Errant thoughts of a January night (Quando Orion dal clielo...)

Day of the Dragon

Watch the video on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/Sq6B_Lp9JQg

What`s Going On? Hold It!

Greetings and good afternoon to my SC friends. This is the 10th and final song intended for my upcoming album ‘What Color Is Your Paradox’. It is also my 7th mind-blowing collaboration with our dear friend Carlos Vivanco (https://soundcloud.com/carlosvivanco-1, https://carlosvivanco1.bandcamp.com). 

This piece was highly entertaining and challenging to work on. We started with clearly defined regions (mine being the more techno sounding stuff… Carlos building the traditional instrument sections). I then mangled the whole thing, and tried to blur the lines more as the song progresses, until both worlds felt fully merged by the end. At least, that was the goal. I’ll let you decide if the structure succeeds in that regard. :)

The title is also quite significant to me at this point in my life; based on the idea of ‘masking’, and our growing inability to do so. 

If you aren’t familiar with the term ‘masking’, one Mental Health Care website I found defines it this way: “Masking often involves suppressing or hiding true emotions, which can lead to a buildup of unresolved feelings and contribute to increased stress, anxiety, and emotional turmoil in the long-term. In the context of mental health and neurodivergence, masking refers to the actions or coping strategies that individuals use to conceal their genuine thoughts, emotions, or challenges.”

It didn’t really occur to me at first that I was masking when I was younger. I guess that idea doesn’t resonate when you’re deeply lost in the illusion; at least, until something makes it obvious. But in hindsight, I’ve worn many masks over the course of my life (Art Director, Technician, Pre-Press Specialist and Graphic Artist would be some of my professional masks. And I would even go so far as to include Husband, Father and Son, since I was on auto-pilot during the earliest stages of those as well). 

As my life progressed, I felt more and more insincere in those roles. I felt something was wrong. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Then COVID (something that actually required us to wear real masks. What irony!) came along, and miraculously changed that for all of us. We gained the necessary space we needed, to finally see the illusion more clearly. Now, that illusion grows more fragile and transparent by the day. So while I’m still in the early stages of trying to figure out the new paradigm… I suspect the really critical takeaway at this point is just recognizing when we’re being our genuine selves, and when we’re lost in a role; especially if that role is debilitating to our personal growth and well being.

Another thing I’m thinking a lot on these days…. Society is dependent on me playing those roles. And society doesn’t really care whether I’m happy or not (as long as I keep paying my bills, and buying their products, and believing their lies). So maybe, just maybe, society doesn’t have my best interests at heart (as I had originally hoped). Maybe… just maybe… we’re going to need to redefine who we are personally, as we stop playing along with this globally unconscious and ultimately destructive agenda.

Thick and chunky topic, I know. But that’s the way the world feels to me these days… like we needed a brisk slap across the face to wake us all up. COVID was that slap (and probably just the first of many still to come). It’s time to prioritize our own self interests; because if we don’t, they certainly won’t. So rip off those masks, and let your freak flag fly. It’s our life, and we’ll be the ones sitting on our deathbed, asking ourselves if we lived life true to ourselves…. or if we just fulfilled the role demanded by this illusion.

We hope you enjoy “Cracks In The Surface”; and it inspires you to think about what aspects of your reality are cracking. Keep in mind… if you still have a pulse, there is always time to change things up. :)

Paradox?

Cracks In The Surface | Carlos Vivanco & GrevusAnjl

Mirage

This track is dedicated to the artists and organisation of the NEW18 selection (check the playlist [sc link]).

We spent a weekend in an hotel in the Ardennes for a songcamp.
After a Bullfrog workshop with Jacqnoise (which was terrific, see link to learn more about this amazing woman!), I gathered many samples that inspire me extremely.

I found an old unfinished track (feb 2022) and put some of the samples in it to make a soundscape that expresses my gratitude. It also has a sample from Sly & The Family Stone, Family Affair, love that song!

Musicians and producers are cool people. Spending 4 days with eachother at one place, full focus on music production: it gave me nothing but positive vibes and inspiration!

This track might feel like it needs visuals, it is stuffed with samples from my first in depth irl contact with a magic machine that I mostly know from VSTs. 
A new step in the world of music for me! 
❤️‍🔥


https://on.soundcloud.com/Yfmr2
https://jacqnoise.cargo.site/

Sly Salmon (check description!)

