Esozone 2007

Second Life Sketches: A Day On The Grid (by Warren Ellis)

Penny Patton, who designs retropunk avatar outfits that remind me of graphic novels like THE RED STAR, has opened a larger version of her Happy Bivouac store in The Junkyard, and Anna Young, co-founder of the FasFerox multimedia project, is involved in building a FasFerox temple there as a Second Life extension of the property.

Full article.

Living The Myth (Part 3 of 3)

“In what strange simplification and falsification man lives! One can never cease wondering once one has acquired eyes for this marvel. How we have made everything around us clear and free and simple! How we have been able to give our sense a passport to everything superficial, our thoughts a divine desire for wanton leaps and wrong inferences! How from the beginning we have contrived to retain our ignorance in order to enjoy an almost inconceivable freedom, lack of scruple and caution, heartiness, and gaiety of life- in order to enjoy life! And only on this now solid, granite foundation of ignorance could knowledge rise so far... Even if language, here as elsewhere, will not get over its awkwardness, and will continue to talk of opposites where there are only degrees an many subtleties of gradiation; even if the inveterate Tartuffery of morals, which now belongs to our unconquerable “flesh and blood,” infects the words even of those of us who know better- here and there we understand it and laugh at the way in which precisely science at its best seeks most to keep us in this simplified, thoroughly artificial, suitably constructed and suitably falsified world- at the way in which, willy-nilly, it loves error, because being alive, it loves life.” (Beyond Good and Evil, Fredrich Nietzsche.)

The final part of "Living The Myth" is up on JIVE magazine's website. This entire series is probably gloriously inappropriate for their average readership, though I could well be wrong. (By that, by the way, I don't mean to imply that it is above them, so much as that this series is only tangentially connected to electronic music, hip hop, or video games. But I was given carte blanche, how could I not playfully abuse it?)

If you missed the first two parts:
Part One: Deconstructing The Modern Myth.
Part Two: So Much For Truth.

The original, somewhat abridged version of these essays ran in Disinformation's Generation Hex.

I'm probably going to take a break from running stuff on JIVE for a while, except for news and the occasional review. My focus is moving to Alterati, which is coming along nicely.

Podcast: Jackson Publick of The Venture Brothers

Jackson Publick is the co-creator of the Cartoon Network [adult swim] series The Venture Brothers. The series is a sometimes bizarre, often surprisingly heartfelt parody of the boys' adventure genre.

Jackson talks about his own roots, including the loss of his mother when he was a child, his aborted college career(s), and his meteoric rise from comic book store clerk to television writer.

(Because I enjoy the hell out of this show. Also, there's also a strong possibility of an Alterati.com feature with Lisa Hammer, voice of Triana Orpheus, among many other things. Look for that sometime next month.)

ReGen Magazine: subQtaneous Interview

ReGen ran the interview I did with Wes for subQtaneous as an Artist Spotlight... which is good. They edited and tightened it up, too.

However, presently there are a couple errors in the interview, which hopefully will get fixed but may not:

#1: I was not the drummer for Babalon, I was the bassist and producer. (ADDENDUM: This was fixed.)

#2: The photo credits are not all Jeff Cohn, only the first one (of me, with the banjo.) The following image of Ari I believe was taken by Ashley Pearl, the one of Scott Landes was taken by Arturo Everitt, the one of Gaetan was taken by Jonathan Sorber Photography. I'm not sure about the P. Emerson Williams photo credit.

http://www.regenmag.com/Artist-Spotlight-19-SubQtaneous.html

Another way to get subQtaneous tracks.

Living The Myth (updated - Part 2 of 3 on JIVE Magazine.)

http://www.jivemagazine.com/column.php?pid=7843

Fallen Nation cover: Redux

I did a new cover image for Fallen Nation. I'm finally getting close to happy with it.












Model is Key. Photographer (for her) was Jeff Cohn. Rest is me.

Initial print on demand relase info isn't locked in stone, but it's looking like late spring/early summer. In store releases could be soon, or take a while, depending on how everything goes.

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.