Ars Existentiae | The Art of Existence: Composed, arranged, performed and produced by Evandro B. Lira aka Vintage Mutation.


From the Latin ARS EXISTENTIAE, which translates to "The Art of Existence", it points out that at its core, all existence corresponds to the Primordial Manifestation, emanated from a single point.

"The musical composition has in its introduction the first impressions of the primordial manifestation, still contained in the ethereal. In the main theme, one can notice the subtle harmony design for the architecture of worlds. Consequently, already in the dense sphere of the manifested universe, the melody translates into the complexity and multiplicity of forms, to then end with the return to the ethereal, where the end of all things will be identical to the beginning, yet added to the experiences acquired over the period".

Ars Existentiae

I revisited an production that I published 4 years ago as a total beginner. So much was changed, I decided to present it as new. The subject matter is even more so an issue

Watching Us

drunk octopus wants to fight you

Echoes in Distortion: a tribute to the sonic rebels forged in the crackling hum of amps and chaotic rhythms, this song aspires to channel the groundbreaking boldness of early Cabaret Voltaire, the relentless energy of Black Tish, and the brainsickness of The Butthole Surfers. Melodic but unruly, unraveling yet structured—it twists and bends, paying homage to the underground architects who aimed to reshape sound itself.

Echoes in Distortion

Another wonderful song by Jim Barrett, another collaboration with Roger Whittlesey, who played piano and drums, and sung the remarkable background vocals, not to forget Noel Barrett on bass. I added some saxophones. And there's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyw9tMktmjs

Songs that Won't Cry Mercy (J. Barrett)

I stumbled across an uninhabited white mansion when I was out for a run in the countryside. I got chatting to the security guard looking after it, who let me look round the grounds. He told me a ballet dancer once lived there. I made up a song about the ballet dancer. 
I ended up pouring a lot of my anxieties into the story of poor dancer- they have ended up being a horrendous mix of my personal and political fears. 
I think this song is kind of fantastically ridiculous- an OTT 10 minute epic, with a whole horror-theme 2 minute instrumental at the end. I love it.

Castle of light

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/UUWMRv_sRh0

A dream pop excursion into the meaning of love...
Have you ever said those three words without meaning them?
Or ever heard them, but knew they were a lie?
Whispered without care, tossed into the void as a gesture of placation...
A preoccupation 
A mental vacation

A ticket to easy street
Or manipulation...

Actions always speak louder than words 🖤

Lyrics:

I used to think you had a heart
But now I know it fell apart
The emptiness you gave to me
Some cheap apology

I love you
(I love you)

I Love You

(Music: Hans-Michael Albers, Lyrics: Terry Reeves)
Terry Reeves:  Vocals
Hans-Michael Albers: All instruments, Arrangement & Production

Today, 22nd. August 2025, marks 13 years since our dear brother Bri succumbed to the deadly combination of leukaemia and Guillain-Barré syndrome.  Watching him through 2012, unable to do anything for himself and increasingly confined to a hospital bed is something none who loved him will ever forget.  
He has never been (and never will be) forgotten, not only for the music he created but for the force of nature he most certainly was.  In 1964, our Mum & Dad bought him an entry level acoustic guitar as a Christmas present and his progress on the instrument was something to behold.  By the time he was 18, he’d bought himself a Gibson Les Paul on HP (24 payments of five pounds and thirteen shillings per month) from Selmers in Charing Cross Road, London.  He joined a band, somehow co-opting me in as lead singer at the tender age of 15 (still a schoolboy, no less) and over the ensuing ten years, formed bands of whose line-up I was always a part, graduating from singing to percussion and eventually drums.
There being guitars laying around the family home, Tel took to playing and encouraged by Bri, never stopped.  Fast forward another five years and he too started writing songs so that by ’82, the 3 of us decided to form a band (Root Division) to play them.  It’s a truly special thing to be in the same band as your brothers and recording those songs became something Tel and me still remember with an abiding nostalgia.  No wonder we still talk about those days…
This song started life as an instrumental, written by Hans and of course, it’s brilliant as is but Tel liked it so much, he asked if he could write some lyrics and a vocal melody.  Being a generous fellow, our dear friend from Hamburg said he’d love to hear what Tel had in mind.
His basic idea was to incorporate as many references as he could to Cripple Club tracks, in celebration of the firm friendship we have formed in together recording what amounts to over 50 songs.  There may be a few of you who can spot one or two…
So this is for you, Bri.  We love and miss you, sweet brother.
(Gary Reeves)

Last Summer day reasons
Hamburg always shines
Shadows of Superheroes
Another surprise will come in time
Click toward a pension
From birth but never knew
Surprised to find a blackbird
In the flames as the music grew

Touch wood for satisfaction
CC music every day
Root of strong existence 
Step off the world to feed the phrase
Another Titan message
Titanic stories past
Image of a fraying edge
Never thought hang of time would last

It’s the time, it’s the place
It’s the only performance I can show my face

Last chance for singing
Avoid resistant tide
Pleasing distant garage
Remember 4 to 3 to 5
Stars in space that linger
Soaking up the blue
Palette of sunshine yellow
Mix to green for go - but for who?

T,G & H, Two and you!

LAST SUMMER'S DAY BLUES - CRIPPLE CLUB

Composed & Produced by Val Akey.
Thank you for listening!

Release date: 27 August 2025

A Romance Torn By The Wind

Improvised Ambient

Solace in the Apocalypse

A place for sound freaks lashing out from the dark. 

So there's all kinds of stuff on this page, but after months of schizophrenic debates about who was playing with who and who took the lead while doing it, finally, the decision was made: all my alter egos got together and decided to form a band. From 2020 on new tracks are created under the moniker Gruppo Infernal. Only pure MMTJ tracks will still be named as such. 

Gruppo Infernal still relies on my work as Me, my Thumb and Jack, an ongoing quest for a liberating approach to sound creation where the human body acts as an oscillator amplifying the natural 50hz hum. Direct live recording, improvisations and delay loops only using analog filters and effects. No editing, no overdubs. Gruppo Infernal adds digital treatment to this original sound material. 

UnterPitch was an alter ego using samples & synths.
Bleached Coffins was a one-off project using guitars.

earliest work when I was still a pup:
https://blindsightrecords.bandcamp.com/album/throbbing-flip-out