Music of mine, music sites of mine.

I now have a Bandcamp site, where my two techno albums, my pretty, melancholy, melodic album "Friendell," and a new hour-long dark ambient drone are all available for free/name your price.

Also on the Bandcamp site--semi-hidden--is a collection of foghorn field recordings called "Nobska."

I played a live set at Brainwave Wednesdays back in August. Download and enjoy the pretty drone beats, electrotechno, head-nod hip-hop, and industrial dancehall flavors.

No surprise

Okay, so it's no secret I can't stand the "laugh out loud" internet abbreviation and how often it's bandied about. I frequent a message board which has a word filter to change that abbreviation into funny phrases. So it may be odd that I'm helping you 'net denizens out with this, but here goes.

Here's a new way to write your precious and horrifically overused "lol". First let's change it to the numbers that look like it, "101". Hmm, that looks binary, right? Well, yes it is; it's binary for the number 5.

So instead of using that insipid, bereft-of-life "lol", just type 5! It'll save you typing time, and show the reader just how loony you truly are!

Have a nice day!!! :D 55555555555555555555555555555555

A track of mine is on a great MP3 tribute compilation

A piece of the dodgeball rave that I did with colleagues JTS3K and The Brown Moth is now a part of an MP3 tribute compilation for Daniel Hansson, co-founder and former CEO of Elektron, makers of amazing synths. Our track is alongside artists by the likes of Autechre, The Sea and Cake, Boom Bip, Dntel, John Tejada, Micronaut, Venetian Snares, among many other wonderful tracks.

You get 30 tracks for $5, all of which is a donation to the World Wildlife Foundation, because Daniel was fond of environmental causes.

Go to it, go do it::: http://45tribute.com/

When critiquing religion...

...most, if not all of those evangelist atheists abandon reason as well as appear to be poorly researched. I can feel this on a gut level when reading their screed, but because it infuriates me I have a difficult time debunking them. The following says it better than I can, and is able to look at both religion and this "new" atheism with a reasoned approach. http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,,2265446,00.html Surprise! Much of this "new" evangelical atheist material is more indebted to religion than it would like you to believe, and also is more antithetical to reason than many religions (when practiced in a non-fundamentalist manner, admittedly.) There are many problems with religion, but this new crop of "debunkers" miss their mark quite badly.

I now realize that their work infuriates me not because of their attack on religion (I myself feel ambivalent about religion), but because their ideas smack of fundamentalist ideology to the same degree or more than those they proclaim to be attacking. When they employ any of the following: pseudo-science, poor reasoning, a lack of knowledge about intellectual traditions--both secular and religious--and their roots, and, semi-shockingly, their very own version of superstition (when they say religion's superstition is harmful), their whole argument becomes null and void.

If you’re a Democrat, a progressive, a leftist of any kind, you must read this. I am serious.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/17456/6330/661/475297

It really is disappointing

One of the many reasons why the Clinton campaign is making me lose respect for Senator Clinton: http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/11/18417/6487/463/474494

Truly horrifying and upsetting

>edit< the trackback isn't working, so here is the link.<

Linked from the title of this blog post and here is a story you have to feel brave to read. I find the specific instance horrifying and upsetting, and my heart goes out to the woman and her family, but the fact that this is not a rarity in the bigger picture is enough to bring about despair. This despair can easily paralyze us, thinking "what can I do before it's too late?" There are direct routes, like protesting those law enforcement officers who are inept/unwilling to recognize a problem; there are educational routes, where task forces are organized to train law enforcement personnel to be more aware of domestic violence issues. But there are more things we can do, on a more subtle level, that would make for longer-term societal change if we stay vigilant about them. Put simply, we can be examples--live our values on issues like this. It's no easy task, which is why it is a long-term solution. But the long-term solutions are the ones that instill solid change. If we are truly interested in rooting out domestic violence (this term encompasses psychological, emotional, and physical abuse) on the larger scale, we have to take a close look at our own lives and root out the emotional and psychological manipulativeness that might reside there. This of course is not easy--not only does it require us to look at our own inter-peronal relationships and see if there are manipulative elements, but also to look inside ourselves to see if we engage in any sort of behavior, speech, and even thought that might contribute to the manipulation of others. (I am specifically speaking of the manipulativeness that leads to psychological, emotional, and physical abusiveness.) This may seem like an insurmountable task, but I can assure you that it is possible, and that the results are more freeing than you might imagine. You may have to make peace with parts of yourself you detest, you may have to diminish or sever personal ties, but in doing this you do yourself a great service, and are better able to show others that it is possible to do this and be the better for it. Again, this is something that I see as a very long-term solution, and in no way will prevent domestic violence from happening in any overt way. For this we need the direct and educational routes I mentioned above. But if we want women and men of future generations to have relationships that are not abusive, we have to show the boys and girls growing up right now how to have healthy relationships.

