Friends 4 Life Pt IV - Bouyancy of a Withered Heart

[xander]

I should add that this track is largely (as in completely) composed of source taken from John Carpenter's The Thing, a favorite film of mine which cannot be praised enough.]

Since that film is one of my all-time favourites -- primarily for it mood, it's lack of stupid, irrelevant yapping-to-give-some-actor-more-face-time, and its sound-track. I gotta have a listen

Cheers,
Alex

[Sickle]

I gotta have a listen

It's probably far and away from what you're expecting/hoping to hear as it's brutal catharsis of mine cubed, but you're welcome to it, Alex.



Justin, you're right on many counts, especially the hierarchy thing, which in the past my...status here was much more prominent(I even had the highest post count here for awhile before that xander f**ker got me banned ).

Timing is also key. I remember once, George(You) and I had a thread viewing contest in the Cafe and despite the fact that he totally rubs my face in the dirt artistically, I had a grossly over-proportioned amount of views/listens, which I attributed mainly to the timing(my own class clown mentality here back then was a probable influence as well).

As far as my own stuff, I've payed close attention for about the last year and a half, and my observation is the more I feel I improve, or get into what I'm producing, the less it's received by others, and man, it's _really_ frustrating, because it confuses the hell out of me and brings doubt that I neither understand or want. I've apply critical thought to this and I can only come up with a couple valid explanations for it:

A - I think I'm getting 'better', but I'm really getting worse.

B - As my style evolves, it becomes more and more introspective, and thus less receivable to others(and it's important for me as an artist to not allow this to deviate or I've compromised everything about how I think and feel about being an artist in general)

C(wild card) - Bush's crock of shit claim of National 'War Fatigue' has valid points, and behind it lays a burden we're all carrying that is generating a self-reinforcing isolation factor between us. This is less obvious in bullshit forum threads where talk is cheap, but when, as artists/musicians here, we find ourselves exerting conscious effort to download and listen to new things, that's a serious problem, especially with the brilliant Artists this Cafe is famous for. I'm a music lover among music lover, and some of the best stuff I've ever heard in my life has been posted in this forum section..

There's as good a chance as any that the answer is numbero uno, but I can always hide behind my long-held disclaimer that my material is catharsis first, and(occasionally) a, err..palatable (:hihi: ) object for listeners second, but it's really not about an ego boost or 'wtf, why ain't you all listening to my shit?' thing, I'm observing and trying to analyze what I see as an evolving social trend, phenomenon, what have you within this community, which I very seriously regard as a fully intact social microcosm all on it's own.

I think in these terms constantly. Social dynamics is a life long fascination of mine and something I probably should have pursued professionally when I had the opportunity early on.

[justin3am]

Possibly, D: Those that post would like to give you the same insightful feedback that they get from other. When, you post music that A- defies criticism B- has reached a level that others wish to attain, people have a tendency to check it out and figure the regulars will be able to sum up what you did well better than they (at least in my case when I just began posting). I have recently decided that I'm not above performing text based fellatio on anyone that posts something I enjoy, regardless of weather or not my words have any real substance, because I know that I appreciate even a casual "thanks".

I have long been a believer that if you are in the least bit paranoid about sucking, you are subconsciously improving. It's when you have convinced yourself that you're the shit that you are in trouble. Robert Anton Wilson has some pretty hilarious takes on this concept... oh, I should say had-

My wife studies statistics collected from collected from the national census (mainly voting trends) and it can be both fascinating and utterly boring the way these statistics are interpreted and what this data is used for. Actually the most fascinating part of the subject is the fact that she has been able to affect change (at least at a local level) very noticeably just by applying more subjective methods to her data analysis. Not to say that she makes up data, rather she focuses more specifically on categorizing the data in ways that make the raw data more transparent. Previously the data ha been generalized to the point that anyone that looked at a report could interpret the outcome differently. This I feel defeats the basis of our democracy which someone would argue boils down to behavioral psychology.

...This is where I bring my point back. At a micro level, the same can be said of our little community. If you break it down to the generalizations brought on by the individuals who demand that they be heard... the overall image of our community could be seen as isolationist and derogatory towards others. On the other hand, if you look at the bigger picture, I think that more people from different realities (a RAW concept) coexist here subconsciously learning and growing than most other communities I've been a part of.

Positive and negative are merely the friction that provide forward momentum.

now excuse me, I have a bong to hit

3am

[Sickle]

Well said; I'm glad you entered my thread and gave your thoughts. The only part I disagree with is that it's not 3am, it's 5am and while you hit the bong, I need to hit the bed as I did about 36 hours of nearly straight tattooing the last 3 days while managing to squeeze this track out in between, so I'm doo-doo brained exhausted.

Hopefully some other thinkers will weigh in here while I'm out and I can pick up where this left off.

Cheers,
D

[Sickle]

I have long been a believer that if you are in the least bit paranoid about sucking, you are subconsciously improving. It's when you have convinced yourself that you're the shit that you are in trouble.

