5&1/2 Minute Hallway

My tastes in books, art or music tend to trend towards the content hinting at the inexplicable.  Either there is a larger and more fantastic mystery in the story or there is a narrative that is... disconcerting in the picture or there is a heart of sadness in the songs respectively.  Some of my favorite things are media that point to something larger.  Maybe it will be explained but I am perfectly happy 90% of the time if it is not.

One of my favorite books is called House of  Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.  A short synopsis: The narrator receives a trunk full of papers from an old man, Zampano, which tell the tale of a family that moves into a house that, after a time starts to change.  The physical dimensions of the house grow, hallways appear along with mysterious doors.  The father of the family is a film maker and he documents the events.  The narrator finds records of these, but nothing physical.  It points towards being elaborate fiction but it has the side effect of making him paranoid beyond belief.  The end of the book leaves it so that the events either were real and forgotten or completely made up by a mad old man.

The only reason this book came into my radar is thanks to his sister, Poe.  Her album Haunted was written as a companion to his book... or vice versa and both were in a sense made to deal with the passing of their father.  Both are... lonely and larger than they seem.  There are hints towards sadness and loss and coming to terms with those feelings in both.  Moreover they have that feeling of mystery.

Of course the album has to be considered in a different way.  Not all songs fit the narrative, this is not a rock opera or a concept album.  Songs like Not a Virgin, Control or Lemon Meringue don't provide the same atmosphere but act as catharsis.  Control in particular is a good song to play quite loud as you... I dunno, flip off an old job or something.

Now if she could only release a new album, its only been 14 (!) years since the last one.

Unexpected finds.

We all love it when we find something new.  New to us, new to the world, sparkling and ready for us to consume.  These last few weeks have had a couple of discoveries that have been super pleasant and I'd like to share.

Firstly, and I've said this on my FB, I've apparently inherited some frying skill from my Scottish ancestors.  I've pulled off fried chicken and taqitos just by tossing what I feel would be tasty together and poof, exceptionally tasty but very bad for me foods.  Two things I've decided though, I need to invest in new tongs for removing said fried thingys and I need a gas stove.  Better heat control would equal better foods.

Nextly I've run across a couple of bands/songs that have added some good color to my playlists.
Aubrey Debauchery & The Puke Boots have a song called Whiskey Breath which is peppy.
BABYMETAL is a J-pop meets deathmetal group and they have infiltrated my Good Things playlist with a song called Doki Doki ☆ Morning as well as one called Gimme Chocolate!!  Good things.

I am hoping to work more on projects that I can post here and elsewhere.  I've set something up with The Wife where we should be able to do that easier.  We shall see, I am hopeful.

Buddha Machine

Some people cannot deal with repetitive sounds.  Drives them up the nearest wall, bonkers I tells ya.  I know a few who seek these sounds out with a fury usually reserved for household pests or political campaigns.

I don't mind them at all.

In fact at times I search them out.

Occasionally I find one that is wonderful.

Case in point, the Buddha Machine (available in the App store) is an ambient noise generator with different configurations you can play with to create looping repetitive musical background noise.  The reason why I find this so wonderful is the fact that I can get some really trippy dreams from listening to this during sleep.

From what I've read this happens because your brain starts to wander with these sort of noises.  White noise along with some other sensory deprivation has been shown to be able to create hallucinations quite reliably.  Once you've cancelled these other senses the brain just gets... bored?  It goes and starts chasing rabbits down holes if you will.  Sleep already is a form of sensory deprivation so it is logical that I can add other elements to get some vivid dreams.

I think the Buddha Machine works for me so well in this regard because you can alter the "texture" of the sound produced.  Looping guitar or piano combined with clicks or whooshes vs. wind or sea and hums. Experimenting with the different combinations and volumes can provide a vastly different experience for every listener.

Mood music.

Everyone does it, either intentionally or not, but we all tend to associating music with moods or points in our life.  It adds color and brings back memories.  They've (the grand THEY, you know, scientists) done studies with Alzheimer's and found that songs from the patient's past allowed for greater recollection and function.  More information Here.  In short, music is powerful JuJu.

I find that I quite like the moods that certain music can give me.  Right now I am feeling the need for something melancholy and so I am listening to Pink Floyd's The Division Bell right at this moment.  It is close to what I want, but not quite there.  I have a Silent Hill station on Pandora that comes up with stuff that closer matches what I am looking for at the moment.  Something sad and lonely, lost in the fog, dark and beautiful.

I guess in review I am mopey and I wish to wallow.  Boo hoo, poor me. :P

Music Monday

If atheists are right and God in whatever form does not exist, if we are alone in the universe and there is nothing out there but dust and echos and light, how much more wonderful is music?  Existence in general but music particularly.  Motes of dust upon a mote of dust hurling through infinity and all the while we sing.  We pound out patterns.  We pluck notes.  We toot a flute.  Cradled in our only home.

We scream at the darkness.  We compose complex melodies that mean something only to those that can hear it and even then it can mean very different things. We come from the dirt, we make something wonderful or share in something wonderful and then we go back.

Recently, in a cosmological sense, we've been beaming these songs and our voices out to the universe at large.  It may never be deciphered but we've added our voice to the background radiation of existence.  Part of us will never ever die and in a way it is one of the more honest parts of ourselves.  Music born from pain, joy and love.  Music made to make money.  Talk shows that illustrate what we found important at the time.  Comedy, propaganda, secret messages.  Each and all going out to infinity, possibly never to be seen again but never really gone.

Kind of makes bad music worthwhile, doesn't it?