tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39229176889622048572024-02-19T11:54:05.360+00:00Ayin's RazorIt's all just words on a screen, really.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-73270502280747725372015-12-12T18:02:00.000+00:002015-12-12T18:02:10.658+00:00Surrealism and Kabbalah: Yves Tanguy's Endless Space (1938)The Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art has an impressive collection of surrealist art. One that caught my attention today was this piece by Yves Tanguy<br />
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Tanguy is an old favourite of mine. Along with Kay Sage he created some of the strangest abstract landscapes which are intriguing and evocative while also being very cold to the touch. This piece is titled Endless Space, which is translated into Hebrew as חלל אינסופי. Ein Sof (אין סוף) is a term used by (though I don't think they originally coined it) the Kabbalists, to describe the highest unknowable peak of divinity: it translates literally as "without end". For the Kabbalists this was something like the internal essence of God, and stood in paradoxical distinction-from and unity-with the humanistic expression of God's personality, known through the Name YHWH (and it is this latter potency which is expressed in and as the individual qualities of the sefirotic tree).<br />
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The Hebrew Sof has, to our ears, echoes of the Greek Sofia: Wisdom, who in one Gnostic myth helped instigate the faulty creation by the hands of the lesser god (through, if I remember rightly, her lust for knowledge of the true God). Ein Sof then appears as that which stands before Wisdom's perceptive attempts to direct thought into a manageable form. In Hebrew "wisdom" is Chokhmah, the second sefirah which stands parallel to Binah (understanding).<br />
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In Tanguy's piece, shapes which are at once concrete, admitting some kind of form or spatial solidity, and yet appearing to await form, still not pressed into a shape which fits the contours of human thought, stand as spectators; they seem to be watching the arena for the real action; the arena itself is simply a shadowy depression in the landscape and all we can find there are perhaps two pebbles. The emptiness itself is what creates the impression of endlessness; without specific objects to provide distinction and measurement we cannot tell a millimetre from a light year. Is there also a hint of gravitational pull, the penumbra of a black hole which warps and wraps time and space around itself?<br />
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Without End, without beginning; before wisdom and understanding began their process of incubating thought, gestating particularised forms for a comprehensible world; but also that primal chaos which is at the heart of everything, the raw formless nature which precipitates identity, drawing qualities like a cloak around itself.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-78728155645031732652015-11-22T16:43:00.001+00:002015-11-22T16:43:46.174+00:00parasitic ideologies (musings from the World Press Photo exhibition)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There's an excellent exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall (Southbank, London) at the moment. This year's World Press Photo competition collects several individual photographs and sets (termed in the exhibition "stories"), including carnivorous plants (and the post-carnivorous which now live in harmony with animals, swapping housing for nutrient-rich droppings - this one also deserves its own <a href="http://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2015/nature/christian-ziegler" target="_blank">link</a>), the effects on orangutans of palm-oil farming in Indonesia, environmental degradation and its concealment in China, the Gezi park protests in Istanbul, the aftermath of the 2014 Gaza war, Eritrean wedding festivities in Israel, the Russian offensive in Ukraine, a transgender community being aided by Sunni groups in Indonesia, the Nigerian schoolgirl abduction, development in Mongolia, and an American community of sexual offenders.<br />
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What I found the most captivating was <a href="http://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2015/nature/anand-varma" target="_blank">Anand Varma</a>'s images depicting that subclass of parasites which actively take control of their host, manipulating it into patterns of behaviour which are necessary for the parasite to continue its own life cycle. Usually these lead to the death of the host, for example in the case of the nematode which, entering ants through the bird droppings they collect, turns its abdomen bright red like a ripe berry, while influencing the ant to walk with its rear end raised - thus making it more apparent to the birds which will eat it, under the impression that it is a tasty little berry. The nematode can only complete its life cycle and reproduce while in the gut of these birds.<br />
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There are many more examples, and I've read about them also in the pages of <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128272-200-zombie-power-harnessing-parasite-mind-control/" target="_blank">New Scientist</a>. The most famous, and perhaps concerning, is the virus which is present in cat feces and serves to influence mice to behave in an unnaturally brave/careless manner, so making them more likely to get eaten by said cat. Some people have speculated that the virus could also be influencing humans who live with cats and are exposed to their feces through a litter tray.<br />
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This has made me think about the role that a metaphysical kind of virus can play in the human world. Ideologies such as communism, fascism, religious concepts, and the like, cannot survive outside the human world; they require us in order to reproduce themselves and spread their evolving progeny. An idea such as life after death, or metaphysical salvation must emerge in the context of consciousness. But once it has emerged, once it has become a species of idea or way of looking at the world, it can influence the life and behaviour of some individuals, encouraging them towards attention-attracting lifestyles and preaching which then spread rapidly through a population (think of how quickly Buddha's ideas regarding life and social order spread through India and then the Asian continent). Such ideas may affect our brains but they are not necessarily passed on in our genes; rather they pass horizontally, infecting those we come into contact with, taking control of their behaviour in a way that will, if the idea-virus is to be succesful, similarly influence other people to change their behaviour. The idea can even evolve, incorporating new data into itself from each host, experimenting with new mutant forms, only the most effective of which will survive in any given environment. And so we see how the Japanese form of Buddhism is radically different from the prior Indian, geared as it is towards the way of life and cultural nuances of the Japanese it encountered.<br />
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Crucially, there is nothing in this process which necessarily leads to a positive outcome for the human hosts; all that is required is that the behaviour of the host successfully influences others to adopt the idea or a mutation of it. And so we see this in some forms (the most obvious at the moment being Jihadism), which actively drive some adherents towards suicide. Jihadism of course is not the only such case, and it can be argued that the host themselves, under the influence of the ideology, is in a state of bliss regarding their behaviour; much as the Orthodox Christian monk makes themselves incapable of reproducing their own genetic lineage (surely a tragically unnatural outcome for the host), while preserving and aiding the ideology; or, the Indian Aghori ascetics, who remove themselves completely from normal society in order to pursue their devotion on an individual basis, replicating in some way Agamben's <i>homer sacer</i>, the "sacred" man who is condemned and judged to have placed themselves outside society and therefore whose murder is unpunishable; anyone may at any time kill them without consequences.<br />
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This way of looking at metaphysical postulates, and how they can take on a life of their own which then turns back and alters both individual consciousness and society, is something I find fascinating, and I've been working out some of the implications in recent publications. <br />
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The progressive evolution of these ideological viruses is something we would be wise to contemplate. They are not self-aware enough to keep enough humans alive to preserve themselves entirely. They can influence us in ways that might be devastating for human civilisation. As well as the political instabilities threatened by Jihadism, the Christian American right-wing seems intent on a game of chicken with climate change, which some have managed to incorporate into their own doctrine of apocalypse and redemption; but the outcomes will affect us all.<br />
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<br />Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-23832951486530233492015-11-14T06:57:00.000+00:002015-11-14T07:07:56.406+00:00Some thoughts about Paris, the history of Western-Middle Eastern relations and the role of nation statesTwo things to share, first of all; one long and one short.<br />
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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/13/the-age-of-despair-reaping-the-whirlwind-of-western-support-for-extremist-violence/" target="_blank">The age of despair: reaping the whirlwind of western support for extremist violence (Counterpunch)</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02gyz6b/adam-curtis-bitter-lake" target="_blank">Bitter Lake (Adam Curtis' dramatic feature-length analysis of the west's intervention in Afghanistan and what this tells us about imperialism and social narratives) - iPlayer link</a><br />
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I have sympathy with the Counterpunch article; it is certainly the case that Western powers have done much to manipulate, control and overthrow governments in the Middle East if they were not favourable to our interests (and of course not just in the Middle East). It is worth noting however, these nations were not pre-existing stable entities; at the end of the first world war, Sykes-Picot carved up the region which had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire for centuries; there is little reason to think that stable nations would have emerged from there (the western construct of nation states is predicated on individualist universalism which developed in our culture over centuries, and isn't so far native to this region with strong traditions of tribalism), or that, left to their own devices, the evolution into stability would have been free of bloodshed (the creation of social order never is). However, in this region the West has found itself increasingly on the wrong side and apparently making choices which guaranteed its people the beneficial use of resources from those lands without having the foresight to grasp what the social effect of their lack of concern for human life in those countries would be: a similar lack of concern for western life by the people whose lives and environments have become hellish. When America and the UK overthrew the democratic revolution in Iran, installing instead the very power we now find so reprehensible, the governments and agencies seemingly thought only of immediate fiscal benefits to our nations and populations; but as the human tragedy has spread across and out of the Middle East during the 20th century we increasingly see Western civilians - who benefited from material gains mostly without knowing the cost at which they came - bearing the effects of our governments' choices. <br />
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There is something to say here about the nature of nation states. Some commentators have remarked that this underscores the need for more powerful state forces, to monitor and protect civilians (omniscience is a requirement of omnipotence, after all; I find it interesting that in a West largely irreligious now we find still the comfort/despair of absent freedom under the watchful eye of Government, where freedom is still only the freedom to be what you are allowed - and is certainly more a freedom-to than a freedom-from); I get this. Authority is an important part of human nature, and having authority to respect and to exert discipline is important for the stability of social order. Anarchy as a system is practicable only on the (very) small scale. It is the duty of nation states to protect their people, and sometimes the people have to feel the pressure of that happening. But we also need to problematise the nation state. It is this very function which has allowed governments to manipulate other societies in order to get the best deal for the people of their own; in the competition which seems necessary between these meta-individuals, there will always be the more- and the less-powerful; and the former will take advantage of the latter in order to maintain their privilege. Does it have to be this way? If we international politics takes its lead from the same source which conditions human group-action, then probably yes. So we should always be willing to challenge the increasing power of a state, because the executive control and decision-making apparatus of (national/individual) consciousness has to be 99% organically determined by the needs of the constituents lest it forget what connects it to the body it controls. But, what happens when states themselves are internally disintegrating due to conflicting identities and narratives within the population? Then we find the kind of brutal repression of non-conforming groups which we ourselves criticise those less-than-democracies for.<br />
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And still, the refugees of collapsing countries, destroyed by internal tensions developed as brutal dictators are supported by America and Europe and then removed under the smokescreen of "human rights" without consideration of human nature, flood into Europe - a place which attempts to offer universal rights and freedom to all, as long as you are <i>inside </i>the borders or hold one of our passports. The children of these refugees, realising that the prejudice they face in free Europe is another side of the knife which cut their parents from their homeland, are likely also to consider how they will deal with their place in society - by exacting violent revenge on the citizens who pretend not to know the cost of their freedoms and lifestyles?<br />
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And what now will the West do? If it is Daesh, the Islamic State, behind it (as we must suspect), a larger offensive will soon be underway. And what then of the civilians of this region, who welcomed the simple certainty which IS brought to a region collapsing into chaos, the law and stability necessary to human social life even if they are sometimes too harsh for comfort? Will they welcome this stable if oppressive government being removed? Or will they also fight to protect themselves against those who first protected Hussein then killed him and handed Iraq to the lions? If IS is destroyed, what worse force will take its place?<br />
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I still do not think this is anything to do with religion, or with Islam. It's to do with the simple mechanical effects of coming from or witnessing regions which have been socially devastated; of bearing scars which can no longer heal; of having witnessed the black void which stands on the brink of society, always threatening to engulf it and make us animals again. The biggest individual killer of the 20th century wasn't Islam, it was Soviet Communism (clocking up some 65 million deaths, most from within the Soviet Union's own population - an attempt to instill the national-intellectual homogeny required for a united state, a means of <i>cleansing the narrative</i>), although communism didn't match fascism for its sheer disgust with human life. Now, I wonder, if we seek explanations for what happens in terrorist attacks such as those in Paris, why do we not for Nazi Germany, for example? The nationalist fervour, the xenophobia and the rise of Nazism are something of a direct result of the crippling of German economy after the first world war - hatred never comes from a vacuum, it must serve a purpose in alleviating a greater suffering.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-91536731022797884772015-09-15T21:17:00.000+01:002015-09-15T22:42:05.991+01:00Three thoughtsThree thoughts occurred to me in quick succession today.<br />
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It's not so much about choices; there really are very few choices we make. We are guided, shepherded, into behaviours, funnelled into opinions. Whether by neural pathways or social pressures or simply the apparent logical necessity of one idea following another, of evading cognitive dissonance. The internal logic, whether physical or psychic, is oftentimes impossible to escape. But it <i>feels </i>like free will (and this isn't an argument for determinism as much as it is an argument for self-awareness; a call to be aware of the choices we don't make, and the opportunity for breaking our habits). Personality feels like something we own; like a choice of behaviours we make. In fact it is something more like a cage from which we cannot escape, or an opaque, striated net through which our being takes form; the most prominent features we possess are already carved into our external presence, and we assume that it is "us" that makes them so. In fact,<i> it makes us</i>.<br />
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Much, so much, has changed in our ways of life in the last century. And we have forgotten very quickly what life used to be like. We - those of us living since the Second World War - are the first generations ever to have not had an overriding concern with acquiring food. This to us now seems unbelievable: food is a natural resource, it simply grows from the ground around us (or even more simply - we are surrounded with opportunities to buy food in shops. The shelves are never empty. How could this change?). How could acquiring and assuring food be a problem? The system of global colonial-capitalism locates us inside a bubble almost at breaking point, but one beyond which we can see no horizon. Food is grown and sold to us; our gardens and natural areas grow plants, we can buy seeds easily for our own use. But if a shift were to occur in how global civilisation operates these finely tuned trade routes can cease to exist and communities will find themselves once more at the mercy of nature - a nature now more violent, more unpredictable, more prone to chaotic and destructive events than pre-industrial society survived.<br />
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The rate at which we are degrading the environment ("sawing off the branch we are sitting on" as one climate scientist put it) and the predictions of scientists regarding the medium-term future for our species and planet have made almost no impression on the majority of people. Governments half-heartedly pursue half-baked schemes to reduce carbon emissions but whatever good intentions exist are scuppered by more pressing short-term needs to stay near the top of the civilisation-food chain. At some point in the 21st century, the populace will experience a shock akin to Seth Brundle's son Martin: in the film The Fly 2, Martin is unceremoniously told there is nothing that can be done to prevent his - increasingly rapid - mutation into another form of "life" (to put it kindly - his genetic inheritance is 50% fly, and it is about to assert its dominance). <i>But the injections, they help me</i> - he protests. <i>The injections were just water, Martin. Just for your peace of mind</i>.<br />
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<br />Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-18434138509493877112015-01-10T17:34:00.003+00:002015-01-11T16:39:19.795+00:00Music againnot so long since the last music post, so i guess there won't be much to include in this one. how was 2014 for the world of the aural arts? pretty decent.<br />
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I've been aware for a couple of years of <a href="http://brolbrolbrol.com/ilyasahmed/Ilyas_Ahmed/Ilyas_Ahmed_-_welcome.html" target="_blank">Ilyas Ahmed</a>, a Pakistani-born American who makes a blurry, woozy guitar-voice folk music not unlike Grouper. But it was only recently I invested in a couple of his albums. They're really good.<br />
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The Grouper album has been hailed like a revelation in many circles. I like it too, and it's grown on me since the first unimpressed listening. It's nice to know that after all this time music can still creep up on me. Strangely I think my favourite is the instrumental drifty closer, Made of Air. To be fair though, I think I prefer her guitar-based earlier stuff; the idea of an album all on piano was pretty nice, but I'm not sure it's amazing. When PJ Harvey did the same thing, she made something really special but this doesn't reach those heights. Maybe it's not a fair comparison - White Chalk really is something else, completely unlike Polly or anyone else's music before or since. Ruins is pretty much Grouper on a piano. Pretty, muffled, hazy, Liz Harris making Grouper songs on a piano.<br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Douglas" target="_blank">Dalglish</a> is a man who's been plugging away for many years now; but this year saw one of his best releases for a long time. The new Canadian label <a href="http://www.ge-stell.net/" target="_blank">Ge-Stell</a> began their existence with a beautifully presented, clear vinyl in a screen-printed PVC sleeve. In this case the package fits the music so perfectly I have no qualms about it. The music is crystalline, organic, beautiful, rich and complex, sophisticated and unlike anything else. This is really an artist coming into his own, and realising the potential for the sound he's been developing intently for the past years. It's futuristic electronic music with vision and emotion. Unwisely, I'm tempted to label it 'post-glitch'. It puts most music to shame, that which is rushed out without any sensitivity, without an artistic approach or believing that simple passion can replace hard graft. Excellent work from someone highly underrated but who will be remembered as one of the 21st century's great composers.<br />
