Casting Call for Alterati.com launch

We are looking for artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, etc. who are doing interesting things at the fringes. Your material will be run alongside the work of some more recognized faces in their fields. We can't give any specifics at this point for obvious reasons, but suffice it to say that Greylodge, which you could call the parent of Alterati in a figurative if not literal sense, received almost 10 million visitors last month. We could well exceed that within a couple months of our projected launch.

"What's Alterati?" In simplest terms, a new media magazine. It's more than that, but if you get that, that's enough for now.

"So... What kind of material?" you ask.

Think of the website as a stage for your work, or the work of someone you would like to interview for us. We can handle audio, video, articles, etc. So the question is -- how do you want to present it?

If you're providing media, it's important that you have an idea for an article to accompany it that in some way contextualizes it, shows how it is culturally relevant, or makes at least some people laugh their asses off.

We're particularly interested in articles (500-1000 words) about DIY media, underground artists, music or events, or new technologies- unless it is a 'how to' it should have a strong narrative. If it is a 'how to,' we'd prefer if it was funny or a little off-the-wall.

What we don't want - we're not at this point interested in essays about magick, conspiracy theories, or philosophical diatribes, unless if they are hysterical or really above-par, but that may change as we grow in the future, and of course we withhold the right to blatantly ignore our own guidelines when we believe it is called for. This also isn't a news aggregator, or a political activist website, so unless if there's something really unique about it, send your or other people's opinions about Bush to Disinfo.org rather than us.

As for media submissions (video, audio)- We're concerned with quality, not genre. We don't care if it's hip hop, techno Kabuki, or your indie documentary about Hunter S Thompson. The question is-- is it hilarious, profound, totally unique, or cutting edge?

Again, we need a narrative/article if we're going to do a feature focusing on your work (I say this as an edit drop-in because I've recieved at least 100 submissions just today that took no heed of this):

This is not a place to post random photos or illustrations, although they *can* work well as (credited) companions to appropriate articles, if you're not of the writing persuasion. The same goes for music- we can use your music in various podcasts as soundtrack material, and credit it, but if you want your music to be the focus of an article, you need to provide us with a lot more than a myspace page and a message that says "HERE ARE MY MUSICS!"

We want to avoid: "Here's this guy, here's his videos." Context! Why is this work relevant, why should people be interested, educated, humiliated, deified? How does it fit into a particular subculture, or history? There are so many angles you can take. Make it interesting in 500-1000 words, and you'll be up there.

If it's material that you have already produced, feel free to send it to me for consideration. If it is something you want to do, email me a pitch before bothering to put in the time to create it. I may ask for samples of past work before giving a final decision.

In posting the material on our site, you retain all ownership of your material, and will recieve a credit (supposing you provide a short bio) with a linkback. This is at this time a promotion only project.

Questions, comments, submissions: email me at jamescurcio@gmail.com

We will continue to take further submissions after our launch so don't hesitate to contact me afterwards.

James Curcio
sn. editor Alterati.com

subQtaneous: JIVE Magazine review (by J0hann Ess).

All of the music on this disc feels very human and percussive, with a number of melodies/chords you wouldn't normally hear in industrial, metal, or any other urban music category. It manages to play a little into avant-garde, jazz, and electronica realms while maintaining a solid cohesiveness. It also captures experimental and political elements unheard on such a magnitude since the alternative heydey of the 80's and early 90's. Sometimes a huge artist roster will dillute the end result, but all of the collaboration on Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation mixes into a tasty and potent brew. The production is original, flawless, and extremely layered, giving you plenty of repeat listens to pick up everything going on. This album is a notable addition to all the ground-breaking 21st century media that is emerging.

http://www.jivemagazine.com/review.php?rid=2181

Part 1 (of 3) of Living The Myth on JIVE Magazine

(Updated from version that appeared in Disinfo's Generation Hex.)

Mythology isn’t just Bulfinch’s. It is the living, breathing story of humanity. Myths deal with the questions we all face in our lives, propose ways of being in the world which put us in accord or conflict with those various common dilemmas, and ultimately structure the very world we live in.

The stories that carry through the ages repeat themselves, in different forms, from one generation to the next. Each of our lives is a story, an album, a painting, in which we play the starring role; they weave together into an ever-changing tapestry which we call culture. Each of us can be demigods for those who inherit the worlds we create, but only if we are worthy of it.


http://www.jivemagazine.com/column.php?pid=7621

Bedtime Stories With The Antichrist #3

Final episode of the Bedtime Stories With The Antichrist Show.




Once again, agent139 gives us original music, monologues, and dream fragments from an undisclosed underground lair.

