Truth and Infinity
There are 2 Secret Society tracks included on the recent CD by 'Artificial Memory Trace presents Interpretations 1’. The SS track ‘King’ is also ‘incorporated into the sound organism’ that is the ‘Paraexpanzin’ CD by Artificial Memory Trace. Both are on the Psyclone label run by Slavek Kwi. Some text about this below.
Way back in 2003 I did a sonic interpretation of a drawing by the sound artist Slavek Kwi for a compilation that he hoped to put out sometime in the future. At the time I was making music using the same set up I would use for the 'Am Makin' Discoveries' album, which was fairly primitive compared to what I use today. I had to record everything direct to mini disc for instance and because of this I only had one copy of Slavek's track which went to him and I soon forgot what it was even like. Two years later he got in touch to say the project was finally nearing completion and I asked whether he would like me to do an additional but updated interpretation. So it was that my 2005 version 'King' would join the original 'Strokes'. Slavek also asked for some text to go in the artwork, due to space it wasn't used but here's what I wrote.
“My first interpretation I remember being very literal, I thought I could see exploding or distorted drums and thought, ‘I’ll make that sound’. This time round I recognised something preliminary in the drawing and imagined a collection of instruments being set up and tuned. Their random sounds coalescing into an expectant hum.”
If we choose to create meaning from everyday experience rather than seeing life as random we gain an important sense of purpose, of being part of a wider consciousness. Perhaps this wider consciousness does just stem from ourselves but we can benefit greatly from having this sense of meaning, no matter how personal. Even if it is only personal it is still of great consequence as in time we can influence others from our experience and teach them to live a richer and more meaningful life. In time a momentum may grow which will affect us all, no positive effort is ever wasted.
COSTELLO MEMORIAL CHAPEL PROJECT
'Time' is the latest sound piece from Secret Society and will only ever be available from whence it came, the Costello Memorial Chapel, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim. The piece was constructed by Stephen Rennicks solely from sounds recorded from inside the chapel. From now till the end of the year CD copies of the piece will be routinely place on its door for the public to take. A website detailing this project with further text and pictures is located at
www.freewebs.com/costellochapel
I’ve written the following pieces for the Opinion section of Hidden Classics. Check it out in full at
Hidden Classics.With the rise of the I-Pod, Mix CDs and compilations for everything, the way we consume music is moving ever faster towards the single track divorced from the artist. Often, as in the case of downloads we know nothing more about the track than the file name. Even with Mix CDs and compilations we only get the bare facts regarding the artist. We live in a world so overflowing with choice it’s no wonder the DJ has been elevated to chief taste connoisseur. Part of this is due to the explosion of genre’s and the indistinction between the artists within them. This is happening increasingly in all of the art’s where you will find the curator/expert is king.
I believe that downloads are the hidden classics treasure trove of the future. I can see a rich future for someone with great taste in mining out the truly outstanding tracks which diligent bedroom producers and hungry bands have been flooding the net with since its inception. Would the artists be paid or even acknowledged, unlikely. It’s hard to track these people down today and who even respects the copyright of established artists anymore, never mind 10 or 20 years down the line. The paradox is that we are living in an age where we are producing more music than ever before but the artist is at their least regarded.
The thrill of hearing a new track or sound which we feel passionate about is like a drug to some people, but like any drug the feeling wears off. Maybe its inevitable, but as we get used to something, no matter how new and exciting it once was to us, eventually we tire of it and look for that feeling again through more new music. The feeling is what this all about, the rush, the excitement of it. So we hunt for more things in the same genre or even change completely, always searching for that same buzz of finding something that takes are breath away, makes us get excited all over again. Now this drive might go away with age and circumstances but you know what I mean. I have yet to forget what this feels like and as I have got older I have become better at recognising the tracks that do last a little longer. We should count ourselves lucky if music is one of the things that does it for us, that we have not developed some very rarefied passion which we seldom get to experience. Music is all around us, whether in public places or at our own private disposal. While music is now more accessible than ever before we should be even more careful not to take it for granted or we risk forgetting why we once held it so dear.
BLACK SEA PROJECT is a collaboration between Stephen Rennicks and Tim Smyth (That Boy Tim). Begun in 2004, this is music for the darkest of dance-floors.
OCT 2005: 'Curl' by BLACK SEA PROJECT is now available on the ' Low Slung' 12" on Takeover alongside tracks by DEVERB, ED DEVANE & THAT BOY TIM.
BLACK SEA PROJECTTAKEOVER
