Culture and the Environs

Go far.

From a distanced perspective it is clear the "culture" surrounding entire populations may reflect individual taste and interests yet be devoid of a single original impulse or expression.

This is vanity and complacency, indicative of a loss of vision, a failure of the spirit of reason and inquiry, and vapid self-indulgence.  One must go beyond, even into the uncanny and unknown.

Oppose, Engage, Evolve

Art first.  All the extraneous nonsense is just that, foolish waste.

Bring together the transcendent sounds.  Elevate the surroundings and thus the culture.

Shadows, Shallows

Observe, as vicarious experience supersedes direct engagement with reality.

Art undergoes transformations that may or may not be absolute and permanent, yet regardless, what was once essential recedes into a past beyond comprehension.

Contribution

Sound may be manipulated as an art form at a distant remove from "music".

Such a statement is outside the context of cultural and academic politics.  It is the simple fact that sound may be used as an art medium, made "problematic" only by the definition, articulation and application of the creative processes involved and the fact that most such experiments are failures.

These compositions, based on aesthetic principles, are the results of successful experiments, ideas, concepts, and theories that may be replicated, refined, and extended.

The Need for Sound Art

The fish, it has been said, is not aware of the presence of water.

The discriminating listener is constantly aware of the sounds of art subverted by "programming".  It is the same set of generic structures adorned with different characterizations and attitudes of style. The artist must transcend this, and provide the listener the opportunity to acclimate to a different state of auditory awareness.

Yet it is effortless to recognize the uniqueness of these aesthetic atmospheres, composed, as it were, of  "reverse-engineered" representations of perceptual sound environments.

Distant Echoes Remaining II

Range of awareness, not complexity, extends and refines consciousness.

Contemplative understanding is not burdened by the complex nature of things.  It is the emptiness of the vessel that makes it useful; the least obtrusive sound may bear more meaning than the loudest.

Field of Listening

It is possible to hear only what seizes the attention.

When this is the case, reality is understood within narrow limits. Aesthetic awareness is more than a refined sense of perception.  It is a survival skill as well.

Atmosphere Shift

One of the pub-restaurants.

Someone asks the composer, "What kind of music do you like?"

Oh, I suppose you could say I like anything that does not sound like music.

Trailing

In the rise and fall of things, cultural decline is natural.

Still, it must be remembered that such decline is not an inevitability, but the consequence of choices.

Go

Culture demands messages from its artists.

But the arts endure oppression when the sole message the culture demands is one of affirmation and reinforcement of the status quo.  There is such a thing as a concept of right and wrong, and within the so- called "gray areas" is a single dynamic of momentum that impels ideas and actions in one direction or the other.

The arts move toward elevation.  Without direction, and only reinforcement, culture moves into decline, compelling, if possible, its artists to act as sycophants.  These are not artists, but flatterers, lackeys, and bootlickers.

High Strangeness II

It is said that pursuit of poetry leads to philosophy.

It seems to me that pursuit of art tends toward the mystic; pursuit of sound tends toward the uncanny.

Imitation of the Unseen

Before the thought is the sound.

Being is a mystery; expression, a cipher.

Unreleased Expressions

Cultures that fail to value the arts will soon be bereft of both the works and the artists.

Artists will continue to produce, without fail.

But, as I have done, they will no longer make newly-completed works generally accessible.

Idea and Gesture

Things are done by choice, or by thoughtless instinct coupled with self-absorbed motivations.

I choose to take an interest in the arts, in music, philosophy, history and the sciences.

But one should never miss an opportunity to keep one's mouth shut.  It is a simple choice.

Vanguard Into the Gloaming

Consider the poetic.

...my ghost eye trapped in a camera lens.

Spoken, associate sound, tone, meaning.

How dare I assert these works are l'avant garde vrai?  The avant garde is now no more than a social context,  There are no sound structures such as I compose, productions of will and reason unique to themselves.  Culturally, there is no comprehension, but only vague association with unfamiliar works and "fame".  It is as if canvasses exist to startle Roberto Matta.

But he is time past.

Cut In-- Out-- Up Zone Nova

William Burroughs machine form blank.  "Hear the action?"

No reason to doubt the Old Hand. But reason is learned, not instinct.  Supreme advertisement, contra
human individual, served to burn down.  The meaning between the words.  The tones, not the sounds.

