok, first, if you haven't hear steve roach, go listen to something from him. very ambient. very lush. very textured and awesome. get your ass over to the following website:

www.steveroach.com

there are tons of mp3 streams, real player samples, to get a feel for it. it helps to set the mood.

the atmosphere was the basement of this guy's home in centennial, co. the owner is a tabla player by training, and used to participate in a number of house concerts around the country. after much work, he finally got steve to come and play two sets, one on friday and one on saturday, in his basement to crowds of 25 people.

we all met beforehand up in jim's living room, listening to some steve roach cds, eating the food available, sharing stories about steve roach concerts, and getting to know everyone. steve was downstairs the whole time, getting into the setting, getting the instruments together, and preparing for the experience.

about 8pm, we gathered to listen to the rules. be respectful of people's space, try not to move around a whole lot, and the usual rules to follow it. after a brief speech from steve, he went downstairs and started working the ambient noise.

moving down into the basement was etheral. lit completely by candlelight, we descended through beaded curtains to the basement. the basement was lit by candles, south asian tapestries/wall hangings, and the electronic equipment was setup. we all kind of gathered together, sitting against walls, on plush cushions, laying on the ground, or whatever seemed to make everyone comfortable.

that's when steve started. he brought a host of instruments, two korg keyboards, soundboards, a laptop, two drum machines, and a host of other things involving wires. basically, he would develop the soundworlds right in front of us, first starting with ambient night sounds, then sampling live instruments one by one into the microphone, sometimes as little as rubbing two rocks together, breathing, jingling bells all the way up to a remote mic digeridoo, tibetan horns, and a tibetan bell. using plently of delay and a touch of feedback, the composition would take form, play for a while, and then he would retire to subtle tweaking, guitar soundscaping, and the like.

this was the first 40 minutes or so, and everyone settled into their comfort zone. then the beats came in. mostly pre-programmed, but some built on the fly, steve moved from soundscape into a beat-driven tribal flavors, moving into and out from focusing on the beats, then the instrumentation, then the synth-lines.

the rest of the evening was a blur. more soundscapes, encompassing his 20 years as an electronic music pioneer, and some of his collaborations, rebuilt, re-editted, and re-formatted specially for this evening. FOUR HOURS LATER, we were done, and retired upstairs to chat and meet with steve roach.

i guess i don't know how to accurately reflect the mood that was there. here is one of my favorite musicians, and i'm sharing this experience with 25 other genuine fans, all experiencing the music on an intimate level, as if we were listening in private with headphones. one of the odd thoughts i had after using the bathroom upstairs was that i am going back into the basement where this man is building soundscape after soundscape. and getting to just hang out afterwards with him... it was an awesome experience.

if you ever get the chance to hear steve roach, or attend any house concert, i would seriously suggest it.

2002-08-07

6:25 PM - every now and again, i get that feeling that all is right in the universe. that things don't particularly matter as much as we feel they should. right now, i'm sitting at my computer, doing mindless work while listening to 'last splash' by the breeders. it's a funny feeling that has come over me. i keep thinking back to those odd times i had during my high school years, from watching those 90s pop-grunge films ('threesome', 'singles', etc...) to just chilling out with my friends in small cities, doing whatever we felt like. things were simpler then, but from an age standpoint. with all the knowledge i have gained over the years since then, i feel myself slowly entrenching into a way of life i will enjoy, come hell or high water. with age comes knowledge. with knowledge comes responsibility. but it is fun to reminisce, which is what i do at this moment.

and it's the only moment that counts.

anyone read this? e-mail me: projectaristotle@yahoo.com

and my favourite quote from william s.burroughs:
'any old soul is worth saving, at least to a priest, but not every soul is worth buying. so you can take the offer as a compliment.' - william s. burroughs

2002-08-01

9:05 AM - back again, this time with the crap going down by the riaa to require copyright protection on all cds going out. though the means haven't been exactly determined, previous attempts have been known to crash computers that have cd players in them. tackling this particular vein, let's look at the ramifications, from a personal and societal standpoint. above all, they should only enforce this matter if requested by the labels who are a part of riaa, and produce cds without the copyright protection by the independent labels, which makes perfect sense.

consider my particular situation - i don't own a cd player that hooks up to a stereo in any conventional basis. quite honestly, i use either my pc or laptop to play music, and sometimes the rental car if it happens to have a cd player and i don't want to listen to the news. if this kind of manufacturing goes into play, and producers are not given a choice, then i have absolutely no incentive to purchase cds. zero. i would have to stop purchasing them and start pirating because i don't own a cd player to play them on.

and i don't think i'm the only one in this situation. computers have become such a central part of the middle-class (the highest purchasers of music) that many of them learn to use a computer before a cd player. some abandoned the cd player in favor of a pc/laptop hookup to their home stereo system. so, why would they alienate that crowd. i am certainly not *that* addicted to music to go out and purchase new equipment for the sake of listening to some half-rate music.

which is the crux of the whole matter. music has been marketed as a commodity and not as an artform ever since the big guys have taken over. while i love listening to britney spears and the rest of the gang wax philosophical about how they feel they have an artistic vision, when everything is manufactured by other people, from choreography to music... there isn't much left to say is your own personal contribution. here's the funny thing - the commodity thing has backfired with the introduction of musical "piracy". basically, since we just treat it like a commodity, here's our new choice - either purchase a cd that is way overpriced to begin with *or* download it at a relatively high bit-rate and burn it. from a purely economic standpoint, you can either pay $20 or nothing. this is not a very hard decision.

if we held the music industry to lower prices and higher quality, like we would expect from any other product, then i don't think musical piracy would be as rampart as it is. we would actually appreciate the quality of the music and artistic visions of the artist and choose to support them, not feel it mandatory. this is part of the vision of project aristotle records. we plan on distributing music that keeps costs low and maximizes returns to the artist so that low sales (and therefore high piracy) won't affect their lives. imagine a world where a music group received $8 on a $10 cd. one would only need to sell 10,000 copies to make a decent living. supplment that with a light tour schedule in a regional or areas where you can crash with friends, and you have yourself a living, as a musician. how difficult would it be to change the paradigm?

overall, i think we should not hold ourselves to lower standards for the sake of the music industry. we will support who we choose to support, regardless, and take for free now what we don't choose to support. and the music industry should learn to meet the demands of their consumers, and not their own selfish goals of their own profits. they should be held accountable, and "piracy" today is nothing more than civil disobedience. without us, they have no business. exercise your consumer dollar and stop supporting them until they give into our demands for higher quality and lower costs. no more support for major labels (or their subsidies, astralwerks) until they comply.

2002-07-18

1:29 PM - no rant today... i don't feel like it. there's so much i could go on about, but i think cursor has it all for a while. what i do want to share is the following link. i have been laughing my ass off all day.