One thousand years from now, earthlings or earth-things will be trying to unlock the mysteries of the 21st century. Many anthromusicologist bots will argue over the following: which came first, the music or the meme?
This particular piece, “The Sorceress”, a seminal Skelacore track will be fiercely debated, causing the 64th annual AI war for Earth Supremacy.
Time is both tenuous and overbearing and this world is nothing but a paradox in which we are entwined through illusion. Therefore, perhaps art can serve the purpose of communicating with both the future and the past. Illusions and magic are part of artistry. Painters manipulate color, surface and light to communicate verbally unhacked messages. Composers manipulate sound waves to stir or trick emotions and psyches.
If we are quantumly entangled shouldn’t we be able to receive messages from the future and the past? Many experience déjà vu. Have we not evolved to capture and send a clear signal forward or backward on a illusionary continuum? Perhaps the distortion of the present is interference? Is there technology that can help or does it distract us from the signal?
We constantly send messages to the future. We date checks, letters and inscribe years and names into stone building and stone tombs. We tell the tale of the past and present images and differing perspectives in hope of passing on…something.
The grasp of nostalgia clings violently.
I don’t know how to communicate with any part of me that doesn’t exist as my conscience self, but I would like to try. If our attention changes the nature of matter, perhaps it changes the nature of time as well. Being present in the current moment may be the best way to send and receive signals across time. This thinking is paradoxical enough to hold truth.
Is this starting to sound like an argument for transcendental meditation? Do I need to cite Greek philosophers like Parmenides and Zeno? Well, I’m looking to publish a newsletter with a music video based on gifs, so I’ll take a more flippant approach.
Here are several messages to myself with the intention of them being received at another moment in the perceived continuum.
Place a large bet on the Denver Nuggets to win the 2023 NBA Championship
Better yet, create a time machine and go forward to steal a sports almanac.
Don’t use that credit card.
Don’t worry about choices and just do what you think is best and what is most important to you.
Be grateful.
Develop a mindfulness practice.
Leave at the right time.
Be excellent to others.
Party on, dude.
Interestingly, the things that I want to communicate to myself at different times in my life lean towards universal truths and guidance rather than specific decisions. Or, very practical financial advice. Or ideas picked up from Back to the Future II…or Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
Ways of being may have more weight than choice given unknown decision outcomes. Also, the existence of freewill1 is arguable.
Be the way that you aspire to be in life and roll the bones2.
Skelecore
As a hardcore WMRT fan, dear reader, I know what you like. You were fascinated by the 11 minute original soundtrack to the Thief of Castle Grayskull. This epic masterpiece included musical themes for 4 characters interlaced into various movements following the story.
Ok, maybe not a masterpiece.
I haven’t been writing songs lately. The primary mission of this newsletter is for me to produce and release music in “real time”. I always expected to have some kind of drought and the ability to create and execute a song a month can be a challenge. The song-writing part usually isn’t that difficult, but it hasn’t happened lately. Part of this is time and attention.
In lieu of songs, I can go to electronic jams, which, in my opinion, don’t require the same type of inspiration as songwriting. I’m not saying that any particular style is better or more difficult to execute, but producing electronic music by playing around with equipment is a different process.
This piece, “The Sorceress”, is based on the Skeletor themes developed in The Thief of Castle Grayskull. I’m a fan of horrorcore (if that’s what it’s called); artists like John Carpenter and Goblin. This track takes some of those electronic elements and sets it to a club-ready beat.
The synths I used in the production were my Berhinger 2600, Deepmind 6, and Crave. The utilitarian drums are coming from inside the box (Ableton Live). Here’s the patch for the main “evil skeletor” sound (for my own reference):
Almost everything is built off this synth sound with arpeggiators creating the main musical elements.
The bass in the song is me playing an electric bass plugged directly into the mixer. It is doubled; one track played with fingers and equalized a bit differently and another played “slap and pop” style, trying to exude a bit more treble. This was an attempt to get a thick, Daft Punk style bass sound. Not sure if I got there, but I like it.
Sorry, I’m all slap, no pop.
I suppose we need to discuss the video.
I wasn’t planning on making a video. But then I realized there are many, many, many Skeletor memes and gifs out there for the taking. These are all likely generated and consumed by my demographic: Sad Dads. I was a bit worried about how it would turn out given the surprisingly continued nostalgia, social relevance, kookiness, and popularity of the character.
All images used in the video are gifs that I downloaded here: https://tenor.com/search/skeletor-he-man-gifs
The legality of the situation reads as ambiguous to me so I guess I’ll have to consult the LABELABEL law-talking-guys.
I’d venture to say that it has a pop art quality and there are several stills that might be worth saving. I tried to create enough visual diversity to keep it interesting given the limited amount of images, effects and motions. Plus, it had to be kinda psychedelic, dude.
Speaking of LABELABEL, I think it is about time to gather some input as to what we do next. Perhaps another international symposium to determine strategic initiatives. I have some ideas, and now LABELABEL has a home of sorts, it can happen. It would be swell to have an open dialogue in the comments. I can also try an ask some more direct questions via email or chat.
It was about this time last year that we started planning Salon du Monde, Fremont. The soundtrack to which is available for purchase here: https://labelabel.metalabel.com/salondumonde
The club is open.
If you chose not to decide you still have made a choice.
Jack, relax. Get busy with the facts. No zodiacs or almanacs, just maniacs in polyester slacks. Just the facts, gonna kick some gluteus max. It’s a parallax ya dig? You move around, the small gets big, it’s a rig. It’s action, reaction. Random interaction…etc, etc, facts are facts from Nome to Rome boy.
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