These are my thoughts right now, feel free to add/critique/build/etc. on them, as it is possible I may have missed an aspect of the discussion that needs to be addressed.

Holy shit

:(

Masculinity and evo-psych

Those who know me know that I have a different notion of gender roles. I find evo-psych (mostly when it is made "pop" culture appropriate) is intellectually lazy and, frankly, destructive when it tackles gender roles and where they come from. To be able to see beyond proscribed gender roles for yourself is extraordinarily difficult, as it tends to buck the dominant narrative, but it is more than worth the trouble to find new ways of being that are true to who you are, and true to how you will change throughout your life.

Martha McCaughey has written an excellent book about this, and her interview with Em and Lo is excellent.

I like some of Timbaland's work...

...but c'mon. No more props for him from me.

Deleting your social networking site profile...

...looks easy, save one. Facebook. With all the beacon crap that's been going on, I'm not surprised.

And a semi-amusing but moreso unsettling account of one Facebook deletion.

Breathing

In discussing the diaphragm muscle, the book Trail Guide to the Body (an excellent anatomy book for anyone who focuses on or is interested in the musculoskeletal structure) contains a sidebar which reads: "The heart is directly affected by the motion of the diaphragm. As the heart's fibrous pericardium is attached to the diaphragm's central tendon by ligaments, the heart literally rides up and down on the diaphragm as you breathe. The yogis were right - breathing can massage the heart!" I would add Taijiquan and any other meditative or "conscious breathing" exercise to this, in addition to the old standby aerobic activity. We often don't think about our breath, myself included, so we often don't consider that we might be able to breathe "better." Breathing massages the heart, and assists and is tied so many other important bodily functions that it can also help relieve stress. Dr. Andrew Weil describes three good breathing exercises each with a different purpose.

Larry Wilmore...

...is hilarious! And brings the awkwardness of race relations to the fore with his comedy. Another writer (like Paul Mooney) who wrote for the show In Living Color who is getting more of his due.

Environmental Blog Action Day

Things you can do:::

-Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or washing the dishes. It shouldn't be constantly running.

-Take shorter showers.

-Wash your clothes in cold water. The hot water does not kill germs (it must be absolutely scalding to do so), the detergent and dryer do that. It saves the power that would heat the water.

-Drive the speed limit. Fact: doubling your speed of travel increases by the power of two the wind resistance, using far more gasoline. Also, no need to accelerate quickly--this also burns needless gas. Using the two-second rule when behind another driver will save you from hitting your brakes and gas so much, and a smoother ride makes for better mileage. Mea culpa on some of these, but it's good to keep them in mind! It is my opinion that only those who drive sensibly are allowed to complain about high gas prices.

-Walk, bike, or use public transportation more. Also, if you are able-bodied, park in the first available spot--no wasting gas driving around to find the closest one, plus the walk is *not* that far!

-Plant some trees.

-Take nature walks--the beautiful world we live on is here for us to enjoy and interact with! Indulge! Learn about plants, birds, types of clouds, constellations. The more we engage with our surroundings the more aware we are of our place in the wider scheme of things, among many other things like fresh air and peace of mind.

-Plenty more things, but I've overstayed my welcome!

-Addendum, and another mea culpa::: turn your computer off when you're not going to use it for a few hours. It draws a lot of power.

Sure...

..you could take the Political Compass test, but even more interesting is the "Iconochasms" quiz--I find #18 particularly telling (w/r/t how history was written), and there are some that can be rather jarring. It shows me how multifaceted and contradictory us humans can be.

Boredom...

...is not universal.