In this show you will find music from Philip K Nixon, Veil of Thorns, and subQtaneous, and a reading of a passage of the soon-to-be-released Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning.

False is the Phantom Thou Seeketh

The following has puzzled me for a while. The thought re-occured to me, so I felt I'd mention it... though it likely won't make a whole lot of sense to you if you haven't at least briefly tangled with the tar baby known as Western Occultism.

I've seen quite a few would be magickians in the past years who either aspire to or claim to be in the process of 'crossing the Abyss.'

I wonder to myself-- how can someone do that, and still believe in something like magick? The framework, the underlying beliefs, the Path itself-- all illusions like anything else. Illusions which need to be discarded when they hinder more than help you.

A magus doesn't believe in magick any more than he believes in the flying spaghetti monster. Which begs the question. Why talk about magick at all?

Any of us who have been pitched into that paradigm know what it's like when you start. You're like a kid in a candy store. (Except all the candy is covered in liquid acid and filled with razor blades.) It's okay to feel that enthusiasm. But just because the spectre in the shadows talks to you doesn't mean he's real.

This is one of the many reasons I ceased external interest in the subject.

An upshot of that, and this is interesting- take the faith which props the whole belief system up away... and watch all the portents, omens, transcendental dreams, visions quests, and grandiose cosmologies crumble into the dust they have always been. This is equally true with any belief.

The inverse is also true. But sorry Mr. Carroll, you can't fake yourself into truly believing something, except through a process of baby steps.

I think I can genuine say I don't believe in anything outside of specific contexts, anymore.

Different day, same grindstone.

Up all night doing some early production on the soon-to-be-released Veil of Thorns album, Cognitive Dissonance. I only vaguely recall laying down the majority of the drums for this peculiar creature. (I refer to the project, in this case, not it's creator.)

Here's a sneak peek of one of those tracks... the Enigmatic Rarely Atone.

I'll soon be passing all those tracks on to Ken S to puzzle over, and I'm sure, clean up.

I had Peter re-do the pencil on page 19 of Fas Ferox episode one. Somewhere between 8+ hour sessions editing Fallen Nation, and the crunch time I did this last "night" on the VOT stuff, I re-colored the page. It's now in a similar state to the rest-- somewhere between 70-90% done.

If you haven't noticed-- come spring, there is going to be a lot of content available through Mythos Media. Even if ordering has to start on internet only, it'll be there. Start the whisper down the lane, I don't have the resources for a PR agent just yet.

subQtaneous: final release MP3s

Two of the masters from the final of subQtaneous:

Transit of Venus.

P. Emerson Williams: Vocals.
Scott Landes, Ryan Moll: Guitars.
Me: Drums, percussion, bass.
Production: Myself and Ken Schaefer.


Double Bind

P. Emerson Williams: Vocals, Cello.
Scott Landes, Dave Clark, Me: Guitars.
Bass: Ken Schaefer.
Drums/percussion: Me.
Production: Myself and Ken Schaefer.

You can download a .rar of all of the mp3s and the cover art HERE.

The Gspot: Pilot Episode

In this episode:
Joseph Matheny takes us on an exciting journey,
Wes Unruh interviews musician & author Tara Vanflower (Lycia),
Jason Stackhouse reads “Rip”,
Endymion reads “Viva La Revolucion,”
and various ’street theorists’ appear in HOBO APPROVED.

Production for 2007

First off, I know there are quite a few of you who have been wondering about this for well on a year now... Though it requires another pass through on the colors (24-48 hours or so of work), and then more text formatting, layout, all that good stuff with some assistance... the rough draft of Fas Ferox episode one is done.

You can probably look for a print on demand version, at the very least, by April. We have bigger plans for it than that, but we want to make all this content available as soon as it is ready for print. It will grow from there.

Rumor has it that, despite the distraction posed by his newfound beard, (and I'm sure an incredibly hectic production schedule, but mostly the beard), Neil will have some comments and hopefully an intro for us before we're ready to roll that out. I'm waiting on those comments for the final post production, as his advice on these matters is scripture exactly but... let's just say he's been at it a lot longer than any of us have.

Look for those print on demand releases in April, maybe May. The same thing goes for the final version of subQtaneous, and Fallen Nation.

The former will likely be done before, the final version containing a new track, and some tightened mixes on several others, and no more anime bonus track. I know that may make some of you want to slit your wrists, but don't fear, you can still get the early release version for at least a couple weeks yet, before I pull it so ungraciously and it is never heard from again. Fallen Nation... aside from a couple stray contributors, the content itself is done. I'm just tightening up the language, and then will be passing it on for editing and layout.

