20jazzfunkgreats has applied a sound-mining algorithm to its e-mail intake and established that, after filtering out the trash (90% overall), 45% of what remains falls within the loose boundaries of new age-new kosmische-new minimalism-new ambient or combinations thereof (this is after accounting for the longer average length of songs within this collection of genres).
And we love it – we are after all post-psychedelean wannabe seers, and cherish any music that gives us an excuse to trample the corpus of quantum physics, psychoanalyse the constellations, or theorise about the day to day dynamics of a recreational planet where all the parameters of bliss are optimised.
At the same time, we are somewhat mystified by the abundance of such music in a world convulsed by political, social, economic and technological upheaval – if a race of aliens were to tune into the currents of the alternative underground, it would immediately assume that mankind lives in a situation of almost intolerable harmony, where a race of philosopher kings lounges in golden castles, delicately contemplating the nature of self, void and their interactions. After which the self-same snooping aliens would light up some of that good old xeno-drug whose effects are equivalent to the marihuana/cough syrup that this music seems to be so well aligned with, and accelerate towards the closest event horizon never to be seen again.
Which provides a potential explanation for the steady supply of such soothing, uncanny compositions: they soundtrack our mellow descent into the black hole and whatever awaits beyond, they are a source of relaxation, their smooth synth-waves blunt the jagged angles of a complex, stressful and even dangerous world they overlay like one of those ersatz-realities designed by our synthetic overlords in the Matrix (or the Invisibles). This is all well and good, we are suckers for escapism and fantasy, but we can’t help but feel that this music supports the strategic equivalent of ‘burying our head in the sand’, which doesn’t bode great for the sort of global change that we feel is needed. Chill out isn’t a likely motor of socio-economic transformation.
Hold on, but didn’t kosmische, one of the archetypes of the modern hush paradigm, spawn from revolutionary cells sticking it up to the man, negating the conventions of commoditised pop music to create a space for communal meditation and eventual enlightenment? True that, young padawan. Still, we don’t see much of that collectivistic apparatus surrounding this new transcendentalist wave. If anything, we suspect that one of the reasons for its popularity is that it is non-disruptive, easily enjoyed in the background as one goes about with the daily routine (which is what Eno initially intended), individually, headphone-clad and i-device plugged, isolated. It surely does make my commuting much smoother.
And even if it aspired to utopia, it would be a second-hand one, which is a subject that Simon Reynolds has aptly touched on, and we won’t get into here.
So, what do we do then? We bear all of these things in mind while we delve into this placid ocean for a handful of unique pearls rare in every artform, which are the expression of individual creativity, and genuine additions to the honourable canon. We do this very aware of the challenges inherent to practice in this un-commercial musical realm (a political statement in itself?).
Today, we constrain ourselves in our description, relinquishing the infinite possibilities of a barely explored universe, to bring things down to Earth, the day-to-day routines and happenings which we believe this abstract music has the potential to illuminate in new and unexpected ways.
Inception
One of the men who built this house recently undertook in the ultimate act of creation, bringing new life upon our planet.
As one who hasn’t yet followed in his wake, I can only wonder what it must feel like to, deep in the night, when the only sound to be heard is the smooth breathing of that small creature sleeping safe, navigating unfathomable dreams animated by portentous images just about impressed (and regarding which it harbours no expectations yet), what it must feel like to behold that small creature sleeping safe, which is you yet isn’t you, is less you every day as it runs towards becoming itself.
A sweetness, hopes, worries, and also that sadness which is the perennial shadow of our most important acts. But this night, mostly a sweetness.
Charlatan is Brad Rose of the mighty Foxy Digitalis, you can get Equinox from the similarly mighty Aguirre.
Transition
One of the men who builds this house has been sailing the perilous straits of the actual housing market.
As one who still rents, and was too busy to examine the first two abodes he ended up inhabiting, I can only wonder what it must feel like to gaze into the bare spaces of multiplying possibility which is every visited property, bounce potential futures against its angles and glide overs its curves, visualise the vistas from within in a fast-forward motion through the stations, dwell in the nature of light and the scenes that it may illuminate, operationalize all these parameters, estimate their value and introduce them into equations that will only be resolved when you jump into the abyss.
Become a key that opens the door to your castle.
You can get Roy Orb D. MT.’s Doctor of Metaphysical Healing from Moon Glyph.
Epilogue -This post is tagged with Aguirre records Moon Glyph
“
you’re right to be concerned. and then not right at all, for the game is surely up. and should we not be listening to whatever cosmic confection takes our fancy as the pea in the referees whistle becomes still and monstro-capitalism finally reaches its goal?
Yours sincerely
neil o'jism21st November 2011
“
We swing wildly between both alternatives, drowning in the blissful radiation with a nagging feeling that in doing so, we may be not taking responsibility for thwarting (or at least protesting against) our apocalyptic demise.
Thanks for commenting!
Yours sincerely
20jazzfunkgreats21st November 2011
“
Well, in ‘Noise: The Political Economy of Music’ Jacques Attali makes an enticing case that the organisation of future societies can be glimpsed in the music of the present. Maybe we’ll soon be floating in space after all?
Yours sincerely
Ulrik21st November 2011
“
Nice post.
Yours sincerely
Da Man21st November 2011
“
Hey y’all,
C. Farstak from the new age-new kosmische-new minimalism-new ambient group Food Pyramid, here with a thought on our friend and compadre Mr. Cole Weiland (a.k.a. Roy Orb).
As you say:
“This is all well and good, we are suckers for escapism and fantasy, but we can’t help but feel that this music supports the strategic equivalent of ‘burying our head in the sand’, which doesn’t bode great for the sort of global change that we feel is needed. Chill out isn’t a likely motor of socio-economic transformation.”