Live music viscera (with overuse of the word "viscera")

I saw Swans on their final tour in 1997 at Irving Plaza in NYC. It was a mesmerizing experience, and I left the venue quite numb and overpowered. They played oppressive music that night that you had to submit to that night, though not all their music is like this. Also on the bill were Low, whose music I didn't yet know. I enjoyed how, in the face of Swans lunkheads jeering them, they continued to play, but even slower and quieter. They were supporting my now favorite album of theirs, The Curtain Hits the Cast. I've seen Godspeed! You Black Emperor twice, with the pretty build-up of the first song of disc one on Lift your skinny fists... overpowering, but in a euphoric way. Interestingly, the intensity of the song was lacking the second time I saw them, thus diminishing the euphoria for me. I feel fortunate enough to have seen Arab on Radar once before they broke up. Absolute dumb, spastic-yet-practiced fun! I'm sure I laughed a few times and was smiling for their whole set; so entertaining to see the band do their lurching dances to their music and to hear the composed, cutting cacophony of the songs with the demented drum machine drumming and stupid lyrics and vocals. These have all been great live music experiences, all working to get to some viceral level. But seeing Whitehouse live in NYC November 3rd, 2005 was an experience in a class of its own. Sure, it was viceral—how can having two middle-aged British guys yelling at you over a wall of finely-hewn noise (they call it "power electronics") not be? But it was far more ENGAGING as a live music experience than the others listed above. The lyrics, while filled with curses and "offensive" to some/many, come off as confrontational, but in a way that URGES you to respond. When William Bennett repeatedly asked the crowd how many of us believed in ROCK AND ROOOOLLLL! (Yes, an actual song by Whitehouse) he received a lackluster response from the crowd, which played perfectly into the last line of that song he spoke, "You should learn to stand up for what you believe in." (Or something similar.) It was the most entertaining part of the set for me in the traditional sense. My friend and I got into the set even more through mimicking Philip Best's "Whitehouse pose" with the elbow jabbing towards your feet and a tight fist pointing at the ceiling, with some backwards body lean for effect. I can't forget the addition of the wordless open mouth, making the pose all the more primal. Not all songs were barrages of noise; one or two were just a single pounding drum, but without the comfort of a techno reference point. By the end of the set, they were shirtless and were raising their straight arms above their heads, tracing a semicircle with each hand as they reached up. How could this not bee seen as a euphoric gesture? Their very last track was Movement 2000, a big block of thick, weighty noise that has a wonderfully paradoxical sense of "nothing is changing" within it, yet it conveys a compulsively propulsive force. This felt like a final purification—-you could tell it would be the last track of the night, and this knowledge wasn't a letdown-—moreso a closure (and opening!) that felt right.

Whitehouse's set that night left me feeling cleansed and rejuvenated. It is tough to tell what exactly contributed to this, though I like to think that the set was crafted by Bennett and Best to build up to such feelings. In comparing this experience with the others mentioned above, I feel that Whitehouse create visceral music that allows you to PARTICIPATE in exploring and peeling away layers of yourself that you have built up over the years. To call these layers artifice might not be exactly correct, but it wouldn't be far from the truth. You have to be willing to come halfway to this-—Whitehouse will certainly not lead you by the hand—-it is a challenging (in all respects) prospect, reflected in their lyrics (which will turn some listeners off immediately). Being an active participant in your own visceral response to live music gives one a feeling of agency. This is quite empowering, compared with being a spectator to visceral music which requires submission from the listener. Whitehouse act more as guides than authority figures, though at first glance they might seem to be the latter. I still enjoy listening to the other bands listed above, though with different ends. I will continue to listen to Whitehouse and explore my psyche through their work. And this will be ongoing—-possibly never-ending-—work, because we are such complex creatures.

Addendum::: A friend of mine pointed out that it may come across that I think Whitehouse are the pinnacle of all visceral live music I've experienced. This is not the case--they are the pinnacle in the specific realm of live music I discuss above, building agency and strengthening the spirit, as opposed to squashing it like, say, Swans, who are the pinnacle of that realm. And for balls-out fun visceral live music, Arab on Radar are the pinnacle. However, Whitehouse are far more interesting on a variety of levels, and it is this reason that led me to write on them from the vantage of live experience.

The Jena Six

If you are an American, you should read this.

Explicit content only

*Only* the swears from NWA's "Straight Outta Compton." Riotous!

My Crow Hills pics

A recent acquisition of mine was a nice little point and shoot digital camera. My primary subject so far has been the Crow Hills area of Leominster State Park in central Massachusetts. Please take a look!