Jazz Kissa

As a metalhead, I sort of had an internal self confession a while ago - this is it. The world of metal is so wide and tall, an entire lifetime can be spent and I would still be dancing around with sub par knowledge (if the pursuit of such is even meaningful?). There was a point where I was even considering to become a metal historian and maybe start my own zine or something. Or get a degree in sociology and write a thesis on metal subculture! I was digging deep into Peruvian underground metal scene and mixing my playlists up with the ones from Japan. And what a world of discovery it was becoming. There is so much amazing music out there. If only I could take it all. But the gongs of time only gets heavier and it has a tight leash on all of us. Years slip by and all the accumulated knowledge needs to be returned back. 

Now, the self confession part - while pure and pristine at that point - was just plain wrong. You see, it was all an act to convince myself of the journey I was undertaking. While I have a fair tolerance of all kinds of music, metal dented me in ways I couldn't ever imagine. So what next then ?

Black Sabbath has been in heavy rotation since the prince of darkness passed away. What a career. Anyways, there was this particular track from their live album - Wicked World, which had a very unique effect on me. Bill Ward's drum solo was amazing and I was craving to find more such extended solos/improvisations which had the same mood as this one. Jazz was always in the periphery for me, and somehow I ended up in that part of the world. What began as a simple craving for a certain style of percussion ended up with me becoming a Jazzhead!

So for the past few months, I've been only listening to Jazz and its the only thing I want to explore. Occasionally I get tempted to just blast Slayer - but a mysterious force nudges me to start my day with Jazz.

As an "avowed dilettante" (a phrase I'm borrowing from somewhere I don't remember), these are the ones I thoroughly enjoyed. I keep coming back to Coltrane and Miles a lot. What an artist!
Somehow the usual recommendation of Kind of Blue didn't feel too accessible to me. I love music where percussion plays a big role as it keeps things tight and anchors the overall mood. But now that my ears is tuned to the sound of all these instruments - Kind of Blue does sound amazing. But I still prefer the middle to late years of Miles.

Miles Davis -  In A Silent Way, Sketches Of Spain
Joe Henderson & Alice Coltrane - The Elements (trippiest jazz I've heard so far, especially the track - "Earth")
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Bird Calls
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (Psalm was just amazing. A musical narration of a prayer and just showed how far Coltrane was taking his music)
Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser

So far its been a very rewarding journey of exploration and diving deep into a native African American art form which has been embraced all over. Japanese and Polish jazz scenes are amazing too. I hope to one day pay a visit to one of Jazz Kissa when in Japan.

Tool, Opeth and Ne Obliviscaris live shows this year were amazing. 
I now need to make time to explore local Jazz gigs too.

 

Thank you Opeth

This band has been a huge gateway into a lot of things metal. More than a decade ago, I listened to some of their tracks from Damnation record and it was by far the most accessible. After multiple repeated attempts to dig into their sound, it clicked one fine morning. I don't even remember when that happened. Probably a couple of years ago. I should have written it down! knowing how significant of an event it would be. My entire view on metal music as a whole opened up due to Opeth. There were other key groups as well. Tool, Agalloch, and Dream Theater come to mind. Opeth's discography is so wide and dynamic that picking a record to listen and appreciate became an almost frustrating task. Things just didn't work for me until I re-oriented myself and uncluttered my mind to sit through a random album in its entirety. I loved the cover art of In Cauda Venenum and with a keen hope to not miss out on how the metal community regards Opeth, and whether my own journey is compatible with the trend so to speak, I powered through. Something about that lazy morning and the fact that there were a few birds perched outside, with a leafless tree in the background called out. Garden of Earthly Delights opened up slow, took its time and then...it happened. I got bricked. I was in it. The sonic tones kept intensifying and I felt the urgency. A lean communication. Soft bristles. Tough standing. No vocals yet. That is reserved for the second track Dignity. The opening track so meticulously blended into the second one with such great vocals by Mikael. Everything else was on pause as I dug through their entire body of work and everything just fell into place. And just like that Dan Swano happened. His collab with Mikael on Crimson was fantastic. Multiple streams opened up and I constantly am floored by all this great music. Picking favorites and ranking their work means declaring war! But music is subjective, like art in general. I get to see them perform live soon and I can't wait for it. 

Had a lot of fun reading this in depth series on Opeth and their sound - An Opeth Retrospective.

A few stand out passages:

Some art changes who you are while other art reveals who you always were, in occult shadow and the lingering yearning of youthful and aged hearts.