Hear the action?  Sound and subtext, the point of the spear.

Will, Fate, and Other Things

Notes are always essential for any artist.

If the artist must be an island, it will be so. Civilization must be given the written word or culture cannot thrive through transmission of idea, image, thought, instruction.  These exist from one artist to another, across time and space.

The Notebooks of Albert Camus are recommended to artist and discriminating reader alike.

Total Sonic Impression

Utilizing studio as instrument, compose according to sounds of objective experience.

This, then, is singularity of vision: develop aural analogues as perceptual correlates of settings, objects, events, atmospheres, and the contemplative impulse to grasp an infinity of possibilities.

Reality, Intangible

The presence of sound is not, in and of itself, the presence of spirit.

It should not be impossible to comprehend that sound may evoke spirit, yet what is essential is that the contemplation of sound may direct the listener to spiritual awareness and higher consciousness.

The Predictable and the Dead

The term "artist" is devalued, and every artist recognizes this.

Nonetheless, the artist carries on, aware the "preexisting audience" is not the possible one.

Sound, Attitude, Perspective

One hears of the mood of the country and the tone of cultural discourse as factors in critical events.

Perhaps, then, it is worthwhile to consider ways in which the sounds of various cultural environments, including music and its reduction to a continuum of fragments that may be heard throughout all media, similarly reflect, influence, or direct the consciousness of percipients.

Absurdly, this is considered a "dangerous" idea.

Pythia

What is can not become what must be.

This is the nature and challenge of transformation.

Embrace Falling Night

Sustain and abstain.

These are the choices the composer considers before acting to bring sounds into being.

Emotion, Perception

Consider the "feel" of sound.

Artistic choice in matters of representation allows for elements of composition expressing subjective mood and tone, and various degrees of clarity of impression as well. Each, whether working together or separately, contributes to the total effect of the work at hand.

Redefine Sound

Undo the damage of habitual, unconscious perceptions of "music" and "noise".

Discover what does not meet expectations.  Listen to what is not there until it can be heard.

Trash, Treasure

The generic musical forms exist as structured expressions, and cannot simply be abandoned.

Neither should they be subjects of extraordinary emotional attachments. Superior sounds are to be expanded, inferior ones are to be tamed and minimized.  To accept idle immersion in all that comes before is to be desensitized.  Sound is analogous to the experience of being. Being is expansion of awareness and knowledge in this moment now.

Higher, Towards the Eclipse

Musical and artistic artifacts saturate culture at all times.

This does not stop innovation, and cannot stand in the way of experimentation. Audiences may become complacent with an overabundance of what were once riches. The artist will not.

Aesthetics and Meaning

Make time for art.

Gain insight into the real. Grasp the nature of appearances. Illuminate life.

Subject / Object

The art of sound must, from time to time, mean sudden realization.

Listening perception engages consciousness; consciousness expands beyond the "self".

Engagement and its Opposite

The reality of the cultural climate is that it is constantly changing.

If the artist is not to be swayed accordingly, it is necessary to remain focused on a singular vision.

Cultural Politics

One would be wise to remember that, ultimately, social groups bring about the culture they deserve.

Motion

Art, among many things, is a perception of experience.

Expression inspires greater experience, evolving in this manner. The joyless pursuit of fame and wealth is a different matter entirely, and for that, audience and artist can be grateful.

Energy

Virtue is a force of good.

In music, the idea of virtue may be problematic. In the case of sound art, the good is self-evident, or it exists not at all.

Supposing

Sounds are interesting when they have a degree of aesthetic appeal and meaning.

When there is a dearth of innovation, what follows is a great deal of "re-imagining", and the status quo is thereby sustained while it yet declines.  Observe music culture as the clearest example, its common patterns and deteriorating archetypes replicated again and again, growing vapid and empty.

It is not repetition, but juxtaposition that possesses intrinsic interest, evoking meaning through renewal of sound and vision.

On / Off

Go listening, hear the surrounding world.

Nothing changes and everything changes.

State, Setting, Feeling

Ultimately, no "narrative" is acceptable.

Art, culture, politics, and myriad perspectives both social and personal cannot be tried by their so- called narratives, that is to say, their associated representations, justifications, or articulations.

