This is the trailer for the upcoming film “9″ produced by the one and only Tim Burton and based on a short film by Shane Acker. It looks to be an incredible fable about the future. Tim Burton is a master of mythology – communicating in a visual language that is as fantastic as it is idiosyncratic. Post-apocalyptic tales are always a good time . . .

nyfwpce57r

This is a video from a Detroit dance show of the song “Sharevari (The Scene)” by A Number of Names. Dan Sicko, in his book, “Techno Rebels,” cited this song as the first true techno track. I would have to agree. You can hear the influence of Kraftwerk in this track, but the minimal 4/4 beat and raw electro bass line is definitely a step into the future.

I love this video as well – the early 80’s fashion, the freaky dancing – it’s definitely HOT!

This is the future of dance music events: the complete integration of rhythm, sound and vision. This is from the Contakt party thrown by Minus Records at Sonar in Barcelona in 2008. It’s the cutting edge of music and technology in a way that’s engaging to say the least…it makes me want to move to Europe.

Is there a purpose to art? Is the act of expression strictly one of self-obsession, the purging of one’s own neurotic indulgences? Or, perhaps, is there an underlying piece of information, unknown even to the artist himself, through which the artist is but a conduit?
Art has many functions:  from the historic storytelling on the walls of pre-historic caves to the expression of ideals in Greek mythology; from the reverential masterpieces of the Renaissance to the explosions of the sub-conscious in the 20th century. Art, at its core, is a form of communication. But, from an evolutionist’s viewpoint, what purpose has art served to the development of human culture? Creativity exists within all of us. Human’s are not the biggest, strongest nor fastest of the creatures, and yet we have conquered them all. The Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon are but bones in a museum. It is our human creative instinct that has allowed us to conquer and thrive.

But art, art is a focusing of creativity. But to what end? We have passed through all the platforms of historical development: classical, Romantic, modern, post-modern, deconstructionist, and ultimately each artistic reach finds a nihilistic wall waiting for it. Art itself must evolve or it becomes a fossil on a wall, wasting away as the hushed crowds queue past, reading their pamphlets explaining to them that this ancient work is IMPORTANT.

We have put art on a pedestal and in doing so we have detached, as a culture, from the act of creativity. Each piece is destined to be slowly eaten by the tired teeth of time. Perhaps it is still communicating, like a Rumi poem, its life still ripe upon our lips. But for most art, in another 10,000 years, will it still be communicating?

I would like to propose that there is another path. A path that is built upon the supposition that art has a very distinct evolutionary purpose. We have reached the point, technologically, where we can easily begin to integrate all the various forms of art – visual, aural, tactile. Opera was perhaps the first medium, followed by theater and then most recently by film (which, currently, is art’s most powerful incarnation.) But what is the new form and to what purpose will this form serve? Technology has divined that we have but scratched the surface of what is possible. We have yet to really grasp the tools available to us and to harness their potential.

My theory is this: What if the purpose of art is to guide humanity to its next evolutionary step – the ignition of consciousness. But even more than guide, to be an actual tool that is part of the process in the activation of conscious awareness. Oh, you say, we are not ready for this! People will resist, people aren’t ready. This is true. But enough people are ready for us to begin experimenting with the possibility that together we can create a world of authenticity, rather than projections of our egoic illusions.

I will attempt to lay out my blueprint, piece by piece, so as to illuminate the details of what I have proposed. But I realize that each artist and each individual is but a thread in this beautiful tapestry. Therefore, it is my intention to generate attention and ultimately input, so that each piece of the puzzle can be put into place. It is time to create the new mythology, a story that cannot exist without the observer; a story that evolves by the very act of observing. An event that can only exist in the present, and can only communicate when the observer has aligned him or her self in the now, in the act, in the unfolding. The audience will become the art itself, and in that process, will begin to take the next step in human evolution: the integrated conscious being.

The exposure of the illusion that is our financial markets has ruptured the very core of the American Reality. The macro-disaster of a system whose tendrils reach into the very hearts and dreams of the individual has created slowly expanding fissures in the perception of every person whose belief system is based upon acquisition, accumulation and maintenance of the American  facade. The American Dream is to live in a dream that is constructed by the materials of a consumer-based economy. Who you are is subservient to whom you appear to be.