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Dalglish live set from earlier this year (now enabled for download!)<br />
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Thom Yorke's second solo album was unexpectedly released, as a deluxe vinyl and download. It's good - not as good as The Eraser, which was surely one of the last decade's five best albums. But it's good. It has those same Yorkey skittery beats, melodies which get more intense the more you listen to them, despite first appearing quite plain. Something Thom does which I really like is sudden injections of the sinister into otherwise passive tracks. This is most obvious on opener A Brain in a Bottle. The titles are pretty weird; "There is no ice (for my drink)"? And his mumbly singing, authentic as is possible with no hint of rock n roll stardom, is disarming as always.<br />
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Aphex Twin. Well y'know, what to say about this. Let's just skip to the music, none of the hype needs repeating again. It's good. It's not amazing, and RDJ himself described it as a pop album. No surprises, no extreme degrees of anything but it's highly accomplished and skillful electronic music aimed at the heart as much as the feet. I've got to say, though...the limited edition thing pissed me off. We as fans paid through the nose for a triple vinyl edition, and then Warp have the gumption to dangle a limited package with a bonus track in front of us and price it at £250, available only to those finding the golden ticket in their chocolate bar. After two or more people bid the Caustic Window LP up to $46K they knew they could get away with whatever they wanted with this. It looked like a nice package, kind of like owning a piece of art over and above the music. But it's like rubbing the average fan's nose in their limited pay packet. What's your game Mr James? Oh yeah, making music and occasionally taking time to selling it to us.<br />
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So yeah, The Bug's <a href="http://ninjatune.net/release/the-bug/angels-and-devils" target="_blank">Angels and Devils</a>. I'm actually quite surprised this garnered so much acclaim. It's good and he's developing his sound but as an album I don't feel it really hangs together so well, and there are a couple of tracks which really rub me up the wrong way. I knew I'd prefer the Angels half to the Devils and I wasn't wrong. Some great material on the first but there's not much on the second disc for me. Was surprised to find that Death Grips actually worked out the best of the latter - plus I think the depth and detail on this track is more than the others. Can't stand Function, I really don't like those cheesy horns There's something really distinctive about Kevin's sound - the pressure of it. There's no let up, and even in the mysterious downtempo tracks everything's so compressed there's no room for subtlety. It can get quite wearing after a while (but I'm sure it's amazing live for the same reasons). Love the Grouper colab, likewise Copeland's. What pissed me off most? Well a month or two after the LP dropped he released a <a href="http://ninjatune.net/release/the-bug/exit" target="_blank">double 12</a> featuring six tracks - two from the LP, and two new tracks plus two instrumentals. I wanted the new tracks, especially the second collaboration with Liz Harris which matches the one on the LP in original brilliance but no way am I going to shell out £15 for two tracks. Seriously, why - after a double 180g album on which everything sounds heavy as fuck - do you need to make a double vinyl single with repeats of two of the same cuts? My answer: it's the deluxe thing. Make things massive, expansive and luxurious and people, especially the vinyl buying music geeks, will throw money at you. That's been writ large this year and most of the time I've fallen for it too. (Note: I didn't with The Bug's Exit; I just bought the two MP3s I wanted) Annoying. OK, music fans have always been commodified and sold whatever crap could be mustered, usually by the most respectable and serious artists and labels (I'm looking at you, Mute. Don't think I have forgotten the whole 2-part CDsingle was your idea first, introduced by Nitzer Ebb of all people). Sure, it's nice to have something beautiful, a triple gatefold vinyl with a foldout poster and a 12x12 glossy booklet with lyrics hand written by the singer's mom and clear vinyl pressed with the band's piss and hair in it (yes, that bit <a href="http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-releases/the-10-weirdest-things-pressed-into-vinyl-records-this-year/" target="_blank">actually happened</a> this year). I'm not saying it isn't. But it's not about the music anymore. It's about commodity and the scarcity-created illusion of need and false-value, tagged on to your favourite band's name and music which doesn't sound much different downloaded as a FLAC from Bandcamp; only much less wasteful and a quarter the price. Why do we do it? Why do cool bands do it to us? This still confuses me. When did underground authenticity fall from distributing your sounds to whoever would hear, via any medium, to extravagant deluxe limited editions of ever more bizarre character? Of course, it hasn't...the real underground still just make their music and put it out there however they can, with or without physical release of packaging. The worst offenders are the middle ground, the successful alternative musicians. Here are some egregious examples from my collection this year.<br />
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Young Gods' underrated late career album Second Nature got a <a href="http://www.rustblade.com/2014/second-nature-limited-picture-disc/" target="_blank">deluxe picture disc reissue</a>. In a <a href="http://www.rustblade.com/2014/second-nature-deluxe-limited-bag/" target="_blank">tote bag</a>. With a signed film still, a postcard, and a dried flower. What does this add (apart from £15 on the asking price?) Well they fit with the visual theme I suppose. This is one of the best things they've done in my opinion. Strange, glistening, passionate, entrancing, still with melodies, rhythmic pace and unusual, processed sounds. There's nothing else like it. Is it worth buying a reissue of it? Well, it's nice, it looks great and it's good that a forgotten and excellent album can still get some extra exposure, but I was disappointed to rediscover how noisy picture discs are. Disappointing in these days of hi fidelity audio. If you want it to listen to, probably better off with a second hand CD.<br />
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Circle Takes the Square reissued - twice! - their debut <a href="http://www.circletakesthesquare.bigcartel.com/product/lp-as-the-roots-undo-10th-anniversary-repress" target="_blank">As The Roots Undo</a>. It's welcome, for many. The original has been OOP for years and the new versions are beautiful. The first was a tour edition (in 2 colour variations, in silk screened gatefold; the second was a lovely white black splatter vinyl (or brown) in a full colour triple gatefold. Yes, I caved and bought them both. Idiot. It's a nice to thing to have and of course the music is awesome but it's still just a fucking reissue of music which is available from Bandcamp for pay-what-you-want. Life was so much simpler (and cheaper) when for a few precious years I just bought CDs.<br />
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:zoviet*france made an album with Fossil Aerosol Mining Project
which drew some attention, mostly for its packaging - a 12x24 sheet of distressed and laser etched steel, folded around two 180g vinyls. It comes with some detritus collected from an American warehouse in the 80s (which turned out to be...two 12"x12" sheets of corrugated card cut from random product boxes which house the records inside the steel and a tiny scrap of carpet stapled inside one of those pieces!) The surprise? It's actually very good to listen to. Warm and ambient, quite lush and with an organic hint of melody - it's an album which stands up quite apart from the concept, yet the concept works to make it better, more tactile and more emotionally appealing.<br />
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There was a new album from <a href="http://www.debemur-morti.com/en/31-blut-aus-nord" target="_blank">Blut Aus Nord</a>, last year's black metal discovery. <a href="http://www.debemur-morti.com/en/content/277-blut-aus-nord-saturnian-poetry" target="_blank">Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry</a>. This is pretty nice, very accomplished and it has a rich, complex feel while being quite organic. The production's pretty tight. To be fair (is it just me?) it doesn't evil like this kind of thing used to. Maybe this is low on the Satanic index, more on the pagan vibe. Maybe it's difficult to still sound evil when you're in the third installment of a multilayered concept album. Maybe there's something about trying to make a whole album sound fully intense so that the lack of dynamic renders everything as background fuzz, which is certainly the case here. The packaging is beautiful, a gatefold with a 12x12 booklet attached inside.<br />
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<a href="http://scott-o.com/" target="_blank">Scott Walker and Sunn 0)))</a> made a massive noise in both literal and metaphorical senses with their collaborative LP <a href="http://www.4ad.com/releases/22344" target="_blank">Soused</a>. Happily, I drew the line at this and bought the £9 CD instead of the £25 double 180g vinyl gatefold. Again, it's, well it's good. It's interesting and it's original. It's not great. It might even be very good. Even with the enormous density of the sound, there's sparse times and there's subtlety (though not tons of it). I like Scott's vocals on this, they're weird and it's not a style I normally like - this eccentric, all-over the register thing grates on my nerves a little but he does it well here and it fits with the concept in a way I wouldn't have expected. No compromises, and this odd pairing works well.<br />
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So who has been making real underground, no frills music? Well, Lea Cummings (aka Kylie Minoise) had a great tape out on <a href="http://kiksbooks.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Kiks/Girlfriend</a>. Two deep, meditative, beat-based soundworlds not unlike a more minimal-droney Seefeel. Very simple, very good. Kiks' tapes are simple and effective, just a yellow layout with black and white graphic. I like that style. On the same label, WASPS's Accelerone Curves tape comes in a bag with a single piece of card, not even a case. Nice.<br />
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<a href="http://www.yourcomicbookfantasy.com/" target="_blank">HTRK</a> put out a <a href="http://htrk.bigcartel.com/product/psychic-lilac" target="_blank">three track CD</a> of blurry refixes from their LP. It's good, not entirely sure what the point of it is (it's not a single, it's self-released, it's all instrumental...is it just something they did in an afternoon and thought fans might like? is it just a money-making gambit?) but it's not expensive, even when posted from Australia.<br />
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The Ugandan Methods/Prurient colab paid off well - I wasn't sure I'd like this but I think the oppressive synthwork Dominic brings complements Regis and Ancient Methods' tight, bruised beats. There's always been more to Regis than techno, and this collaboration shows a nice development from what he's been doing recently.<br />
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<a href="http://knifedoutofexistence.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Knifed Out Of Existence</a> seems to be making some waves. I've seen him play a couple of times and I prefer his recordings - live it's just a bludgeoning noise scream fest but recorded there's a lot of grainy subtlety and clicky clanky rhythms. All his releases are pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp if you're not into physical or just want to check em out.<br />
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And actually - due I think to Ben's influence - I've come to a deeper appreciation of the brutal end of noise than I had before. I always liked the idea but I didn't really get how to listen to it before. Aesthetically it really appeals to me at the moment. I'm enjoying a lot the emotional simplicity of it, which adds to the intensity of the music. Also I've got to see the underground/ outsider thing has grown on me a lot more recently in the midst of becoming more aware of the massive commercialisation of some of the music I love. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/stab-electronics" target="_blank">S.T.A.B. Electronics</a> are a project I know little about, one guy I think but making some unusual, taut and captivating sounds. The LP Instrument for Operating on Mutant Women is really good. Something I like about this is that it isn't just white noise - there's a lot of grainy fuzz and vocal samples, as well as some sickness-induced modulated synth sounds that are more pummelling than pure noise.<br />
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I'd really like to be able to talk next about <a href="http://pucemary.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Puce Mary</a>'s Persona LP which has got more acclaim than most noise releases could expect - but I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive >:(.<br />
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I also picked up some tapes by Bagman which are nicely extreme.<br />
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After the original CDRs these were rereleased last year by Crucial Blast. I found them through the UK label <a href="https://recordsreverse.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Reverse Records UK</a>, a relatively new but interesting venture putting out noise and power electronics. Their emphasis is on packaging, which is very sophisticated compared to a lot of noise/pe which goes for an extremely underground style. They retain the gruesome/extreme imagery though, which makes for an interesting combination. I got some other stuff, the best of which is a DVD called <a href="https://recordsreverse.wordpress.com/dvd/" target="_blank">Transgressive Collective</a> - a collection of tracks released by RR and some unreleased, with videos created by label boss Keith Mitchell. While I have no time for videos accompanying commercial music, I think the artistic merging of audio and visual has a lot of exciting possibilities, only some of which have so far been explored. Keith does it well here and I've enjoyed the pieces as a whole.<br />
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I will say, these vids again remind me of our old video for Blaque Meat for which we cut up some old footage of Hermann Nitsch actions. Which is a nice springboard to say that I uploaded some old DisinVectant tracks to YouTube.<br />
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Finally, I rediscovered in the last few days the <a href="http://www.vonarchives.com/" target="_blank">Von Archives</a> releases I bought a while back. Von are doing some really interesting things in the audio-visual realm, and with a distinctive brand identity which I find very pleasing (every release is packaged in a grainy black and white portrait photograph which adds a degree of austere seriousness to everything). I only have two, and the best of these is Z'Ev's Eyear which contains four experiments where the audio track was played through various media and the resulting movement videoed.<br />
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That's all folks. See you again next year! <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/18551024" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe>Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-19645834921511737752015-01-10T01:04:00.001+00:002015-01-11T10:54:22.554+00:00obligatory Charlie Hebdo postI had no intention of writing about the Charlie Hebdo massacre until very recently (like, twenty minutes ago). In the beginning, I heard about it and didn't pay it much mind. Terrorism is a fact of life now. It's not the first terrorist attack in France, it's not unexpected, it wasn't even a particularly high loss of life. Days later two thousand (TWO THOUSAND) were slaughtered in Nigeria with a similar motive. In this case the victims were public figures, part of the establishment media in France, and doubtless the air of familiarity that carries has made people feel this more acutely than they otherwise would.<br />
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The second reason I didn't intend to write was because I didn't have a simple opinion about it, unlike most who have raised their voices. In fact it would be fair to say I didn't have an opinion at all until I started reading other peoples' and thinking "yeah you have a point there". So I wavered a lot and did some mulling and I think there's some things which I still haven't heard anyone say. I'm going to say those, along with some things that have already been said.<br />
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Let's get it clear: there's no absolutes in this. It's deceptively easy to invoke certain principles which our culture believes in an say that trumps all else. Free speech is an important principle and it's one that underpins liberal democracy - meaning Western European culture. But despite what many people say, in life our free speech is always subject to the censure of common sense. If I insult someone, mock them and make a fool of them, then they may turn violent. I have a legal right to do it, and short of slander I can say whatever I want to and about other people. But then I expect certain consequences if I go about it in the wrong way. If the victim responds violently then they have broken the law and may be punished, but me in hospital and them in prison doesn't seem a victory for anyone. For that reason, most of us do not exercise the extremes of free speech which we defend. <br />
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Charlie Hebdo did; knowing that it's a very sensitive subject they published cartoons mocking religions and religious beliefs. Islam wasn't the only religion they mocked - they also got their claws into Judaism and Christianity. They did this knowing - let's be honest - that they would face at most some mild criticism from conservative members of the latter two. It's an accepted part of our culture to offer criticism and outright mockery to religion, as much as it is to politics. It's in fact...one of the secular west's <i>holy cows.</i> The right to satire. Most of us believe it firmly. I'm certainly one of them. Some humour makes me uncomfortable but I deal with it. It's part of living in a freeish country, with all the benefits that entails. What is the difference between mocking Islam and mocking Christianity? Well, effectively none. And especially for those of us without religious faith, the post-religious in the West, all religious are equally archaic and distanced from our intellectual milieu as to be fitting targets. But secularism is located within a particular religious setting. It is not by accident that the secular world is basically synonymous with Christendom: It is essentially a post-Christian phenomenon - the secular world is the latest incarnation of Christendom. It is the stage that happens in our culture after the specific religious belief of Christianity is filtered out, but still our metaphysics, our cultural presumptions and intellectual baggage remain. We, in the West, the majority of us have grown up as Christian whether we practice or not - it is encoded in our culture. We know the gist of the New Testament, we know the festivals, we know the creation story and the basic soteriology of Christianity. In mocking Christianity we are mocking our own history. Judaism now is assimilated with varying degrees of comfort, to the extent that it too can be considered a part of the religious establishment of the West. Islam is not. It is still a religion - or better, a culture - which is outside the commonly conceived essence of Europe and the West.* It is not at all unusual for Western culture to hold fast the value of critique, of poking things even if it hurts as an objective value applicable to all, but then to reserve the harshest poking for that which is alien to it; the defense "hey, I do this to myself too" doesn't really cut it. Just because I punch myself in the face doesn't mean everyone else should let me do it to them. <br />
<br />
*A large part of this is because it has external homelands where Muslims reside and from where they emigrate; Judaism does not have this to such a degree, the tiny state of Israel still being a nation effectively of refugees from other tragedies. Secondly, becasue Jewish life has been part of Europe for centuries.<br />
<br />
There is a kind of cultural imperialism in the belief that
satire is just fine, it can be pointed wherever we like and everyone
should accept the insults. But then what is multiculturalism about? If Muslims live in the West,
shouldn't they accept Western values as westerners would when leaving
elsewhere? Yes. Simple answer. Just like immigrants to Britain should
indeed learn English. It's bad for everyone if people don't attempt to
integrate and grin and bear the challenges that brings to some degree.