While metal and its extreme variants have had notorious links to ..well extremity, I think what is often overlooked is how its all human nature down to its core. I am not merely dismissing the bad stuff by delegating it to the realms of human nature, but instead want to invoke a sense of open thinking towards all things extreme. Maybe there is a middle ground (as there always is) to understand all kinds of art if we think slowly. 

Often, the cruelty and evil of extreme art is like a warding spell, a means to conjure and contain this wickedness so it doesn't transcend past the limits of the fantasizing mind. Ah, if this dynamic could be so easily solved by revolutionary thinkers and philosophers and art critics, our lives would be so much easier! But alas, it is not to be so.

Europa

Clipper, Clipper, Clipper.
Bring me news that the subsurface ocean is gushing with life. As we know it. Primitive or not.
And I'll play "Age of Aquarius".

On repeat for a few months now.

Abyss - Shepherds of Cassini
Withering Strands - Be'lakor
Grandis Spiritus Diavolos - Rotting Christ (goofy name aside, this is stellar music - and so is a lot of their work)
The Law of Asbestos - Ashenspire
Slaves & Bulldozers - Soundgarden (Thayil, Cornell and co pack such a punch)
Equivalence - Insomnium

These Polish groups make great music

Memories of Falling Down - Obscure Sphinx (really good post-metal music overall). The live show of their Thuamaturgy record was epic.
Hybrid Times - Riverside

Saw Ne Obliviscaris live and its the best I've seen so far. They totally owned the stage. Loved it.

While it appears that things are burning down all around us, let us not forget that there are incredible things happening all the time. A cursory look at the Turing award winners over the last decade should keep one busy. 

Young Archie finalists and their work is really good. 

Do not burn the bridges, build them to last.

From nothing to everything

Cygnus
The Wreck of S.S. Needle
  - Cult of Luna & Julie Christmas

What an absolute killer collaboration between the two. The entirety of the Mariner record is great. Cygnus especially had a profound impact. As the song progressed, I felt like I was being pushed into a corner of a green floating room where I witnessed myself being shattered into a million pieces, only to slowly become whole again by the end of the song. The last 5 minutes of the song entered into a whole new level of intensity.

You can't really play post/sludge/doom metal in the background. It's not good commute music either, in my opinion. Spirits have a dulling effect, and I feel like the mind tends to rush through without really experiencing the sonic journey. I have to set aside or make myself available for a good hour or so to give my full sober attention and seek out all the parts. From nothing to everything. Its the layers and layers of sound all mixed up to create a unique sonic atmosphere. You wait for the build ups, sometimes 10 mins into a song, but the payoff is guaranteed. I think stuff like this just happens over time and its quite hard to explain to someone why such kind of music exists. Its the open minded experimentation with different sounds that leads one to keep exploring. Arabic hip hop, Nigerian folk music, Indian carnatic/hindustani, Japanese ska, Qawwali, Scandinavian black metal contrasted with Atmospheric sludge metal, or even mainstream pop - and a million other types. Such diversity in sounds. Our ears can take it all. Whats important is the feel and the places music takes one to. One need not dwell in the past, but look far ahead to interpret a future within reach. 

At this point, I get these flashes at various times during the day where I just pause - and conjure up a place and time when an unheard, punishing, soul-rectifying track zips past me, leaving in its wake a scene that is just unexplainable.

Grinning Mouths - ISIS
Rocking Chairs and Shotguns - Mouth Of The Architect
A Solitary Reign - Amenra

The space between me and Earth

When you superimpose the daily soundtrack onto the needlessly noisy world, something cancels out and a muted scene takes over. The weary cloud stops being weary and negotiates a pause. 

We listen to the tales and romanticize
How we'd follow the path of the hero
Boast about the day when the rivers overrun
How we'd rise to the height of our halo
        (10,000 Days (Wings, Pt 2) - Tool)

Tool is really special. While the whole song is one great piece, the part that bricked me was around the 7:30 mark when the solo picks up and I felt the whole song come together in an epic way. Maynard's vocals kicks it off while Danny's drumming and Justin's bass provide the perfect blend for Adam's solo. The entire discography of Tool is breathtaking, but I tend to almost always spend time devouring Fear Inoculum, 10000 days and Lateralus.

Forget Not - Ne Obliviscaris
And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope - Ne Obliviscaris

Ne Obliviscaris was a great find. Blasted my ears, but I still keep finding the nth experience to be as thumping as the first one. 