They live, or are found not to exist at all, through experience, which is why I say listen, and hear.

Complacency and Doubt

Conformity to trending attitudes does not confer cultural perspective.

Clearly this is contrary to popular opinion, but popular opinion is an insult to individual intelligence. There is no monolithic "we" that "shares" anything.  There is only perception, insight, and proper understanding of the appearances of reality,

These do not exist in unquestioning acceptance of group norms.

Cultural perspective demands right reason, freedom of thought, and contemplative reflection. The way of the artist demands the same, if the art is to be of significant cultural meaning and importance.

Apocalypse Past

Rarely is music central to culture and of premier importance.

By historic measure, such times are brief, revealing the nature of the human condition as only art can with respect to life's impermanence.  Hollow echoes follow, sustaining the futility of nostalgia.

Yet art remains, to be revealed in different ways, including those brought to light by the art of sound.

Amid the Predictable

One may perceive deeply, or not at all.

Art exists independently, and makes no demands upon an audience.

Obscured Presences

In plain sight.

Sibelius.  Debussy.  Satie.    Tone Poems.  Impressionism.  Furnishing Music.

Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan.  Birth of the Cool.  Terry Riley.  John Cage.  Minimalism.  Indeterminacy.

Lists do not end; there is only failure to know, and to do.

Ideas of value may become lost, misunderstood, or set aside, but they do not cease to exist.

Search

It is a way of sound.

It is everywhere, yet it goes unnoticed. Those who claim to seek it want it to be something other than what it is.  Those who find it know it is beyond description.

Listen. It is always present, yet it must always be heard within. Then it will resonate throughout the greater world.

Enough to Listen

What consciousness does naturally, it may do with intent.

Upon entering new environments, curiosity is aroused, attention directed, awareness heightened.

Hearing, sustain such acuity with expansive, contemplative perception.

Evening Traveler

Sounds of the day fade into vague impressions.

Light is altered, and with it the stillness before twilight arrives. Such are contemplative atmospheres. The composer will do well who brings sonic elements together in forms that evoke indistinguishable states of consciousness.

Existential Choice

Art survives.

Culture endures as all things rise and fall. The nature of art is that of a constant state of returning, and the creative act follows knowledge, perception and experience. This is reality, and nothing less.

Forward Movement

Ideas alone are never enough to fulfill the necessities of change.

There must be courage, followed by action, to conceive, initiate, create, and complete what must be done. Only methods and means differ, in grasping the possible and making it real.

There are those who will accept being told what to believe and what to do.

And there are those who will not.

Expression and Knowledge

Vous ne pouvez pas créer de l'expérience. Vous devez la subir.     Albert Camus

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

Albert Camus

Almost forty years ago, I read Charlie Hebdo from time to time. It was occasionally amusing, if predictable, as a vehicle through which to épater les bourgeoisie. But no one needs to justify supporting freedom of expression, or condemning evil.  Nor will I.

Real, Surface

Setting and tone manipulate audience attitude.

These manipulations may be subtle or overbearing, convincing, attractive, or offensive and insulting. Unlike the atmospherics of visual media such as film, those of sound will be perceived by the mind's eye of imagination, and the sense of mood they create will impact the listener directly.

The integrity of the composer's inner vision must be sure, and certain, and sustained.

Of Worldly and Otherworldly States of Being

Some sounds reflect the marketplace, the social setting, the spectacle of culture.

Other sounds are out of range of the excitement of crowds, the diversions and distractions of the mass media, and the charms of vicarious emotional experience.

These latter sounds are the ones that evoke atmospheres, provoke questions and speculations, and call up images that elevate consciousness beyond the transitory and the mundane aspects of life.

In and Out of the Abstract

Inevitably, the arc of history appears to end in the corruption of the present moment.

But this is no more than the nature of the present moment.  What is not now apparent continues the arc into the future, even as it exists, within reach, yet in obscurity.

Elements, Connections, Radiation

With cultural changes, atmospheres and perspectives change.

Art, and in particular the art of sound, contributes to bringing the inner world of the individual and the outer world that is objective reality into varying degrees of balance.  Each is interrelated and involves myriad causes and effects.  One deems some things to possess value, and others, utter rubbish.

Accordingly, one creates.