Week 23 6/14/2020

Always forward.

                                      

That which has been possible in the past remains viable moving ahead, but it is necessary to engage foresight rather than cling to infantile idea and emotion.  

Week 20 5/20/18

Have you heard the term "avant-garde" lately?

Such is the unfortunate nature of a complacent culture, lacking in foresight and vision.  Nonetheless, one moves, and moves forward.

Ambimusica.com

Value and Respect

All cultural roles are available to the artist, for whom choice and responsibility are one.

One's duty is to one's art, not to social expectations, academic and cultural criticism, or the various "demands" of the public.

It is self-reliance, coupled with individual freedom, that makes this possible.

Time, Now

The warrior, the sage, and the artist have the same existential mandate.

By virtue of every available power, bring Time Future into Time Present.

Pop Downturn, Reform Pop

What is know as the "popular imagination" conforms to a dull immediacy.

By "immediacy" I am referring to the dubious sense of urgency associated with the omnipresence of media.  The dullness, or lack of imaginative acuity, is the consequence of incessant repetition of the same ideas, beliefs, and social norms in opposition to the same "transgressive" perspectives, as if these latter were, in fact, of any consequence in comparison with expression of original, creative thought.  That is the state of culture, unless and until efforts are made to transcend the mundane, and those efforts recognized as essential to the idea of a forward-thinking civilization.

Time Flash

There exists an absurd belief that the artist is only capable of creating for a present audience.

Futurity is not a mere abstraction, but a reality to be created and claimed.  For the artist who can comprehend this, there can be no expectations, only work in the process of coming into being.

Exercise III

Compare original work with works of the masters in the field.

Similarities imply fundamentals; contrasting elements represent individual perspective. The former demonstrates competence, cultural literacy, and temperament, while the latter reflects expressive intent, personal experience, critical acumen, and stylistic gesture as influence yields to originality.

Asymmetric Effect

Predictability is toxic.

It is the death of art, and ultimately of culture. It is written on the stake driven through the heart of American rock music; it is the nemesis yet of American jazz, and of the global avant-garde, not only in music, but in every field of cultural endeavor.  Even so, innovation is quietly suppressed, or damned with faint praise, in the erroneous, elitist belief that the listener lacks the intellectual and emotional wherewithal that is necessary for forward-thinking, or, worse, that the listener is little more than a mindless consumer whose dull appetites must be directed toward the "just" ends of a kind of (commercially acceptable) political correctness.

As composer and artist, I respect the listener, and am not subject to such grotesque errors.  And thus it is that I have spent four decades pursuing and perfecting compositions and recordings that cannot be forced into a mold or followed to inevitable conclusions, even with- no, especially with- repeated listening.  I will not compromise.  I do not expect less of my listeners.

Unrevealing

Look for what cannot be seen, listen for what is not there.

Fellow artists understand the essential nature of this statement, with some, but very few, others.

Extinction of Ideas

Without thought there is only the necessity to conform. And it is a necessity, a survival skill.

This need never be, as with thought comes foresight, yet when the human condition trends toward vanity, self-obsession, and complacency, it is an ever-present danger. Thus the connection between the ancient and modern Stoic, the Zen archer, and the 21st century avant-garde artist and composer.

All must strike the same target in darkness.

Media Fog

Artists of integrity are never less than honest brokers of cultural information.

Artistic communication is often shadow-play, nevertheless, yet artists direct the attention to the places where they dwell, either toward light or darkness.

This understanding is the responsibility of the audience-- but it is not always present.

What is Called

Methodologies of music represent ways of controlling sound.

Yet there are other forms, other models. Every environment is a listening environment, whether music-- or control-- is present or not.

Echoes Fade, Anticipation Forms

Listen toward the silence.

The artist as composer expects time past, remembers time future, and expresses in time present.

Force of Memory

Note the collective mentality of cultural groups who demand their biases be reinforced by art.

Control of media and the public debate leads only to more control, and consolidation of power in the hands of fewer, more totalitarian, agents of the status quo.  Imagine scenarios in which "art" must be approved by the state or (other controlling forces) because specific ideas and content are acceptable, and no others.  But it is not necessary to imagine, and one need only observe these forces at work.

Alt / Experiment II

Not music, but a panorama of sounds, dynamic in movement and tonal qualities.

As sounds evolve in a state of dreaming, without planning and interference, so they may be understood and brought into reality through perceptivity and imagination,

These are expressions beyond the composer's ego.  Rather, they are expressions of phenomena.

Drive

To act merely for reward is not a virtue.

Moral reason demands that what is right, regardless of reward, or punishment, or loss, is that which must be done.  Yes, this is truth, even in the arts.

Commission

The Black Mountain School project creates sound environments.

These sound environments are designed to complement diverse settings by replicating the paradigms of spontaneously occurring aural phenomena, both "natural" and "man-made".  As such, these works are not predicated upon concepts that are traditionally "musical", but rather upon the perceptual qualities of active listening and passive hearing.  Such perspectives are associated with apprehension of tones, patterns, and myriad variations of sonic impressions, some based upon aesthetic constructs of the visual arts.

Peculiar methods and techniques necessary to compose sonic atmospheres of this nature originate solely with the Black Mountain School project and continue to be developed in our studio.  While the listener may detect a host of artistic influences, these are unavoidably displaced in the course of the work by the intent and goals of the compositions and recordings.  In objective terms, the discriminating listener will find no other "experimental" or "mainstream" productions that are analogous to the work of Black Mountain School.

Were it otherwise the case, the project would have no purpose, and no raison d'être.

Art as Sound as Art: The King Krill

As discussed here in variable contexts, diverse sound elements may be presented in asymmetrical manner, designed in ways that defy anticipation.  The King Krill is a recording by Diode and Rick Holland that synthesizes unique elements of poetry, vocals, percussion and electronica to create an experience of rare aesthetic beauty.  This is a work that draws the future into the moment now.

The King Krill, featuring I am Fya, Beth Rowley, Chris James, Onallee, and Andrew Plummer, as brought into being by producer Old Man Diode and poet Rick Holland

Listeners familiar with Drums Between The Bells and Panic Of Looking, Rick Holland's 2011 collaborations with Brian Eno, will note the distinctive qualities shared by those works and The King Krill in combining musical and poetic elements. Each approaches and explores sound settings for voices from various artistic perspectives that bring to life diverse atmospheres and moods, and all three reflect creative interaction and experimentation seasoned over the past decade. As a poet of critical imagination and integrity, Holland proves at ease with both the ethereal atmospherics of Eno's arrangements and the elastic sonic power Diode wields with energetic bravura.

Read more of my review of The King Krill at The Quietus.com:  http://thequietus.com/

MP3 Album of Old Man Diode and Rick Holland: The King Krill at Amazon.com:  The King Krill