Please do listen to the mesmerizing version by STONERJAZZ as well. You will find it near the top of his tracklist and near the end of my playlist SYMPOETIC ULTRASOUNDS.

method: basic sequence on a minilogue xd, adornments via vc 340, further adornments created by sounds in front of microphones, incl my voice, an interview sample and a field recording taken at a supermarket parking lot.
narration: there are literature tourists following the traces of the likes of Shakespeare and Kafka. some places consider those travellers in two worlds a good source of income. There is also a different kind of tourism on the magic-realistic tracks of the likes of Borges  ;-) 
image: copyright jo richter



poem / copyright jo richter:

sleeping on rocks out in the desert
imagine time and no way to clock it
events settle as smell on the tongue of a lizard
I took hidden notes inside of my pocket

doubling-up life in another attention
sit in the wind and learn not to block it
jenga sticks and the law of cohesion
I took hidden notes inside of my pocket

field notes

Big thanks to my friend Ēla for making this incredible track for me to drop into in my 3rd genre mashing. Adding Darkfolk into trip-hop…killer beats…Check out Ēla’s amazing music here!

Guitar/Lyrics/Atmosphere by ðüşț

Drëamş-Ēla & ðüşț

An EP Inspired by my Favorite Book: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Radio Silence

eerie

levitar - duskwave

I am overjoyed to partake in something beautiful:
https://stonerjazz.bandcamp.com/album/up-up-out

Jeff also gifted me a visiting role on his previous album: 
https://stonerjazz.bandcamp.com/album/quintessential

On his bandcamp page, Jeff points out: "This is the page where you can give some monetary support to me and the StonerJazz experiment--This gesture is so meaningful, both financially and emotionally-- I prefer to let the music be my bio--a huge thank you to those who listen and to those who give."

.... and here is my own test account:
https://sonicstructuresandsilentstretches.bandcamp.com/track/eliza

POETRY IS VITAL

This threshold space exists for those who feel like listening to some of my quite professional poetry embedded in rather amateurishly recorded but judiciously arranged sound, a modicum of purely acoustic work notwithstanding.  Fortunately, some other artists have also transformed the symbolic expression of my words into the tangible beauty of real songs and soundscapes - just listen to Sympoetic Ultrasounds: https://soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/sets/sympoetic-ultrasounds !

SOUND, SPACE AND TIME

Tend your listening senses gently. Even though my general approach welcomes and embraces lo-fi concepts like the precision of spontaneously occuring imprecisions, headphones worth their membranes are recommended - unless you like your sounds flat, mangled, battered and helpless. You don't, do you? Be kind to these soundscapes.

STRUCTURING IMPULSE

Due to the nature of "poetry soundscapes", your listening expectations regarding traditionally structured "songs", sonically purified "raw wildlife soundscapes", keyboard-laden "ambient recordings" or voice-centered "readings" might not be met. You will find some of those in my list of /likes/. "Noise" is a recurring structural element like any other. This is what this sounds like - within its own rights, limitations, tangents and interconnections. Sonic structures. Silent stretches. Poetry emerges from the gaps between the ruts, seeps in from the undergrowth, sweeps down.

CARVING, CHISELLING, KNEADING, MORPHING

A quick glance into my toolshed rests on Zoom recorders, Samplitude software and a dizzying array of diverse sonic machinery.

LARGE AND SMALL GIFTS

-----------------------------
Small Gifts

the less to remember, the more to listen
gifts from the ice age reverberate
a simple story, a forest, a coastline
entangled in silence, one starts to relate
---------------------------------------------

In case you have read up to this point, you might be a sonic creator yourself. May I ask you for a helping ear? Above, there is a tiny poem of mine that I do not understand how to translate into sound. If you do - please act on it. It is a matter of common decency, of course, to keep the title (Small Gifts) and to credit the lyrics to me (jo richter). And please do notify me of your version via a soundcloud message. One bewilderingly beautiful version crafted by mono-lux has already gone public, as well as an amazing version by cthonicist.  You'll find both in my playlist Sympoetic Ultrasounds. This is just a small gift, not a challenge - life already has more than enough of those on offer, doesn't it? Treat it this way.

POETRY IS VITAL
sound, space and time
structuring impulse
carving, chiselling, kneading, morphing
large and small gifts
poetry is vital

GENERAL POLICY regarding the use of LIKES, REPOSTS and FOLLOWS:
I like what I like and want to hear again.
I only repost what I've had a hand in creating.
I follow when I see directions or arrivals I like, not when followed (though I might peek in to get an idea of what your sounds are about). I have set myself a limit of accounts I follow not to be all too overwhelmed. Not following does therefore not mean I do not appreciate what you contribute to the enjoyments of soundcloud.
Do not expect other behaviour from me.
(jo richter)

field notes

sonic structures and silent stretches