Why I No Longer Read Heavy Books (2018) Andy West. A touching coming of age (coping with trauma) short story. I’m particularly moved by the authors description of his father.
My father was in front of the TV, topless on the couch. I can recall the swirls of dark hair on his chest and shoulders. He was smoking filter tips and drinking beer from a can. I was sitting on the floor between him and the TV. An advert came on appealing for donations to help starving people. Gaunt African children appeared on the screen. The shape of their bones showed through their limbs. Their teeth and eyes looked cartoonishly large in their narrow faces. My father took the lid off of a tin of chocolates that was on the coffee table next to him, took out a chocolate and threw it at the screen.
Radio Enemy 008b a junky – cut-up harsh noise compilation by Yan Jun’s associates from China.
Jenna Sutela interviews Shu Lea Cheang A Network of Spores (2017).
In my view, orgasm is a very conscious, dedicated endeavor, a hard-earned pleasure that often involves durational, tedious foreplay. The Japanese word for orgasm, iku, actually means “going” rather than “coming.” Upon arriving at orgasm, in Japanese one might call out iku, iku, going, going. Between coming and going, the spark of controlled energy flows both ways. Before Tinder and Grindr, I.K.U. portrayed stored orgasm data on-the-go, ready for download and consumption, a clean transaction sans foreplay.
DIY: MIDI Thru Box a good tutorial by Marocco Dave (2017) for building a useful midi utility.
Aural Archipelago “is an online repository for the musical sights and sounds of Indonesia”. An archival project by Palmer Keen (an American DIY ethnomusicologist). A year ago I wrote that all sampler technologies colonize by default but recent afrofuturist discussions and experiences listening noise have lead me to think that samplers are not as bad as I though. It’s easy forget that we are listening to media (not sound). Digital artifacts caused by compression and other glitches are a big part of the experience. Glitches develop a secondary narrative, a stream of involuntary noises and pauses which feel very lively (every listening experience is different depending on network speeds, changes in audio player standards etc.). Digital (and particularly online) audio is more like LP than LP. Archives never preserve content, they only collect data. Archives only have political and cultural influence if we believe that a recording can capture the essence of a performance and that the subject of the recording will not benefit from it. Also… These recording are so great that I can’t complain. My favorite so far is Sarka Rangsang. Dijf Sander’s Jaipong is dope too (Massive Attack mixed with Doors) but his art could be interpreted as an appropriation.
I’m on my way to Saarijärvi (on a train via Jyväskylä). Three kids (6-12 years) are travelling alone. The youngest asked the oldest: “Sisu, which one would you like have: A years worth of ice cream or a years worth of barbecue food?”. Sisu replied: “Barbecue food of course, because it’s more expensive then ice cream”. They all nodded in silence because Sisu’s answer was so wise.
I’m having the time of my life with the Bastl Kastl and a Zoom 70cdr on a train. I’m having great results changing the different synthesis modes using the random voltage pattern generator. I’m wandering in a solid but relaxingly random ambient&noise territory. My only question is how to expand my setup from here. Zoom 70cdr is working as a plate reverb and a delay which I toggle when changing sounds. I guess I have to find a drum machine next (A Leploop Multicassa perhaps).