inri031 is going to require some careful thought, specifically with the string orchestra version. if i update it, it will probably be to replace it.

the weather here was really nice all week, but went to shit last night. the drop in temperature gives me an opportunity to get some compost out tomorrow morning. but i've otherwise committed to zero packs of cigarettes over june - and am absolutely serious about enforcing it. i was almost cold turkey in february, but the weather helped. june is going to be a bit tougher, but i'm not cracking. this should hopefully overlap with the web site push, once i get through this clean-up and push through to completed material up to mid 2004, putting aside incomplete material over late 2003 and 2004 for a few weeks.

i have a final appointment on the 16th and will be mailing my odsp on the 16th or 17th, for analysis some time around the beginning of july. i will either be granted a few more years or have three months to get a reaction. i've already decided to appeal, which will probably give me a few more months. but if i have to do that, i will have to drop the website idea and get back to production, because i will be in a race against time at that point. i've already decided that i don't have a future post-odsp. i haven't decided on an exact path, which will probably depend on the nature of the denial, if it happens.

i'm thinking about hitting three shows this month for sure and a few more are maybes, but a lot of it is going to depend on how focused i am on what i'm doing. i could very well not want to go to any at all, depending on factors like the weather, my disposition and whether i think i can get through it without buying smokes. i've previously prioritized the show and said "i'll quit the next day". i'm reversing that priority. if i'm convinced i'm going to crack, i'm going to stay in.

so, this is an important few months for me coming up. by the end of june, i should get through a lot of loose ends and have an entire period of my music career behind me, and i should have a better understanding of how likely it is that i'm going to be able to plan around disability.

finalizing to me, myself and the time i thought this was a good idea (inri049)

inri030 has been permanently finalized without being updated.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/me-myself-and-the-time-i-thought-this-was-a-good-idea

no society is really clear on their separation of church and state. i'd argue the state should deal with certain things that the reaganites dumped into the realm of the church. but, all western countries would agree that war is the exclusive domain of the state. the church cannot declare war.

but, in the past the church did declare war. these wars were called crusades.

i'm not sure that the collapse of the iraqi army is possible for westerners to understand without making a number of mental cultural adjustments. it seems to me that islamic cultures tend to lean towards the idea of war being an issue to be dealt with by religious authorities, rather than state authorities. saddam may have pushed a different perspective, but he was some kind of weird totalitarian marxist - his system was alien to arab culture.

so, when you see the iraq army collapse like this, i think a big part of what you're seeing is the cultural rejection of the state's perceived usurpation over fundamentally religious concerns. this is an issue for fatwas, not for parliaments. and, the fatwa is more legitimate than the parliament is on this issue. the state is seen as overstepping it's bounds.

that may be a large part of the reason these militias were targeted for disassembly. but the failure of this policy may necessitate the realization that imperially constructing an iraq that follows western standards of parliamentary centralization is, in truth, a cultural impossibility.

there's a level of irony. militia movements are integral to the framework erected in the united states constitution.

it's easy to come up with conspiracy theories, especially when you're pretty sure that almost everybody is lying to you, but the reality remains that only one group ever took responsibility for the kidnapping of the israeli teens, and it was neither hamas nor netanyahu. it was isis.

sometimes things are as plain as the facts in front of us suggest.

finalizing to spin inside dull aberrations (inri048)

inri029 has been permanently finalized without being updated.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/to-spin-inside-dull-aberrations

"literacy levels have fallen, life expectancy is down 10%, vaccinations are down 5%, long term palliative care has suffered dramatically and infant mortality rates are up 20%. we're especially proud of that last one. who won the cold war, here, bitch? yeah, that's what i thought..."

republishing the intersection of two identical particles moving in completely opposite directions (inri047)

inri028 has been updated and permanently finalized.

===

ok...

so, to understand this piece, it's necessary to go back to 1998.

i was working out primitive sequencer parts for the first inri demo and it just sort of crossed my mind that there was really nothing stopping me from composing symphonies except for a lot of music theory. well, if i could write electronic music without training, why couldn't i write symphonies without training? i mean, the score writing program exists in front of me. it was just a question of experimenting with it. i could do it myself...

...but i actually already had a pretty hefty disdain for music theory by the age of 17. i'd managed to come across a music history textbook that traced the deconstruction of western theory from beethoven through to schoenberg and this, combined with my experiences as a guitarist, was enough to prevent me from taking it seriously. the perception i had was of modern composers viewing music theory sort of like how biologists viewed creationism. i use that analogy fairly frequently. it just didn't strike me as relevant.

now, i've softened a bit over time to a view that music theory is best understood in terms of the underlying physics. this renders the theory useless, but upholds the basic relationships between tones as physical, mathematical realities. the thing is the next step of abstraction is understanding that these mathematical objects can be arranged and analyzed in any arbitrary way, and the conventional theory really *is* a fallacy akin to creationism. so, i still hold to the general thesis. this is actually the first serious example of me putting that disdain for the idea that music should have a theory into real action. i remain adamantly of the view that art is not a realm where theories should exist or be viewed with anything other than scorn. theories are rigid, formal things; art is informal, chaotic.

so, it's 1998. i have a scorewriter and a very basic soundcard and i want to bullshit a symphony out of it. i did this by composing a single brief melody by randomly mashing notes into a scorewriter. i then took that melody and pasted it over top of itself at differing speeds (64th, 32nd, 16th, 8th, quarter, half, whole notes). i then took that, cut it off near the end of the half notes and pasted it over itself, backwards.

that might sound like it's going to sound awful, but it actually sounds quite lovely. one could analyze it quite easily, but it's creation is beyond the realm of any rules of construction.

which is where art belongs.

...excepting the algorithm i used, of course. i suppose it's more reich than schoenberg, but kind of more xenakis than either.

the initial version ended up subsumed underneath a messy noise collage that i created independently and have lost the source material for. that messy noise collage was eliminated from the track for the 1999 version, which was reconstructed by reproducing the algorithm. these are tracks 19 and 20 on this systematic exploration of the theme.

in 2001, i ran the midi file through my soundblaster live!, which as primitive as it is, has a much nicer wavetable in it than the primitive soundcard i used in 1998 and 1999 (i don't remember what it was). this is track 21. i also slowed it down by about 20 bpm and allowed the full file to "intersect", which let it breathe more. i've previously not done anything with this mix other than append it to some mix cds. the guitars on the soundblaster are notoriously bad, so there wasn't a lot to do with it....

why? well, i was writing a lot with scorewriters at the time and was just experimenting with the old file, really. but i was also finishing up what would be the only year i would spend in the math-physics department, and thought it sounded like i would imagine intersecting particles *should* sound like. i was generally interested in finding ways to combine science with music then - an interest that is present in older tracks as well and that has stuck with me. i may explore these themes further in time. one of the ideas i really wanted to accomplish was a physical modelling of the universe, to actually simulate the music of the spheres, as pythagoras imagined it. i think i underestimated the complexity of such a task....

of course, i never expected the music of the spheres to be tonal. and i wouldn't expect the sound of particles intersecting to be musical, either. but, we can take some artistic license. if intersecting particles are to make a sound, it OUGHT to be something like this!

now, the place to work out the actual intersection is rather arbitrary. i had initially cut off the entire section of pure whole notes, back in '98. what i wanted to do in '01 was create a sequence where it's cut off incrementally, creating shorter and shorter pieces. i didn't actually do that then, but i did do it in july of 2014.

as for the piece, i haven't changed it much. i've doubled the guitar with a pizzicato string section, and put it through a better guitar synthesizer (and amp simulator, and effects). the sound fonts are otherwise identical, just updated mildly to a better synthesizer.