Part of living in these countries is accepting that people don't take
religion too seriously, and will often take the piss quite cruelly.<br />
<br />
Does freedom of speech mean the right to offend? Does it include hate speech? Does it include the right to incite others to violence? These are the difficult questions which free speech brings. Clearly if we're going to hold to some kind of free-speech principle we need to know exactly how far that freedom goes. There is a point at which ridicule does actually become psychological aggression. And while it is very easy for the mainstream of society to say "it's just words", words are experienced very differently by those who are oppressed by the mainstream, locked out of the warm embrace of social acceptance. It's <i>all </i>words to begin with, but words represent and help to form a social reality of discrimination and prejudice. Would it be different if the terrorists had targeted the offices of the Front National? <br />
<br />
Now this makes it seem as if Muslims don't have self-control; autonomy. Everyone is essentially responsible for their own actions. It is never acceptable to say "they made me"; provocation can be an influence, but never a cause. It is worth reciting this: Jews in Europe and the Middle East (i.e., under Christianity and under Islam), in the face of centuries of oppression far worse than Muslims now face, never countenanced violent response. There has also been little evidence of retribution from Christian minorities in the Middle East who have faced severe (read: genocidal) difficulties. The black American civial rights movement had little truck with violence except in self-defence. The Roma have not committed a single act of terrorism. Oppression does not necessitate violence. People choose their own response, with a large helping hand from the peer pressure and way they interpret the culture they align with.<br />
<br />
Is there a problem in Islam? Certainly. In Islam right now there is a huge problem. Terrorism - both within Islamic states and non-Islamic - is becoming synonymous with Islam. And it's particularly telling that this response occurs not just towards oppressive Western countries, but also within Islamic and African countries (though by no means all of them). Muslims are hardly an oppressed minority in Nigeria or Pakistan. This wasn't always the case - Islamic civilisation was for a long time much more peaceful and tolerant than Christendom. And let's be very honest - in terms of violence, in terms of numbers killed, the amount of Muslims which the modern West has killed either directly - through invasion, war, drones - or indirectly - through propping up dictatorships, quashing democratic revolutions, carrying out proxy wars - is far far more than the amount of Westerners Muslims have killed. It's a different kind of violence: either a war carried out where civilians are collateral damage, a war that is against a state often also abusive towards its citizens (and often helped into power by Western funds); or the subtle violence of sweatshops, natural resource plundering, all for the protection of Western interests and the quality of life in Europe. My point is, the West also has a problem. And it's a massive one. The urge to hold on to power, power for some, for the "free" people of the West, means subjugating and controlling those of the East who may otherwise pursue their own interests and privelige their own rights and freedoms over ours. Or at the very least compromise our total agency in the world, our right to do and say whatever we feel, with an alternative viewpoint, an Other which faces us as an equal. So, let's not kid ourselves. Western culture and Western governments have no more respect for life than Islamic ones do. Human lives are always collateral in the grand scheme of politics, a machine which chews up souls in a way nature could only imagine.<br />
<br />
But there's no easy answers to this. There never are, are there? When we have to find a way of dealing with human relations its so attractive to say that one principle trumps all others. But we're all trying to live in this world together. If I want to do something and feel like I have every right to do something, it's still the case that I am not the final arbiter. I morally ought to think about other peoples' feelings and about how other people might interpret what I say.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-14084073163228972212014-12-20T10:21:00.000+00:002014-12-20T10:21:50.851+00:00The visual field and ideas about consciousness<span style="font-size: x-small;">First post for a while and it's a long one. Starts off talking about a recent New Scientist article, its implications for the nature of perception and consciousness and then goes off into waffle about politics and protest. </span><br />
<br />
There's a particularly interesting <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429901.300-upsidedown-world-the-goggles-that-remake-reality.html?full=true" target="_blank">article</a> by Laura Spinney in an October edition of New Scientist which I've only just got around to reading (as I lay in my freezing bed this morning, bemoaning how little time and energy I currently have for the intellectual pursuits I love). On the website the article is behind a pay wall, so I've copied it below in the hope that if readers find it really fascinating they'll take out a subscription, or maybe just buy a copy of NS every so often.<br />
<br />
The article is nominally about "inversion-goggle" experiments, and how we construct our visual field. I'd read about these experiments while studying psychology as a teenager. In the classical studies, an experimenter donned goggles which inverted his (yes, his) vision - both horizontally and vertically. After several days of confusion and fraught interaction with the world, the experimenter typically would report a flipping of the visual field such that suddenly the world was the right way up again. All's well (until he removes the googles, and it takes his brain another few days to reinvert his vision).<br />
<br />
Contemporary versions of this experiment, informed by developments in the philosophy of mind and cognition, have provoked different interpretations. The experimenters (still he, as far as I could tell from this article) now find that a single flip of the visual field never occurs; rather, there is a gradual but incremental adaptation to the new way that one must interact with the world the eyes describe. Certain functions adapt quicker than others and there is a fragmenting of vision such that some objects and processes appear "right-way" up at the same time as others are inverted.<br />
<br />
This has provoked some commentary about the nature of consciousness and the problems with the Cartesian model of a single internal representation of the world which the subject uses to navigate their way around the real world outside them.<br />
<br />
Someone unmentioned in the article but who immediately sprang to mind for me, is Daniel Dennett who developed a fragmentary, process-based model of consciousness in Consciousness Explained. In this text Dennett uses many scientific studies to build a theory that consciousness is effectively textual (that's my wording, he never says that); our interpretation of the world is a construct based around what we expect to be the case based on the best evidence to hand at the time - and one which is constantly being rewritten. For Dennett there is no Cartesian theatre of conscious awareness (and no corresponding subconscious) - rather we are constantly in the process of adding tiny fragments of information into a bigger picture which is never complete. In one example, he cites a study where two consecutively blinking lights centimetres apart appear, to the observer, to be one light moving between different points; such movement never happens, but the brain constructs it because it expects such a pattern of information to imply movement. Dennett asks, what would happen if we paused the subject's brain inbetween the two flashes? Would they be experiencing the light half-way between the two points, as they later remember having done? No: that movement was only retrospectively written into the experience, there was never a qualia of that movement. Dozens of other examples bolster his (very convincing) argument for such a revisionary textual model of consciousness over the traditional panoramic one where the subjective world is presented as a photograph in which the subject can wonder, where facts and detail remain the same regardless of the focus of attention.*<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*It is common knowledge in memory studies now that memory is not a matter of accessing stable recordings of events encoded in our brains, but rather a reimagining every time the memory is accessed; we effectively rewrite the memory each time we think it, reconstructing it along with the associations and interpretations it comes to have as we grow and learn more about the world and ourselves. </span><br />
<br />
Spinney goes on to describe a theory oc perception called "enactivism". This holds that "thinking and feeling arise in the dynamic interaction between an organism and its environment" and therefore "your subjective experience of being is created by your awareness of the myriad different ways your self interacts with the world as you move around an explore it." This has striking implications for consciousness because it means that the senses, and the kind of body, through which we interact with the world, determine the structures and patterns of our thought. This is important because it suggests - in fact requires - that thought has to be located subjectively within the parameters of particularity. Most interestingly, it means that other lifeforms will have different structures of thought which are to varying degrees unlike our own. Of course, life on earth is as far as we know all variations on a single theme which developed millions of years ago, sharing an environment who's nature has certain strict boundaries; but life, or thought, is not necessarily constrained to earth or the kinds of environment it provides; again, not mentioned in the article is one of my recurrent ponderings, that any kind of computer-based intelligence, even though designed by us, would evolve ways of thinking that were unimaginable to us; based on their experience, their specific modes of embodiment, and their relationship with the world (which included their relationship with humans, whatever format that might take). But the main conclusion, that consciousness cannot be reduced to a single process or substance, is well-supported by the argument and evidence and one I in particular find easy to accept.<br />
<br />
Before I post the article, there is something related to all this which I think is important to bring forward. In these times of tension, violence, repression and intrastate conflict, there has very much been a marking of lines and separation in sides: who supports the police in their actions to "protect" society, even though they may sometimes make mistakes; who supports the protestors in places like Ferguson, and chant All Cops Are Bastards; who supports Israel's use of force to protect its civilian population and who supports the Palestinian struggle attempting to release itself from this grip. These two (four?) situations, extremely contentious and cause of many arguments, are, to me, part of a bigger issue which will long continue to blight our world - that social roles are effectively determined, once a dynamic begins to take shape then behaviour becomes almost impossible to vary. The famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment" target="_blank">Stanford Prison Experiment</a> demonstrated that a single group of students, arbitrarily divided into prisoners and guards, would very quickly develop the kind of behaviours which we see in the real world and likewise relationships to each other: the guards become authoritarian and abusive, the prisoners become either passive victims and collaborators, or aggressively rebellious. There is a dynamic where if you give someone a uniform and a weapon and tell them it is their job to protect society, they will dehumanise anyone they see as acting against them: these are the troublemakers, the ones who are threatening peaceful civilisation (even if they are just selling cigarettes); for those victimised by the police, it is rather the police who are dehumanised in their eyes, becoming tools of repression, essentially violent and stupid. No one is right in their views - in the process of dehumanisation we see not the complexity of human judgment, the structures which determine our thoguht processes and conclusions, we see only the end-result, the us and them and, working back from that, we project some monstrous kind of beliefs, some un-empathisable wickedness which has led "them" to act in such a way, a way which to us is inconceivable because our own experiences - our own environment which helps to structure our thought - cannot possibly lead to that view of reality.<br />
<br />
I have often heard it said (and this says more about the people I listen to than anything else) that white society doesn't understand the struggles of that black (or other minority) groups have to go through; likewise that men don't understand how much pressure there is on women in our culture. This is true; so is the opposite, however (and this isn't a prelude to some horrific kind of meninism). It's very difficult to step outside our own shoes. In these examples the oppressed groups are focussed on, and rightly so. But it's also the case that in debates about things like Ferguson, in questions about police violence, in discussions about Israel-Palestine, we have to see that there are two sides both of which are inhabited by human beings, but in which there are clear and distinct social roles which play out regardless of the individuals in those places. "How can people do this?" It is often asked - but only by people who've never been in that situation. How can police attack an unarmed protestor? How can kids riot instead of going to school? How can the IDF bomb schools? How can Hamas hide weapons in schools? How can Bin Laden attack the WTC? How can America and Russia use Afghanistan as a battlefield for their proxy war? How can other people make the choices they do? These very one-sided narratives always serve to dehumanise the other, to not recognise that through different life experiences different conclusions about what is to be prioritised are reached; that in the power dynamics of the human world, where you sit in the scale of entitlement has serious consequences for your understanding of the world and its social structures as liberating or oppressive; to be celebrated or fought. Whether the protestor is a menace or a freedom fighter depends already on your own location in regard to them.<br />
<br />
The point I'm getting at in this last section is that it's very easy to see politics in monolithic terms - that there is a factual answer about how the world should be, and about right and wrong. But if we can stem our arrogance and begin to believe that other alternative viewpoints are just as logical, just as human, then we go a long way towards resolving disputes. If protestors and police can both understand that the others are human beings making difficult decisions based around their experiences, maybe there's a way for empathy and compassion to enter their actions too. Admitting that the internal world is constructed and not an objective representation is a step towards that.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="infuse">
A MAN walks confidently towards an open gate but
instead of going straight through he raises his knee very high as if he
were stepping over a low wall. He strides forward, reaching out to shake
a friend's hand. But again he misjudges, and his friend draws back in
alarm to avoid being punched in the nose.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
This is Innsbruck, Austria, in the 1950s,
and no, the man hasn't been drinking too much schnapps. He is
psychologist Ivo Kohler, and he is wearing a pair of goggles with a
built-in mirror that turns his world upside down. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKUVpBJalNQ">In a grainy black-and-white film</a>
that records his stumblings, the eternally surprised Kohler dives to
catch a child's balloon drifting skywards and turns a teacup upside down
against a stream of water being poured from above.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
Kohler is just one in a long line of
researchers who have used inverting goggles to try to understand how we
see. The latest to pass through the looking glass is a young philosopher
called Jan Degenaar. For him, however, the experiment is not simply an
exploration of vision. By stepping outside his normal perception of the
world and seeing it in a different way, he thinks he has gained an
insight into the so-called hard problem of consciousness – how to
explain the feeling of sensation. How do our brains turn a set of
signals into the redness of a rose, the softness of velvet, the pungency
of raw onion, and all the rest? His experience supports a new theory
about consciousness – that it is not merely in the mind, but extends
beyond the boundary of the body. The idea is not just weird and
esoteric, if correct it has ramifications in fields ranging from animal
consciousness to robotics.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
Degenaar's foray into the hard problem of
consciousness began with an interest in visual perception. Orthodox
understanding of how this works dates back to the 16th century and
French philosopher René Descartes, who suggested that our brains
construct an internal model of the world, which we then view like a
cinema playing inside our heads. Degenaar is among a growing number of
researchers who question this interpretation. In 2011, while studying
for a PhD at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, he was
reading descriptions of experiments with inverting goggles when he
noticed something interesting. While some experimenters described the
mental image of the world flipping, others related how they learned to
adapt their behaviour to the inverted image. Intrigued by the
discrepancy, he decided to try the experiment for himself.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
Degenaar's goggles flipped the left and
right sides of space by placing a right-angled prism in front of each
eye. He wore them for an average of 4 hours a day for 31 days – earlier
experiments having shown that you can adapt without wearing them all the
time. With objects on his left now appearing on his right and vice
versa, he immediately experienced a major conflict between the feedback
from his visual system and other sensory input, especially touch. He
became as clumsy as Kohler. Initially, however, the most disturbing
aspect of the experience was his sense of visual instability. Each time
he moved his head, the scene rushed past him and he couldn't track
anything in it. On the first day, the nausea this induced was so intense
that he vomited.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
The visual instability gradually eased and
had vanished entirely by day 13. At that point, Degenaar could move his
head while keeping his gaze fixed and see objects where he expected to
see them. If he kept his head still, however, he had to think hard about
which way to move his eyes to bring an object into the centre of his
vision from the periphery. Other skills returned at different rates.
Unable to orient a knife correctly with respect to a tomato on day 1,
for example, he managed to cook a simple meal three days later. He
developed strategies for walking that involved turning his head in the
direction he wanted to go in. At first his path zigzagged but it
gradually straightened out, and on day 15 he was able to walk home from
the university, armed with a white stick – though it took him an hour
rather than the usual 30 minutes (<a href="http://www.academia.edu/4029955/Degenaar2013_Through_the_Inverting_Glass"><i>Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences</i>, vol 13, p 373</a>).</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
This piecemeal adaptation has been
reported by others. American psychologist George Stratton was a pioneer
of inverting glasses in the late 19th century. With one eye covered, he
strapped a contraption over the other, inverting the world left-right
and up-down. He reported that different elements of the scene "righted"
themselves at different times and in different contexts. In the 1960s, a
volunteer working with psychologist James Taylor at the University of
Cape Town, South Africa, got quite good at riding a bike around the
campus wearing left-right inverting glasses. However, even when he could
easily navigate between buildings, writing on signs on those buildings
still appeared reversed, only becoming legible after he had practised
reading with the goggles.</div>
<h3 class="crosshead">
Illusion of reality</h3>
<div class="infuse">
Everyone agrees that describing inversion
effects to people who have never experienced them is extremely
difficult, and researchers argue over the meaning of past accounts. In
Stratton's case, for example, what was "righted" could have been either
his visual experience, or his behavioural response to it. What is
consistent in most reports, though, is the incremental nature of the
adaptation. For Degenaar and his former mentor, Erik Myin at the
University of Antwerp in Belgium, it represents a nail in the coffin of
the Cartesian model of vision.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
"There is no internal image in the brain,
and nothing flips," says Degenaar. The real nature of visual perception
is quite different, he says. At any given time we see only a tiny
portion of the visual scene – the part our eyes are actively exploring.
The impression we have of gazing out on a unified visual world is mere
illusion, he believes, arising from the knowledge that we would see
another portion of the scene if we were to move our eyes there. It's our
active, if partial, sampling of the scene that gives it the quality of
reality. In his view, adaptation to inverting glasses involves learning a
new set of relationships between our movements and the changes in
sensory input they now generate. It therefore depends on how much a
person has practised a certain action, which could explain the staged
return of consistent, accurate visual judgement. "You start to see
vision not as one capacity, but as a set of interrelated capacities,"
says Myin.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
One person who agrees with this
interpretation is Kevin O'Regan, who is based, ironically, at Paris
Descartes University in France, and in whose lab Degenaar works. "Seeing
involves actively interacting with the world," he says. There is no
Cartesian cinema playing inside our heads, just a mass of different
interactions between our senses and our environment. "Saying that we
have the impression of a coherent visual field is simply an abbreviated
way of saying that we are comfortable with all the ways that we visually
interact with the world." He gives an example the rest of us might just
be able to relate to: shaving or putting on make-up in a mirror isn't
easy the first time you do it, but with practice you get better. You
reach out with your razor or mascara wand to the right place on your
face, and you do so automatically, without telling yourself to do the
opposite of what feels right.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
O'Regan's model is not simply about
vision, it encompasses all forms of perception. A decade ago, when he
began talking about his "sensorimotor theory of perception", it was
highly controversial. Today, enactivism – as variants of it are
collectively called – is gaining in popularity. Enactivists believe that
thinking and feeling arise in the dynamic interaction between an
organism and its environment. Thus an organism "enacts" a world. And
this insight might help crack one of the biggest mysteries of all – the
hard problem of consciousness. In O'Regan's model, your subjective
experience of being is created by your awareness of the myriad different
ways your self interacts with the world as you move around and explore
it.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
If O'Regan is correct, the particular
senses with which you explore the world shape your subjective feeling of
being. And that's where inverting goggles come in. Degenaar had an
insight into the hard problem of consciousness around day 30 of his
experiment. Until then, he had found that coordinating his movements
with what he saw required effort, and he had begun to worry that he
would only ever be able to compensate for his impairment, never really
adapt to it. That changed when he suddenly noticed that objects appeared
to be where they actually were. In his write-up of the experiment, he
describes what happened next: "A few moments later, when I had not moved
my head for a while, I fell back in the other way of experiencing the
visual field again, so that the objects once again appeared to be in
places where they were not actually located. But when I continued
looking around again, by slowly moving my head, I could now see objects
where they were." In other words, he now had access to two perceptual
worlds, whereas most of us spend our whole lives trapped inside one.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
Previous goggle-wearers have described a
stage where they saw two versions of the same object, one more ghostly
than the other, though with time the ghostly one became more substantial
until it replaced the first. Degenaar's experience was slightly
different: his two "percepts" were rivals. He compares this bi-stable
state to what people experience when they look at an ambiguous image
such as the Necker cube or duck/rabbit illusion. "It can't be described
as the flipping of an image," he says. "It's more like a gestalt
switch." He was seeing the same objects, and nothing had moved, but the
raw feel of seeing had changed. The reason, he thinks, is that his
sensorimotor engagement with the world – the bodily act of seeing – had
also been transformed.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
Enactivism hasn't won everybody over. One
sceptic is Colin Klein, a philosopher at the Australian National
University in Canberra. While impressed by Degenaar's descriptive
powers, he says they still leave room for different interpretations. The
perceptual breakthrough he recorded on day 30, for instance, could have
been the result of his brain learning to extract information from an
inverted internal image – in the same way that a trained sonographer can
decode an ultrasound image that appears to a patient as meaningless
black and white splodges. "In one sense they are seeing the same image,
but one is seeing it with expert knowledge and one isn't," says Klein.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
Jesse Prinz, a philosopher at the City
University of New York, expresses similar reservations. When you look in
a mirror, he says, "You know the image is reversed, but you develop the
skills to cope with a world that has been turned backwards."</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
Both Klein and Prinz cite a study from
1999 that circumvents the problem of describing what it feels like to
experience visual inversion. David Linden, then at the Max Planck
Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt, Germany, and colleagues,
tested four wearers of up-down inverting goggles on a simple visual
trick that involved showing them discs drawn on a flat, grey background
and shaded vertically from white to black. Normally, observers assume
that the discs are lit from above, and see those that are white at the
top as convex and those that are black at the top as concave <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2990/29901301.jpg">(see Illustration)</a>.