Btw, in my professional career as a tattoo Artist, what you've said here is the difference between the Quick and the Dead.

[Voidoid Surrealist]

Maybe too much Mordor, Tom, eh?

'tis no such thing as too much Mordor.

A - I think I'm getting 'better', but I'm really getting worse.

B - As my style evolves, it becomes more and more introspective, and thus less receivable to others(and it's important for me as an artist to not allow this to deviate or I've compromised everything about how I think and feel about being an artist in general)

C(wild card) - Bush's crock of shit claim of National 'War Fatigue' has valid points, and behind it lays a burden we're all carrying that is generating a self-reinforcing isolation factor between us. This is less obvious in bullshit forum threads where talk is cheap, but when, as artists/musicians here, we find ourselves exerting conscious effort to download and listen to new things, that's a serious problem, especially with the brilliant Artists this Cafe is famous for. I'm a music lover among music lover, and some of the best stuff I've ever heard in my life has been posted in this forum section.

Well, if it's A, then I guess my taste is getting worse.
If B is the case (personally, I don't think so), I would still advise you to stick to your vision and not to try and "sanitize" your work, or make any other sort of compromise in your music to try to attract a wider audience. Every band I can think of that has done this has brought me nothing but disappointment.
As for C, I feel that while having a costly civil war with no real solution over our heads daily certainly doesn't help the general attitude of the population, I think it's just one of many things that's leading society down a depressing and dangerous path of apathy. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that on average, most people in the last few years have been less enthused about damn near everything in life, and what few pockets of fervor remain tend to burn out fast.

One (probably wrong and presumptuous) thought is that you've reached a stage where you're finally starting to see the real qualities of your work, and maybe your craving for more input is a result of your inner conflict over your talents. As your talents improve, you feel a greater need for external verification of your improvement than you did when you thought of your work as "just catharsis".

f**k if I know, I'm super tired and probably not making much sense here

[xander]

I can't connect to your site from here sickle...

Can one of you kind brothers offer an alternative download link for this music please? I've GOT to hear this!

vurt!

[shamann]

Try this link instead.

[xander]

Yep that's the ticket -- thanks mate

[xander]

Ahh man -- think of that flik while listening to this and it chills bones...

It's what I would hear in my mind if I was one of those last guys in the arctic research station...

Seriously cool!

[synthgeek]

Well, thanks for listening, and sorry about the dog. Actually, that's kind of a compliment to me.

No need to apologize- I think he was more cautiously curious than anything. And it was meant as a compliment.

On a serious note, I've been tossing around the idea of finally giving in and doing a _limited_ run of CD's for my stuff out of pocket, but the taste tests here lately tells me that might not be such a good idea..

Well, I for one would buy one. And a t-shirt too.

I wouldn't let the lack of feedback here dissuade you- seems to me the people that do comment really like it. I think Justin has a valid point as well.

[Sickle]

Cheers, guys!

Didn't mean to get moribund on everyone..

Well..maybe I did.

[[ xerocreep ]]

As I mentioned from the depths of the pit (vaesolis.org/forum)
I think this is one of your best pieces. It instills the perfect blend of cold and dread while remaining listenable. I like the sense of evolution and motion throughout and find the over all composition quite nice.

I think that your evolution as an artist has taken you into more obscure territories that may alienate some listeners who enjoyed your earlier works.

As far as the cafe is concerned... I think that those of us who would regularly interact with each other have migrated to the vaesolis forum and are not the first to chip in over here, and thus there is less content for others to interact with.

Personally i never wander into the cafe over here anymore, and wouldn't have thought about it without your comments elsewhere...

[Sickle]

seems to me the people that do comment really like it.

Oh, I've never taken that part for granted. It's not like this is teh tarnce or something..



Another side of it that I guess is possible is that my stuff kind of flies in the face of KVR's watercooler-type enviornment. There's alot of casuality here, which, uh, negatively compelling pieces like mine might work against.

"Hey bro, while you're here, is it ok if I make you suicidal, blurp your pacemaker, or vibe loose that impacted colon of yours?"

[Sickle]

As far as the cafe is concerned... I think that those of us who would regularly interact with each other have migrated to the vaesolis forum and are not the first to chip in over here, and thus there is less content for others to interact with.

urgh..I hate to think that I might have taken away something from this plac, but yeah, we can't regurgitate discussions in both places. I guess when I'm posting here I'm reaching out beyond those I know I have acceptance from, the Cafe isn't so much a comfort zone and if I get [positive, although contextually that's difficult to interpret or even provide]feedback from the non-Saligias, I'm doing ok.

I sometimes just wish the head of a huge company would send me a PM titled, "You're hired, be here Monday". I'd like to get out of the tattoo artist, home-wrecking meat-grinder I force my family to co-exist in with me so f**king bad I can taste it..

After that, I could just stick to the best reverb threads like everyone else and no one would have to listen to me bitch about jack shit.