If we are no longer able to acquire, what then is our purpose as a culture? If we are no longer have the tools to maintain our skyscrapers of sand, then what is the individual to do?

The societal neurosis that has been placated through the numbing effects of consumption and informational inundation will now be left unfettered. If this process is left unchecked, the behavior of the society will most certainly devolve into manifestations of the uncontrolled subconscious: acts of violence and the inevitable reaction to these acts.

A new reality must supplant the illusory kingdom. A reality that is based upon being human, not trying to be a concept of what we think a human is supposed to be. A new community must be formed from the fragments of the self-serving, predatory and competitive social structures we see crumbling before our eyes. Look what the old ideals have wrought: economic bubbles, irreparable environmental damage, and exponential mental deterioration.

There must be no more ideals. There is nothing to strive for. There must only be the examination of what is. And what is? Relationship: the relationship we have with ourselves, with our neighbors and with the world at large. Only from this starting point can we hope to create a society that is capable of sustaining itself.

I have decided to start posting to my blog again. The past few months since my last post have been the most turbulent and exhilirating of my life if I am to observe them without judgement. That is to say, to look at the experience without the limiting power of the “LABEL.”

But at this moment, as I perceive my own internal paradigm shift, like an earthquake upon the architecture of an ancient city, I have decided to move my blog into a much broader direction. This is a forum for my observations, both internal and external, and through this process, I intend to become my own quantum experiment: to see if the act of observation affects the observed.

The Painless Apocalypse

“It looks like the empire
will die today,” she said
as she spread marmalade
across her lightly toasted bread.

“Where shall we go when
the sirens blow and the sky
comes tumbling down?”

“Well,” he said, “the people will
riot once their TV’s fall silent,
but I think we should sit back
and relax.”
He stirred another sugar
through the currents of  his coffee,
“You see I believe
we are already dead.”

“Oh!” she replied with mock delight,
“it isn’t so bad to have already died.”

“It’s nothing like I thought: not
the painful shot or the impoverished gasp
as life slips our hands.”

“You’re such a dear,” he smiled
as he smeared more butter upon
the last pumpernickel slice.
“But it has become quite clear,
dead or not, we’re still here.”

“Death is rather pleasant, isn’t it?”
she mused, wiping the last crumb
from the edge of her lips.

He laughed as he reached for
her delicate hand,
“You have it, my darling:

we are but sand upon sand,
we are the dead without dying
we just live without the worry
of suffering our own denial.”

They both stood up and danced
as thieves ransacked their lands
and the world drowned in the
sound of its music.

Posted in Blogroll Tagged: Apocalypse, Painless Apocalypse, Poetry, Quantum, quantum + culture ]]> http://jacksondeep.com/2009/04/25/the-painless-apocalypse/feed/ 0 jacksonsf http://jacksondeep.com/2008/09/03/children-of-process/ http://jacksondeep.com/2008/09/03/children-of-process/#comments Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:24:43 +0000 Jack http://jacksondeep.wordpress.com/?p=30 ]]>

What is the origin of the creative process? This is an age-old question. What makes this girl pick up a violin and that boy pick up a paint brush? The truth is that only this girl or that boy can answer that question. It is my belief that every person is innately creative. Our species has flourished due to creativity. The human race isn’t the strongest nor the fastest of all the animals. But we succeeded through our ability to imagine and to create.

I’ve often struggled with the creative process. There are many roadblocks on the path that connects the imaginative spark and the tactile product of completion. Through these challenges, though, I have been able to develop a process through which I can confront the blockage and then overcome it. This isn’t always easy. Many times the best answer is to step away, go to another part of the puzzle and then return with a new set of eyes.

Technology has given us new tools by which to create. The digital age is a revolution in production techniques, providing faster and faster methods by which to stream line the connection between thought and reality. Where once a film editor had to carefully cut and paste reels of analogue film, now digital software allows the focus to be more on the actual alignment of scenes rather than the physical process of cutting up tape. But technology is about the external process; the internal process of the creator remains the same. Is there any way to stream line the internal process? There is a way to find out.