Linden's volunteers made this assumption too, but when they put the
glasses on they reported that the discs they had originally seen as
convex were now concave and vice versa. What's more, this interpretation
persisted throughout the 10-day experiment, despite the fact that they
adapted behaviourally to the glasses (<a href="http://www.perceptionweb.com/abstract.cgi?id=p2820"><i>Perception</i>, vol 28, p 469</a>).</div>
<div class="infuse">
For Klein and Prinz, this is clear
evidence for a picture model of vision. The internal image is inverted
by the goggles and does not adapt or flip; rather, behaviour adapts to
the inverted image. For Degenaar and O'Regan, it merely demonstrates
that vision can be fragmented until a person relearns all the ways in
which they can interact visually with their environment.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
The two interpretations have different
implications. A robot built on the picture model would passively
register a photo-like image of the world, while a sensorimotor robot
would learn to see the world by actively exploring it. More
fundamentally, if the sensorimotor approach is correct, a newborn baby
might have to learn consciousness. And the quality of another species'
consciousness might differ radically from our own, given that it
explores the world with different senses, such as eyes on the side of
its head or the ability to echolocate or sense magnetic fields.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
O'Regan's ultimate goal is to understand
how the brain mediates these sensorimotor interactions to create
phenomenological experience: how, for example, it generates a feeling of
redness across all the different conditions in which a red object can
be observed. At root, he thinks, raw feel springs from something
elementary and predictable – the laws of physics – but understanding how
it does so could give us an insight into what it means to be human.
Imagery, symbolism, metaphor and language – the things that set our
species apart – are, after all, grounded in sensory experience.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
The debate over the hard problem
continues, and we surely haven't seen the last of inversion goggles.
Degenaar would like to repeat his experiment with a group of volunteers,
having them describe their visual experiences while observers
simultaneously record changes in their behaviour. So look out for people
trying to spoon soup into their foreheads, or throwing themselves to
the ground in an attempt to stand up straight. They will be doing it in a
good cause.</div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<div class="infuse">
<i>This article appeared in print under the headline "Goggle eyed"</i></div>
<div class="infuse">
<br /></div>
<i><b>Laura Spinney</b> is based in Lausanne, Switzerland</i>Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-82722782330423478022014-08-28T11:14:00.001+01:002014-09-11T12:56:36.148+01:00Twenty Months of Perfect TunesIn the midst of a difficult time replete with heartbreak, existential angst and post-thesis blues I didn't get around to my now-traditional end of year music round up at the end of 2013, so in an attempt to redress this and talk about some of the amazing music that's been around in the last twenty months, here is my extended belated account.<br />
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First off, I discovered <a href="https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/artist/firewater" target="_blank">Firewater </a>earlier this year. As a long-time fan of <a href="http://copshootcop.com/" target="_blank">Cop Shoot Cop</a> since their first album Consumer Revolt, I was aware of Tod A's prowess as a songwriter. After their untimely demise he began Firewater as a vehicle for experimenting with a more traditional yet avant-garde approach to music, mixing klezmer, gypsy and world musics with his trademark black humour and vituperative cynicism. I'd tried to get into the new band but failed dismally because it just didn't make sense to me. After rediscovering the fourth and final CSC album, Release, I tried again and was joyously surprised. Truly unusual music from an immense talent, and surely the greatest lyricist of our generation. The album which has drawn the highest praise (from me) is The Golden Hour, recorded over <a href="http://postcards.blogs.com/postcards_from_the_other_/" target="_blank">several months with musicians around Asia</a> (Pakistan, Turkey and Israel included). Full of the energetic sense of freedom and excitement which Tod must have felt during his travels, every song tells of the disappointment and bittersweet irony which many of us have felt during the desolate years of the early 21st century. This poignant combination of uplift, enthusiasm and the bright sun of foreign climes with the tales of disappointment, of one man trying to find a way to be true to himself in a world which isn't geared towards human happiness is what gives the album it's incredible emotional depth. Tod's lyrical power on this album is amazing, as is his gift for melody and songwriting - something which the bile of CSC often masked. Every track is killer, though some took more listens than others to fully appreciate. It's difficult to select two tracks because every one needs to be heard but here are three that are immediately stunning. Right now this is album of the century and I can't get enough of it.<br />
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Sadly not every album is as good as this, though The Man on the Burning Tightrope has some fantastic moments.<br />
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Such as<br />
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<a href="http://www.hardlyart.com/protomartyr.html" target="_blank">Protomartyr</a> get the second place this year. Under Color of Official
Right is fucking great. Part Joy Division, part Pixies, but with a
distinctive swagger and bite that (probably) only a band from Detroit
could muster, they have forged a path which isn't obviously original but
is cut through with their own personality. Lyrically the album is gold - Joe Casey has a unique sense of grimy disconsolation which doesn't wallow in self-pity,
but externalises the resentment of outsiderdom to a highly literate
attack on the shallowness of the world. Their live show is great too -
nothing surprising, but they're a tight band firing on all cylinders at
the moment, and they're still playing venues small enough to really
appreciate them. I love all the parts, but the drummer's a master of
tight, precise tattoo, a typical post-punk style but done to perfection
in a way that's entirely natural - not just homage to their influences.<br />
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When Michael Gira reformed <a href="http://younggodrecords.com/" target="_blank">Swans</a> I was slightly dubious, having lost interest in their later output some years earlier. 2012's The Seer had some great moments (and amazing packaging) but ultimately failed to deliver a consistent vision. This year's To Be Kind demonstrates a far more focussed experience, hypnotic and ritualistic with drive and determination, a masculine energy and discipline that characterised Swans' early output but complemented with the experience of life; stripped of the raw aggression, Gira's mature personality shines through to deliver an intense album which sprawls across three discs and two and a half hours without losing any of its captivating power. I don't like the sleeve though.<br />
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<a href="http://www.yourcomicbookfantasy.com/" target="_blank">HTRK</a> returned in 2014 with an album which, at first, I rather disliked; Psychic 9-5 Club is seductively rich and warm, as opposed to the cold dejection of Work (Work, Work) evoking a definite 80s vibe and my first impression was one of a self-confident settling into acceptance; a band trying to assure themselves they had nothing left to prove. But beneath the nondescript warmth there is a beating heart of concentrated vision; a smooth surface which is sensual only because of what it conceals, the blood and muscle which moves beneath it. Blue Sunshine. I saw them play the Southbank as part of the screening of Rowland S. Howard eulogy-documentary Autoluminescent. It was nice to see them, and great to hear their cover of Howard's Dead Radio but in a birghtly lit hall, sitting down made the experience somewhat lacklustre. I'd rather have heard their music in a dimly lit bar, that seems to be its natural home.<br />
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Thanks to my friend Ben I discovered the junk metal composer Hal Hutchinson. His career has consisted of refinements of a single artistic concept: the use of metal and machine parts to create an organised chaos of industrial noise which has evolved through dozens of iterations. Each release is very different, some sparse and distorted, some intense and manic. This CD comes in a great package with postcards and an essay explaining his approach and artistic vision.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1303542577/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://crucialblast.bandcamp.com/album/wreckage-installations-metalworks">Wreckage Installations & Metalworks by HAL HUTCHINSON</a></iframe><br />
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Along very similar lines is a batch of releases from long established noise composer <a href="http://www.cipsite.net/" target="_blank">Vertonen</a>. Taking field recordings of industrial machinery as his starting point, Blake Edwards composes unforgiving mechanical symphonies which admit of no apparent human element while being highly intellectually satisfying. Of the three releases, each constricted to one format -<a href="http://www.ratskin.org/releases/rsr022.html" target="_blank"> CD</a>, <a href="http://fluxusmontana.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/vertonen-capillaires-mecanquesfm5.html" target="_blank">tape</a> and <a href="http://ratskin.org/releases/rsr034.html" target="_blank">vinyl</a> - it's the picture disc which is the most accomplished (but doesn't have a track on Youtube so you're getting one from the CD)<br />
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*Update: here's one from the vinyl on Soundcloud*<br />
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Possibly the most extreme variant of this kind of thing comes from Ben's own label in Nottingham - <a href="http://kiksbooks.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Kiks/GFR</a>. Pursuing a singular vision of primitive electronics and found sound, Kiks have several releases on a variety of formats. It's difficult to choose one, but you can listen to most of them on the website or their <a href="http://kiksgfrlabel.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Bandcamp </a>(the tapes are beautifully packaged though, so check those out).<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2926723466/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://kiksgfrlabel.bandcamp.com/album/murder-cult-the-folly-gfrd003">Murder Cult - The Folly (GFRD003) by KIKS/GFR label</a></iframe><br />
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Bringing slightly more structure to things is <a href="http://subtextrecordings.net/SUB011.html" target="_blank">Eric Holm</a>'s Andoya. Composed from recordings on an outpost in X, the album makes a subdued, lightly clanking icy ambient not unlike Thomas Koner - though with a quiet real-world sensibility that manages to carry the sustained impression of a single person's perspective and artistic intention. It's a very specific vision realised with perfection.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bodufsongs.com/" target="_blank">Boduf Songs</a> has a long history behind them but for me were brand new last year. Reading the Boomkat review of Burnt Up On Re-Entry left me curious, but the album itself is a stellar piece of silky black ambient folk with a dark humour and sophistication all of its own. His previous efforts are all very good but this is the magnum opus.<br />
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Autechre returned with a deluxe four vinyl album, Exai. As usual with Autchre the first few listens bore little reward but as I've returned to it again and again, each time stripping away another layer of expectations about what an Ae record should be, I've found new elements which have drawn me in. Comparison and value judgment with their previous releases are pointless, it's different and it's good.<br />
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I rediscovered <a href="http://www.dual.co.uk/" target="_blank">Dual</a>, a project I followed when I was a mere kid. Beginning in the industrial duo Spleen, Colin Bradley progressed to more abstract sonic extremes not unlike <a href="http://www.roberthampson.com/" target="_blank">Robert Hampson</a>'s Main. Processed guitar forms the core of the music which retains only the ghostly trace of melody but is nonetheless exquisite. There's not much online now, some sound clips on the website and this track on bandcamp, but a 50 minute live set is available <a href="http://archive.org/details/dual" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=118641743/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://dual.bandcamp.com/album/pyor-spar-neumix">Pyor Spar [NEUMIX] by Dual</a></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://ethermachines.com/" target="_blank">Ben Frost</a>'s A U R O R A has thrust him into the limelight this year - an interesting departure into rhythmic and psychedelic territory for him. It's beautiful and harrowing, rich and random. It's a record which speaks of a blinding light split into razor sharp shards. I'm glad to find that recently ambient/noise artists have begun incorporating rhythmic elements into their sound.<br />
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<a href="http://minimalwave.com/artists/artist/sandra-electronics" target="_blank">Sandra Electronics</a>, the early project of Downwards Records head, Karl O'Connor (aka Regis, and recently joined by Juan Mendez of Silent Servant) have put up a slew of new and archive material. The definitive release is <a href="http://minimalwave.com/articles/article/sandra-electronics-sessions-cassette" target="_blank">Sessions</a>, available as a cassette only on Minimal Wave. This is music which draws equally on 80s and teen sounds. I'm still unsure as to how much of it dates back to Karl's pre-techno days and how much is new composition - if the former, it really shouldn't have been shelved for two decades. Clunking machine rhythms, snarling analogue synths and Karl's barked vocals amount to a brutal attack on our expectations of electronic pop music. This material confirms the promise which I've always felt Regis' music held but failed to properly express due to the constraints which the dancefloor form dictated.<br />
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<a href="http://drenchedindistortion.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Samuel Kerridge</a> has delivered several 12s and an album of bleak and grainy, slowed down industrial/techno. Again it's only after several listens that the album has made sense to me - expecting a moody techno LP the off-beat rhythms and oppressive atmospherics left me wanting some kind of energy but now I've discovered the right way of listening to it, I'm hooked - it's great to see a hybrid emerging as a new form of music, one which takes the attitude of industrial/dark ambient and the rhythmic discipline of techno but utlilises them to create something unique.<br />
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Existing in the same musical circles is<a href="https://www.facebook.com/monicahtground" target="_blank"> Monica Hits the Ground</a>, a project only two 12s old but which has provided another unique take on brutal atmospheric techno which would be very difficult to dance to - the punding rhythmic power isn't one which takes you by the hips by rather grabs you by the ribs in an attempt to suffocate.<br />
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<a href="http://www.talbot-music.com/" target="_blank">Talbot </a>are on their third release now and I discovered them belatedly. This Estonian duo make a deceptively complex sprawling psychedelic-sludge rock which combines growl and clean singing to great effect. Can't wait for the next release.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=843313532/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://talbot.bandcamp.com/album/scaled">Scaled by Talbot</a></iframe><br />
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Now, Aphex Twin. The new album is a month away, and I'm eagerly expecting great things. I still think that Drukqs is a masterpiece, surpassing his earlier simplistic efforts - great as they have been for the time. I happily participated in the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/watmmofficial/cat023-caustic-window-own-the-legendary-record-by" target="_blank">Kickstarter </a>to fund the purchase of Cat033 (yes, even to the extent of buying the blank CDR and digipack to burn the wavs onto), but I appear to be the only person disappointed by the LP. It sounds exactly like the kind of album which would end up unreleased. There is little imagination, though the trademark AFX trappings are there, they aren't realised with the panache that other albums displayed. I have yet to find a single track which I actually think is worthwhile, or even enjoy listening to. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's out there and I think the Kickstarter project was a great thing. But musically it's pretty shit.<br />
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Didn't like The Knife album. haven't even listened to all of it but I heard was sufficiently terrible to whither any interest in investigating it. Such a shame because Silent Shout was like a revelation to me, a magical surreal pop experience which soundtracked a whole summer. On the new album they seem to have disappeared up their arses entirely. I abused one of Silent Shout's lyrics for the title of this post just to demonstrate my dissatisfaction, that'll learn em.<br />
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I'm kind of happy that I got away from the really heavy music that was taking up a lot of my time last year. I still like seeing sludgy metal and powerviolence live but I've lost the taste for it as independent listening. Possibly the stand-out of the last year is <a href="http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Blut_aus_Nord/2371" target="_blank">Blut Aus Nord</a>'s <a href="http://www.debemur-morti.com/en/content/226-the-work-which-transformed-black-metal" target="_blank">The Work Which Tranforms God</a>, actually a rerelease. As black metal goes it's well-produced and has a nicely gnostic overtone which stands in contrast to the dreary Satanist tropes that the followers of the genre assume.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1163162617/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://dmp666.bandcamp.com/album/the-work-which-transforms-god">The Work Which Transforms God by BLUT AUS NORD</a></iframe> <br />
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Nottingham's <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nadirmurk" target="_blank">Nadir </a>put out their first release this year, on tape only. The package is beautiful, worth the money just for that - but the music's good too. These five tracks don't display the advances their live sound has made recently with the addition of an electronic element, but it's still worth checking out (and I expect great things from the next album).<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=881595005/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://nadirmurk.bandcamp.com/album/st-tape-2014">st Tape 2014 by NADIR</a></iframe> <br />
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Also still riding high are <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bismuthslow?fref=ts" target="_blank">Bismuth </a>(Tanya of Nadir's other project), who've been garnering rave reviews from the underground for their brand of ethereal volcanic sludge.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=711733786/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://bismuthslow.bandcamp.com/album/split">Split by Bismuth / Undersmile</a></iframe><br />
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Shouldn't go without mentioning <a href="http://ninjatune.net/us/artist/the-bug" target="_blank">The Bug</a>'s new album, Angels and Devils. I can't say much about it because my copy only arrived yesterday, but it's good and looks set to be in many end of year charts. I'm glad to see him expanding his palette a little from the dancehall distortion of previous releases under this moniker and for me the first disc, Angels is the better half. I particularly like his collaboration with Liz Harris (Grouper)<br />