a string orchestra mix was added at the end of may, 2015.

i've included the midi files of the original composition, if you'd like to mess with it on your own.

written june, 1998. reimagined june, 2001. slightly rearranged and re-rendered at the end of july, 2014. the renders here are from june 1998, june 1999, june 2001 and july 2014. intially released on july 25, 2014. re-released with a new string orchestra mix & finalized on may 30, 2015. as always, please headphones.

credits:
j - programming, digital effects & treatments, digital wave editing, composition.

the rendered electronic orchestras variously include piano, electric guitar, orchestra hit, synth pads, pizzicato strings, violin, viola, cello and pc card.

released june 18, 2001

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/the-intersection-of-two-identical-particles-moving-in-completely-opposite-directions

the intersection of two identical particles moving in completely opposite directions (string orchestra mix)

written one day in june, 1998. re-created on another day in june, 1999. reimagined on yet another day in june, 2001. a failed remaster occurred at the end of 2013. slightly rearranged and re-rendered at the end of july, 2014. rearranged again at the end of may, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/string-orchestra-mix-2

republishing the symphony of psilocybin induced madness (inri046)

inri027 has been updated and permanently finalized.

==

the core of this was written in my parent's basement in the spring of 2001. planning on going to a rave that weekend, i had previously purchased a large amount of drugs; i was, however, forced to stay in due to having a calculus test that sunday (the rave was out of town). well, my parents were gone for the weekend, most of my friends were out of town and i had a massive stash of drugs...

it is quite literally a symphony of psilocybin induced madness and was written directly into an ancient, hacked score-writing program. while it has been labelled as a symphony of drunken confusion in certain contexts to get around certain social stigmas, this is inaccurate.

around 2006 or so, i took a course in electronic music design that had a recorded component and pulled the score off of my hard drive with the intent of finally recording it properly. the dx7 i had available to me greatly improved the synth patches, enough that i'm willing to let the track rest that way.

i've included midi files of the original composition, if you'd like to mess with it on your own.

written in the spring of 2001. lent out for a different project in jan, 2004. reconstructed in the first quarter of 2006, especially over march. released as a one track single on april 1, 2006. expanded with alternate mixes and re-released on july 23, 2014. the vst mix was added on jan 10, 2015 and the two guitar mixes were added on may 29, 2015. re-released & finalized on may 29, 2015. as always, please use headphones.

credits
j - electric guitars, programming, digital effects & treatments, sampling, composition, production.

the rendered electronic orchestras variously include synthesizers, clavinet, kalimba, nylon guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, banjo, electronic drums, pc card, violin, cello, bamboo flute, flute, viola, soprano saxophone, tuba, trumpet, organ and music box.

released may 15, 2001

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/the-symphony-of-psilocybin-induced-madness

the symphony of psilocybin induced madness (backwards guitar mix)

however, it's going to be a backwards guitar mix that will appear on the atmospheres disc. it's a good way to close the ep, with a wash of backwards effects.

==

this is the previous mix, backwards.

written early 2001. reconstructed in the first quarter of 2006, especially over march. this version was rendered from the existing source files on may 29, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/backwards-guitar-mix

the symphony of psilocybin induced madness (guitar mix) (cut)

i've been playing with ways to get this to work in a guitar-only context for the last several hours, and have concluded it needs to be cut. the atmospheric component of the track is based on overlapping loops that unfold in a process; this is supplemented with a romantic-style piano part and a rising orchestra, along with a number of other loops. separating out the guitars creates something with a "mad" aesthetic, which was the intent. but, it requires the melodic content to actually be compelling to listen to. i've cut this down for 18 to 13 and finally to 3 minutes - it's just enough to get the idea across, without beating you over the head with it.

==

this is a cut guitar-only version. it's cut to ensure that each of the guitar loops is heard, but not to drag the process on. the atmospheric portion of the track is in fact mostly guitars - as demonstrated by this edit - but it was intended to create an atmosphere of jumbled thoughts and general madness, not to be listened to on it's own. this edit gets that point across without dragging it on.

written early 2001. reconstructed in the first quarter of 2006, especially over march. this version was rendered from the existing source files on may 29, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/guitar-mix-cut

rap news 32

systemic racism is systemic. racial profiling. a culture of supremacism. the policies are by design, and the results are intended. it's not a few shitty cops that need further education.

there was a case a while ago when a cop was excluded from the force because his iq tests came back too high, and the court system upheld the rights of the force to exclude him on that basis. smart people are more likely to act independently in the face of clear injustice. cops are literally singled out for their ability to be dumb enforcers, and then instructed to interpret people through a racial filter. it's design.

and, if you understand that the role of the police is to protect property, it's an inescapable necessity from the elite's perspective. it's rational. if you want to maintain the status quo of racial based inequality, you need a system of extreme force to do so and you need it thinking in racist terms.

one of the core issues is the continued existence of prison labour. this is basically unheard of anywhere else in the developed world. a constitutional amendment to ban prison labour would be a huge step forward.

but the only way to really overturn this kind of system is to tear it down.

of course, looting the 7/11 is not a useful tactic. but, the videos i saw exposed an average age of around 17. on some level, these are the people that have the most at stake. on another, they're not old enough to vote.

the choice thing is pretty key. but, here's another key point: iraqi jews were in exile. they'd been there once before; maybe it was starting to feel like home. but, the culture maintained the fact that it was not home. palestinians are the hebrews that weren't exiled - the hebrews that converted to islam when the region was conquered. they didn't come from egypt or jordan or syria or the arabian peninsula - or even iraq. they're the indigenous, hebrew population of the region; they don't have a home to go to, because israel is their home.

modern genetics is an amazing thing, and the data is in and has been for a while. the arabization of this area was cultural. the lebanese are not arabs, but lebanese. and likewise with syrians and iraqis - and israelis. the population did not disperse, or otherwise evaporate. some jews fled, no doubt. but the broad base of the population is hebrew. this has been their home for many centuries, they just changed religions along the way. why? for good reasons - economic, cultural, social. and, it's not like there's really that big of a difference in the first place.

the romans changed the name of the province to palestine, with the intent of erasing jewish identity. but they didn't carry out a full genocide, like they did in carthage. and the dna makes it apparent that the dominant population group in the region did remain jewish right up until the british mandate and beyond, regardless of (what is now clear is) great exaggeration in the exile stories.

if the role of media is as important as he claims, it stands to reason that the death of the tv generation (and replacement by the internet generation) should have some serious implications.

it's easy to agree with him that investment in jobs is important. but it's more important to create them than it is to invest in them. let's be careful not to fall into the trap of supply-side economics, here.

barring some extreme change in turkish policy, the precondition for an independent kurdish state is for turkey to leave nato. so long as turkey is in nato, this cannot happen. but, here's the thing: this is less unlikely today than it ever has been, and not at all outside the boundaries of possibility.

however, there is essentially no situation where a turkish invasion is avoidable. it's stated that the turkish kurds might get ideas. rather, the more likely outcome is that the north of iraq becomes a turkish province.

the key arbiter here is of course the americans, and there are several reasons why they do not want kurdish independence. to begin with, it keeps the kurds as an ally. blowback is likely at some point, but so long as it works these perpetual promises are likely to continue, with no end point. second, it gives the west indirect control in iraq. third, it continues the kind of instability that the americans desire to maintain divisions in the region. this constant "kurdish problem" in turkey is actually useful for american policy, in restricting their ambitions to the south and maintaining a buffer zone between the turks and the saudis. the americans do not want a hot war there - it's why they're bombing isis.