“Isolation”
“We bear all of these things in mind while we delve into this placid ocean for a handful of unique pearls rare in every artform, which are the expression of individual creativity”
…
I wish I could talk about all of these things in person, there is so much happening in music w/r/t paradigm shifts it is literally bonkers.
Maybe some food for thought: the whole album, according to Steve Rosborough and Cole, is very specific in execution, and isn’t necessarily just a feel-good new-age type thing. It has more to do with evoking a feeling of happenstance finding; the album was conceived as an homage to the countless discarded kinds of new-age albums one would find in thrift stores scattered all across the United States. Cole mentioned once or twice that he was even going to go so far as to return to choice thrift stores in places like Two Guns, TX and file his tape there.
The point I want to make is that I think it’s very important to separate out the form of the album (it’s very much a fun-with-a-used-Oberheim kind of record) with the greater ambitions of the artist.
That being said, I totally get where you’re coming from w/r/t ‘burying our heads in the sand’.
But from my perspective, maybe people are just looking for water? And what is sand but the erosive effects of water on rock? Sorry if this metaphor doesn’t make sense. I am trying very hard to express myself in writing.
We are musicians, not soldiers. And I would hope to come a long way from the kind of world that blares The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” while storming desert compounds in Iraq (about 5,400 km off, boys).
While it may lend itself to passive listening, I feel charged and ready for action after listening to Roy Orb D.M.T., because as a friend of mine, and fellow artist, I feel that his work does come from a place of resistance. It’s a resistance of non-violence, of spiritual dimensions, of belief in yourself and faith in your friends, of refusal to play the game and feel and explore, a resistance that has a too-intimate knowledge of the failures of resistances past, and consciously or unconsciously is seeking inward and building a coalition of like-minded individuals to change the the negative outward manifestations all around us.
It is music of hope! And moreover, music that embraces the paradox of knowing fully that “New Age” is so much stoney-baloney heads-in-the-sand, but at the same time contains the seeds of transformation. Zen is a lot of things to a lot of people, it is empty, and can be filled with commodifications and distillations of many many kinds and marketed to people in a meaningless ways (see: Yoga as a “quick exercise fix” vs. an extension of mental alignment and personal orientation); more than anything zen is the synthesis of inaction and action. It is an everyday living-my-life boring kind of thing, and may not be sexy or flashy all the time like a lot of “revolutionary” 60s rock n’ roll or even, for a modern example of ineffectual political music – Refused’s The Shape of Punk to Come (dudes were fucking serious! All “remember that the cycles of capitalism are always turning everybody! One! Two! Three! Four!” – And what happened to them? If that’s what ‘taking responsibility’ looks like, count me out. )…
But I would hope that our music is nonetheless spiritual dynamite. Resistance doesn’t have to be kidnapping WTO officials or CitiBank execs and dog-trotting them out to be hung in the streets. Real people are working to hold them accountable, legally, and are winning. Occupy Wall St. is only just beginning! Anywhere anyone is seeking, and finds something in our sound, we are connected. Not isolated. We are recharged and more at peace with ourselves after playing, and we hope that those listening feel that way and carry it forward.
My spine is the bassline!
<3<3<3 For all your great work.
C. Farstak
FOOD PYRAMID
Yours sincerely
C. Farstak23rd November 2011
“
Hi C,
Thanks so much for taking the time for commenting.
A whole thread of the post which I ended up not writing for lack of time did wonder about the extent to which music can realistically be expected to act as a motor of socio-economic transformation (I was planning to mention Billy Bragg and Radical chic) – we are not that keen on sloganeering ourselves, and are well aware of what happens to most counter-cultures (Iggy Pop is advertising car insurance in the UK these days).
Anyhow, when I think of political music, or music that reflects the politics of its time, I instead think of post-punk (which reproduced many of the DIY social infrastructures of the German kosmische communes), industrial music (Throbbing Gristle, Neubauten etc.) and the early techno that spawned the rave scene- I do miss stuff with that fierceness nowadays. It existed in grime, for a bit, but I don’t know where it’s gone (Jammer and Lethal Bizzle did actually reappear during the student protests in London). I’d love more of it so as to balance our sound karma, and capture a wider scope of reactions to all that’s going on in the world. It’s clear there’s a lot of anger out there, but very little seems to be expressed musically, or at least reach us in a form that also hits our senses.
And to conclude – I hope that the post didn’t come across as a criticism of Roy Orb, as we’d never have the gall of posting someone’s music to slam it down. If anything, the point with which I conclude is that the beauty that we find in pieces such as his addresses many of the qualms with which we began the post. So, we end in a similar place as you do, with the added benefit of having been made aware of those communitarian links whose presence we doubted (and that we tend to see much less this side of the pond, to be honest).
All the best,
J
Yours sincerely
20jazzfunkgreats23rd November 2011
“
@ Ulrik – Marshall McLuhan did say something about artists being the only ones able to predict the future because they are attuned to the changes that bring it about.
We may indeed reach that ecstatic endgame, although we may need an environmental holocaust before it happens. Although the music in the charts suggest a ghastly (although somewhat cyberpunk) future. We’ll see.
Yours sincerely
20jazzfunkgreats23rd November 2011
“
Copy Rogue Leader.
The DIY ethic is alive in America! And double copy on radical forms in music. Anger is v. valid, but finding positive expression for the negative emotions I think, yields the most rewarding outcome (Fela Kuti!). – and comes down to praxis. I hear you on that ferocity you speak of. A little more yang for the collective yin is due.
On behalf of Food Pyramid, I’d like to share a new track with you and the comments:
Extender – Food Pyramid
http://www.zshare.net/audio/9653312282bed7e0/
Hit us back if you’d like a preview of the full album.
Best,
C
Yours sincerely
C. Farstak24th November 2011