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Oh and talking of Liz, her<a href="http://glasscommahouse.org/project/w-grouper-jefre-cantu-ledesma/" target="_blank"> collaboration</a> with Jefre Cantu-Ledesma saw a much needed rerelease this year. Could only find the whole album on Youtube, which I'd prefer not to share if given the choice. But here it is.<br />
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So yeah. It's been great. Hopefully there's plenty more to come in the next four months so I can do another round up in December. And don't forget to support the artists and buy their stuff if you like it. It's the best way to keep up the flow of great music.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-65420260330015003712014-08-25T09:58:00.000+01:002014-08-25T09:58:22.614+01:00DisappearanceDisappearance is such a powerful word. Complete absence; cease to exist - to vanish. Leaving only a memory, just the incorporeal trace. In <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DOQ4SwUZNtYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mark+c+taylor+hiding&source=bl&ots=nbon_PvXOh&sig=PuUTfFG0xgEd5kkaI1L0TeOpp4M&hl=en&ei=SgXxS8bED5H20gSntITqBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Hiding</a>, Mark C Taylor argues that it is the very disappearance of the body which makes it real - only its astonishing absence can inscribe the importance of its (now past) presence. But the past is as corporeal as the present for those who cannot detach themselves from it. Perhaps more so, because its influence is felt, a deadweight, inescapable and unchallengable because of its very, <span style="font-style: italic;">dead</span>, certainty. Whereas the present projects into the future, it is unrealised, unactualised and only <span style="font-style: italic;">to be</span> resolved. The past's shadow is upon us whereas the present's appearance is cast into the future. So, only in retrospect does the present become real - only as past. Only in disappearance does the body gain real - apparent - corporeality.<br />
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What use then is disappearance?<br />
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Many have claimed that it is only in death that we find Being - in leaving the transitory existence of Becoming, we enter a new state of eternal subsistence. Certainly the concrete presence of the absent implies this. In being not-here, it transcends and solidifies out of the living-death of the corruptible world.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-59052379304818573602014-08-24T21:33:00.002+01:002014-08-28T13:00:52.887+01:00Philosophy of the BodyWhat is needed is a philosophy of the body. This is not to say a philosophy of matter, or a materialist philosophy. The body is more than matter - encompassing that which is present <i>through </i>the body, the mental, that 'epiphenomenal' which can breach its own boundaries and, overflowing, exercise power over that which gives it birth.<br />
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A philosophy of the body, of human physicality, seeks to determine the humanistic aspects of the body; how the body functions in cultures, how physicality can determine and effect (even, affect) our internal and interpersonal realities.<br />
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What happens when we scratch this surface? What comes to pass when we open the body for an examination which is transphysical in nature?<br />
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In this case the body becomes not just matter, not a concentration of particles, tissue, blood and bone; neither is it a hollow vessel, second to the spirit which moves it. Instead it is the very presence of the internality which exists through it; the medium by which minds interact, through which expression occurs and as which the human being is real. In this case the body is the manifestation of the spirit in action, bloodied, strained and taut or limp, reduced and languid. The body is both unreal and the most real; it's the closest we get to <i>presence </i>of the incorporeal; it's the opaque presentation of the diaphanous, illogically concealing that very - postulated, always postponed - Real which we can never reach.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-69843863729926532722014-04-06T16:28:00.001+01:002014-08-28T13:00:40.010+01:00Reductionism, metaphysical fascismReally, the main opponent I find myself arguing against time and again is reductionism. A main theme of my thesis was that an other, any subject or object (and for me the terms really are interchangeable), while wholly constituted of the material that composes it, should not be reduced to it; an entity, in order to be an entity rather than an aggregate, must admit of some kind of metaphysical unity.<br />
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It's also been an ongoing conviction that the truths of separate fields of investigation should not and cannot be reduced to each other; while I value science and scientific investigation immensely, I flinch whenever someone tries to explain religious claims in terms of a literal, "scientific" statement about the world(as you may imagine this happens often enough to constitute some kind of nervous tick; it is the error, in my opinion, of people both with and without religious conviction to claim that religious statements can hold the same <i>kind of truth </i>as scientific ones; that religion is principally an attempt at explaining or describing the world). Likewise I don't think biology should be reduced to chemistry or physics, or psychology to biology - or even sociology to psychology. And needless to say, art too has its own domain of value, truths of which are not explainable or even correctly <i>stateable</i> in terms of any other discipline.<br />
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I think a mistake that it's easy to make about this is in thinking that these separate domains or magisteria exist side-by-side; that this means religious truth, for example, is equal but complementary to scientific truth, because there is some "spiritual" realm sitting alongside the material. But this is to make the fundamental mistake of judging all meaning by the terms of materialism. There doesn't need to be a "real" realm in which religious truth happens in order for religious truth to be "real" in terms of having value and meaning. Just like psychological claims don't have to be stateable in terms of chemistry in order to be valid. There is a mental "realm" but it's not an objective one in the way we tend to think of the objectively real material world.<br />
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Perhaps my main complaint against reductionism is in the drive to totalise. When everything is stateable in a single tongue, according to a single model of reality, the world becomes static; the flat world of particles existing in mechanical relation according to a single overarching narrative or set of rules takes on, for me, a hellish aspect; a metaphysical fascism where value is already determined and even personal interpretation or sensation is not what it is but is only something else articulated into an apparent form. We end up with a cosmos which is nothing but numbers and the relationship between them. Reductionism aggressively roots out and throws away any alternative viewpoints, claiming that a single schema is the absolute truth, and all others are just articulations of the fundamental principle. This is highly unsatisfactory for me. It seems like a kind of death; an autopsy. (I've never been able to settle on just one thing; I can't even pick a favourite musical style, I need to listen to 'em all.) Worse yet a single system of value seems to negate even itself, because on what can that system of value, of meaning, actually ground itself? What gives the ultimate ground of reality its ultimate status? The question is like asking "who made God" or "what came before the Big Bang" I know, and perhaps it demonstrates the same basic misunderstanding of ultimacy (or of "reality"!). But I find the picture of separate realms interlinking and supporting each other much more intellectually pleasing; the idea that different (and even unrelated) systems of understanding the world-we-live-in allows for much greater depth of understanding and a much richer sense of the world; and the world-we-live-in after all isn't the objective material world of science, but a world infused with social, mythical, artistic and religious aspects, none of which exist <i>in</i> the material world which empirical science investigates.<br />
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Another aspect of this is in the field of comparative religion. It's been fashionable for a while to say that all religions are the same, that they all teach the same thing or that they're all paths to the same truth. I find this deeply unsatisfactory. What fascinating about religion is just how different they all are. The metaphysics, the soteriology and the system of value and meaning for human life are completely different in, say, Buddhism and Islam. Even in two religions which have deeply influenced each other throughout their history, like Judaism and Christianity, their understanding what it means to be human and how the human relates to the world and to the sphere of divinity (as well as to other humans) is really totally different (this is one of the reasons why Jewish philosophy is so different from typical post-Christian western philosophy). For me, Judaism fascinates me - but I wouldn't claim it's the only or best way of doing religion. I value equally (well, maybe not equally...) the teachings of all religions; these are human endeavours, constructed by humans to answer the specific questions which a group of people faced at a particular time, and subject to an evolutionary trajectory constrained by both the strictures of the initial dogma and the events which subsequent generations endured, altering their interpretations and emphases. Of course, reigions havealways existed in proximity to each other and many have absorbed concepts and traditions from other faiths; the boundaries are always permeable.<br />
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But further I think ther must be a means of escaping. No? When one system, one order, becomes too much one needs the possibility of escaping into another; of stepping out of the existing symbolic order and experiencing the world anew, through another. To realise that things don't have to be the way they seem; that redemption can come in various forms, from unexpected places; that the world can actually be turned upside down and reform into new shapes, with new relationships between its parts.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-76564881069891521222013-11-18T22:05:00.002+00:002013-11-18T22:05:49.522+00:00Reading Buber, and thinking about loveLove seems to depend on the nature of individuality. Is it the qualities, the 'accidents' of someone's personality and lifestyle habits that one is called to love? Or the irreducile, the 'soul', that which is them in their itneriority and absolute individuality?
One thinks it should be the latter. But all internality is identical; it is only the exterior which grants difference; it is the perception of difference itself which generates difference. The I of all is identical. How can one love that which is identical to oneself? What meaning or value would this have? The answer is clear: none. That would not be love but masturbation; narcissism; dissolution, to love what of oneself one sees reflected in the other.
But love must admit difference. It is precisely that infinitesimal space between two which allows love to exist: that gap which cannot be materially breached but still across which electrical sparks might fly; through the name, through and via those qualities (<i>middot</i>) of difference, the accidents, into the soul of another wich precisely in its hiddenness, its concealedness behind that gap, cannot be known as identical but known only as other; as different. The spirit of one which reaches out to me through these material qualities is still the spirit which I love, unknowable in its unclothedness but perceivable in its represented form.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-9567275776984619292013-01-09T10:04:00.000+00:002013-01-09T10:04:13.912+00:00Writing and artI'd mentioned that I want to start blogging again this year. I've felt that ever since I began my PhD I just haven't had any ideas to express here. All of my intellectual energies have gone into my studies. This isn't a bad thing, because this is perhaps the most crucial point when I should try to focus, and after which I can begin to relax a bit (ha! I know that isn't true). But it has left me feeling rather two-dimensional and wondering what happened to all my other interests outside Judaism. I can't even find the time to read my weekly New Scientist anymore, and the pile of waiting-to-be-read books grows daily.
So, I wanted to share <a href="http://bryanchristieblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-usefulness-of-uselessness.html">this post</a> from the excellent artist Bryan Christie. He discusses his past as a musician and the feeling of uselessness at being an anachronism, playing jazz in 90s New York, and then the revelation at becoming art editor at a scientific magazine where the passion of the writers made him feel like he was "surrounded by artists and musicians". This reminded me of the sense of liberation I had when I finally abandoned music and turned instead to academia (five years ago now). There are some things I miss about being a musician, but mostly I think I've found the drives that brought me to music have been fulfilled more completely here.
I often reflect that academic study - or more precisely, academic writing - is for me an artistic pursuit. I have the same feeling from honing a mass of information into a coherent, developing "argument" with momentum as I did from making music. Because music-making was always more a matter of composition than playing for me, the careful and intricate refinement, and the attempt to "show" a complex notion over the course of a piece that could not be said in a single melody, are recalled to me now when I attempt to express very abstract, intangible and complex theories over ten thousand words that couldn't be adequately stated in twenty. Both processes, it occurs to me now, were mostly carried out infront of computer screens.
The process of writing - and I've found this to be true in my PhD as well as in my MA and earlier essays - is roughly analogous to sculpture. The first step is to form your lump of clay. This is the research phase, taking notes and editorialising; effectively throwing words at the screen until you have a good solid mass to start working with. Next you can start honing: chipping away at the block until you can feel the shape emerging, rearranging paragraphs and aligning topics so that the argument takes shape. Finally you can start adding in more ideas and text to highlight or accentuate areas. But crucially I think, it never feels like the argument is something <i>I'm creating</i>; it's present in the initial body of text, I am just turning it around and trying to find how to reorder it so that the argument becomes obvious. Although I've occasionally been surprised, mostly I have a vague awareness of my conclusions even before I've started that process.
But I think the crucial aspect for me, what drove me both as a musician and as an academic, is the sense of discovery - the sense of curiously placing things together, taking ideas from different fields/styles, mashing them all together and making something new, but also the ability to (forgive my Wittgensteinian fascination) show what cannot be said, to somehow express a concept that goes beyond words. Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-75530725868178367592012-12-14T15:55:00.000+00:002014-08-28T12:58:27.053+01:002012 in MusicWell, this year has been almost entirely without posts, on any of my blogs. But it's been a year of a lot of music for me so I feel like sharing some of what I've been listening (and in fact, not listening) to.<br /><br/>
I've bought more music this year than for a long time. I came back to the vinyl fold, initially buying a 99p usb turntable off Ebay (which didn't work) and quickly afterward collecting my battered old Vestax from storage at my parents' house. In a way I regret it, because vinyl's so much more expensive and unecological than CD...but, it does sound (and feel) fantastic. So much for my eco-credentials.<br /><br/>
A shout out should be given to Nottingham's <a href="http://www.themusicexchange.org.uk/">Music Exchange</a>. The only independent store in Nottingham, they are run by homeless charity Framework, support vinyl and new artists and sometimes have live shows instore. Needless to say, musicians can't survive and carry on making the music we love if people don't buy their releases.<br /><br/>
I've surprised myself by getting into extreme metal again. Well, for the first time really - apart from a teenage interest in Napalm Death and the rest of the Earache roster, I could never really dig the lack of emotional breadth or melody in much grindcore, and hated the overstatement of death metal. All that teenage phase left me with was a deep love for Mick Harris and James Plotkin, as well as a high respect for Godflesh. Really, two bands have sealed my embrace of the dark side this year: <a href="http://dephosphorus.com/">Dephosphorus</a> - a Greek "astrogrind" band whose second full-length has garnered rave reviews from around the web. It's beautiful, both physically for its art and presentation, and aurally. Brutal, abrasive but intelligent; psychedelic and furious, but controlled. There's been a massive proliferation of screamy, sophisticated-ish black metal awash with blastbeats and all those same chords and sounds - Dephosphorus do something beyond that, and hopefully will continue to push the sound beyond the very narrow furrow it now inhabits.<br /><br/>
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=3902159243/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://dephosphorus.bandcamp.com/album/night-sky-transform">NIGHT SKY TRANSFORM by DEPHOSPHORUS</a></iframe><br /><br />
The second band is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/This-Gift-is-A-Curse/169340306801">This Gift Is A Curse</a>, a Swedish band who I saw at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/chameleonartscafe/members/">Chameleon</a>. Thanks to a nice little group of music-loving friends this has become my regular haunt and I've discovered much great music here. I really can't fault it as an underground venue and the sound-system/sound-man especially cannot be praised highly enough. Anyway TGIAC make a brutal brand of occult black metal which pleases both the viscera and the intellect, being complex, blackened, gruesome and tight but never overly technical. Here's a band firing on all cylinders and pulling in the same direction. Just a shame about the drunk guy in the audience who kept annoying the singer by getting into the mood a bit too much.<br /><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=1182118294/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://thisgiftisacurse.bandcamp.com/album/i-gvilt-bearer">I, Gvilt bearer by THIS GIFT IS A CURSE</a></iframe><br /><br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Raime/104886336260448">Raime</a>. Well, what can I say about Raime? After a string of well-received twelves they dropped their LP <a href="http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=12024">Quarter Turns over a Living Line</a> late this year; it's stunning. Better, if you ask me, than the singles although I have to admit that I only heard Spotify's MP3s of their previous stuff. This is the release that sealed my love for vinyl. Digital has never sounded as rich as this, and never made bass that shakes out of the woofers like this does. It's very simple music, but full of soul and, as Boomkat put it, dread. I sometimes think about how perception of music changes over time and wonder how today's music will seem in ten or twenty years. I have no idea how Raime will sound - either seminal or curious transigent fascination, I'm not sure. On paper they don't do much different from Demdike Stare, but they remain so much more interesting and vital. Maybe when fashion has moved on, the smog will have left and revealed them as actually no different, but I suspect this album will remain some definitive statement on the mood of our times, as Autechre and Aphex Twin did the mid 90s. Kids don't sit in their bedrooms chilling and smoking on a sunday comedown anymore; they sit and feel intense insecurity about the future and their place in it, the collapse of ecological systems, terrorism, corporate politics and the ravaging of social infrastructure. <br /><br />
I'll remind you here of what I said about the vinyl. This clip just doesn't compare.
