#150

Having recently turned 60, I’m one of the ones who actually was there in the 70s…

I recognize that I’m probably a bit stuck in the old school music for the sake of music paradigm, but I also view the fact that music has been eclipsed by social media and the demise of aspects of the old music marketplace as positive developments, in that as the money falls away, the field becomes once again a place for amateurs pursuing their personal vision and inspiration for their own purposes…

The more obscure music becomes, the more occult potential it carries…

Just my perspective of course…

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#151

i really don’t have the spoons to respond with the depth this post deserves, at the moment, but i fear that waiting for the intellectual resources to be available will turn into completely spacing this, despite bookmarking it, and i keep coming back to this.

thumbnail version is: i hear the…frustration? and sense of futility. as someone in their forties who hasn’t “accomplished” a lot of what they’d intended, i grapple with questions of timing and relevance with some frequency.

but i remain unconvinced that the gaps (because i’m reading at least two gaps, in your post) are—hmm, i don’t want to stick with your bridge metaphor, because my sense is that might be part of the problem—unable to be mediated.

my inclination is that there’s a tertiary solve, but one that would not yield a linear bridge. not a synthesis or continuation, but an introduction of a third point to triangulate.

my attention is continuously drawn to your comments here & elsewhere re: sound as medium. as…fluid. khaotic (not chaotic, in the sense of CM). and i’m…curious about riffs that could yield an emergent figure.

apologies re: the unformed-ness, TK here or elsewhere…

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#153

i did my best version of rain dance patch (we just planted some seeds needing water) with the modcan.

still need more rain lol

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#154

The human brain has bigger facilities to understand music, instrumental, than words/spoken language.

Of course you could say that the combination of the two would be the most potent art form, communicator. But in any case, the fact that ‘revolutionary’ lyrical content has become lesser, should not imply that music as such has lost it’s revolutionary content.

Grunge was mentioned, but Nirvana arguably was about the vacuouty of language itself. Yes there were implied messages in singing about teen spirit deodorant, at the same time though it was the amazing vocal performance and thunderous sounds that really brought the message. He wrote intentionally goofy and random lyrics.

The same goes for mumble rap today, it’s hardly about the lyrics, as long as it rhymes. The voice character, attitude and feeling is more important.

So I would not say postmodern attitudes to language in modern music, are the same as disappearing lyrical content.

I agree with Blomquist’s post.

@ht73

It’s an apt observation for sure. But occult music is increasingly less mainstream, the more occult it gets. In 95% of the cases.

Then the more time falls away, the more mainstream it gets again. Give it a hundred years or more.

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#155

i mean. super valid point. it’s not really occult if it’s not largely hidden.

and honestly, in the 80s/90s, the weird stuff was still underground AF. and most folks didn’t dig the way i & my friends did.

#156

all i meant by “bridge” is just some peace or common understanding between the communities… at the very least so things aren’t taken as they’re not …

and i see the ‘third point’ (which I agree is the only real possibility) as the work itself.

work in all senses: the practice, the art, for they are really the same.

only in the work is there the hope something can appear in the way that it really is, but this is where i’m struggling, i seem to have gone down the wrong path once again, and must start again from zero, although i perhaps got closer than i ever did previously…

still there are questions as to where/how such work is disseminated and discussed, also where one may legitimately discuss creative struggles in a more concrete manner. this is what i think of when i think of the absence of a bridge.

@Samekid re: language: exactly – there have emerged in the past 25 years whole new forms of storytelling – even mythology in many essential respects – which have very little to do with ‘words’, and for good reason, because the fundamental distinction on which the logos is predicated, and in particular the blind spot created by that distinction, is at least implicitly challenged if not partially overcome (and it is likewise only in a true overcoming, which never quite fully arrives, that I can really exist…) it is likewise at these much more subterranean levels of sense/meaning/being that anything ‘occult’ truly operates. there’s no need to make a conscious attempt to hide, for I already hide just fine in plain sight. the default binary oppositions through which everything is normally seen guarantee this, in the liminal ‘third terms’ they occlude.

[likewise: apologies for lack of clarity… just very tired/burned out… will probably also take a break for some time. thanks much for the responses.]

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#157

Yes it’s mainly keeping the nerve. Trust what you can rely on and not fleeting outside superficialities.

If we want to involve good old Ctulhu in it, a silent dispassionate force wanting to assimilate any type of live wire into the void.

So be yourself and show yourself. Make a connection with anyone you meet. But don’t get disappointed if there remain the deepest parts of you, that don’t seem to connect with the others. Go inside to find the realness.

But of course it is nice to talk to people who are educated.

Yes, rest first! It sharpens the senses.

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#158

sound advice, as ever!

@ht73 do rest, reorient, and return refreshed!

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#160

these folks have some heavily magical stuff going on in their work, tho i can’t & won’t speak to their process. i’m sharing this in the hopes that gavin (i know you’re lurking!) will make an account & contribute to this conversation.

that said, i saw them play here on 10/16, and the…effects of that show were very much in alignment with workings that i’ve been engaged with (& were also relevant to my co-operator, who also attended).

for me: literally a temporary healing & an angelic visitation. ripples still spreading, we’ll see how it all feeds back.

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#161

Hello all,

This thread is fascinating to me as a British Traditional Witch who has had an interest in paganism and the occult from a young age. (BTW is different from Wicca, drawn from folklore and historical records but many of the modern paths were devised just prior to or during the advent of Wicca).
I often feared that electronic music and witchcraft were somewhat incompatible, but this thread is really making me think about ways to further incorporate my Craft into my artistic output!

(Also, science is great! It does not have to stand in opposition to our spiritual understanding. Plenty of our most incredible scientists were/are believers. There’s some really interesting quantum theories of consciousness regarding the soul but I digress. :slight_smile: )

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#162

reading your post, i immediately thought of coil’s moon’s milk (in four phases), which is a collection of EPs created for the cross-quarter days.

