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music as vitalist force #1

At this point in the film My Dinner With Andre , actor Andre Gregory seems to be describing granular communities or “tribes” forming into an underground of consciousness with a vital role to play in the future of society. I love the idea of “Invisible Planets”.

Generally these last few years, I am interested in descriptions of music as a vitalist force. I believe that music encapsulates complex knowledge, easy to decode but fuzzy in nature. The knowledge attainable through the practice of listening, further develops a deep understanding of how we relate to the world.

I like “My Dinner With Andre” for many reasons, yet this part of the conversation really struck me as a good description of vitalism in music.

Adhoc sonic-tribes clustering around music styles and engaging in some kind of embodied learning activity. Be it simply listening to music whilst navigating physical reality (portable music devices) or sharing a music experience with others (clubbing, concert, radio etc) . This equates to visiting an Invisible Planet to “refuel”, so as to continue with the task of making a vital difference.

#musicology

music as vitalist force #2

I enjoyed John Sayles movie, “The Honeydripper” - I generally like music films, where there’s long sections of good music, or stories around music and artists.

This speech by Danny Glover’s character rolls an imaginary “first time” when a savvy slave touches the house’s piano for the first time and feels the rush of a whole future of powerful new music before him. Great n-dimensional moment.

#audiopost #john sayles #music #vitalism

Bo Diddley died on June 2, 2008 of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida. Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician’s home when he died at 1:45 a.m. EDT (05:45 GMT), said his death was not unexpected. “There was a gospel song that was sung (at his bedside) and (when it was done) he said ‘wow’ with a thumbs up,” Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley’s deathbed. “The song was ‘Walk Around Heaven’ and in his last words he said ‘I’m going to heaven.’

#Bo Diddley

“At first I remained outside; then, as rescuers ran into the theater and began to bring out ridiculous things, old sofas and the like, I also went over through the dark vestibule and up the grand staircase. Above was the fire. The flames were already beginning to enter the corridor through the loges from the auditorium. Suddenly a loge door flew open crackling, then a second, then a third. The huge auditorium stood open. The entire chamber is a whirlwind of glowing dust, one single, red sea of light in which vibrating atoms of fire waft upward, undifferentiated elements, not flames. These become thicker only on the periphery where the fire breaks hissing through the silk curtains of the loges and licks the roof of the corridor with long tongues. In the gallery of busts the oeil-de-boeuf windows fall clattering one after the other and a fleeting light from a flame falls on Houdon’s Voltaire, who views the wreckage ironically.”

[Journey to the Abyss: The Diaries of Count Harry Kess ler, 1880–1918 ]

#the inertials #videopost

…To the Maya a person never dies (and I wonder if they ever are born?).

As Astor-Aguilera writes, the body (human body, pot or building) is simply a container for non-corporeal persons that are tethered to this container for as long as the container is usable. It can be discarded through what we call biological death, smashing of pottery or a termination ritual. To the Maya there are no gods, divinities, etc., these are Christian overcodings. Only non-corporeal persons/ancestors exist and they are tethered into various objects and phenomena but these ancestors do not live in a separate realm. They are within earth, on earth and in the sky and the trees link these non-discrete realms. They are still communicating after the “death” of the object. The Maya both undermine and overmine objects, which exactly is what materialism does according to Harman.

In any case, the theistic/atheistic spectral dilemma is no dilemma for the Maya. The Maya are simply living with their ancestors.

—

from ArcheologicalHaecceities via ObjectOrientedPhilosophy

#ontology #philosophy #neorealism #audiopost

Le Corbusier was commissioned by Philips to present a pavilion at the 1958 World Fair and insisted (against the sponsors’ resistance) on working with Varèse, who developed his Poème électronique for the venue, where it was heard by an estimated two million people. Using 400 speakers separated throughout the interior, Varèse created a sound and space installation geared towards experiencing sound as it moves through space. Received with mixed reviews, this piece challenged audience expectations and traditional means of composing, breathing life into electronic synthesis and presentation.