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On the other hand, a group I discovered at the same time as Raime and loved briefly, are <a href="http://tropicofcancer.bandcamp.com/">Tropic of Cancer</a>. I find myself now bemused as to what the fuss is - they have one or two great tracks, but the majority of their work is very cheesy, and displays a conventionalism which belies the apparent underground veneer; behind the smog there's nothing there. I'm glad I didn't buy their <a href="http://www.sleeperholdpublications.com/main.php#number5">massively overpriced 12"</a>, though I did cough up for the <a href="http://ghostly.com/releases/part-time-punks-radio-sessions">massively overpriced mini-LP</a> split with <a href="http://www.yourcomicbookfantasy.com/">HTRK</a>. I don't regret that, as it does at least have one of their great songs on, and I'm still in love with HTRK. I realise now that I was partially incorrect last year in characterising them as austere though - it's the unusual mixture of austerity and decadence which makes them so fascinating and is sure to preserve the strength of their music in years to come.<br /><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fuDxtP_w-dI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />This is one of the good ones.<br /><br />
This year has seen a real return to the dark in fact. There's a real sense of terror and doom in music right now that I don't remember at any point before - maybe the late 70s would be the last point it was this apparent. It was reading a review on Boomkat which made me understand the sudden, unprecedented rise of freeform music recently: it's a response to the collapse of bedroom electronica. The complete antithesis of sequenced, 4 minute, computerised beats&melody music has been the sprawling, organic compositionless sound experiments which have almost taken centre-stage in underground music the last couple of years.<br /><br />
<a href="http://www.schneidertm.net/">Schneider TM</a>'s <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/08519-schneider-tm-construction-sounds-review">Construction Sounds</a> LP is the height of the freeform trend for me. Recordings made from the construction works that surrounded his Berlin flat for several years, effected and made into a detailed sonic canvas incorporating melody and synthetic sound into the mechanical work which is always refined and never merely cacophonous. Pierre Schafer would be proud (maybe).<br /><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2482635512/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://mirrorworldmusic.bandcamp.com/album/construction-sounds">Construction Sounds by Schneider TM</a></iframe><br /><br />
I discovered, later than many, <a href="http://haxancloak.tumblr.com/">The Haxan Cloak</a>. His <a href="http://www.aurora-b.com/band_pages/haxan.php">first album</a> is beautiful - organic and gritty but with restraint, tension and without noodling. The <a href="http://thequietus.com/articles/09620-haxan-cloak-men-parted-the-sea-to-devour-the-water-review-2">follow up mini-LP</a> sounded flat and digital in comparison. I hope he steps things up for the next release.<br /><br />
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On quite a similar note, I've been interested in <a href="http://richardskelton.wordpress.com/">Richard Skelton</a>'s literary and musical output. A very talented man to be sure, and with a clear (and unique) artistic vision. I bought the <a href="http://www.corbelstonepress.com/limnology.htm">Limnology</a> CD/book package for my dad's birthday. It's a minimally designed collection of words, poetry and musings about rivers and inland water. I'm not sure he gets it, but I like it. I also bought <a href="http://www.corbelstonepress.com/crowautumn.htm">A Broken Consort</a>, which is more accomplished musically, though slightly on the weepy side for my tastes.<br />
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An honourable mention also should go to my friend Ben's micro-label <a href="http://kiksbooks.blogspot.co.uk/">Kiks/Girlfriend</a>, specialising in tiny cassette and CD runs. His own SCKE release is worth looking into.<br /><br />
<iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=1215207789/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://scke.bandcamp.com/album/scke-sierra-liora-1981-cassette-white-shell-download">SCKE// Sierra Liora (1981) (Cassette - white shell + download) by KIKS/GFR</a></iframe><br /><br />
Finally in terms of sound art, <a href="http://esophagus.com/htdb/menche/">Daniel Menche</a> caught my attention, I think from a review in the Wire. His work is highly detailed, made up of field recordings of natural and man-made sounds composed into pieces. Layers and levels of soundoverlap and interpenetrate to an almost psychedelic degree. He has a massive catalogue all of which is worth listening to, but the two that I decided to part with cash for were Guts and Drunk Gods.<br /><br />
<iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=1680723335/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://danielmenche.bandcamp.com/album/drunk-gods">Drunk Gods by Daniel Menche</a></iframe><br /><br />
<iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=818022020/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://danielmenche.bandcamp.com/album/guts">Guts by Daniel Menche</a></iframe><br /><br />
On the strength of being told it sounded like Daniel Menche, I bought a lovely <a href="http://ihatemusic.noquam.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8106">3CD box set</a> by Small Cruel Party after a show at the Chameleon (Russell Haswell and Pain Jerk in fact). Less dense, perhaps slightly less composed, but still intelligently put together and much more than just noise.<br /><br />
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Something a little more melodic: <a href="http://silverstairsofketchikan.bandcamp.com/">Silver Stairs of Ketchikan</a>. I saw <a href="http://thoughtformsband.blogspot.co.uk/">Thought Forms</a> play at the Chameleon and liked their music - but the CD I bought turned out to be the long-running solo project of their guitarist. In fact it grabbed me more than their own show did - resolutely experimental without being weird for the sake of weird, playful and full of intrigue and a pure love of musical sound.<br /><br />
<iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=3861556156/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://silverstairsofketchikan.bandcamp.com/album/time-is-my-eye">Time Is My Eye by Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan</a></iframe><br /><br />
An interesting agenda is being pursued by <a href="http://www.entropyandenergy.com/">Imaginary Forces</a>, and his label <a href="http://sleepcodes.bandcamp.com/">Sleep Codes</a>. Very limited releases on a variety of formats sitting somewere between abstract electronics and noise. Beats taken through a grinder so they take on abstract, unrhythmic quality. I was drawn into his sound by the excellent Resonance FM show <a href="http://www.entropyandenergy.com/resonating_machines.html">Resonating Machines</a>, which invited producers to compose thirty minutes of sound from the sonic tools of their favourite records. All episodes are available to download from his site.<br /><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=603801995/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://sleepcodes.bandcamp.com/album/hominids">Hominids by Imaginary Forces</a></iframe><br /><br />
<a href="http://pop1280.tumblr.com/">Pop.1280</a> formed pretty much my only foray into verse-chorus pop music this year. Not really pop in attitude, but standard band music, these guys play a sneery, grim cyberpunk art-rock which has seen more than one comparison to Cop Shoot Cop. Their debut <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16243-pop-1280/">The Horror</a> is beautiful and exactly what I needed. I hope they play the UK soon.<br /><br />
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Although, I've been more than a little bemused by the similarity of their first video:<br />
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To one that my old band DisinVectant put together. Not content with taking the aesthetic sense and the scratchy VHS quality, they even feature the vocalist talking into a payphone!<br />
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And now a moan. I raved about <a href="http://thirdworlds.net/main/">Death Grips</a> last year. Now I wish I hadn't. I managed to catch their soundcheck (half of Guillotine, wonderful) in Leeds last summer before leaving to catch the last train back; I was gutted, it would have been my favourite show of the year. I really wanted to see them. Soon after they anounced, and then unceremoniously cancelled, a show in Nottingham. When they finally returned to the UK recently they totally avoided us. They released two albums, I listened to them both once and probably won't bother again. Don't get me wrong: Guillotine is a masterpiece. Death Yon is awesome. The rest of the Ex-Military album I could happily never hear again. I recently picked up the vinyl version and sold it, unopened, for four times what I paid (best price I've ever got for a record actually). I don't regret it at all. I don't have a problem with their attitude, their disrespect for their record label (uploading the third album because of a petty dispute about release dates) or their fans (cancelling a tour to record said album, leaving many people with train tickets or even accommodation etc which were unrefundable). Artists are like that, and shouldn't base their decisions on anything other than their art...art should never be "for" the fans, this makes it a commercial, crowd-pleasing endeavour which is not true art. If you want entertainment watch X-Factor. But the lack of intrigue, the lack of challenge and the sheer lack of progression in their sound has left me feeling bored. Maybe I'll change my mind, it's not unknown.<br />
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<a href="http://ritualofnames.blogspot.co.uk/">Circle Takes the Square</a> still haven't released their second album, more than a year after their Kickstarter project was hugely oversubscribed. It'd better be worth the wait. But, it was a pure joy to see them play in Birmingham all the way back in February.<br /><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=634804232/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://ctts.bandcamp.com/album/decompositions-vol-i-chapter-1-rites-of-initiation">Decompositions - Vol I. Chapter 1. Rites of Initiation by Circle Takes the Square</a></iframe><br /><br />
I heard and quickly bought Michael Idehall's <a href="http://belaten.bandcamp.com/album/sol">SOL</a>. I know nothing about this artist, label or album but I really like it; definite elements of Coil here.<br /><br />
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=89674184/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" style="display: block; height: 100px; position: relative; width: 400px;" width="400"><a href="http://belaten.bandcamp.com/album/sol">SOL by Michael Idehall</a></iframe><br /><br />
Although it's only a twelve, I think I should briefly mention the Regis and Ancient Methods collaboration <a href="http://www.discogs.com/artist/Ugandan+Methods">Ugandan Methods</a>, and their recent <a href="http://boomkat.com/vinyl/612959-ugandan-methods-regis-ancient-methods-a-cold-retreat">Cold Retreat</a>, on Boomkat's own label. Quality industrial technoid grooves. I've been really impressed with Regis output recently and how he's refashioned Downwards into something much bigger than the Brum techno label it could have been.<br /><br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U5cxplNbz14" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />
Here is probably where I should also note Downward's So Click Heels compilation. The highlight for me is Deathday's opener (which actually reminds me of a Regis track from an obscure compilation called Exist)<br /><br />
<iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2678606404/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"><a href="http://deathday.bandcamp.com/album/so-click-heels-a-dns-compilation">So Click Heels: A DNS Compilation by Various Artists</a></iframe><br /><br />
And finally it would be remiss not to mention Swans' <a href="http://drownedinsound.com/releases/17185/reviews/4145372">The Seer</a>. Probably the year's most awaited and certainly most lauded album, I was surprised by the delicacy of some of it - not what I remember from Gira's previous work, though it's a while since I listened to anything except the first couple of Swans albums.<br /><br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-P7fBUDkb90" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />
In the midst of all this there hasn't been much space for melody. That's something I hope will change next year, I do miss tunes.
<br />
Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-11879745743060111202011-12-31T09:40:00.006+00:002011-12-31T11:56:26.911+00:00Music of 2011It's been, for me, the best year for music in a long time. There's been some stunning releases. While I know no one particularly cares, I'm going to share some of the highlights because I want to give some respect to the artists involved. There's no real order here, they're just listed as they occurred to me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">HTRK - Work (work, work)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://ghostly.com/artists/HTRK">http://ghostly.com/artists/HTRK</a><br /><br />The best of the year. This gets better every time I listen to it: black and silky, cold and jagged, simple and repetetive but deep and powerful.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/onEexqL0Kuc" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YWhb4HkCAHI" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oyaarss & Friends - smaida greizi nākamība</span><br /><br /><a href="http://oyaarss.wordpress.com/ues/">http://oyaarss.wordpress.com/ues/</a><br /><br />Funny that one of the best releases of the year is a free download. But this compilation demonstrates some intelligent, forward-thinking electronic music with attitude.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CPLlZmzg1JM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZD7qnPnKQYE" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><h1 style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" id="watch-headline-title"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span id="eow-title" class="" dir="ltr" title="∆AIMON - Flatliner">∆AIMON</span></span></h1><p><a href="http://aaimon.tumblr.com/">http://aaimon.tumblr.com/</a><br /></p>Witchhouse? Yes. I wasn't impressed by the first things I heard from this scene but it's matured quickly and this act are one of the leaders, adding a heavy dose of veiled aggression and industrial attitude to the mix. They've released a few things this year, which I can't really pick one from.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q1omv2XG7iI" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vrrO7MKVrQU" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cloaks - Versions Grain</span><br /><br /><a href="http://3by3cloaks.blogspot.com/">http://3by3cloaks.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />Like a broken machine, this is the kind of electronic music I've been waiting a long time for. Industrial, cold, soulless - austere and beautiful. This is actually a remix album but it only just tops their own originals.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Gka0iam5Ltk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Circle Takes the Square - Rites of Initiation<br /><br /></span><a href="http://ritualofnames.blogspot.com/"><span>http://ritualofnames.blogspot.com/</span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />This is the first taster of the new CTTS album due to be released next year. It's great - I'm not sure it reaches the majestic peaks of As the Roots Undo, but time and repeated listening could prove me wrong. Anyway it's still miles ahead of much screamo which refuses to push the envelope - CTTS are endlessly experimental and their tracks are insanely complex.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/h1aZCb8puLM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jQDHIg_OXUk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Regis - Adolescence</span><br /><a href="http://downwards.tumblr.com/"><br />http://downwards.tumblr.com/</a><br /><br />Yes, it's another compilation. But it's awesome; ignoring it just wouldn't make this list accurate.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qiSlbV5sCmk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/miApf-jx1js" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Swimming - Ecstatics International</span><br /><br />http://swimmingband.com/<br /><br />I saw these guys play a headphone show at a local cinema - great idea, and the music was amazing. It's unusual to make very catchy, pleasurable music which is still experimental and sounds genuinely unique - but they do it perfectly. The album's brilliant, they deserve big success.<br /><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kwRDv3kICxA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uSpScNTHRhc" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Grouper - Water People</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/grouperrepuorg">http://www.myspace.com/grouperrepuorg</a><br /><br />I doubt anyone hasn't heard of Grouper this year. Without a turntable for the past few years I haven't been able to participate in the vinyl revival but thankfully this release was available digitally.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6zQXQbxqy_Y" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Death Grips - Ex Military</span><br /><span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);" class=" down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span><br /><a href="http://thirdworlds.net/">http://thirdworlds.net/</a><br /><br />Another free download - probably everyone's already heard Guillotine but it's always worth hearing again. Mental abstract electronic hip hop.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Orlbo9WkZ2E" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Htl3XWUhUOM" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-47205251939521619792011-07-15T20:56:00.005+01:002011-07-28T09:23:58.960+01:00The Name of the Beast: Monstrosity and Self in Michael Gira's The Consumer.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://younggodrecords.com/images/upload/image/AngelsofLightMichaelGira/TheConsumer/ConsumerCover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 392px;" src="http://younggodrecords.com/images/upload/image/AngelsofLightMichaelGira/TheConsumer/ConsumerCover.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.spikemagazine.com/reviews/gira.jpg"><br /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(It should be noted that in this essay I'm only examining the second half of Gira's book, consisting of short stories from the mid-80s - not the longer first half).</span><br /><br /><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The Consumer is an apt title for Gira's collection of short stories and meditative self-lacerations. The consumer not in terms of consumerism, but of consumption: that which consumes, katabolically dissolving and appropriating into itself, which stops at nothing to annihilate and integrate all that is before it. The book anyway is grotesque – but in the most beautiful possible way. Austere, laconic and surreal in style, its pages are filled with violence, disgust and abuse. Recurrent themes emerge across the stories from different angles: cannibalism, castration, rape, suicide, stench and a bizarre fascination with the Ouroboros-style physical loop.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">It has been easy for reviewers to characterise The Consumer as filled with self-hatred. However, it is not as simple as this. The absence of any coherent self is reiterated throughout the book. The question which one feels while reading it, is a constantly repeated refrain of “What am I?”. The narrator - who switches easily between male and female, victim and aggressor, in search of boundaries - keeps pressing, pushing and flailing, while the forms we would assume dictate the cleavage of self and other dissolve around him.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The necessary implication of selfhood, that of establishing boundaries, hovers like a vulture over every piece. The boundaries between abuser or abused, perpetrator of violence or victim of it, are constantly questioned: the one who is suffering is perpetuating their suffering as a means of controlling the other; the abuser is in fact assaulting himself. Thus everyone in the book is a victim; even the perpetrators. The victim is always complicit in their subjugation and often the aggressor is clearly not the master of the situation or even their own actions. Sometimes it seems that there are no characters at all – only situations, playing themselves out. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The concealed crux of the book is naming – or rather the lack of names. There are none, no character in the book is named, other than occasional titles: 'the cop', 'the worker', 'my grandmother', etc. This only becomes clear over time, as one becomes increasingly entrapped in the book's world where identity is so difficult to establish. We find ourselves also lost in a claustrophobic space where there seems to be nothing but the extended plane of heaving flesh. The absence of names indicates the absence of sufficient identity, and one feels that the narrator is actually in search of the containment that names provide. If only he or she could find some title other than you, me, he and she, some way of identifying individuals in a specific way, the need for boundaries would be satisfied.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">In Initiate, the narrator crawls toward a furnace while being kicked and beaten by a cop. Eventually he collapses, unable even to explain his failure to move. He wakes, castrated and branded, suspended in front of a mirror and unable to look away from his disintegrating corpse. The cops slice meat from his thigh and eat it. Finally he muses, “I'm happy to have them eating me. Eventually I'll disappear. As I dissipate, they'll grow stronger. I'll feel myself pouring into them.” Likewise in Blind, the narrator's leg is painlessly hacked off and consumed before she is violated. As her assaulters bark like dogs, she is consumed, erased, by a redness, a heat into which she disappears.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Even when not consumed, the body is equated with meat, “Meat that eats and shits, moves when pushed, sleeps when tired, nothing else” he writes in Some Weaknesses, moments before slitting the cop's throat. This intrusion of the knife is the only thing which temporarily breaks the spell of mindlessness, and the cop awakens momentarily in surprise and, “For a second, he's not meat.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Of course, all bodies are meat, and in The Consumer there is nothing but bodies: to talk of spirits or souls here would be a blasphemy. But the meaning of being eaten is more than this base physicality: it is, as the book's title suggests, consumption. The desire to be consumed, to be annihilated; to be eradicated within another - or conversely by another from within, because Gira recognises that the consumer is also seeking oblivion, seeking a state of blankness which can be overwritten by the objects he appropriates. The consumer is passive: a mere vessel, he does not merely make void that which he consumes but is himself voided by it. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The same is expressed in the theme of stench: often the narrator is obliterated by another's odour, or their own smell reaches out to infect the environment, as a virtual extension of their body. “I want my world, my body, to consist of her smell. After it has become me, I'll be held enclosed, like an insect in a huge fist, and crushed.” (The Caregiver). In A Grave the narrator acts like a disease, corrupting and consuming the space they inhabit until it is impossible to tell where the human ends and the bed or walls begin. For the lust-crazed narrator of Defeated, “The world's an immediate extension of my thoughts, my self hatred.” In lack of the simple solidity that names confer, it is impossible to grasp self- and other-hood. Without boundaries, all becomes one single, skinless entity. In the single paragraph meditation, “The Ideal Worker”, the narrator appears hollowed out and vacuous as he waits for instruction: “My only ambition is to become more pliable, more inert.” The superior dominates the worker and ultimately will “wipe my mind clean”. