Cloud-Hidden

At the nadir of cultural decline lies ignorance and apathy and self-absorbed complacency.

Since neither art, nor its understanding, are effortless, intellectual curiosity cannot be neglected by those who would gain the broader, deeper perspectives on life the arts reveal.

This is a critical contemporary issue, and its most odious aspects are intentionally reinforced by the elite institutions and mass media under the guise of "populist" egalitarianism.  Since these conditions are, in point of fact, the direct results of social engineering aimed at producing an anemic, totalitarian, collectivist mentality, the resolution of this cultural crisis is far from certain.

In any event, the work of the artist moves forward, openly or underground.

The Mob Falls Silent

The artist is agent of change, the artistic work a reflection of cultural dynamics.

Speak of the modern and reference more than two hundred years of progress.  Observe the clamor and obsessions of the contemporary and the dim fantasies of the past two weeks, months, or hours glare in and out of focus.

Facing subjection to immediacy, the tyranny of contemporary whims, pseudo-intellectual fads, and academic political correctness, the modern artist will never yield.

Post 1500.

Subtleties at the Edge

Cultures, societies, and entire civilizations endure loss.

History and art remain to delineate degrees of perceptivity that once were within reach of those willing to do the work necessary to attain them.  None difficult, they are simply not effortless.

Existential concepts, Zen, mysticism, aesthetic elevation, Stoic equanimity, and direct awareness of objective reality are among these ways of being and living in the world.

History records and describes, art directs the mind and will.  Both sustain, and sometimes restore.

The artist as composer observes the world, hears the possibilities, and works to reveal.

Sonic Setting

Perception of sound registers far more than "music".

Yet cultural norms would have it that only "music" is the creative apex of sound composition. This is absurd on its face, as is the idea that "experimental" music must lead to meaningless noise.

Sense the beauty of sounds as they evolve without interference in all surroundings, whether urban or pastoral, and take this aesthetic into the context of artistic expression, for example, sculpture, collage, cubist perspective, or impressionism. Let "music" exist according to it's elements and techniques, but listen beyond into uncharted areas of imagination. There lies the future.

The Adventurous Journey

Limits present themselves.

It is never necessary to seek them.  It is always necessary to transcend them.

Listen ahead.

Past Immediate Perception

It is possible, I believe, to listen ahead.

The inner ear may perceive with foreknowledge of what is to come, and the composer can develop means by which to act according to such understanding.  This may have an impact on style, sound production, delineation of arrangements, selection of tonal qualities, and so forth.

It is common knowledge that large numbers of intelligent listeners have no interest at all in the state of contemporary music, for the simple reason that it represents unimaginative creative exploitation of well-trod territories. The music industry will not pander to independent thinkers, who must discover the possibilities on their own.

Four Minute Mile

One may be competitive in life, and ambitious.

As an artist, nonetheless, one challenges oneself, and oneself only. Anything else is nothing more than the appearance of a thing that has no reality in the truth of expression.

Fire, Impact

Culture changes, whereas human nature is predictable.

But cultural arts have the potential to alter ideas, attitudes, and perceptions, even to the extent of ennobling the individual.

Some artists consider these facts in terms of profound responsibilities; others give no consideration.

Museum Muse

A key to the expansion of experience is perceptivity.

Consider a reality without Warhol, Dali, Picasso, Frank Zappa, the Velvet Underground, John Cage, William Burroughs, Norman Mailer and others of merit and vision across the cultural spectrum.

And, in fine, this is reality.

Trial and Departure from Error

Observe culture at it most frenetic, overwrought, and predictable.

This is the end result of constant subjection to immediacy, or attachment to contrived "issues" and specious appearances everywhere glaring as distractions of the moment now.

Patience refines gesture. The reality of permanent things is in the abstract. Such things as love and honor cannot be placed in a brightly decorated container and sold at what price the market will bear.

It is a matter of prolonged critical thought and contemplation to gain insight into elevated experience and meaning.

Such experiences do not happen randomly or suddenly, and the arts that reflect them offer both challenges and satisfactions far beyond the temporal and mundane.

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.

Above the Hollow

Human skill sets exist that are neither intellectual nor physical.

These non-cognitive, perceptual abilities involve persistence of engagement, acquisition of aesthetic perspectives, and experiential recognition of objective reality in contrast to cultural narratives or "mere appearances".  They are also essential to what is commonly recognized as an individual's work ethic, whether in scholarly, artistic, athletic or business pursuits.

Development of such capacities enhances awareness and perception, and expands consciousness as well, but interest in these things is rare in any age or cultural setting.

Foresight and the Unforeseen

Culture is predictable to the extent that prevailing attitudes tend to conformity.

This is the tyranny of mass mentality that demands of the artist subservience to a single perspective and its every element and aspect.

But the artist brings wind, light, and thunder, filling mere chaos with the unexpected stillness of satori and epiphany.

Overwrite Antiquity

Forgotten events are in motion.

The composer will do well to capture their forces, origins, tones and dynamic movements.

Their essential natures may be lost to contemporary understanding, but not to the modern listener, who feels their impulses in the unformed sounds of imagination.

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.

Time, Place, Identity Unknown

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The listener will hear these albums in the form intended by the artists, who maintain complete creative control over every project.  Each of these albums is an artisan work, created with full attention to every artistic and production detail, made for the forward-thinking listener.

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.