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#163

Oooh lovely, thanks :slight_smile:

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#164

For sure, aspects of the occult have influenced all my life, including patching up modular synths. About 20 years ago, before I had a modular, I would use AudioMulch to patch together a Tree of Life made out of 10 contraptions or VST plugins linked together by the paths. Loads of feedback insanity going on, and you could tap off the audio from various parts and mix it together. Loads of fun. I did something similar when I had my Frac system too.

That was a very process oriented approach, but for ritual I will always do something meaningful before making a recording of my own, even if it’s just light a candle and have a few moments silence.

Can apply to all aspects of the creative process, music making, playing and instrument, performing, DJing etc. Creating a positively charged space, and then holding it for the duration.

Huge AOS fan here, have about 50 books, various prints, and one original Adventures of Limbo sketch from 1945. Probably gonna let a load of the books go (including John Balance’s copy of Gavin Semple’s ‘Zos Kia’) soon though, just keep the art ones, not so interested in all the essays about him.

Always been into this stuff for as long as I can remember. Know lots of people in groups but never joined one myself.

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#165

Hello all,

I lurk somewhat but am interested in this. I have ongoing projects to do with hermeticism and sound. And recently, modular.

But what i wanted to flag up is a 1 day symposium and concert that may be of interest-i hope!- to some.

Short link. https://wp.me/P7P2kZ-hr

Mark your diaries now…Wednesday 25th March at National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth we present: The Shining Pyramid, a one day symposium with night concert presenting new experimental music and talks inspired by the alchemy, magic and folklore of Wales as suggested by writers including Arthur Machen, Thomas & Henry Vaughan, John Cowper Powys and others-full line-up to seep out in due course, but we still seek your involvement…

Wanted-Papers, pieces, experimental media, sound-works, AV/film and talks

Sound and music & presentations that relate to broad themes of alchemy, magic, folklore and superstition are welcome, especially where these relate or refer to their sonic aspects, audio visual responses that relate to the works of Arthur Machen are sought, as well as those which may treat the theme generally.

Visionary experimentalists, DIY musicians, composers, academics, non affiliated researchers, AV and film-makers, researchers/writers/natural philosophers are welcome.

Unless otherwise agreed there is no funding in place for your fees/development/travel and subsistence.

However, for participants there is no registration fee and entry to concert is waived.

Talks/papers/pieces/film should be up to 20 min duration

Enquiries and submissions should be directed to drdafydd.roberts (at) gmail (dot) com, please mark your subject SOUND.

Submission Details
Deadline for proposals is December 20th.

Proposals for papers and presentations should be made by emailing 1 pdf document of your proposal, name, email contact, affiliation if appropriate and ensure you include active links to your music/film pages, duration of your performance/piece. Please ensure you describe how your proposal relates to the theme of the event.

Technical Details

Laptop/usb PowerPoint is available should you need it, please ensure you have the right connectors, PowerPoint is not obligatory.

Performers will have access to a small mixer and 2 channel active speakers and should ensure they bring all leads and peripherals.

Thanks

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#166

this thread has been fascinating for me to read thru! so many things people’ve said that resonate with me.

i absolutely approach making music, and with the modular as my instrument, as a magical practice. from the really basic, kind of funny way you can think of that idea:

all the way to thinking about my musical practice, and process of creating, as a ritual practice much like tarot, or astrology, or any other. for me, making music is a ritual of inward reflection and meditation. if you put it in scientific terms it might be close to ‘art therapy’ but to me… every patch is a spell, and every ritual session an opening of a gateway into something emotionally resonant, deeper than just designing a sound or programming a beat.

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#167

Bless Micro Research

ERD/BREATH is designed for the precise voltage control (CV) of heat and thus smoke production within a modular, eurorack setting.

ERD/BREATH allows for controlled summoning and nourishment of (artificial and benevolent) demons, for the offering of sacrificial vapours, and for any modular use of multiple incenses or other smoke-producing resins, herbs and natural substances. A small sample of sage is included for preliminary cleansing of the modular environ. This should be placed on the middle wire heating element which will become very hot and should not be touched.

The burnt offering is a wolf’s eye, storax gum, cassia, balsam gum and whatever is valued among the spices.

breath001
breath0011024×683 105 KB

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#168

#169

The two books i used for my record done with Two Coptic Ministers @ 89 & 92 years old back in 1997 “The Canals of the Atlantean plain” were based on the mathematical/anthro-cultural work of Ernest Mclain. The Pyathagorean Plato and the his other one “The Myth of Invariance” are worth a gander

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#170

When I was writing my diploma work on “Non-scientific sources of knowledge” back in 1994 I had to formulate a philosophical thesis, namely that humans need to divide reality into pieces, divide unity into a plurality (at least a duality) to be able to measure and thus understand our cosmos. As soon as you do it you get numbers or geometrical shapes, which are objects to interpretation. Most “occult” (this word is somewhat laden with negative connotation, which I don’t like that much) schools are based on this, be it Qabbalah, Tarot or astrology.

It was 2 years later that I encountered synthesizers and am now musician in my second profession. But the parallels to music making are obvious now.

In the modular world indeed random generators are essentially tools for divination, for counting the fabric of time and to attach a meaning to a particular moment of time. This is why genius heads from Mozart to Philip K. Dick were trying to use them (dice, I Ging) for composition and writing.

Having said that, in hermetic systems (western ones) music and occult/mystics belong to the same symbolic complex, Neptune. Which totally makes sense.

LC

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#171

I agree with that even the Beat Step Pro has a randomness amount and percentages which are always quite interesting

1 Like