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">“I'm malleable, shaped, soft.” (Defeated) The narrator is always pushing to find a point of resistance that never comes, a concrete wall, anything real and not fluid. Experiments with control, submission and domination are attempts to find where one begins and another ends. But this certainty is never given, and boundaries are never found. A Man takes this to its logical extreme, where physical boundaries between the body and the environment disappear, and the narrator seeks identification with another, in the process “ruining my awareness of myself.” Prior to this, the body is an alien presence, something uncontrollable, but whose very controllability reinforces its alien nature. When literally consumed by the woman's body, he can no longer tell who contains who or whether he or she ever existed, and concludes that paradoxically, “I'm using her body to kill my body.” This fluidity returns in The Boss: “He's not himself, he doesn't belong to himself. He's watching his boundaries dissolve as I control him.”. The narrator often turns in toward themselves, sealed as a kind of Ouroboros, as in Another Trap (“I'm a small thing, plotting suicide, sucking my toes.”), the heroine of A Trap who sucks her own nipples and the proposed fellatio-suicide of Bastard, (“If I had a cock I could suck it, committing suicide by poisoning myself on my own sperm.”). However, this is restated metaphorically in A Screw where “Everything else is superfluous...I need nothing, no one”. Here we can see that when as so often, the abuser experiences the effect of their attacks, they sense <i>through</i><span style="font-style: normal"> the other and form an intellectual Ouroboros, the only remaining sentience and whose actions can only affect themselves. </span> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">As anyone who reads the book will know, I have not been completely truthful. The book has one named character: Jennifer, in Daydreams. The shock of encountering a named person is jarring and conspicuous among the other texts and the effect of it is immediately obvious: Jennifer is a person, she is someone, not just a body, not just meat. We assume that 'Jennifer' has a life, friends and family and goes on holidays abroad. The recognition of Jennifer is shocking too for the reason that she is distant: all the other characters have appeared in claustrophobic proximity, slippery and in a constant state of flux as they perpetually violate and compromise each other - but Jennifer is contained and withdrawn. She is impenetrable, the name seems to form a wall between her essence and the narrator. She does not extend beyond it yet exists in projection behind it. Because she retains this integrity, actual interaction is possible - if unwanted: she repeatedly asks, “are you alright?” to the annihilation-seeking narrator who deflects her attentions. He had returned to the reality of his office job to find himself standing cruciform on his desk, staring into the fluorescent bulb centimetres from his face. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The absence of names on the other hand reduces characters to the behavioural moment. They have no history because they have no identity, and they have no internality because there is no criteria of differentiation between them and other bodies. The fluidity which is often expressed physically is also mental, as the narrator in A Contract finds it impossible even to tell whether his emotions are his own or are manipulations, whether his desires are natural or implanted and whether his memories are accurate. “When a thought comes into my mind, it warps and stretches out of its initial shape, changes into something else before I have a chance to recognize it as something I've made. I presume that I remember things but I'm not certain. I don't know if what I'm thinking is random (mine) or what I'm supposed to be thinking in order to satisfy their desires, to fulfil the prescribed influence of the environment they've put me in.” Thus while the other is often experienced as self, self is also experienced as other. Not only have boundaries disintegrated but internal consistency and integrity has broken down, because there is no external pressure to keep it together as a unity: “I have to second guess myself as well as them”, the invisible them who never appear but must be presumed to be in control of the environment and actions of the creature with whom he is locked into a destructive and sadistic performance. So, the boundaries of the self are constantly challenged, and while the self is always compromised and disempowered, it yet extends beyond its own confines. The I consumes everything and yet this I is an alien even to the one who should claim it. The relation between action and intention are endlessly questioned and reiterated, as the narrator questions whether they could have instigated their own, or asserts that another's are under their control. The desire for separation is made explicit in Money's Flesh, which claims “I want you to hold me down, keep me back, keep me away from the part of yourself where you exist.”, and yet “I want you to annihilate my perception of myself when you fuck me, treating me like flesh between your fingers.” This is the logical end of the desire to find boundaries: membranes are damaged in the search for some solid, impenetrable thing, abuse is sought as a method of locating that which suffers it and ultimately the questionable selfhood must be annihilated if that is the only way to prove that it ever existed. Boundaries are so fragile that even a glance is experienced as rape (Caregiver and Some Weaknesses).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The search for self is the search for other, because for one to have any meaning it must be contiguous with the other. The role of naming in this is very interesting: A name is meaningless if no one knows it. A name can only be used of another, it requires multiplicity, and effectively creates identity. The paper I submitted for Bamidbar will investigate these issues of the magical power of naming further.</p>Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-45620789463709661812010-09-12T16:56:00.004+01:002010-09-12T21:57:25.370+01:00Regarding the burning of sacred texts and double standardsI'm beginning to think there's something a bit strange about the west's relationship with Islam. Forgive me if that's a truism. Like a lot of people I was insensed by the stupidity of <a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/us-pastor-vows-to-go-ahead-with-koran-burning-on-september-11-14936702.html">Pastor Terry Jones' intended Koranic bonfire</a>. Because I consider myself a liberal, and someone who believes in respect for other cultures, other belief systems and just in not pissing people off for the hell of it.<br /><br />But then I heard about this: <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/20/us.military.bibles.burned/index.html?iref=mpstoryview">Military burns unsolicited Bibles sent to Afghanistan</a>. Obviously this is not a simple inversion; the Bibles were burnt not out of malice, and not even by Muslims but by (nominally) Christian people who were concerned with protecting themselves and their colleagues.<br /><br />I also don't think, as I've heard others say, the issue is that the Christian world has a greater intrinsic tolerance. I don't think this is true. History simply doesn't bear it out - Christian nations have committed at least as many massacres, forced conversions and human rights abuses as Muslim nations, and probably much more (the Second World War alone would probably settle this matter).<br /><br />The real issue is the bizarre passive-aggressive stance the west takes. Western countries meddle in others internal politics, cripple them in abusive trade agreements and declare war when they can't see any other way to get what they want (and to remove leaders who they've groomed, who have got too big for their boots); but we are very eager to put on a show of not disrespecting their religion. So, the American government makes public pronouncements against a tiny Church burning the Koran for fear of upsetting Muslims. While quietly in those Muslim countries, the Bible is burnt, for fear of upsetting Muslims. "Burning another peoples' holy scriptures is completely unAmerican" says Obama, while his military burns their own.<br /><br />If the (post)Christian west was so concerned with actually being disrespectful, wouldn't fair foreign policies be more to the point? Or would that be too subtle for Middle Eastern Muslims to understand? Isn't it more likely to be the perpetual political meddling and economic imperialism which are causing people to want to revolt in the first place, and the surface symptoms of intolerance such as Koran burning are only sparks which set off a tinderbox?<br /><br />I've heard a few people argue that Christianity forms the most humanistic expression of religion, because of the Gospels' emphasis on love for humanity and freedom over dogma or a specific, strictly-defined culture. I'm quite dubious that this is really the case, though certainly there is a less deterministic ethic in the Christian paradigm; by concentrating on people's internal attitude rather than their external behaviour, by concentrating on the universal of humanity rather than cultural stability, the individual is given a higher value than the community (and the mind rather than the body but that's -ostensibly?- a different argument). This notion seems to have conditioned our society for both better and worse, such that all individuals are given equal moral value but at the expense of any respect for culture, for the whole of a society.<br /><br />Christians of course are not up in arms about the Bible being burnt in Afghanistan. Part of this is because of the reasons I mentioned earlier (it wasn't done maliciously by an 'other' intent on defamation); part of it is also because because such a reaction is no longer part of our culture. We no longer see the text itself as holy. Rather it is the spirit behind it, the moral lessons, separated from any theological principles. A third factor is that of power: the (post)Christian west exists inexorably in a dominant relationship to the Islamic Middle East, and therefore events are always skewed in our favour. The fact that there is an American/European military presence in the Middle East, while there is no such Middle Eastern military presence in Europe or America means that the west is in an undeniable position of superiority, and knows it. Inexcusibly awful statements are made on a regular basis about Jews in the Islamic Middle East, because of this fact and perceptions about the relationship between the west and Israel (it's not the issue here and I'm not commenting on the correctness or otherwise of the perceived relationship - only that it is perceived); quite possibly defamatory statements or actions are made about Jewish or Christian scriptures in the Islamic Middle East (it seems unlikely they are not); but the public judgment will ultimately always be that they are not as dangerous as western defamations of Islam, for the same reason that the rhetoric of the Black Panthers or Nation of Islam was never seen as quite as awful as the KKK (despite at points being almost identical); the oppressed have a right to retaliation whereas the oppressors do not have the right to continue their spiritual whitewash.<br /><br />If you're wondering what my point is, then you're in good company. I'm still trying to work it out<br />myself. The tendency to think in black and white rather than shades of grey is incredibly seductive and presents a challenge to us all. This is particularly true in terms of the Middle East, where oppression is conducted in almost every combination imaginable, but where people are often quick to shout about rights and wrongs. Interestingly, I've seen little (in fact, nothing) on Facebook recently about the plight of the Roma evicted from France. A people without a nation, expelled from the country they've made their home - where have we heard that before..? Has even Europe really learnt its lessons?Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-50601599006006802132010-05-22T11:55:00.001+01:002014-08-28T13:01:43.169+01:00Salvation and Christian typology in Philip K DickPhilip K Dick's <i>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep</i> is one of the most powerfully - and genuinely - Christian books I've ever read. I don't say this lightly, not being a Christian myself but as someone who has on occasion felt the raw power of Christian mythology. I read it in a little under a week, and probably affected me because of the depression I've been in myself recently, one I saw evocatively echoed the descent of Isidore (the subhuman, mutated by the poisonous atmosphere of the earth) into the tomb world. As the real world collapses around him - literally it breaks apart at his fingertips - he finds himself in a subterranean place of bones, spiritless and unformed. But after an aeon life begins to emerge again, and takes him with it, and he realises that the origin of the person Mercer, this new world's popular messiah figure, is unimportant - the fraud has just been revealed as a conspiracy based around an unwitting and unknown actor - whether Mercer actually lived, or experienced any of the events people go through when they 'fuse' with him. He lives <i>in</i> human beings, in the people who look to and rely on him.<br /><br />The androids, conversely, don't care. When media celebrity Buster Friendly exposes the fraud, they mock human empathy (typified in the fusion with Mercer provided by the ubiquitous 'empathy machines') as a hoax, one proved false by the swindle of Mercerism. But the final proof of Mercer's 'untruth' is negated by Isidore's experience as a result of the androids' mutilation of a spider he found outside. Wild animals are extremely rare in the poisoned earth, and cherished by the philosophy of Mercerism. Just as Isidore is saved by the false messiah of Mercerism, so is all reality; all of creation is resanctified, death is defeated and life returns.<br /><br />Just as in this process, even the tomb world is essential (the appearance and experience of death is necessary for the salvation, when death is revealed as conditional), so the bounty hunter Rick finally realises his wife Iran's meaning: Iran had claimed that depression was a healthy human reaction to some conditions, one necessary to a full human life. The absence of such a correct reaction to the sterile world, abandoned and devoid of life, that surrounded them, she identifies as an archaic mental illness. This flattening of affect typifies the androids as well as the pathological bounty killer Phil Resch who is consistently mistaken for an android; an absence of any emotional depth or resonance which is in fact the problem of the novel's world.<br /><br />Rick identifies in himself a defect: he has begun to identify with some androids. Phil Resch has no such problem. Although Rick initially feels this overactive empathy as a horrifying mutation, a symptom of dust-infection, it slowly becomes clear that it is not him but the world which is wrong: the cold world, devoid of compassion, involved in a constant struggle to tell androids from humans when even some humans are pathological. Even Isidore, a cripplingly mutated chickenhead, demonstrates his superiority to the androids in his response o the spider - he is terrified by their curious desire to experiment on it, and it is Mercer, the false prophet, who saves them both.<br /><br />Philip K Dick lived during the last half of the 20th Century, the period when Christianity began to be popularly reduced to the status of a falsehood under speculations about the historicity of Jesus. Dick's own interest in the early Gnostic mythology of the Nag Hammadi texts evidences a belief in the power of myth to guide our lives, and reimbue reality with a sense of meaning and purpose. In <i>Do Androids</i> Dick fully realises the potential of myth as an element of human thought to again bring life to a dead and cold world: Rick finally realises that, in his own identification with Mercer, he has become immortal, identified with an archetype who, despite his literal falsity, is imbedded in human consciousness. Mercer, as the name suggests, is a personification of mercy - mercy to all life, and to that we may call the soul of reality.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-198356356302248132010-02-14T16:37:00.002+00:002010-02-14T17:21:06.601+00:00The problem of understanding meaning in postmodernismPascal Boyer's <a href="http://www.cognitionandculture.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=601:no-such-thing-as-sexual-intercourse-the-key-to-academic-success&catid=57:pascals-blog&Itemid=34">recent critique</a> of deconstruction is worth reading. In it he challenges the often breathtaking statements of postmodern thought, claiming that these represent an elaborate bait-and-switch intended to ostentatiously cause shock while in fact masking a profound lack of meaningful claim.<br /><br /><div><br />I have sympathy with his attack and feel that these criticisms should be heard by those who jump eagerly onto the confrontational bandwagon of postmodernism. The reason I fel this is because they make the same mistake as Boyer. Thus, Boyer serves to highlight an easy and all too common misunderstanding, committed by advocates and enemies alike.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />The interesting problem here is that Boyer's central argument - that postmodernist claims never <i>mean</i> what they say - is correct. Postmodernism should never be taken literally, for this is not its aim. Postmodernism seeks to disrupt the priveliging of literalist interpretations of reality; it attempts to disfigure that which claims a single truth which overrides the individual, and instead re-empower the human being or human consciousness over and above the material truths of science. The mistake comes when its own claims are understood as having the same meaning as those scientific truths. For, the attempt is not to dislodge and replace a literalist materialism with a different system. Rather, the attempt is to provide an alternative which can sit alongside the literalist convention, contrasting with it without the need to ascribe one or the other the sole criterion of value.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br />Lacan's statements that there is no such thing as sexual intercourse, or that the challenge to women is that they <i>are not</i>, should obviously be heard as metaphors which instigate a new appreciation of the categories society gives us, and a questioning of the relationships with people, events and objects which we tend to fall into (and even: the ideas we have of ourselves). If this is obvious for the kind of things Lacan says, it is more difficult to grasp in the case of other thinkers; and I have cause to wonder whether sometimes those thinkers themselves forget not to take their doctrines as literal statements about reality. I know I have often fallen foul of this, especially in the heat of debate.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />It is a problem of dull, unsubtle thinking which can only take words as describing an objective, as-it-is world. Thinking at its most powerfully sublime, that which informs the practices of religion, art, philosophy, works precisely against this method. Instead of constructing valid descriptions of the world, it helps to dismantle invalid or constricting world-views. It allows people to question and reinvent their relation to the world, people, events and society in order to re-validate their lives.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />The power of Derrida denying objective reality is lessened and devitalised when he is forced to admit that, in scientific terms, this is not correct. Both <a href="http://reason.com/archives/2000/02/01/reality-principles-an-intervie/">Searle</a> and Boyer claim this as a victory, but I concur with Derrida himself that they have failed to correctly understood Derrida's project or intention. Admittedly, this failure is not a difficult one. Derrida is not talking scientifically, and should not be understood as doing so. But Searle seeks to place his thought <i>within</i> the scientific (which is the common-sense outlook of the 20th century west), thereby instantly negating Derrida's project by priveliging the literal description of reality over the poetic.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />But we need the poetic to help us live. We need myths, we need the emotional power of new, human-centred narratives. It is my own opinion that this endeavour is what has informed the religious urge in humanity, as well as much of what we call philosophy - both the existential seeking of continental philosophy, and much of what came before. Thinkers such as Plato, the biblical prophets, Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus, Zarathustra, et al have sought to reconfigure the human understanding of our world and our place within it by constructing new metaphysical systems which privelige human values and ideals - of a specific kind - over the ossifying systems dominant in their own societies. I've attempted to argue several times in previous posts that religious doctrines are never meant to be understood in the same way we understand scientific claims about the world, but instead depict mythologically an approach to living which is meant to be <i>used</i> to enable us to live better; happily; more ethically. Therefore, these systems should be understood as a manifestation of the drive not toward literal truth, but toward authenticity as living beings.</div><div><br /></div><div><br />To sum up, a quote from Keith Devlin's book I've just finished reading which I think illustrates this very well:<br /></div><div><br /></div><div align="center"><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>"In real life, who best understands a flower? The person who sees it with her own eyes, growing in the field? The photographer who chooses the best light and the best angle in order to transfer its beauty onto film? The painter who captures its subtleties on canvas? The poet who captures its beauty in words and likens it to aspects of the human condition? The blind person who perceives it by scent and touch? The musician who sees it swaying in the breeze and captures its motion in a melody? The botanist who knows how it germinates and grows? The biochemist who understands the chemical processes that keep it alive and give it colour? The biologist who knows what insects depend on the flower in order to breed and survive? The mathematician who writes down equations that describe the flower's symmetry? Surely, there is no one way to view and to understand a flower, nor even a unique 'best' way. There may be ways that are suited to a particular <i>purpose</i>, but that is another issue. In terms of understanding an aspect of our world, the more ways we have to understand a flower, the greater will be that understanding. The poet or the painter who remains ignorant of chemistry, biology, and mathematics is as deprived in his or her vision and understanding of the flower as the scientist who is blind to the flower's beauty."</blockquote></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote>(Goodbye Descartes, p.281)<br /></blockquote></div></div>Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-31822070970569317712010-02-07T21:18:00.004+00:002010-02-07T22:10:25.741+00:00Horror and the EuropeanWell it's been quite a while since I posted here, having been concentrating on my other blog. One issue I thought about though while Israel was race. Of course, this was prompted by the writings and thoughts of the African Hebrew Israelite Community. Ben Ammi's typifying of 'Euro-Gentile' culture, stemming from Greco-Roman culture and being essentially corrupt, damaging to the human spirit, in contrast to their own very positive and forward-thinking (and essentially holistic) lifestyle made me contemplate whether there are indeed any essential differences between white and black or European and African patterns of thought and approaches to the world. I wouldn't want to make any such statement myself (because such massive generalities would be intrinsically false and bound only to mislead) but while at Neot Semadar I had the time to read <a href="http://www.urbanomic.com/">Collapse</a> IV, the first article of which is George Sieg's article on the self-referentiality of horror. In this he analyses Zoroastrian traditions and HP Lovecraft to argue that<span style="font-style: italic;"> horror</span> is inseparable from the Aryan racist drive to purity. This article struck some chord with the thoughts I'd been incubating for the previous month. I'll record here what I wrote in my journal for posterity, not as a statement of any formulated belief or position I'd necessarily want to be associated with - just as an example of where some ideas can lead.<br /><br />Horror, Sieg argues, is fundamentally dependent on reason: its emotional power depends on fixation upon more than what is currently present. In this it is an abject suffering based on the possibility of thinking beyond the immediate. It depends on concept-thought, on the capacity to abstract. Animals, he argues, cannot be horrified, only terrified. Horror, as the film genre can best suggest, is based on that which is <span style="font-style: italic;">not present</span> but implied.<br /><br />It occured to me while reading this that European culture could be typified by these qualities: the drive to abstraction, to concept-thought over and above contextualised or humanised thought. Ever since Greek times, Europeans have automatically strived to disassociate thought from matter; divine from life; pure from impure. This is precisely what Ben Ammi and his followers set out to address. Their lifestyle firmly relocates thought and holiness within the world and life as lived. Separation is the crime which European society has created. In religious studies we call this <span style="font-style: italic;">immanence.