I find that when I’m struggling with the placement of a word or the rhythm of a sentence and my mind becomes entangled in syntax by stepping back I can view the problem without the burden of being to attached to the end result. While it is my passion that drives the process, it is my ability to let go of this emotional fuel that ultimately allows me to hit my target. The mind is a powerful tool in the act of creation, but it can blur the ability to make right decisions in achieving the final product. This is why it is easier to have a final opinion on the creative act when it is viewed after the passing of time. The disconnect from that initial creative urge allows for vision.

I had a wonderful teacher who once told me that if I ever got too bogged down that I should take a deep breath, exhale, then try again. It seems easy enough, but to reach this awareness can often be difficult. Too often, the mind runs over a problem again and again until the purpose of the project is lost under the burden of the thought process, instead of the creative process. It’s interesting that in this age of quantum leaps in technology that we are still facing the same age-old questions within our selves. Perhaps it’s time to step back and examine the internal process a little more. Ultimately, it will only give rise to the release of the creative urge that rests within us all.

Hello there! It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, but I’ve been on an extended journey that has landed me in New York City. It’s a different world here for sure; this is an endless city. I’ve already had a chance to taste the local music scene and so far it’s been exceptional. I checked out the Bunker over in Brooklyn to catch Derek Plaslaiko rocking out with minimal tech breaks (for lack of a better term.) Then headed out to The Sullivan Room to see Chris Fortier (thanks Sleepy and Boo!) Tomorrow is a party called “Stranded” over in Brooklyn where I’ll get my first taste of the NY underground.

I also need to make a serious musical recommendation. Check out the album “Untrue” by Burial. It’s the most brilliant and beautiful piece of music I’ve heard in a while. I’ve never really been into 2-step, but this album takes it to a whole new level. It’s like a soundtrack to the best Anime film ever made. It cracks and sizzles with a buried heat beneath the surface of its orchestral majesty. It’s been a while since I’ve kept replaying an album over and over. This is the sound of the future. Check it.

Almost every party revolves around the headline DJ. His or her name splashed across the flyer in some extravagant font, conspicuous notice that the DJ will be flown in from some exotic locale, and whispers of that brilliant set spun on what is actually a computer-synched DJ mix. Nothing should be taken away from the headliner – his/her status and reputation is what gets people into the venue. But I want to focus on the name that goes below the headliner on the flyer: the set-up DJ.

The set-up DJ is the one who comes on before the headliner, the DJ who is mixing while people are filling up the club, buying their first rounds of cocktails, and showing love to their friends and cohorts. This DJ actually has a difficult balancing act to perform: he/she must create an atmosphere that points towards greater things to come, i.e the headliner, while building a vibe out of thin air. There are many ways to mess up the set-up slot: a tempo that’s too fast, the volume too high, the music either too deep or worse, that tries to be peak-time fare. When it’s done properly, the room is abuzz about what’s too come from the headliner. The set-up DJ builds the platform from which the headliner will launch the crowd into the stratosphere of sonic delights.

I’ve been DJ’ing a good part of ten years now, and I was always good either at mixing peak hour sets or really chill, lounge affairs. It wasn’t until I ran my own monthly, and consistently opened for the DJ’s I booked, that I began to understand the nuances of the set-up. In that sense, the most difficult slot is the set-up slot because the entire night essentially depends upon it. It’s too easy to have people leave the venue before the headliner because the atmosphere isn’t balanced between music that is both immediate and reserved at the same time. The sound has to loosen people up, put them in the mood, and keep them wanting more. In a cruder sense, you’re the fluffer.

But while this DJ may be the most critical link in the line-up, he/she is often forgotten at the end of the evening after the superstar headliner has blown the crowd away with peak-time record after record. So I want to give a shout-out to all the DJ’s out there who have dutifully done their best working in restraint, teasing the crowd without giving in to the urge to go all the way, and then stepping aside as the headliner stands on your proverbial shoulders to be showered in accolades at the end of the night. Here’s some love =)