—

Composer Cyril Scott plays his Lotus Land (orginal recording) (by orchestraOne)

notational:

This is a foundational document for Information Theory by Claude Shannon.

It strongly occurs to me that the artists that I am most interested in might constitute the role of “Noise Source” in this diagram. Furthermore, the artist as noise source might not only disrupt a message but may also amplify or add useful complexity to a given message.

This may be seen as the starting point of why I want artists to get involved in Data Visualization. While Shannon needed to remove “meaning” from the flow of information ( for the sake of sending it over telephone lines), artists might then tactically re-insert meaning in their role as a “noise source”.

#cybernetics

varietas:

Shot from the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, the first cars cross the span on their way to San Francisco, as the bridge opens for business in 1937.

from the San Francisco Examiner archives (via)

(via gacougnol)

myampgoesto11:

Lola Dupre: Exploded Nicola Tesla/ Exploded Charles Darwin

(via artificialisland)

Back in the kitchen he fished in his various pockets for a dime, and, with it, started up the coffeepot. Sniffing the - to him - very unusual smell, he again consulted his watch, saw that fifteen minutes had passed; he therefore vigorously strode to the apt door, turned the knob and pulled on the release bolt.

The door refused to open. It said, “Five cents, please.

—

- from “Ubik” Philip K. Dick the book which inspired the title of my new album

#the inertials #audiopost

odios:

PKD

(via rhea137)

THE INERTIALS by CRISTIAN VOGEL - CD - Reserve your copy now at Boomkat

I recommend Boomkat for quality of service and curation - its highly likely you will purchase a bunch of other interesting music as well as my CD, thats why its a good record shop!

Their wonderful review:

“Sick new album from Cristian Vogel, one which finds him reclaiming his throne as prince of offbeat techno and stylishly f*cked-up beat science. ‘Enter The Tub’ and ‘Lucky Connor’, with their booming subs and hi-tech pimp swagger, sound like close relatives of Rustie’s Jagz The Smack - throughout the album, in fact, you find yourself clocking how thoroughly contemporary, and often prescient, Vogel’s work sounds - now as in previous years. There’s a marvellous tension and compression to all the tracks here: on ‘Seed Dogs’ oily, electro-styled drum patterns frame autistically detailed, dynamic FX; ‘Snakes In The Grass’ - probably the album’s highlight - pummels you into submission, its swung industrial funk coming over like a sophisticated Skynet hybrid of Chiastic Slide-era Autechre and T++. ‘Deepwater’ sounds like dubstep in pace and mood, but Vogel delivers it with a minimalist poise all his own; ‘Spectral Tranmission’ makes explicit the affinities between vintage kosmische and hypnotic, dub-bruised house music; and the distorted ambient ebb and flow of ‘Spectral Trangression’ could almost be a William Basinski piece. Vogel’s ambition for the project was to make it as “highly produced” as possible - with a richness of sound design and accumulation of detail that would really ensnare and engage listeners, both immediately and over repeat listens. He’s succeeded magnificently in this aim, and, most impressively, he’s done it without letting clutter or self-indulgence in. Recommended.”

#the inertials

Number one album review in this months De:Bug for The Inertials.

The review acknowledges the role played by the fans in financing the recording.

#the inertials

artists in charge of expert systems: mechanisms of feedback, variability and vitalism in systemic music composition

Artist In Charge Of Expert Systems on Prezi

Prezi notes of the paper I presented at the Music Faculty Research Colloquia of Oxford University, on 15th May 2012.

#research #Presentation #Prezi

music as vitalist force #1

music as vitalist force #2

THE INERTIALS by CRISTIAN VOGEL - CD - Reserve your copy now at Boomkat

artists in charge of expert systems: mechanisms of feedback, variability and vitalism in systemic music composition

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