Going swampin'

I wrapped up my part of the Fallen Nation 2nd editions edits tonight. I'm taking tomorrow off. Like watching the History Channel in my underwear off. I have a crate full of various kinds of sherries and ports. None of you can stop me, though it's possible some of you can join me, especially if you are interested in trading back massages.

As that gets passed on down the lane to get it back to the market, Peter and I are getting ready to "go swampin.'"

You'll hear what I mean when it comes out of the water for you. Or when I post it and you see it, whichever happens first.

(BTW: I don't know why but the 1st edition mysteriously appeared on Amazon again. Don't bother with her, she's an unsightly bitch. The 2nd ed will be up soon. Oh yeah, one other thing...)

Update from the trenches.

This'll be the third night in a row that I've worked till after 5am (almost 6 now) on editing Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning.

I'm sending out the final chapters this weekend for punctuation grammar type copy editing (round 2), and then to Tovarich for re-layout.

Then... it's off to the printer/distributor. Amazon may not pick it up for a couple weeks after that.

My back is killing me, and my eyes feel like they're about ready to strike. But I've fixed so many of the flow problems I was having with the first edition, it almost seems a fair trade. (I just hope that any new typos that may have popped up will be caught in copyediting so I can move on and never have to re-visit production on this project. I'm growing to love the book, but it's time to move on.)

Why I Pay For Showtime.

Since the success of HBO's Six Feet Under, many series on subscription based networks (HBO, Showtime, etc) have continued to up the ante on the theatrical and conceptual possibilities of episodic basic television. Though I do not envy the production team's task on these projects- attempting movie-level quality at the pace of television- I have very much enjoyed the results. There is little doubt that the ad-based major networks have been scrambling to produce their own brand of edginess, but from what I've seen it simply can't compare, thanks to boardroom and FCC restrictions, to say nothing of the restrictive lash of the advertiser's purse strings. House is a good example of this kind of show, a mind-numbingly formulaic foray into the hospital drama milieu that is only saved, partially, by Hugh Laurie's gravitas. (It does help that his character pops vicodin, LSD, and just about everything else he can get his hands on, and then operates on patients. To that point, Hunter would be proud.)

So, to follow up the recent article on Dexter, (New American Hero, by Jason Stackhouse), here are some other series you really should check out.

smallworld podcast interviews subqtaneous

Interview with James Curcio and P. Emerson Williams of subQtaneous.


We discuss the lyrics of P. Emerson Williams; how subQtaneous helped create relationships; the many versions of "Double Bind"; why it took so long to release their CD, Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation; why subQtaneous ws formed when so many of the musicians live all over the country; similarities to Pigface; the members who make up subQtaneous; the Abyss of Hallucinations; the complications of working with so many people; what was surprisingly easy recording Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation; recording "Wake Up"; why the recorded the album in so many different studios; the guitar stylings of Scott Landes; post-punk political commentary; Mythos Media; the influence of Joseph Campbell.

Featured songs are:

1. "Double Bind"
2. "Equinox"
3. "Wake Up"

Listen to the podcast.

The Other World

We are told that documentaries should be produced objectively, never-mind that the camera itself merely provides a proxy of subjective experience, and can lie through omission just as easily as our eyes can. Apparently Jan Kounen didn’t come in to school that day, and for that we can be happy.

Though The Other World provides some interesting and rather traditional “talking head” interviews with the likes of Alex Grey, Moebius, Jeremy Narby (the author of The Cosmic Serpent), and many others, the most unique aspect of this documentary is that it attempts to provide a first person perspective of a very subjective experience. That is, the use of psychedelics in shamanism, and the function of the shaman as a guide through exploration of our oft-forgotten interior world. This is not common territory for a documentary, and some stylistic fumbling is to be expected as a result.

(Alterati.com article, includes movie.)

Follow the Not Free

OK imagine all the copyfight battles are over. And the outcome isn’t some corporate legal Satan-tech locked down media delivery system. Or some kind of shrug-inspiring compromise like micropayments or flat-rate schemes. Imagine that information has become truly free. Technology advanced to such a point where downloads happen as fast as changing a channel and is so easy to use that your cyborg grandma can operate it with her new vat grown arms. Large media corporations slowly crawl to a halt, drained and exhausted by irrelevance, futile hands outstretched trying to stop the tsunami of data. A thousand, than a million, than a billion file sharing sites bloom … so impossible to keep up.