it's almost impossible. they'd need the turkish-american alliance to collapse, and then need to win a war against turkey. it would be a kink in american foreign policy for them to have to pick a side (and they'd probably fund both with the intent to create stalemate, requiring one (likely the kurds) to seek outside help), enough that the kurds will continue to be successively talked out of it.

of course, it's stuff like this that is the underlying reason for the west's vilification of putin. he's not buying into the existing order, and not willing to do what he's told.

however, i think it's naive to look too deeply into this as much of a real game changer, for two reasons:

1) western capital will inevitably buy into what it can. and, you give them a foot in the door, they run the room.
2) these countries do not have interests that are fundamentally different. if they float lower interest rates, it's to be competitive in the short term.

is a market for development banks good for "consumers"? in the short run, maybe. but all markets eventually collude, and i wouldn't expect this to be different.

it may give the russians and chinese a more powerful bargaining position on certain issues. that's about the extent of it, i'd guess.

finalizing j’s adventures in guitarland (inri045)

inri026 has been finalized without being updated.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/js-adventures-in-guitarland

republishing the time machine (inri044)

i've added six more mixes to inri025: two techno mixes, three for solo instruments and an arrangement for string orchestra. this was initially a classical guitar piece, but it is unplayable on a standard 19-fret classical and i do not currently have access to an extended board. there is a placeholder for a final performance on a suitably constructed instrument. but, for now, it is otherwise closed.

inri025 has been updated and semi-permanently finalized.

==

regarding this piece, my memory is blurry; yet, i have a vivid recollection of playing parts of it for my guitar teacher on a sunny day, where there was still snow on the ground. it's funny how we remember seemingly irrelevant details, but i guess the atmosphere of the performance is important because the performance is. that would date it to roughly march, 2001.

i switched the piece from classical guitar to piano halfway through writing it, and vaguely remember thinking that an impossible interval had something to do with it (a specific c# cannot be hit on a standard classical). yet, that doesn't change the fact that it's guitar music. the counterpoint is very guitar.

to further complicate things, i've long wanted to turn the piece into a jazzy idm romp. it has a kind of a jingly feel to it that belongs in the warp records sphere.

so, what is this? a classical guitar piece? a jazzy piano piece? a techno tune? all of the above! as with other pieces from this period, this is presented here in multiple formats: several rendered midi tracks, live guitar versions, a vst version and a "full band" version - as well as multiple remixes.

i have included the original midi file (and sheet music in pdf) as a bonus item in the download, if you want to play with it on your own.

conceptually, the time machine aspect referred simply to the slowed down guitar chords at the beginning of the song. if you play it a certain way, it sounds like time is collapsing in on itself. or, so i thought, anyways. the various versions i have created here have made an attempt to take that idea to it's logical conclusion. it's a mix of the vision i had at the time and a bit of hindsight.

six further mixes were added at the end of may, 2015. two of these are "techno" mixes of the song, three are interpretations of the piece on a solo instrument and one is a rearrangement for a full string orchestra. i've decided to present the material in a way that is really two eps combined together, with the first being arrangements for multiple instruments and the second being arrangements for solo instruments. note that there is a placeholder for the track as it was initially written for a 21-fret classical guitar.

written early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. rendered, arranged and performed over june and july, 2014. released on july 21, 2014. six new mixes were added in late may, 2015. re-released & put on indefinite hold as to status on may 28, 2015 as always, please use headphones.

credits
j - electric guitar, programming, digital effects & treatments, digital wave editing, loops, production, composition

the various rendered electronic orchestras include acoustic bass, synth bass, electric bass, upright bass, brass section, orchestra hit, drum machine, electronic drum kit, nylon guitar, electric guitar, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, french horn, trumpet, tuba, trombone, synthesizers, synthesizer effects, harp, music box, detuned piano, piano, bells, flute, hammered percussion, vibraphone, marimba and mellotron. it also includes choir.

released march 21, 2001

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/the-time-machine

the time machine (dirty synth mix)

so, the update is now complete, i just have to finalize a tracklisting.

written in early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. further remixed over july, 2014 and again in may, 2015. this version of the track was completed on may 27th, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/dirty-synth-mix

the time machine (updated midi nylon guitar mix)

here is the midi classical guitar mix, with a more listenable sample-based sound font.

i gotta be clear: i don't like doing this. i'm a guitarist. this is a computer. my teeth are grating a little.

but, the reason i moved the track from guitar to piano (and then abandoned it, until this year when i turned it into a jazzy techno thing) is that you need a 21-fret classical to play it. there's a live electric guitar mix - because electric guitars have 21 frets, minimum (mine are 23 and 24). but i just don't have a 21 fret classical. i can't even fudge the harmonic; all i have is a miniature 19-fret thing, and it just can't do it.

but here's the thing: maybe i should have a 21-fret or more classical. and i will, eventually. i'd even go so far as to suggest that, when i get done the discography, classical guitar music may be the only music i keep making. that means i can't permanently close this - in fact i can virtually guarantee that i will eventually add a live classical mix to the ep.

but, i won't remove this one, because it's a different slant on it. so, here it is...

this evening, i'm going to do a full drum and bass techno romp mix with crunchy synths in replace of guitars. as of this moment, i'm thinking it will probably finish this off, but i'll need o give it a good listen before i get to that conclusion. i'm also not entirely sure about the tracklisting yet...

written in early 2001. rendered may 27, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/updated-midi-nylon-guitar-mix

the time machine (updated midi piano mix)

when i initially uploaded this, i had the silly idea that it would be a bad idea to change the sound font, for the reason that it was important to maintain the sound of the piece as i had written it, for historical reasons. but...who wants to listen to a lonely sequenced piano through a budget 90s soundcard....

i've kept the initial files up, because, hey, why not? but, i've updated the font to sound considerably better.

the piano wasn't so bad to begin with - i've used the soundcard for plenty of piano parts, but it sounds a lot better near the higher end of the register, and with a little reverb. it's worth it on an a/b but it wasn't really terrible. i'm going to be updating the guitar part as well, which is going to be a much more noticeable update.

written in early 2001. rendered may 27, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/updated-midi-piano-mix

the time machine (atmospheric electric guitar mix)

written in early 2001. reinterpreted in july, 2014; this version of the track was initially completed on july 21st. remixed to include background atmospheres on may 27, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/atmospheric-electric-guitar-mix

the time machine (string orchestra mix)

inri025 is being overhauled, and almost doubled in length. that's fine, it's why i'm doing this run through.

when i did this last summer, i was thinking less comprehensively than i came to think over the course of the year. in truth, there's quite a few ideas to work out further, and a few that were kind of not the most interesting thing to begin with. this is going to be all digital; the tracks are down and done.

so, this is the second of what i'm thinking will be at least six additions to the single.

i kind of want to get all the "ep-singles" up over 40 minutes, as well. eps are usually conceptual, and subject to different requirements; singles are singles. but i consider the ep-single to be a sort of mini-record. that's what i grew up with - it's what i'd want, as a consumer. the releases are currently priced to sell (*ahem*...hint...), but if i get to a certain number of homemade sales i'd like to press some of them. what i press will depend on what sells - the magic number is 5000, which should pay for a pressing of any specific disc, if i get to that point. so, ensuring these are all "mini records" makes them a bit more worthwhile as possible physical items. i guess it's also worth pointing out that everything is designed for instant printing, should a label decide to pick me up on terms i'm willing to accept...

i don't want to just upload crap, though, either. what's coming is largely based around compilation ideas that actually work. i'm a little skeptical about a chamber works of synthesized string music, but we'll see what comes up.