Exploring metal music is a conscious exercise. What I love the most about it is how you need to explicitly seek it out rather than being shoved and imposed by algorithmic recommendations. There's a wide range of sub genres out there ready to be explored.

Pale Folklore - Agalloch
The Mantle - Agalloch

I always prepare myself before putting on Agalloch so I can listen to all tracks in one go.

This is the end of every song that we sing
(Alone, The Cure)

The Cure's latest record is another great release. The first line of the first track Alone had so much in it. Hope they release few more records before they ride off into the sunset.

Korn's live show was great, although I felt Jonathan's vocals got subdued with the heavy bass system. Maybe its the overall sound setup. Gave me a chuckle when he picked up the bagpipes.

Fear not, for such and such is temporary. The riffs of the south pole carry on.

Tender Mercies

The Lost Cause - Tom Morello + Manchester Orchestra
There's No Mountain - Glen Hansard
the fruits - Paris Paloma
Dance Of The Clairvoyants - Pearl Jam
Blackbird - Martyn Bennett

Tender Mercies - Glen Hansard + Eddie Vedder

We restrict ourselves to this narrow range of thought, conditioned by the lived experience, and complain when the solutions don't work. What tools do we have at our disposal to elongate the (narrowed) extremities of thought ? I think the answer could be in the world of arts. We must make arts as accessible as we can. It could be argued that arts come in only after basic needs are met. If all our material needs are met, what would we be pursuing ? I looked around and don't find a satisfying answer, and I don't want to start blaming the ills of capitalism to paint a grim picture. It is what it is. Am I brushing it off by saying "It is what it is" ? A lazy ontological dismissal so I can momentarily disengage from critical thinking. The antidote for such blunt dislocation is to look within. Underneath the layers of ego, lies buried the most pressing questions we must ask. For those of us lucky to be able to do things, we must take a moral high ground. Crack open the psyche and to not be afraid of finding nothing. There is no nothing.

PJ

Release - Pearl Jam

To see them perform live and also open with a deep cut that I never thought would happen. I'm floored. I remember a time when I was desperately looking for a clean live rendition of `Release` and the rarity of it combined with a mystic aura of the song makes it a killer deep cut. Jeff Ament's bass was a force to reckon with. Vedder and his special voice moves the crowd in special ways. Cosmic Psychos opened the evening and they looked pretty sloshed. Great night and what a great performance. Time to finally get the `Ten` album on vinyl. 

Next up is Glen Hansard. I think I know where this is going. There may come a time when I get to see both Hansard and Vedder on stage. To witness the full force of songwriting that these two came up with and rendered in the utmost brilliance of a voice will truly be something.

UDHR

Awake My Soul - Mumford & Sons
Can't Go Back - Blink-182
Destroyer - Of Monsters And Men

To become sensitive to the sensibilities of human sentiments

Structured lives need to be dismantled and happenstance takes priority. To let the mind roam about and lay a new path for itself. The governance of our minds is in shambles. Its time we check out the principles of self governance for its sake, while respecting the boundaries of societal structures which are themselves human constructs. However flawed they are, we must see them as opportunities to tackle and soldier on.

To read the universal declaration of human rights and do everything we can to uphold its values. How it starts off with a heroic tone

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world

Article 26 has:

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms

It didn't come for free. We must remind ourselves of that.

Count your privileges

Down on the Bowery - Damian Lewis
World Outside - The Devlins
Sinnerman - Nina Simone
Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

If we start counting our privileges, where do we start ? 

The above question in part arose when I came upon "Pedagogy of the Oppressed". One thing led to another and I happened to read this. While I don't really follow politics, I gravitate more towards the philosophical foundations upon which the modern world lies on. The author mentions about "Ideological dualities" and I sort of understand and now see it almost everywhere. Including me! I constantly flip the metaphorical switch to keep things on an even keel. Its a powerful feeling to know and feel the conflicting ideas residing in our mind, constantly battling and waging internal wars. It also reminds me of Mark Fisher's "Capitalist Realism" which I also now see everywhere. I'm intentionally leaving out the specifics of what "everywhere" means, just so I can circle back at some point and see how it forces me to (re)evaluate what it signifies.

"I file against myself, I represent myself, I convict myself, hereby expanding the full scope of the legal desert, because the judgment's built in. The only thing left is forgiveness and I grant that to myself." - Roman J Israel

Inventing on Principle

Song for Zula - Phosphorescent
Broken Horses - Brandi Carlile
Disintegration - The Cure
Good Luck - Broken Bells
The Veil - Peter Gabriel

A dear brother said along these lines - "If the collective conscience of all humanity were to be squeezed and bottled, do you think you have something to add to it ?"