Jason Lubyk's put together what I think is the good beginning for a conversation on the subject of the future of music.

Mankind Is Obsolete: Fresh Out Of The Studio

I just received Trapped Inside premasters from Scott Landes, a past musical collaborator and bandmate. He’s been in the studio this summer with Mankind Is Obsolete in Weed, California (I kid you not), working under the guiding hand of Sylvia Massy. (You may recognize her the producer of TOOL’s seminal albums, Opiate and Undertow, though that’s far from her only work). I’m more than happy to be able to share some of this music with you, hot off the presses, before they hit the road for a massive twelve month tour. I also managed to put some questions to the band about where they’ve been, and where they’re going.

(Part 1, on Alterati.com - intro & track "Trapped Inside.")

(Part 2, on Alterati.com - interview transcript & track "Passing Through.")

Ripple debut

Ari, Nate, and Ray Carney interview Trey Spruance of Secret Chiefs 3, Mr Bungle, and Mimicry Records. This is part one of a two part interview. (For part two, check back tomorrow.)

Listen now.

(If you're wondering, I'm producer & co-editor of the show.)

subQtaneous & Veil of Thorns review on Nemesis To Go

And I think they pretty much nailed it dead center.




subQtaneous:
"What strangeness have we here? This: a trippy ride through post-industrial atmospheres, guided by multi-instrumentalist and producer James Curcio. Although SubQtaneous seems to be a collaborative effort, with many names in the credits, it's James Curcio's name that crops up most often. This music runs riot from dubbed-up rumbling to heavily-fuzzed guitar workouts, from incongruous jazz odysseys to bouts of bad-trip psychedelia. At times, it resembles rock music, particularly on 'Daily Grind', which sounds like the kind of mashed-up splattery racket you'd get if you shoved Ministry down a waste disposal unit. At other times, rhythms you could (almost) dance to are hauled into the sonic melee, and there are effect-laden interludes and sample-soaked soundscapes, although even when things get a little mellow the listener can never quite escape the suspicion that monsters lurk just beyond the music. 'All You Know' is a jazzy rap, springing forward on the vibrations of a double bass, and in a way it's the most radical thing here. Stick out a white label 12" with this track on it, and I bet it would be all over hip hop radio in a week. 'Panning For Gold In Rivers Of Blood' sounds like someone slipped the orchestra that accompanies silent movies some amphetamines, while 'Out Of Control' belies its title with a tumbling, chopped-up neo-rock rampage. I'm not at all sure who SubQtaneous think is going to buy their wayward art, for it's obviously not aimed at any particular market, and the band - if indeed there is a band - takes a particular delight in eating generic boundaries for breakfast. But you know what? I'm glad this stuff is out there."




Veil of Thorns:
"Another emanation from the Mythos Media monster, in this case a solo project from P.Emerson Williams. And - somewhat surprisingly - we're in the rock zone, sort of. Veil Of Thorns are not exactly a band, but the music does inhabit a rocky landscape, even if it sometimes doesn't seem entirely comfortable there. P. Emerson Williams is responsible for vocals and most instruments, with James Curcio on drums (I'm delighted to note, by the way, that the album was engineered by someone called Fluffy) and together they brew up a dust storm of tight-but-loose guitar riffs and driving, nervy, drums. Let's sample some: 'The Enigmatic Barely Atone' has a lost-in-the-desert feel, as if the sands of the Sahara are shifting under the music as it hurtles towards the sunset. 'Delusions Of Excitement' is a fine title for a spooky, sepulchral song - the desert night has fallen, the world is hushed. Even the bass seems muted here, rumbling somewhere in the background as if Steve Severin was hiding behind a pyramid. 'Corrode And Engulf' (Veil Of Thorns are great on titles) is a grind of treated cello, half way between a lament and a threat. This music is, naturally, high on atmosphere, and if, at times, it teeters on the brink of proggy indulgence it has enough latent attitude to pull back from the brink. It's like nothing else out there, that's for sure."

Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning

...is temporarily being held out of stock on Amazon until we get the 2nd edition of the book up in a matter of weeks.

I will post a notice when it is back up.

Postmodern Apocalypse

2012 is a meme on the tip of everyone’s tongue these days.

An an example, Daniel Pinchbeck just launched the site “Postmodern Times,” which is:

"…a series of short animated films presenting new ideas about global consciousness and techniques for social and ecological transformation. Our first episode, “Toward 2012″, introduces the project, explaining concepts from the best-selling book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (Tarcher/Penguin, 2006) by Daniel Pinchbeck, in the author’s own voice. Future segments will focus on shamanism, sustainability, alternative energy systems, the Mayan Calendar, quantum physics and synchronicity, human sexuality, and a host of other subjects."

This explosion, of course, is not restricted merely to Pinchbeck, though he seems to have positioned himself well atop the wave. For better or worse, it is a cultural movement, and it is happening now.

(Alterati.com article.)

Back To The Folk (Post-Genre Blues)

When J.R.R. Tolkien "created" the fantastic world of Lord of the Rings, he built it upon the linguistic and mythic foundations of ancient pre-Britain. This is how most myths are built, as a palimpsest, one layer built over the next, whether we are talking about the early mythological personification of Jesus from earlier male Gods of death & resurrection (Osiris, Tammuz, etc), or more modern inventions- such as black metal.

For hardcore fans of this genre, this comes as no surprise, but for those who have only glanced at it's murky surface, I suggest you take a deeper drink before spitting it out. Though its first wave was retroactively named thanks to thrash metal bands
like Venom, it grew new legs in Norway. The real pioneers of this ear splitting genre take as much from the ancient folk music and traditions of the surrounding cultures as they do from thrash metal. Like any genre, this road is littered with garbage and half-wits trying to jump on a bandwagon they don't even completely understand, so with the curatorial assistance of P. Emerson Williams, who is something of a veteran in the genre, I would like to introduce you to some of the stuff worth listening to.

(Alterati.com article.)

iTunes picks up initial Mythos Media albums.

subQtaneous: Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation and Veil Of Thorns: Cognitive Dissonance are now available through the iTunes store.

An initial group of fifteen companies have picked the albums up for digital distribution, and we will provide the information as we recieve it. We start at the top with the trend setter for digital content delivery.

subQtaneous: Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation downloads can be purchased here, and Veil Of Thorns: Cognitive Dissonance here.

You can purchase songs a la carte or the full albums for the complete experience.

Drawing Outside The Lines: Interview With David Mack

I still remember the first time I encountered Kabuki. I was just browsing around a Barnes & Noble, buzzing on caffeine, and this beautifully illustrated hardcover book found its way into my hands. It's not hard to be taken with the art, really, but I actually laughed out loud when I started reading it- there was a section where the characters were talking
to one another, and then moving through a building. Now most sequential artists would draw panel after panel of them walking and talking, West Wing style, maybe breaking it up with different angles and whatnot so it's not just a bunch of talking heads. But you just give us a top down view of the building, and little talk bubbles as they wind their way around the maze. I just thought that was completely brilliant... I never would have thought of that, but then looking at it, it's just like "of course!" This is something I've seen continuing through these books, that you are
really good at finding the straightest line, the best means of telling the story rather than just adhering to whatever storytelling conventions people might be used to.


David Mack: I like how you described that. I think you described it very astutely. That is how I approach the art. As a tool of the writing. I try to consider what pace, or rhythm, or medium or visual personality of style of art will best and most effectively communicate that particular story or scene of the story.

Full interview

Black Osiris

Aside from the conceptual side of this project, which I'm not going to inflict upon you just yet, the name is fitting based on how the production process seems to be an endless series of deaths & resurrections. Nothing shocking, I just haven't had time most of this summer to do music.

So it's been refreshing to get back at it. This track (working title- Ministry of Cliches) isn't finished yet, but it's starting to 'set up.' Yes, like a cake.

More soon. Maybe.