tropic of cancer - i woke up and the storm was over (2015)
autechre - yulquen (1994)
dead can dance - the carnival is over (1993)
[mp3] - 18:36
unfamiliar territory: i've written a piano composition that i cannot play.
it's a strange reversal in that i'm used to writing code that effortlessly executes the humanly impossible. but physically playing this piece is what brings it to life, so now i'm into month two of dexterity training.
the cleaners from venus - only a shadow (1982)
the psychedelic furs - sister europe (1980)
tears for fears - the hurting (1983)
[mp3] - 12:06
after numerous failed attempts at transcribing upon waking, my dream-self concocted a brilliant idea: record these brilliant melodies and chords and articulations to tape. which i did, in dream-world.
now to transport those tapes from that place to this place.
options when encountering a problem:
trying to stay awake and not fight various alluring nonexistent battles
lunar new year ceremony
drum groups colliding out of time
rumble through several panes of glass
renew day spa 2
keeping phased time against
the less metered
new age solo flute record
short delay medium reverb
maybe eighties but remarkably
chromatic at times
mid range tastefully overdriven
through cheap ceiling speaker cones
steady hazy wash from heating vent
whose mechanics discovered a resonance
and rattle and relax and slowly repeat
distant unknown conversation and
electronic timers declare beginnings and endings
and my time is over but this perfect
composition continues
"If technology advances, if it is, as they say, progress, why does so much of it regress, ending up broken and dead in landfills? (...)
The objective should not be to extract economic value from objects and materials we consider to be waste, but to reimagine what we consider waste to be."
software - island sunrise (1988)
dam funk - galactic fun (2009)
art of noise - moments of love (1985)
[mp3] - 16:20
sky, hazy blue fading to mauve
water, silvery green
snow, pink and grey
investigating the territory between ambivalence and acceptance
millennia of the same
"The basic principle was that the client depended on his patron for protection and assistance, financial and otherwise, in return for a variety of services rendered, including votes in elections. Later Roman writing is full of rather high-flown rhetoric from the patron class on the virtues of the relationship, and miserable complaints from the side of the client about the humiliations they have to go through, all for a second-rate meal. In the Twelve Tables, the rule simply states: 'If a patron has done harm to his client, he is to be cursed'-- whatever that meant."
the father of a friend once told them a good story: that there's a fine line between being dedicated and being stuck
robert wyatt - nothing can stop us (1982)
cocteau twins and harold budd - sea, swallow me (1986)
gowns - fake july (2007)
[mp3] - 10:41
"By claiming the end, energy is freed up to create new beginnings."
any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from religion.
for the last couple years i've been slowly refining a collection of ideas embodying the whimsical term "computer folkcraft." it's perhaps a mix of permacomputing [web] and anarchism and appropriate technology and plain old antiquated "computer literacy," but the "folkcraft" aspect energizes this combination: common people and artistry.
despite numerous conversations and scribblings i hadn't spend much time investigating the potential origins of my, uhm, quest (and its accompanying obsessions and ideologies.) a fellow traveller writes perceptively:
"From time to time, certain small groups of tech-savvy people happen to grow up in the same place and at the same time as certain powerful new technologies. Because of this unique background, these people - and these people alone - are able to very clearly perceive visions of the future which are both glorious and 100% technically feasible, the technical feasibility being something that they feel in their bones by virtue of direct experience, or at least direct observation. Those people therefore mistake these visions for being not just compelling but actually being inevitable, for being the obviously, undeniably natural and pre-destined state of the world, for being exactly what everybody else would want too, if only they understood things properly! But these futures aren't inevitable, they're actually mostly wishful thinking and they simply don't come to pass."
this reckoning can also be liberatory? in that disappointment is real but perhaps the secret knowledge was actually just circumstantial.
i think this was what i needed to understand in order to move forward.
spiro world - lupron (2021)
fatima yamaha - what's a girl to do (2004)
park hye jin - call me (2018)
[mp3] - 13:46
(thanks to k for the discoveries)
sometimes
it is profoundly difficult to write words on
the internet and
othertimes
it is profoundly difficult not to write words on
the internet
a few sentences which have recently haunted me after emerging from the mist:
"high on metaphysics"
"normal life file structure"
"performative kindness in the age of the global village"
philip glass - glassworks iii (island) (1981)
recoil - freeze (1992)
nine inch nails - the warm place (1994)
[mp3] - 17:58
"The past is the enemy in their eyes— a stubborn foe, always resisting the future."
years ago a hawk ate most of a mouse on the dock, and a skeleton rested there for more years, and now there there is a beautiful multicolored patch of moss. a sort of reincarnation.
eight years ago we founded a community called lines [web] where people share and discuss art, music, and technology. the site grew out of the monome forum, which itself was founded nine years earlier alongside the release of the first monome designs. lines came into being as a de-branded monome forum, where the topics might feel more expansive and welcoming without the pretense of being within commercial territory.
a few days ago we took the next step. lines is now community funded, and belongs to the community itself. despite the de-branding from the start, monome's heavy presence was foundational given how many discussions revolved around our open-source instruments. over time this became less central yet we continued to feel compelled to cover server costs. the monthly fees were not insignificant, yet this move to signify ownership and shift to direct support has been profound.
in two days the community raised enough funds to operate the server for three years. this is an order of magnitude more than we were aiming for.
the early days of a new project are always a joy. as the years wore on, moderating the community remained a net positive despite more frequent stressful episodes. in recent years, however, the scales tipped and we (my friends who volunteer to moderate) have been wavering. there were many moments when i wanted desperately to burn it all down.
do not underestimate the power of giving things away. what is this weird lightness? seeing a project refocus and reenergize. it will live on. it is free.
the snow departed and a new year arrived.
cleaning out digital closets by cramming everything in a single much larger closet.
found this photo of the workspace from august 2017. there is energy.
make art, not data
attempting to bury our digital past, into a new extremely spacious mechanical hard drive. it makes sounds which are a near perfect simulation of the winter mice chewing the inner walls of our old farmhouse.
"Man is probably not a machine, but he behaves as such in a situation where the machines impose his operating rules. Indeed, the progress of technology should not be understood as necessarily being the progress of mankind: far from it, they are not accompanied by a progress of thought, reflection and responsibility, since they eliminate their intervention and even often make them impossible."
the third way, i suppose, is to cease believing in the idea of progress altogether
fifty degree drop in an afternoon, blowing wind, rain to ice, water down the mountains, seemingly unfreezable, mist rising above the waves of the brook
ratio of collecting to reading
approached then energetically crossed the crisis threshold
tehn@nnnnnnnn.co