it's often stated that a song is really good when it sounds good on just an acoustic guitar. i can't agree with that - but i've never been a fan of folk music, either, so it's partially an issue of defining what is "really good".

i think a better metric is "if it sounds good when arranged purely for strings". decide for yourself, i guess...but this isn't going to be the last one of these...

written in early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. further remixed over july, 2014 and may, 2015. this version of the track was completed on may 27th, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/string-orchestra-mix

you know, it really is remarkable just how difficult a concept the press finds the idea that you can't just drop a nicaraguan in mexico. it really exposes an "us v them" mentality that is just unshakable by appeals to basic reason.

would you expect the mexicans to just release canadians into texas? does that make it easier to understand?

yeesh.

in societies with social-leaning health care systems, it's a legitimate social issue because it drains resources. and, no, i don't think the answer is to move to private sector health care. poor kids shouldn't lose access to health care so overweight rich people can hog the resources. fat people should stop hogging the resources.

social theorists refer to peer pressure as an "informal control mechanism". i think you're getting at something a little deeper, involving things like individualism v collectivism, and statism v anarchism. i don't see a problem with the idea of using exclusion and mockery as a method to try and alter antisocial behaviour. i would maybe question the efficacy of certain tactics, but not the general idea.

and i have to be blunt in stating it: if it makes you uncomfortable, that's the point. the next step is to stop making excuses and do something about it.

but the thing that really bothers me is the air conditioning. especially up here in canada, where we only get a few weeks of weather over 30 degrees. i want to enjoy that, not be running the heater in june because the fat guy upstairs breaks a sweat at 20 degrees.

this article treats a research topic as a closed book. plate tectonics are not currently well understood - there's vague ideas that are probably mostly right, but acting like we're certain about something we're only beginning to understand is a type of arrogance that only the internet is capable of. there's plenty of published, peer-reviewed material out there that considers tidal drag to be a primary force in plate movement, and the movement in the field is towards a greater acceptance of this, not a lesser acceptance of it.

regarding the issue of gravity in planetary alignments, the "too far away" rebuttal simply misunderstands the argument - and is mostly flat out wrong. it's not about the "creation of new gravity", or something, but about offsetting an equilibrium. if it weren't for jupiter, the earth would fall into the sun. the larger bodies in our system have effects on our orbit that we can calculate quite easily if we know a little about celestial mechanics. the idea about the alignments having an effect on tectonic movement is that it "blocks" the gravity that we already know has an effect for a few moments in a sudden manner, creating a shock.

you also have to keep in mind that small planets can block out large ones if they are much closer. and i'm not going to present an opinion on whether there's actually an alignment on the date in question, because i don't feel like doing the math, because there's nothing that could be done about it.

the ancients kept very detailed seasonal and astronomical records. they were very interested in the topic. after a few centuries of record keeping, it's reasonable to think a few correlations could be pulled out of the data using crude identification tactics. and, they were pretty good at arithmetic, too. what we see coming down to us as astrological mumbo jumbo is partly a preservation of this, in the face of barbarian destruction horizons. it needs modern methods to confirm. but it's not inherently absurd.

so, take heed: viral rebuttals are often as bad or worse than the nonsense they claim to debunk.

www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/for-science-debunking-2015-earthquake-asteroid-doomsdays/51599/

brad - Jessica's fist post states that 'plate tectonics are not currently well understood'. Really, I always thought the geology was pretty advanced, as mankind has been studying the earth for a long time, and they have a solid understanding of what makes earthquakes and volcanoes.

jessica murray - the theory of plate tectonics did not develop until the 1960s, and there's still a lot of kinks to work out. it's pretty clear that there are giant slabs of rock moving around on the earth, but exactly what makes them work is not at all clear. if we understood this well, we'd be able to predict earthquakes and volcanoes. when alfred wegener initially made the proposal that continents move around (around 1910), he was written off as a fringe lunatic and more or less ignored until after he died. and he actually initially proposed tidal drag as the dominant factor.

jeremy - Jessica, one planet passing in front of another does not block the gravity. The force of gravity passes through mass without being hindered. There would be no shock effect during a planetary alignment. There would be a very tiny, very gradual rise in the magnitude of gravitational force acting in that particular direction. Tidal forces and the moon may well have some sort of effect on plate tectonics. But gravity drops off rapidly as distance increases. So the gravity we feel from the moon is so much greater than the gravity we feel from the other planets that it would totally dominate the effect, and the gravity from the other planets would be insignificant when compared to the moons.

jessica murray - it's not true that gravity passes through without hindrance. i put "block" in quotes for a reason. it's more of an interference issue, that can create amplification (+ or -). nor is it true that we don't feel the effects of gravity from another planet. i actually looked this up, and the argument you're presenting comes from a rebuttal to the idea that pluto could affect human weightlessness - an obvious farce. but, you weigh much less than the earth's crust does, and pluto is very far way, so it's consequently a very bad argument.

as mentioned: jupiter has a measurable effect on our orbit. this understanding is a consequence of relativity, which calculates the center of mass differently than newton did. nor does gravity from the moon "overpower" gravity from jupiter based on distance. rather, both forces continue to act.

as mentioned, the idea is that a disturbance in the gravitational field would put the balance of existing forces out of whack. jupiter and the earth are already pulling on each other in a measurable way. any disturbance of this would necessarily create a shock, by definition - the question is whether that shock (and it's countershock) is big enough to have an effect. and, as i mentioned, this is currently an open research topic.

the time machine (percussion & bass mix)

this is a "drum and bass" mix, with pitched percussion for the melodic parts.

written in early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. further remixed over july, 2014 and may, 2015. this version of the track was completed on may 26th, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/percussion-bass-mix

republishing stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (inri043)

i've been in the process of closing down my second artistic phase for longer than i'd like, but i'm really getting to the final points on it, which means taking one last run through everything and making final decisions on it. this is the fourth mix i've appended to this single over the last week, but it is now final. closed.

so, behold inri024, which is now a 90 minute 12-track "single" of reinterpretations of this track.

inri024 has been updated and permanently finalized.

===

this is one of the tracks that i can't date well. i do, however, remember working on it during the winter, which means it must have been late '00 or early '01. i'm going to consequently deduce that it must have been what i was working on over the 2000 christmas break and date it coming out right after it.

actually, i have another reason to date it in early '01 rather than late '00: the introductory piano part was recorded live into my notation program on my dx100, which i was given over christmas (maybe a little before; it was a cheap garage sale pickup) to act as a controller for my recently broken jx-8p, that i had tried to take apart over the summer to clean a sticky key (a common problem with mid-80s roland analog synths) but failed and left keyless. it's still keyless. yet, the dx still drives it....

that introductory piano part formed the basis of the track, which built itself up fairly quickly. somewhere, i lost the nwc file by saving it as midi, which ruined all the formatting. it's been sitting on my drive ever since.

why put together seven different midi versions of the same track, and sequence them after a polished recorded version? well, this was never actually meant to be computer music. i was just composing something the old fashioned way with the intent of later giving it to some musicians to play. that never happened. what did happen was that i found myself playing it back on multiple sound cards over many years, trying to make it sound as good as possible in the short run - until i could finally get the chance to sit down and actually record it. while each of the different renders has it's strong and weak points, i ultimately don't feel that they form a total order. something i thought about doing was recording tracks independently on different cards and then pasting them together, but that would have just created another dozen incomparable mixes. rather than arbitrarily pick one, i decided to just upload all of them.