The pilot episode of the Gspot is done. Over 60 minutes of original content, including pieces by Joseph Matheny, Jason Stackhouse, Endymion St. Cyr, and an interview with Tara Vanflower (Lycia), all set to some of the craziest soundtrack music we've cooked up yet. We'll be launching that very soon on Greylodge, and then it will be up-up-and-away with Alterati... More on all that soon.

Personally... I've been struggling from some pretty severe mood swings. This living on the edge shit is getting old. But, I believe, the tides will turn shortly. Soon there will be content available for you; enjoy it, and pass it on. Then, just maybe, we can get those things out of the POD ghettos and into the stores and conventions where they belong. It's been a long road, and I have no delusions about how long the road may yet be before I can sit back and give a resounding "dayum."

To myself, and to everyone who has been working with me on these recent projects-- I really believe we've surpassed ourselves.

Of course, this only means we have to work even harder the next time around.

Whiskey + "Occult" "Authors" =

This.

Review & Interview w/ Wes Unruh about subQtaneous

90% of the human race are into junk. Bllionaires with money - are they spending it on finding new drugs that will increase intelligence or life extention? No. They spend it on junk. Most monkeys are junkies. When 90% of the planet is into junk, it's easy to see why music is mostly junk.

subQtaneous : Some Still Despair in a Prozac Nation isn't for these fascistic monkeys.. it's for the other ten percent... And it's more addictive than junk.

This will likely be in more high profile places in a little while, but I wanted to share this with you all as I think the interview went quite well.

Jeff Cohn interview (JIVE magazine)

If Marilyn Manson was a stylist at Vogue magazine, the photographs would look like Jeff Cohn's (www.x-pose.net) portfolio. This prolific 31 year old Philadelphia-based photographer's work blends a combination of commercial, fashion, glamor, pin-up, art, nude, erotica, shock and humor into a vivid visual buffet you won't soon forget.

I sat down with Jeff and asked him why the hell anyone should pay him when anyone with a digital camera can shoot a photo...

JIVE Magazine (op ed #2)

So, I admit it. I only gave half the story in my previous article. (“Wake Up Neo: There Is No Counterculture, You Twit.”) It is true, the world is full of underground posers, sharpening their sticks for the coming revolution against an opposition that doesn't exist, artistes who haven't done a lick of real artistic work in a decade, who use their supposed underground artistic cred to get them in bed with whomever they can scam, would-be rock stars that think they are evolving music by turning it into a vapid fashion show, and old school DIY punks who haven't yet realized that their ideological stance, though noble in its way, simply limits them.

But there are also daring innovators and experimenters, willing to risk all to contribute their perspective to the ongoing narrative that is our collective heritage. So how can I say “there is no counterculture?”

I can say it, and mean it, because these people would ask you what you're smoking, if you asked what it's like, being a part of “The Counterculture.” There is no Grand Unified Scene.

These innovators I'm speaking of are the people who push their own boundaries, and the boundaries of the culture around them enough that they are simply classified as “counterculture” or “revolutionary” because the culture, and the media, doesn't really know what to make of them. (My hope is, you could very well be one yourself.)

This follow up article proposes some positive solutions and suggestions to the issues snarkily proposed there.

(JIVE magazine info.)

Lunatics At Work

Since Greylodge Podcasting has a youtube director account and can post movies over 10 minutes, I figured I'd throw the old amateurish half-crappy half-crack-smoking-genius infomercial we did back in 2000 on there. Enjoy.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdcU8f1TRu4

(For the record, many of the people in the audience and even some of the crew were invited there off the internet and had no idea what was going to happen.)

subQtaneous: early release CD

This CD is the a limited time early release version. It includes a special bonus track, and versions of a handful of songs that won't be on the final pressing.

Described as a "stick of dynamite strapped to reality," (Scenery Zine), subQtaneous is a diverse conceptual, collaborative album. It carves new soundscapes ranging from brutal, pounding industrial to sarcastic hip hop set over carnival music to delicately layered trance. It has been compared to Pigface, probably due to its format, as well as Coil, Mr Bungle, and Frank Zappa. It includes contributions from members of bands such as Collide, Veil of Thorns, Rob Banks, Elektroworx, and many others. While the tracks are tied together by a common theme – the corrosive dark side of capitalism, and its effects on our psyche – none of the musicians involved in this project try to beat you over the head with their ideology. Instead it remains, as the title would imply, an almost subliminal experience that slowly gets under your skin, and doesn't come out in the wash.