I didn't have a proper answer then, but just to temper the conversation I said - "Maybe. Maybe not. But since I'm an optimist, I feel there is something brewing inside me and I can feel it coming."

Its been a few months since that came up on a hot summer afternoon. I didn't let the question recede into the background noise of every day busyness. I gave it a life to see how it grows over time. But since growth can be a slow process, I gave it wings with an aerodynamic edge. It rammed into a wall of impatience.

Is the mere act of existence not adding anything ?
Are modern societal arrangements conducive to the acts of search, creation and discovery ?
Are we distracted always and not paying attention to the decaying rhythm of life ?

More thoughts will follow soon.

Inventing on Principle

Freedom and tyranny

Little Giant - Roo Panes
Pennies in the Fountain - Glen Hansard
Zombie - The Cranberries
Ith Naheen - Sanam Marvi

What is the basis of freedom.? It is a non-binary concept like many other aspects or activities.

This article talks about untethered freedom and self-determination which leads to tyranny.

It is self-determination within significant constraints - within rules of some sort - that leads to well-being, to optimal functioning. The task for a future psychology of optimal functioning is to identify which constraints on self-determination are the crucial ones.

I'm trying to see a merit here. Unconstrained freedom, while liberating, can sort of lead to being in a constant state of figuring that puts a massive burden and cognitive dissonance - which evolution has done a meticulous job of making sure such a state is to be discarded as soon as possible. At best we make sub-optimal choices and at worst blind faith. Both of which prevail.

More analysis needed.

Slogans and the romance of the frontier

DLZ - TV On The Radio

What is the role of work in a person's life ?

Can we push away drudgery and strive to seek asylum in the romance of the frontier ? What does frontier even mean these days ? I'm sure a lot of hardworking folks are at this very moment experiencing and creating things that are incomprehensible to everyone. 

I'm now trying to understand what makes a life livable and fulfilled ? I think 35 is a sweet spot to sit on this question for a while and see what comes out. To be less judgmental of others is a good start.

There are enough slogans on the interwebs. Not every slogan is actionable. We must retain the power to choose which ones make sense and follow its lead.

Craft and Quality

Lucky You - Joyner Lucas/Eminem
Sing for the moment - Eminem
In Control - Baker Boy
Charkha Nolakha - Atif Aslam and Qayaas
Thagyan - Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch and Zain Zohaib

As you approach 40, the most mundane aspects of everyday life become treasures to cherish. After a while, it makes sense to optimize for things that are in control. This means a vast majority of events are not worth optimizing for. But this also means, our distorted perception of control and the illusory pompousness of it all will eventually throw all rationality out the window. We continually make mistakes and poor choices hinder our growth.

Our infinitesimal presence in an infinite cosmos should ideally bring forth humility above anything else. And yet, we succumb to the jolts and quandaries of instantaneous moments. Such movements leave behind unwritten legacies in its wake. What may become of us is unknown.

What I mean by the above is (total tangential trip :-)) - to try putting craft and quality in everything we do. See that how works out. Adjust. Calculate our delta V budget. Refuel. Course correct & repeat.

Still until it becomes. And becomes it will. 

Visions of the future is really cool. Heading to the counter to book tickets!

Fleabag

A Thousand Ages From The Sun - The Electric Banana
Sedona - Houndmouth
This Feeling - Alabama Shakes

Flames of youth untold
Fight for the heart so bold - A random tagline I came up with and sent it to a cousin. Maybe 10 years ago. He likes it and I won't complain :-)

Fleabag is really good. Fresh and original.

Spirals and stars
Greens and trees
Our youth burns and becomes what ?
Our children grow and teach us what ?
Reflections of a barking past tells us what ?

Thrust forward

Unison - Gang of Youths
Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn - The White Stripes
Fetch The Bolt Cutters - Fiona Apple
I - Kendrick Lamar

"In many ways, writing is the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind. It’s an aggressive, even a hostile act. You can disguise its aggressiveness all you want with veils of subordinate clauses and qualifiers and tentative subjunctives, with ellipses and evasions—with the whole manner of intimating rather than claiming, of alluding rather than stating—but there’s no getting around the fact that setting words on paper is the tactic of a secret bully, an invasion, an imposition of the writer’s sensibility on the reader’s most private space." -- Joan Didion

How convenient it is to let our minds indulge in the follies of modern pleasures. How convenient it is to catch 100 winks amidst a sea of disorder. There is no escape from the 2nd law of thermodynamics. We fall short, yet not lose sight of the distant lighthouse. Our perception is forcefully limited to the markers of yesterday's experiences. Thrust forward!