in hindsight, i think the format is interesting in itself in terms of it being a psychological experiment with sound. the differences from track to track are sometimes inaudible and sometimes extremely noticeable. stringing it all together in a row like this is challenging to any listener in the sense that it rips apart the process of becoming familiar with a piece. it means listening to exactly the same song through multiple different sound libraries. i think your brain would have to interpret that as a sort of a trip, especially when it comes to trying to build associations in sound within tracks that are both similar and different sounding, soundcard wise. i think that might be part of the reason i had so much difficulty isolating tracks in the first place.

so, listening to the ep through all the way is likely to be a bit disorienting and might ultimately be a strange experience. however, if you like the track for what it is as a collection of overlapping sequences of notes then i hope you get something out of the process of comparing and contrasting the renders together.

i have included the original midi file as a bonus item in the download, if you want to play with it on your own. the added guitar sections in the final version are recent additions and have not been written out.

thematically, the track is meant to orchestrate a feeling of claustrophobia with society pushing down on you too hard. it's meant to transmit a feeling of existential dread. at the time, i really felt stuck with life in general and not sure how i was going to get out of it.

four further remixes were added at the end of may, 2015, which has forced me to move two of the midi renders to 'download only'.

written late 2000 & early 2001. the renders present here are all from after 2013. minor instrumentation changes to facilitate a small wind section were implemented in late april, 2014. live guitars were layered into the final version over may, 2014. initially released on june 7, 2014. four new orchestral mixes were added in late may, 2015. re-released & finalized on may 26, 2015. as always, please use headphones.

credits:
j - electric piano, programming, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, vocoders, digital effects & treatments, digital wave editing, composition.

the rendered electronic orchestras variously include piano, bass, synth bass, distorted electric guitar, clean electric guitar, other guitar effects, steel string acoustic guitar, nylon string classical guitar, sitar, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, oboe, english horn, bassoon, synthesizers, clarinet, flute, piccolo, xylophone, glockenspiel, woodblock, tubular bells, orchestra hit, jazz drum kit, hand drums, melodic toms, orchestral drum kit, hammered percussion, marimba, taiko drum, synthetic percussion and electronic drum kit.

released january 10, 2001

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/stuck-in-the-middle-of-an-alley-closing-in-on-all-sides
 

stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (slow string orchestra fade out)

so, as mentioned, i'm going through inri024-inri050 and posting final updates.

this has been added to inri024 as an absolute final update.

written late 2000 & early 2001. rearranged, rendered and faded out on apr 27, 2014. further remixed on may 26, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/slow-string-orchestra-fade-out

crazy glen beck is actually on to something here. but he's still crazy.

it's not taught because it's extremely speculative. there's a hodge podge of random evidence, and if you interpret it a specific way it becomes compelling. but...

the phoenician writing - if it's not a hoax - is probably carthaginian. we know that carthage was pretty special in the ancient world, but we have a deficit of their history for the specific reason that the romans wrote them out of history by carrying out a genocide against them and literally tearing down every building in the city to it's foundation, then paving over it. look that up some time - it's dark reading. they were probably more important than egypt or greece, in their era, but they've been wiped out by an act of violence.

we can prove that they had large trading networks all the way around africa (not emulated by a european power until the portugese went out looking to get around the arabs), and north at least as far as ireland. beyond that, it gets sketchy, but it's long been speculated that they did find their way to america. the small amounts of evidence that exist are intriguing, but there's nothing strong enough to rewrite history...

this is in the list of "if they found it, they wouldn't believe it" type theories. but, i think it's very likely. we went through this with the vikings. and it's increasingly clear that the chinese made their own voyages from the other side. give it time.

but to answer the question: why haven't you heard of this? because the evidence isn't powerful enough. at least not yet, anyways.

have you considered sending a correspondent to the white house? i know: costs, and what's the point, it's propaganda, right? but i think this is actually quite important - if not from democracy now, then from some other independent and left-leaning organization.

i've been watching the white house press briefings for a few months now, and there's nothing even approaching a centrist position from much of anywhere. you'll get some ethnic groups standing up for their own from time to time, but it's all very one-dimensional. it's just right-wing journalist after right-wing journalist asking questions that seem framed around fox news coverage. i'm sure there's somebody at the show that watches these things and will agree how painful they are to watch. the closest thing i've seen to somebody asking about the humanitarian issue on the border was a trick question to try and get the secretary to admit that the administration was trying to weaken border security - when anybody aware of the facts knows how deport-happy the administration is.

what that creates is a situation where the only press pressure that the president is getting is from the right and the extreme right. there is still a facade of democracy in the united states, enough that the president needs to react to the press, for political reasons. the absolute deficit in the press corps of anybody approaching anything left wing means he has zero pressure to hold on policies, or move in a more progressive direction. it follows that getting somebody in there that's asking less outrageous questions is likely to actually have a policy effect, in allowing him to stand still or forcing him to moderate a little.

again: it's easier said than done. limited resources. i get it. but even a single, indignant voice can turn a room enough to turn up the heat. and, if it's not within the abilities of democracy now, i still think it's something you can float around to like-minded organizations.

watching the press conferences, you'd think obama set the dream act up to create an overground railroad to smuggle in illegals, and his secretary is doing a bad job in distracting from it. and yet we see here what's really happening.

---

Rachel Golem
Yes, of course. All the problems in Honduras are the fault of white people who have never been there!!!!!!

NeoGeo12
CIA coups, Corrupt trade deals and the heinous drug war are the major reasons why America government is responsible for all this mass immigration.

deathtokoalas
the trade deals are key. this was predicted in the 90s.

russia invades crimea: it's a terrible breach in international law.
israel invades gaza: it's a sovereign right of nations to undertake military action.

i'm not taking a position here on which position is correct. i'm just pointing out that the united states merely uses international law as a tool of propaganda, and in truth hasn't the slightest interest in it's enforcement.

something has changed, though. this used to be a right-wing position - all the fear mongering about the nwo and the totalitarian order at the un is a calculated disinformation campaign to build popular support against the united nations, to stop it from being able to restrict american actions. the democrats, from roosevelt on, generally sought to uphold the legitimacy of the institution.

then, iraq happened. and the governing party has adopted a uniform position on the matter.

the un is dead. international law is dead. deal with it.

as some other people have pointed out, "europeans" in this period would not have been r1* or migrated in from asia, but would likely have migrated in from northern africa and probably have been light brown, like modern arabs.

on the one hand, i'm willing to mostly write this off as mormon revisionism. the dna evidence linking natives to siberia is pretty overwhelming.

on the other hand, i think it's important to point out that it's not necessary for large numbers of solutreans to have migrated to america in order for the technology to get there. a few stragglers is all it really would have taken. and, i don't find the idea of a small group moving along the pack ice - or even being lost at sea - to be all that outrageous.

the key piece of evidence would be to find some of these blades somewhere along the way. now, i want you to note that what apparently led this guy to this hypothesis was that he couldn't find any blades in alaska. but, the same problem still exists - now he needs to find blades in...

wait. those ice sheets are gone. so....

this is unfalsifiable.

it's a nice story. but there's no way to prove it one way or the other. unfortunately, it's not even wrong.

regarding the x chromosome, i think that carthaginian or greek contact in the pre-roman period is far more likely.

ah, smiley face dmitry.

he always looked like his mom dressed him.

you know, testing on dogs has indicated that they're not supposed to be able to figure something like this out - they're notoriously bad at "problem solving". and i'm not convinced this is luck, either - it seems to get the geometry.

my understanding is that wild predators - lions, especially, but also wolves - need to have an intuitive concept of geometry in order to carry out the hunts they carry out, which often have to do with using angles to their advantage. it's a base, intuitive understanding of trigonometry. and it's both taught behaviour and necessary for survival.

but, this is unexpected in a domestic dog.

believe it or not, this is actually a research area. not the astrology, exactly, but the general idea. there is a developing understanding that gravitational forces involving outside astronomical bodies are a factor in plate tectonics on earth, and planetary alignments are consequently important in understanding events like earthquakes and volcanoes - as well as their consequences, like climate change.

the best argument i can present in this space is to simply think of how tides work: gravitational forces between the earth and the moon. that should be enough to realize this isn't a crazy idea.

now, if he happens to be right, it's through luck rather than method. but, he is probably on to something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uVI8cQ3Hpo

publishing orchestral works (inri072)

this is inri049 - an orchestral works compilation to close my second compositional period. these pieces are diverse, but the commonality is that they are arranged for the whole orchestra.