</span><br /><br />In the dark pagan underbelly of western, Aryan-caucasian society, we have always had a clear and vivid conception of the horrific, of evil. Often this has been projected onto other humans, and has allowed <span style="font-style: italic;">us</span> to treat other humans in ways unthinkably evil and horrifying. In our fear of other cultures, the unknown, the other, we have objectified them and sought to cartharise our fear onto them.<br /><br />If the Aryan-caucasian is defined by abstraction, by logic and intellect divorced from the world and life, our capacity to feel, intuit and create horror is a part of our racial make-up, inseparable from our minds and thought-processes. To objectify the world, to think in terms of death - the Living God compartmentalised, boxed out of existence as the Shi'ur Qomah tradition (a Jewish one, oddly enough - though Bem Ammi would argue not Hebrew) does so beautifully. The holistic world disappears, that of life and action and emotion, surrendered for a thousand classifications, philosophy, science and reason, new methods to kill either physically or intellectually. In our science, life itself becomes an accident; consciousness an illusion and free will and morality anachronistic dreams from a long forgotten adolescent innocence.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-85050822506176338162009-08-23T11:23:00.003+01:002009-08-23T11:59:26.193+01:00'Judaism', Christianity and the origins of 'religion'A lot can be learned from Steve Mason's <a href="http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/mason3.shtml">article</a> on the origination of the term Judaism. I was unaware for instance that the term Judaism stems from a Greek word Ioudaismos which is almost exclusively Christian in its usage. Prior to the 337 appearance in Greek Christian texts, the only instances in Jewish literature are 4 in 2 Maccabees and 1 other in 4 Maccabees. (2nd and 1st century BCE respectively).<br /><br />The author argues that the instances in 2 Maccabees demonstrate not a 'religious' use of the term but rather a practical cultural one. He compares the term Judaism to the term baptism - the latter meaning to baptise, the former meaning to Judaise. I.e., Judaism is used initially to mean the promotion and inculcation of Judaean culture and practice, in opposition to Hellenism (Hellenismos; also a term 2 Maccabees uses).<br /><br />Of course, we are wise to remember that 'religion' is a relatively modern invention. Previously a peoples' 'religion' was inseparable from their culture. It was not a facet of life, but completely integrated into day to day and year by year living. The author argues that not only is 'paganism' as a religion or ideology a Christian invention, but so is Judaism as a religion. For writers such as Philo and Josephus, what they were describing was not an ideology but a living civilisation which contained and embraced philosophy, politics, commerce, festival, ritual, marriage etc.<br /><br />Another interesting sideline that the author throws in is that Christianity faced much trouble during its first two centuries, precisely because there was no convenient social category as 'religion' - the Christians were a way of life without a history or homeland, more akin to a private club than the other cultures we may now characterise as 'religions'. Modern terminology makes invisible the vast categorical differences between these systems. Christianity thus appears to have been one of the first fully 'transferrable' ideologies (it occurs to me that Buddhism shares in all the same esential qualities also - predating Christianity by 600 years or so). Whereas nowadays we can easily comprehend what a 'religion' means in our society, and understand how it operates as a factor within multicultural society, a new ideological movement springing up from nowhere two thousand years ago would have been met with bewilderment by the populace. The same is clearly true in the early history of Islam, when Muhammad renounced the tribal practices of his forefathers in order to promote his monotheistic vision. 'Religion', it was claimed in both cases, was not something portable, not something that could be detached and passed around between individuals but a tradition and way of life that we inherit from our culture.<br /><br />Of course, one is wise to know the difference between 'Christianity' (the ideology of the early church) and the teachings of the prophet Jesus. Jesus never intended to begin a new 'religion' (as we have seen, there simply was no such category in those times). His attempt, as best we can reconstruct it, was to refresh and revise the practice of Judaean culture in the face of the challenges from the Roman empire and Hellenic culture. The ideology of Christianity is largely a creation of the apostle Paul and the church which he made from the Jewish-Christian sect.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-50031150151198717642009-07-19T11:34:00.001+01:002009-07-19T11:37:02.660+01:00Wittgenstein on Plato<div align="center"><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote>I read "...philosophers are no nearer to the meaning of 'Reality' than Plato got...". What a strange situation. How extraordinary that Plato could have got even as far as he did! Or that we could not get any further! Was it because Plato was so <i>extremely</i> clever?<br /></blockquote></div></div><blockquote>(Ludwig Wittgenstein - Culture and Value p.15)</blockquote><br /><br /><br />Wittgenstein of course talks explicitly about other philosophers very little. This brief nod in the direction of philosophy's founding father should therefore be treated with great care in order to understand what is really being said.<br /><br />I can see two interrelated issues for Wittgenstein here. The first is a criticism of Plato's own project. The second is a criticism of our own understanding of 'progress' in thought.<br /><br />When Wittgenstein exclaims, "How extraordinary that Plato could have got even as far as he did!", he is mocking the notion that by thought we can approach an understanding of the 'real' world distinct from the everyday world we live in. What is this reality that we are seeking? 'How extraordinary that someone should even begin to <i>understand reality</i>!' The question not asked often enough for Wittgenstein is, what is this 'reality' we are seeking to understand? Philosophers often use the term as if it were something different from the actual world we live and breathe in, the world we see before us now and forever.<br /><br />Similarly to Nietzsche, Wittgenstein inverts the antiquated western metaphysical tradition which places the essential before the actual: the abstract is an abstract <i>from</i> the present material world. Thus the task of attempting to reach the real via a process of intellectual abstraction, or via an examination of linguistic forms, is doomed before it starts. The real is present before us - in analysing it and refining it into its (apparently) general essence we are not approaching the truth of the matter, the "real" which is concealed by the corruptible form of the actual, we are in fact becoming increasingly lost in the sterile imagination.<br /><br />Wittgenstein has often been understood as standing counter to the Cartesian tradition which separates the mind (the essential self or soul) from the body (the corruptible material presence). His own picture, which we can glean from his various writings, is thoroughly integrated. The self is not an ethereal gaseous substance hidden from the world by this dumb robotic body through which it must attempt to make its presence and wishes felt...no, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">self is</span> that which is made manifest in and through one's actions. The self is not squeezed into expression via the body, the mouth, one's speech and actions but is given life, made real by these <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">potencies</span>. His comments such as "The face is the soul of the body" (CV23) and "The human being is the best picture of the human soul" (CV49) serve to make clear his own approach to '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">essentialism</span>'. The essence is that which is realised (literally, made real) by the contingent. If we want to see a person's soul we should look at their actions - then we will see where their heart lies. If we want to see a person's experience of pleasure or pain, we watch their face and words through which these are expressed. These are not some phantom <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">noumena</span> which struggle to find their representation via the maze of body, they are naturally expressed, acted out; in a Hegelian sense, the phenomena is the final stage of 'becoming real' of the object. In two separate metaphors, Wittgenstein says "the work of art does not convey <i>something else</i>, just itself" (CV58), meaning there is no feeling which is the meaning behind the work, which the work exists to transmit; and "A picture cannot...depict its pictorial form; it displays it" (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">TLP</span>2.172), meaning that the form or essence of a picture does not exist behind it, represented by the picture but exists <i>in</i> the picture, it is displayed in the picture itself.<br /><br />How does this relate to Plato? Plato's attempt to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">essentialise</span> the world and perceive the 'real' behind the phenomena is, to Wittgenstein, fundamentally misguided. It is the phenomenal which is the real and if we desire to understand it we cannot subsume it under some abstract system. The abstract can only be an etiolated version of the real; it is the real, once we have nullified the differences, the vibrancy, the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">temporality</span> of actual existence. What we consider essential in things is in fact a statement of human value, and should not be mistaken for a quality in things themselves. The attempt to do so confuses and denigrates both the nature of scientific enquiry and the role of human value in thought.<br /><br />The actual use of the word 'reality', how we use it in our language, does not denote something outside experience, but merely something outside clear delusion or confusion. To seek a non-subjective reality <i>seems</i> like a meaningful quest, but as the concept is analysed it disintegrates before us. Reality <i>is</i> this very world we live in together.<br /><br />Similarly to 'reality', Wittgenstein sees 'progress' as a term which requires justification before we run in pursuit of it. It is easy in this age of technological and scientific progress to believe that progress is inherently beneficial, that it moves us ever only forward and upwards. To Wittgenstein, this is not at all clear. Progress implies a steady march, but this may not be in a direction which is good to pursue. Indeed, when a civilization has lost its sense of direction, 'progress' can seem like an end in itself, and the effects of such an ideal can become masked by the unquestioned perception that we moving 'forward'. He says, "that the idea of great progress is a delusion along with the idea that the truth will ultimately be known...It is by no means obvious that this is not how things are." (CV56)<br /><br />Wittgenstein's own aim in his philosophy is not for movement at all, but for the kind of clarity which can only be found in perfect stillness: "Where others go on ahead, I stay in one place." (CV66). Instead of blurring the world by dynamic movement, he seeks to bring everything into sharp focus so we can see what surrounds us. Instead of building giant houses of cards, he examines the ground beneath our feet.<br /><br />In this sense, we can see Wittgenstein's exasperation at our constant need to improve and develop our thought, as if we were progressing toward an actual understanding of reality. We have always been here. True understanding is not something we strive towards, but something we should stop in order to appreciate. We will not soon break through into truth, into truly perceiving the world or ourselves as they are...we must instead learn to see carefully and without self-imposed delusion what is right here. Through thought we can lead ourselves astray, through winding paths further and further from the actual world which should be obvious to us.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-15927676287266277362009-07-07T13:19:00.004+01:002009-07-07T14:38:59.479+01:00The Individual as Socially ConstitutedI've been thinking a lot recently about how we form our sense of what we are. There are certain things about being an individual, a <span style="font-style: italic;">person</span> which we view as inalienable. But this very concept of personhood is not, I think, innate - rather it is something which we infer from our environment and interactions, the way the world treats us. Thus, selfhood seems to be intimately related to socialisation. The construction of the individual is therefore a socio-metaphysical process. It happens in the spaces between people, in the space between a word and its meaning; in the fabric of society that gives meaning to gestures, that establishes bonds between people and confers property, rights, responsibilities.<br /><br />We now live in a very 'self'-centred world - the self is seen as the basic unit of society, rather than the family, the tribe, the kingdom, etc. We are conditioned to think of ourselves as highly autonomous, having a wealth of rights and priviledges which constitute the functions of an individual in this society. Because we are treated like this, as a legal and moral Person, we internalise that notion: we become an autonomous individual. We can only be free, autonomous selves to the extent that society guides us into that role - it does not emerge naturally, which is why it has taken five thousand years of evolving culture to reach a state of such high autonomy and individuation. Humans 100,000 years ago had probably the same neurological capacity that we do to think and operate as we do, but without the cultural acclimatisation which provides our root concepts, and the relatively recent millennia which have developed the concepts we think with, without this we would be as feral, primal and undistanced from nature and its cycles as any animal.<br /><br />For, an animal, in the wild, is never treated as an individual; it is never given the opportunity to develop a dynamic <span style="font-style: italic;">sense</span> of selfhood. A domesticated animal will often develop a much more sophisticated (at least in the human sense) awareness of itself in relation to other beings, as a social entity. Because such an animal is treated as an individual with the dignity, respect and duties that entails, it will approach an understanding of itself as such an individual.<br /><br />Some animals (humans, for example) have greater internal capacity for such an understanding - but it is still only a capacity. Such an intricate sense of self and what that means can only be inferred very very subtly from the environment, by society. One must be treated as an individual <span style="font-style: italic;">in order to become one</span>. One does not begin having all the functions and mental processes which determine an autonomous control over oneself and ability to locate oneself within the matrix of sociality; rather, we develop this because we are embedded in the social matrix from the moment we are born. Now, in the 21st century west, our world is almost entirely human: we have very little space outside the world conditioned by human culture, very little contact with a de-individualised nature (or even other social models). So, the intricacy with which our selfhood is articulated is very high. But we would be very wrong to think such an intricacy (or such a sense of individuation) is the natural state; rather, it is a product of the dense interactions which inform our atmosphere, the air we breathe all our lives, the concepts inculcated into us by society (i.e. automatism; self-determinacy, etc). These are brought out of us by a society which subtly infers and emphasises them - we absorb this understanding of ourself, and a sensitivity to our own boundaries and roles, by a process of osmosis.<br /><br />This is what gives us our freedom, our sense of freedom, and our moral responsibility. The culturally provided metaphysics we are indoctrinated into reaches into the very root of our being. We as individuals in fact seem to be largely constituted from outside; we are formed in the moist air of society, the pattern of our thoughts are generated by the culture we are born into. We do not realise how much of our self is formed outside of us, in the spaces between ourself and other people. This runs counter to a certain way of looking at consciousness as a highly individual process, reducible entirely to brain-states. I am not proposing an ethereal spirit-mind or ghost in the machine. But it seems to me that we have to and can only understand the self as a continuum which is completely integrated into society. A single individual has no meaning. They exist as an individual only to the extent that they operate within society. Personhood happens from the outside in, and not the other way around.<br /><br />Of course, the gestalt is only one way of priviledging structure. We must understand a whole and its parts as interrelated. To view the whole as the focus, and the overriding determiner of its elements is just as wrongheaded as to view it as merely a conglomeration of elements, with these latter being the important determiners. The level of viewing must be flexible. We can view an individual and their neurology as different orderings of the same information; but we would be committing a heinous crime in reducing the individual to just brain operations; we would be performing a category error. Likewise, we can view society as constituted by individuals yet society does take on a life of its own which often seems to override individuality. This is neither good nor bad, but a simple admission of fact. We would be naive to ignore this fact solely for ideological reasons.Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-71217606320930786912009-06-16T22:26:00.000+01:002009-06-16T22:27:52.496+01:00The Angel of History<!--- blog subject ---> <div class="blogSubject"> <br /> </div> <!--- blog body ---> <p align="center"><img src="http://ycgs.yonsei.ac.kr/bbs/data/file/notice/1040038428_8df2e57b_klee%252C%252520paul%252C%252520angelus%252520novus%252C%2525201920.jpg" /><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><br />A Klee painting named ‘Angelus Novus’ shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing in from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such a violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><i>Walter Benjamin, </i>Theses on the Philosophy of History IXAyinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3922917688962204857.post-77845098776674615172009-06-16T17:16:00.003+01:002009-06-16T19:33:59.168+01:00the dual role of photographyA couple of recent articles on photography have made me think about the way we use the photograph to both represent and deny identity.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/arts/design/04abroad.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all">first</a> is a review article based on a Swiss exhibition, which explored the soci<a style="font-weight: bold;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/06/04/arts/04abro2_190.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 190px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/06/04/arts/04abro2_190.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>al contract of photography. One particularly moving element of the article is the description of the forced unveiling of Algerian Muslim women by French occupying forces in the 1960's, in order to photograph them and record their identities. Most of these women would have spent their entire adult lives veiled, whenever outside their homes. This forced exposure seems voyeuristic, abusive - and indeed that is what it is. The photographer was well aware of the nature of his role, promising that he would use the images gained to testify against the rule (we are left unsure as to what - apart from exhibitions such as this - such testifying amounted to).<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/09/01/business/01vogue01_500.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 241px;" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/09/01/business/01vogue01_500.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The <a href="http://www.dubbagol.com/Entertainment/Vogue_controversial_fashion_shoot_with_rural_Indian_poor/">second</a> addresses Vogue India's photoshoot from August last year, where "average Indian people" (i.e. the rural poor, most of whom are among those living on less than $1.25 a day) are adorned with designer goods whose price tags range from $100 to $10,000. Amounts which are more than these people earn in a lifetime. In these images, the individuals are not named - they are identified simply as a "man" or a "woman".<br /><br /><br />Strikingly, while in French Algeria the subjects were photographed in order to capture and record their identity, the role of the images in Indian Vogue is the opposite: they deny the subjects' identities. While the French authorities sought access to the private individual behind the veil, Vogue are attempting to conceal the very real social circumstances of these people by depicting them wearing classy consumer items, those designed specifically for people with finances beyond necessity. By not even acknowledging their names (in favour of the names of the goods), the subjects are dehumanised and removed from the sphere of individuality.<br /><br />In all cases, an image - a representation - has a dual role. It is a gatekeeper, it both guards and allows access to the object in question (that person signified by the image); the representation seems to stand in our way, such that we are severed from the actuality of the object. By representing, it reinscribes the distance between us, the viewer, and the actual which is merely depicted (and therefore denied) before us. Representation speaks of the absence of that represented. It reduces to two dimensions, a static picture is the object <span style="font-style: italic;">derealised</span>.<br /><br />Yet it also permits, in a way; it brings the actual closer and by a curious dialectic seems to present an essence while denying its presence. Paul Tillich claimed that, unlike the symbol, the sign partakes in the essence of that to which it points. In communicating a meaning it realises that meaning; thus, it provides passage <span style="font-style: italic;">to</span> its signified by not only pointing toward it, but making it happen. Thus while negating the actual, the sign acts as a vessel for it, bringing it into our reality.<br /><br />The photographs of these people remain a document of the event depicted. They are not 'natural' photographs: they are designed, posed. They exist specifically <span style="font-style: italic;">for</span> the viewer, as the individuals were manipulated into place <span style="font-style: italic;">for</span>the viewer. Marc Garanger's dual objective in photographing the Algerian women provokes a poignant sense of confusion: he continued taking the photographs, with ever-increasing fervour, in order to unmask the horror which he felt at the regime's demand that he take these photographs. The horror which he is complicit in (as we, the viewer are too) in attempting to rebel by obeying; he wants to unmask the French powers by carrying out their desire to unmask the Algerian women; and in preserving them, he has preserved a record of the occupiers' abuses. He wants to preserve a memory of their cruel arrogance by being the vessel by which that arrogance happens. We are left wondering, does this mitigate his actions, does it abrogate his complicity? And by viewing with the knowledge that this is wrong, are we somehow less involved in the people's humiliation? It seems in wanting to admonish him of blame, we are seeking to free ourselves.<br /><br />But we are left knowing that we cannot reclaim the identity of the Indian peasants; nor can we remask the Algerians'. The photographs have happened, those depicted in them have moved on and resumed their lives. The document of the events are now present in a world far removed from that in which they originated. Strangely, it may be we the viewer who is most changed by the events, of which we are the final stage.<br /><br />Credit where it's due: the New York Times' review was first commented on by the excellent photo-blog <a href="http://subjectify.blogspot.com/">subjectify</a>. The dubbagol link to the Vogue article was provided by my friend <a href="http://antibnplancaster.blogspot.com/">Cerisa </a>(but not on this blog)<a href="http://antibnplancaster.blogspot.com/">.<br /></a>Ayinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10120620659286171851noreply@blogger.com1