To the edge of time

There will be time - Mumford and Sons
Pyramid Song - Radiohead
You And Whose Army - Radiohead
Girl from the North Country - Cover by Secret Machines

Flawless launch of JWST. To see it take off beautifully is a testament to the hard work of all personnel involved. I'm sure the science that will come out of it will inspire an entire generation of children and students to be - curious and keep an open mind.

I like to think of this launch and all the other space missions (past, present and the ones scheduled or in the process of ideation) as akin to a Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. All our missions are the monoliths guiding humanity to push the frontiers of knowledge and explore.

A gem of a movie by Sidney Lumet - Network (1976)

Trying to understand the world as it is today is tough! Marx's ideas looks like a good starting point and perhaps navigating further back based on how it sits in my mind. A constant state of contradictions all around which could ultimately lead to an elevated system of equality. Somehow the idea of "matter preceding thought" seems raw. More digging required.

JWST

Pain - The War On Drugs
When Doves Cry - Prince
Rock It - Little Red
Halfway Home - TV On The Radio
Color White - Parvaaz

The rain is pouring down. The wipers go crazy. Flash flood signs. Fellow creatures maybe huddled together beyond those thick trees and thunderous sky as oil guzzling machines whiz by at a nearby road.

Can blind faith be eroded and washed away ? I don't think so. Does it have any merit ? Maybe to some. Not appealing to me. I'd prefer to keep a lid on it and say - 'uck you, stay inside and looped.

 Looking forward to an epic launch of JWST and the amazing science coming out of it.

The heart is a muscle

Keep me in the open - Gang of Youths
Do not let your spirit wane - Gang of Youths
The heart is a muscle - Gang of Youths
Confines - Black Pumas

The privilege of watching different hues at sunset.
The privilege of realizing the birth lottery

Let your life grow strong and sweet to the taste
'Coz the odds are completely insane
Do not let your spirit wane
Do not let your spirit wane - Gang of Youths

Drive responsibly

Bloom in Blue

Deep Purple - Child in Time

The Weeknd - After Hours

Tinariwen - Nànnuflày

 Etta James - I'd rather go blind

Justin Hurwitz - The Landing

A brisk walk to those corners of my mind. Angled, abrupt - like those are in a hurry to show me something quick. The night was cold and the distant trees were barely visible except for the slow humming of the leaves. The highway was close by, and occassionally two beams of light with some trillion photons bombarbed the trees. My synapses instantly direct my gaze to those trees and forces me to recollect how it looked during the day. A big enough clearing straight ahead, wild horses within a fence and cicadas singing aloud. The drama of a loud bright day and the perceived silence of the night - like a see-saw - doing its thing.

This piece on the color Blue was really good. 

Most of my focus will be in avoiding ego traps and to be more mindful of radical ideas/opinions. As I read somewhere, you need to have "strong opinions, loosely held". And breach the boundaries of resistance and explore more. To be meditative and have a strong focus on "what really matters"

Reminds me of this one by Ethan hawke.

  “When you put a log on the fire, the light and heat you see is, in a literal sense, the decades of sunshine that tree basked in over its lifetime.” - Peter Brannen

 

 

Two balloons

Mumford & Sons and Gangs of Youth - Blood
Gordi - In the end cover
Black Pumas - Colors
Coldplay - Trouble in town

Rye whiskey for tonight. It's been a while.

Some Pink Floyd. Some OMAM. Dream theater and some Coke Studio. Followed by numb disco tracks where my unapologetic moves result in boisterous laughter followed by facepalms galore. Missus retires. I continue "nothing else matters". Lost a sense of decency. You know, it really doesn't matter.

Kid wanted to smell whats in my glass.The usual "medicine to make me strong" statement didn't work out. My hesitation was vetoed by the missus. Kid had to smell it and hope he enjoyed the aroma of life :-P

This was a feast for me completing a half marathon! A milestone. Is it ? This was my first half and it was brutal. Thoroughly enjoyed it. More to come. 

Now the serious part..............

We are distracted. A lot.
All I see are distracted people.
I am distracted.
We cannot be.
The raw moments in life cannot be recorded.
Am I thinking backwards ?

PS: Written when my glass was ice cold but the whiskey was half knobbed!