==

an unexpected result of the project to complete my discography, undertaken in late 2013, has been the construction of a handful of orchestral pieces, mostly as remixes of original tracks from the jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj period. while these tracks were initially written out as scored pieces for expanded instrumentation, they were generally written around the guitar and the expanded instrumentation was largely meant simply for colour. the exception to this is the psilocybin symphony, which was written as a piano concerto from the start and previously completed in early 2006.

the ability to expand these pieces into orchestral works is the result of the advances in vst sampling technology that have occurred since 2003. while changes in instrumentation have been accompanied by extra writing (mostly on the guitar), tempo shifts and other general rearrangement choices, the existing technology makes it very easy to rearrange a rock song for an orchestra, by simply multiplying staves and changing the sound fonts.

the condition i've set for a piece to be "orchestral" is that it must utilize the entire orchestra: it must have percussion, piano, horns, woodwinds/reeds and strings. guitars are generally treated like "first violins", whereas violins are generally not considered to be more special than other similar string instruments. some of the tracks also have prominent choral sections. all of these pieces meet this condition, except the last one which does not have a woodwind/reed section.

my delve into scorewriting ended in 2003; the material in my third phase is more focused on live and manipulated guitars and synthesizers. i consequently feel that this is an interesting summary of my second period, taken from a specific angle that is otherwise largely relegated to single-only remixes.

initially written and recorded between 2001-2003 and remixed and recorded further over 2014-2015, except track 2 which was completed in early 2006. final compilation date is may 23, 2015. as always, please use headphones.

credits
j - controller inputs, drum & other programming, orchestral & other sequencing, live guitars, live bass, live synths, effects, sound design, digital wave editing, composition, production.

the various rendered electronic orchestras includes violin, viola, cello, contrabass, electric guitar, nylon guitar, guitar fret noise, bass guitar, synthesizer bass, french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, english horn, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, saxophone, bamboo flute, flute, piccolo, synthesizers, mellotron, organ, piano, harp, koto, music box, clavinet, kalimba, xylophone, agogo, mallet, hammered percussion, woodblock, tubular bells, tinkle bells, glockenspiel, orchestra hit, melodic toms, electronic drum kit, timpani, orchestral drum kit and choir.

released april 29, 2003

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/orchestral-works-vol-1

reflections (orchestral mix)

written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed and re-rendered over may, 2015. this render was completed as an ambient mix on may 16, 2015 and expanded to include a horn section on may 23, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-orchestral-mix

stuck in the middle of an alley with angry googley-eyed robots slowly closing in on all sides

i wanted to check that two outs from the orchestral mix mostly nulled, and ended up with somewhat of a musical - albeit very glitchy - difference file. i created this collage out of that difference file on may 22, 2015.

written late 2000 & early 2001. rearranged, rendered and faded out on apr 27, 2014. live guitars were layered into the final version over may 2014. further remixed for the ambient works on may 19, 2015, again for the orchestral works on may 22, 2015 and a third time for this glitch mix on may 22, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/stuck-in-the-middle-of-an-alley-with-angry-googley-eyed-robots-slowly-closing-in-on-all-sides

stuck with a guitar in the middle of a slow electronic orchestra playing on all sides

for the orchestral works (inri072). the sound font on the strings was modified to sound less synthetic and the live guitars from the original mix were worked in at the slower tempo.

written late 2000 & early 2001. rearranged, rendered and faded out on apr 27, 2014. live guitars were layered into the final version over may 2014. further remixed for the ambient works on may 19, 2015 and again for the orchestral works on may 22, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/stuck-with-a-guitar-in-the-middle-of-a-slow-electronic-orchestra-playing-on-all-sides

people are going to be arguing about this for basically ever. at the end of the day, the key point is that people aren't necessarily rational - if you want to know why people do things, you need to ask them and hope they aren't lying. but, i see it like this:

1) the most confounding point is why austria attacked serbia, knowing it was going to spark a war against russia. you can say something about historical control or whatever, but none of the arguments are really good. the only thing that makes any sense to me - besides outright idiocy - is that they were trying to dismantle prussia under the hope that they'd gain control in the end. that is, it might have been a sneaky tactic to unite the german heartland under hapsburg rather than hohenzollern control. that makes it an indirect result of the austro-prussian war of 1866, and ultimately an inter-german conflict.

2) russia had long been looking for an excuse to "unite the slavs". they were aiming to dismantle austria and absorb most of it. this is well understood.

3) the ottomans had their own interests in eastern europe and saw russian expansion as a security threat.

4) the germans knew that the belgians were not truly neutral. that's the unstated point, the necessary revision. if they left belgium sitting on the coast, it would have opened up staging grounds and spy networks. if they were going to invade france (and they had to to deal with the two front problem), they had no choice but to attack belgium.

5) i agree that the french saw the germans as weak and intended to dismantle them, with russian help. but, they expected the russians to do most of the work.

6) the british involvement had less to do with europe and more to do with africa. "belgian neutrality" meant "not taking over belgian colonies in africa". the british were both interested in reducing german influence in africa and, frankly, in not letting the germans get the spoils of belgian absorption. they may have agreed with the principle of neutrality so long as belgium was under de facto british alliance, but as soon as the germans invaded the congo became up for grabs.

7) the americans intervened largely to prevent a socialist revolution in germany and france, after what was happening in russia became clear.

the thing that screwed everything up for the western powers (and austria) and created the stalemate was russia's greater interest in the south than the north. had russia marched straight to berlin as they were supposed to, the prussians would have been dismantled and probably partitioned, and the british would have taken over most of their colonies in africa. oddly, the british and french may have ended up aligning with the ottomans in a drawn out russian-ottoman conflict that may have seen deep russian penetration into the middle east.

this is a dramatically different outcome and potential world order, and was likely made in a snap decision by the russian generals.

publishing ambient works vol 0-2 (inri071 + inri035)

i've got the mix tape up which means inri048 is now done...

i've got a number of snippets after about 1999 that i'm not sure what to do with. i'm probably going to just forget about most of it, but some of it will no doubt end up on volume 3, which will be somewhere in the 60s or 70s. so i'll just put it aside for later.

i put aside a number of compilation ideas as i was sorting through the material. i wasn't expecting anything to get a release in this space, but i'm now questioning that. it's largely a process of elimination. but right now it'slooking like inri050 is actually going to be a similarly epic guitar-focused disc.

that said, there's plenty of guitars on this disc, especially in the mix tape. i'll post it when i figure it out...

===

i've taken to splitting my discography into phases, and my hitch-hiking trip to british columbia is a very important separation point - both in terms of the nature of the material that came out afterwards and what is now a substantial body of work that came before it. that makes it a natural point to look backwards and build compilations of intersecting ideas.

a characteristic of my work is that it does not conform well to genre norms. this is not an accident; when compiling a record, i'm guided more by the late beatles' philosophy of vast diversity in a small space than i am by any kind of desire to collect together nice singles, or by some kind of compulsive organizing into categories or concepts. i write psychedelic music. that means something different in 2015 than it did in 1966, but the commonality is that it's necessarily challenging. i want all of my records to do everything at once, and accomplish everything by their end point. that makes compilations of this sort inherently difficult, because every song touches on every compilation idea at the same time. the jazz record would have the same tracklisting as the punk record, the classical record and the folk record - and none would really be what they're claimed to be.

the one exception to this conundrum is how i interacted with ambient music in this period. i very regularly utilized ideas from the genre, but i tended to interpret ambience as something that is necessarily obscure. in this period, ambient pieces are almost always outtakes or b sides. i tended to interpret covers and remixes as ambient pieces, probably because that was unexpected. when ambient ideas make it on to the record, they're almost always for effect: introductions, endings, connecting passages, that sort of thing.

when i began reconstructing my discography in early 2014, i came across a handful of songs i'd written out into midi format and put aside for later. a number of these ended up reworked into ambient pieces, and released as b sides. i also ended up converting some of the material i wrote in this period into ambient sound collages that are more in the style of music i created after 2003.

the end result is enough bsides and remixes to put together two full cds of ambient music. none of the tracks on volumes one or two are on any official record as they appear here; this is technically a collection of remixes and outtakes.

initially written and recorded between 2000-2003 and remixed between 2014-2015. sequenced over mid may, 2015. final compilation date is may 21, 2015,. as always, please use headphones.

credits:
j - guitars (acoustic, electric, nylon), effects & treatments, bass, synthesizers, electric air reed organ, orchestral & other sequencing, drum & other programming, generative programming (sounder), "projectile synthesis" (audiomulch), granular synthesis (granulab), sound design, electronic and conventional drum kits, sampling, loops, films, voice, digital wave editing, composition, production.

sean - vocal ideas (tracks 4 & 7, disc 1), ring modulator (track 9, disc 1)
jon - background guitar performance (track 4, disc 1)
greg - drum performance sample source (track 5, disc 1)

the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth bass, electric bass, acoustic bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, nylon guitar, guitar effects, guitar noises (fret noises, pick scrapes, knocks), synthesizer, synth pads, mellotron, choir, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, string section, pizzicato strings, french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, oboe, english horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute, piccolo, mallet, piano, woodblock, music box, xylophone, tubular bells, other bells, orchestra hit, electronic drum kit, melodic toms, drum machine and orchestral drum kit.

released april 28, 2003

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ambient-works-vol-0-2

ambient works vol 0, side b

side b mixes various ambient sections from period 1.2 and period 1.3, which, here, is all over 1999. mix created on may 21, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/side-b

ambient works vol 0, side a

side a mixes various noise and ambient sections from period 1.1 and period 1.2, which is 1996-1999. mix created on may 21, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/side-a

strange headline; i was expecting to get a good rant on, but the video doesn't make the argument that i was expecting. so, i'm not needing to tear anything apart. however, i feel that an opportunity was missed to build a larger narrative. on a broader point, though: what's the point of independent media if it's going to parrot the propaganda in the mainsteam media?

and, the idea that europe wants to buy exports from america is just that: propaganda. to get your head around this, you have to understand the nature of the global economy that the united states built after world war two. of course, this order mostly collapsed as a consequence of reaganomics, and is now more or less gone. but, the current administration has put a bigger focus on exports...

back in the years between 1945 and 1993, the united states actually built stuff. a lot of stuff. more stuff than anywhere else in the world. and, as a result, it needed export markets. huge ones. the economic relationship between america and europe that emerged after world war two was (and i'm grossly over-simplifying) something along the lines of "you europeans are going to buy our stuff, in exchange for protection from russia. and, if you don't like that....you don't want to think about what happens if you don't like that. put it like this: or else.".

this is what america tricks itself into thinking a "friend" is.

so, in the world order created by the american empire, europe is designed as an export market for american goods. that is, it's a colony of america.

now, there's lots of reasons europe never really liked this idea, and a lot of it underlies the things europe has done to seek greater sovereignty over the last many decades, and especially since the "end" of the cold war. one of the biggest problems is that when you're stuck in these coercive trade relationships, you're forced to over pay for goods at the tip of a shot gun.

europe wants to buy gas from russia. it's cheap. it's stable. it's easy. and that's a threat to the economic order that exists. which is one of the reasons why the americans are doing everything they can (and largely failing...) to create divisions between russia and europe.

bird's eye view (sounder mix)

this is a sounder sequence, which was rendered some time in late 2002. i've dated the file to december 25, 2002. published on may 19, 2015.

this actually gets to the point of why i don't like to use the term "apartheid", and prefer to use the term "genocide".

when you start thinking in terms of israel being an "apartheid state", it's correct to conclude that it's unstable. no slave state has ever been stable. it's the actual reason we don't support slavery in "western liberal democracies" - it just doesn't work, in the long run.

but, when you start understanding the situation in terms of genocide, a different logic asserts itself. there is a way out of the logic of inevitable collapse. that is, if you take a step back and look at all of the options, you're left with a much more disturbing choice. it's true that the state is ultimately unsustainable, as it is. that means israel has the option of dismantling itself, or killing the palestinians off.

now, standing up and stating that is going to produce an immediate emotional reaction for a number of reasons on a number of levels, and that's fine - i think any halfways empathetic person has no choice but to react that way. but, if you look at the situation with a cold, analytical eye, it begins to seem less and less outrageous with every israeli action. from the continuing colonization of the occupied areas, to the continued imprisonment of gaza, it really would be obvious that that's the path israel is following - if it weren't too ghastly to consider.

unfortunately, surrounding countries like egypt are more likely to collaborate than intervene.

people are going to look back and wonder why nobody saw it coming.

right. so the answer isn't restricting voluntary association - private or not - but abolishing the concentration of capital into small amounts of hands. the problem is private property. that's some confusing a symptom for a cause, alright.

stuck in the middle of a slow electronic orchestra playing on all sides

so, i've appended a mix to inri024.

written late 2000 & early 2001. rearranged, rendered and faded out on apr 27, 2014. further remixed for the ambient works on may 19, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/stuck-in-the-middle-of-a-slow-electronic-orchestra-playing-on-all-sides

i've also decided that i need to prioritize getting over the final "not smoking" hump. i've been in this transitory state with this for...years...where i'll quit for a month, go back for a month, cut down, quit, pick up...

a lot of it has to do with focusing. nicotine increases alertness. that's well understood.

i'm convinced the swallowing issues i'm having are not exactly from smoking, but are probably the beginning symptoms of ms. but, if you have ms, the worst thing you can do is smoke.

so, i'm going to the doctor tomorrow or the next day to get the ball rolling on that. i've done enough experiments with not smoking, not drinking coffee, increasing water, etc to conclude it's the rational next step.

ironically, it will also help my financial situation if i can get diagnosed with it. that's permanent. capitalism: that system where you hope you get auto-immune disorders as a path to economic freedom.

there's two ways i can get over that week hump: (1) get sick and (2) focus on reading/writing. just about anything else requires that focus.

so, the next thing i'm going to do - before i start the lost symphony - is to migrate all of this into a new website.

i've been trying to get off facebook for quite some time. it's going to take a while to get off of it. but, it's what i need to do next.

this isn't just going to go quiet, it's going to more or less disappear. i'm going to need a more open journal interface to embed in my appspot site. facebook is just awful in every way. livejournal, maybe. tumblr. even blogspot. i'll have to see what works best. or i may even just hardcode it...

this will be reduced to a sort of cv, that uses the timeline in a minimal manner. you'll be able to scroll through and see major releases. but, i won't be posting here much longer.

consequence of impulse

this is an instrumental/ambient remix of a section of "me, myself and the time i thought this was a good idea". i did not initially reclaim this track from rabit is wolf because the source file for the bass and vocals are in the same wave file (making them inseparable) and i felt that redoing the bass would destroy the track's rough, lo-fi feel. i created this mix for this collection by removing both the bass and vocals via phase inversion and then reconstructing the bass via loops and strategic editing. i then faded the track out before the "chorus". it works in this context, but wouldn't work in any other, so this is an exclusive mix to this collection.

written and recorded in the fall of 2001. remixed on may 19, 2015.

trepanation nation (ambient mix)

written over 2001 and rethought repeatedly over 2002, again in 2007, a third time in 2009 and one last time in late 2014. this mix was initially completed on december 5, 2014 and augmented to include some further effects work on may 18, 2015.

richard wolff isn't just a master on the topic, he's also a treat to listen to. very colourful, engaging speaker. although i might suggest that the influx of attention is due less to occupy and more to some older people getting "scratched off the list" due to age or death. i've known of and listened to wolff for many years, i just think he was that extra name or two down the list....

and, the reaction of the third speaker is actually very indicative of why these ideas are so difficult to get across in a society that fetishizes wealth. you want to interpret her comments through some kind of hefty ironic psychoanalysis.

i mean, to begin with she's got everything backwards.

1) the leftists in the french parliament were those that opposed state power, whereas the rightists were the ones in favour of it. deregulation is a decrease in state power and is consequently left-wing.
2) wolff wasn't arguing for deregulation in terms of less oversight - in fact, he'd not be opposed to that kind of regulation. he was arguing in terms of more democracy. democracy does not mean less oversight. democracy means more oversight.
3) marx' politics were of course about abolishing the state.
4) his supply and demand argument on wages is classical marxism. it's the reserve army of labour.

you put that together, and she's suggesting that marx was a reactionary conservative. and, while marx had some strange authoritarian streaks, that's actually simply a contradiction in terms. "marxist conservative". it's almost funny.

it's easy to conclude she's simply ignorant - that she doesn't know anything about marxist economics. but i think it's deeper than that. what she's saying, in terms of her body language and actual language, is the following:

i worked hard to get ahead in society. i am experiencing class mobility. your ideas threaten my ability to get ahead by exploiting others. i am therefore going to run off an absurd character assassination based on emotional hubris, and rely on the audience's presumed ignorance to get away with it. hopefully, that stops these people from getting ideas that may take away my privilege.

you need to cut through all kinds of bravado and bullshit to get there, but it's basically that: it's a reactionary support of statist institutions to uphold the privilege she believes she's entitled herself to.

and that's dangerous.

because my immediate reaction is that if you're going to force me to choose between pluralism + hierarchy and homogeneity + democracy, i'll choose the latter. i'm not about to just shrug off being a wage slave so that she can be rewarded for her protestant work ethic. i didn't put that on the table, she did. but, where's my self interest here? it's not in upholding her interests at the expense of mine.

in reality, there's no danger in me taking that position: i understand that there's no contradiction between democracy and pluralism; she's got her cause and effect backwards. you'll never get to economic equality through political equality. you need economic equality before political equality is possible. it's a kneejerk, but it's intellectual - it's abstract. i know better.

but, not everybody is as clear thinking as i am. and, when you reduce complex issues to absurd ultimatums, don't be surprised when people react in a way that you didn't expect - because you're blinded by the arrogance of your own privilege.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5IU5n729YI

as remains obvious, i'm very behind on my youtube newsfeed. which demonstrates how useful subscriptions are in building a channel. regardless...

i've been posting on the videos in the feed leading up to this that of course the germans knew, and he confirms that here in his necessary diplomatic language. so, it brings up the obvious question as to what they're angling for.

is it just domestic politics? well, josh makes an argument here that i've seen nowhere else - that sanctions on russia are beneficial for germany. really. i'd be curious to see if josh can cite somebody that shares his opinion, because then i'll know they're working for the state department.

there's something fishy going on here. something a real-life, serious investigative journalist should look into - to confirm the obvious. and it's about as obvious as obvious can be....

merkel, herself, might not be in on it, though.

and that's the most unsettling part of it.

open carry laws are bullshit and shouldn't exist - and i don't care about your constitution, which is about two hundred years out of date. but, regardless, you have to expect that the cops will behave like this. the purpose of the police force is not to keep law and order, it's to protect property. when you live in a country with massive racial correlated inequality, a great deal of what the cops do is uphold it. what you're seeing here is a logical necessity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKGZnB41_e4

this comes off as some kind of cancelled republican propaganda program.

fucking victoria's day. every year, no matter where you go, there are waves of degenerate idiots that get their jollies off on producing neon flashing lights in the sky. it's annoying because it's loud. why can't they just sit inside and drink themselves stupid while staring at winamp visualizations?

broadly speaking, he's got the right idea. but i think this is a good example of how you can get lost in something and lose perspective. it's been a plank on the left for a while now to defer to voices within a conflict. and, there's certainly value in ensuring those voices don't get lost. but, if you were to do a survey on global conflicts - that is, look at this empirically - i think you'd find it's more often the case that being outside it allows for a broader perspective.

the blame everything on israel thing is easy, and they're certainly rarely "good guys". but, what's happening here is bigger than israel. he points out that turkey and the gulf states are proxies for nato, and they have their own interests. he's able to see the conflict for what it is, but is lost in the battle on the ground.

the commonality with countries that america has attacked since yugoslavia is that they are all former soviet allies or puppets. it's clear as day when you look at it from a cold war perspective: yugoslavia, afghanistan, libya, syria. egypt and iraq are somewhere in between, but let's not forget the history of the baath party and it's connection to "arab socialism". now, sure, it's a long time ago in some cases. but the key point is that these are not "our guys" in power. and, now ukraine - tomorrow it'll be kazakhstan.

the meta level analysis is that all these conflicts are about prying states away from russian influence at what is perceived in the west as the end of the cold war. russia is defeated. it's time to clean up. israel doesn't play much of a role in that, besides providing for the odd air strike - because it can't. anybody can get involved except israel.

what that does is open up a power vacuum. or, at least, it would if it were a correct analysis. if you're stuck in this hegelian unfolding of history with liberal democracies as the end point, you assume that assad evaporates on contact. then, the power vacuum opens up, and you get these american allies jockeying for influence.

but i also wanted to say something about kosovo, because i think he has the exact wrong idea with that. kosovo happened when the west was hooking up to the internet, which broke the state's media monopoly and allowed for a wider cross-section of news to get out. as a young person at the time, i remember the war against serbia as the moment that i stopped trusting the state. i had access to that information. my parents didn't, and didn't quite understand; they thought i was reading pravda or something. but, there's no turning back from that point. and, i think that story is widely shared.

iraq produced a massive backlash. that required a shift in approach. the american-backed wars of the future are going to look like the funding of the contras or the mujahideen in afghanistan - or indeed of isis in the levant. secret wars. wars beyond critique.

that's of course what happened after vietnam, but that neo-con clique thought it had an answer. that failed to generate the support they were hoping for. so, it's back to the cia ops.

and, that's why it's useful to get that outside perspective. standing from where i am, all i see is a lot of co-option by state interests.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEX05-7IGaA