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a right to exist

Noah -- March 27, 2012 -- changing the world and eye candy.

Many Mansions – Spirit Song

In November of last year, just after coming across A Declaration of Separation, I had the opportunity to submit a short film into a festival. Now I’m not a filmmaker by any means, but the process of putting these images together felt so uniquely cathartic that I just couldn’t help but upload this to share. Not that any medium is ever comfortable, but props to everyone out there that gives new forms of expression a shot… it feels really great to be in unfamiliar territory.

This film is a nod to the realities we can create by addressing activities outside of our prescribed paradigm, which Freire calls “background consciousness“. United, becoming a movement beyond oppressive empires, we can share meaning and participate in the development of a sincere humanity. This is the sole principle of our Writing Home project, and considering the value that Paulo Freire has amongst our FMLY [if you didn't see his image and texts painted on the walls of our most recent fest] we will definitely make a point of providing further insight into his writings and doings in the coming months. Thanks for making our creative dissent feel less crazy. And special thanks to Emily Reo for starring and narration, plus Many Mansions for the tunage and letting me get some minor manipulation on.

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live your dream :: shape your passion

Noah -- March 13, 2012 -- changing the world, eye candy and premiere.

The Spookfish – Where I Should Go

Tonight’s shareable comes from the oh so feel good Holstee Manifesto, a solid resource to share that anything can become possible with genuine, positive intention. Originally written in 2009 after the company’s three founders left their jobs, these words have risen to communicate a level of collective consciousness… not depicting how life or work should be, but documenting what to appreciate in life in order to go forward and breathe passion into our shared everyday. This morning Emily Reo emailed me an article from the Wire sharing a familiar sentiment orbiting the perspective of musician John Richards [of Dirty Electronics] and his desire to step away from the static process of recording to allow his sound making process to become indistinct as a social practice.

Art and music as a social practice is something I have become increasingly drawn to. Constructivists Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner, in their 1920 “Realistic Manifesto”, argued: “Art should attend us everywhere that life flows and acts… at the bench, at the table, at work, at rest, at play.” Similar themes are continued in the work of Joseph Beuys and the idea of social sculpture, where art is directly linked to and influential upon society. [via]

With many thanks to the open source movement of the last two decades, coupled with the popularity of all-pervasive digital networks, decentralizing “art” to the point of total dilution is shifting back into our nature. Group bike rides, sharing sounds, and living a passionate, collaborative life are no longer romantic ideas in the reflection of a post-Industrial era, but becoming the norm for successful terms of engagement. Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them. So go out and start creating. Long live the new flesh.

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solipsist

Cameron -- March 9, 2012 -- eye candy.

Directed by Andrew Thomas Huang, this film was recently awarded the Special Jury Prize at SLAMDANCE. Thought you might enjoy.

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fight for the feeling

Noah -- March 6, 2012 -- bffs, changing the world and eye candy.

I am Genko – The Right Path
I Am Genko – It’s All Yours (Yohuna cover)

There’s no one in the world like Ricardo Gutierrez, his spirit drips in monome sequence with blinks I’m sure must cue up some incomprehensible beat patterns. For Ricardo’s alter ego, and Lima, Peru’s resident sonic-magician I Am Genko 2012 is a new year with new gear. Last time we checked in with Ricardo we were devastated to hear that his home had been broken into and instruments stolen, he had launched an indiegogo fundraiser along with a sweet video [watch], and we kept our fingers crossed for the best. A few months later, and he’s back!

Now something that we need to understand about Ricardo is that, yes, he is a super rad musician, but even more important, he has a philosophy that anchors his music so that he can take it anywhere he can imagine. I’m sure that philosophy is different for each person with every listen, and that’s one of the sweet joys of listening, but I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight two recently produced videos. This is the first we’ve heard musically from Ricardo in some time, and it’s really incredible to acknowledge his direct attitude with bringing music to the streets, without amplification, interacting directly with his city. Call it a non-instrusive dance party, call it a sweetheart seducing his city streets with sound, call it a group hug… we love everything we see and want [to be doing] more of it. Peek at a second video after the jump, and download I Am Genko’s cover of Yohuna‘s “It’s All Yours” above for the rare opportunity of hearing the man sing. Let this be a lesson: take your music out of the bedroom and into the streets!

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all fire//all light

frnds -- February 27, 2012 -- expanding our horizons, eye candy and inspirations. Tags: .

The Range of Light from ∞∞∞ on Vimeo.


(via Tiny Waves)
words by: Steve Head

Creating a visual component that accurately captures the interior vistas that the Inner Islands crew summon is a magical feat and Lawrence Martinez succeeds effortlessly. Martinez compiled
the film All Fire // Alight Light from a mixture of animation, expired film, and even super 8 shots from Kyle Wyss (Blind Man’s Colour, Chromatic Flights).

Evocative images serve as guided meditation to the blissful mix of ever evolving acoustic drone music that defines the Inner Islands label. Stag Hare, Gkfoes Vjgoaf, and Wyld Wyzrdz all make music that compel the listener to drift into relaxed states of introspection and All Fire // All Light
conjures these ephemeral states exceedingly well. Be on the look out for more work from Martinez and be sure to check out the new Inner Islands jams. The new Ashan and Wyld Wyzrdz have
provided a lot harmonic healing in my direction.

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search for delicious

Noah -- February 6, 2012 -- bffs, eye candy and group hug.

We thought it would be sweet to hold out a week before posting any of our own words regarding this stellar video that our buds at Tiny Waves put together, and that sweetness has totally settled like a blanket and touched all of our hearts. Just before parting ways in early January a few of us met at Centinela Park in Inglewood, Los Angeles, just a few blocks from the second day location of the fest, and began our New Year with this memorable conversation. Steve Head [aka Dark Sea of Awareness] has described the context of this conversation oh so well, so we’ll share his words here:

FMLY Fest is far from your ordinary music festival. It’s the antithesis of the commercialized spectacle that we’ve all grown accustomed to. Festival goers are afforded a neutral territory free from the restraints and expectations of the traditional concert experience. FMLY stresses the importance of building communities as opposed to icons. We had the great pleasure to chat with the founders of FMLY, Cameron Rath and Noah Klein, about the origin and essence of FMLY, and what we can expect in the future. [via]

Thank you to everyone who has shared such a positive energy for this festival, and everyone who has found something to constructively critique. Among much else we are sharing a dialogue between people and our space, ideas and our time, music and the moment of which it occupies… these last four years together have been nothing but an absolute pleasure, soulful challenge, and opportunity to critically engage with our global society. Let’s feel real.

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exploring g chording

frnds -- January 29, 2012 -- bffs, changing the world and eye candy.

It’s obvious that more is better than less in some cases. Sometimes all it takes is one person or entity to make something amazing and it always makes me ecstatic to just talk about out of “the norm” ideas. My friend Geoff Morgan used to fling his paint brush at a blank piece of sheet music and speckle the thing with water color. He would then proceed to write that music into an electronic music program on his computer as if he were that up and comer shredder Jason Becker, who lost feeling in his lower limbs only to lose all ability to play his guitar and friends had to create elaborate eye systems for which Jason could still construct his music. In Geoff’s case he had written a piece of music that merely had the DNA of what a wrist flinging paint sounds like, or what a good blood spatter detective might recover if he ran the information he’d gathered through a music making program in the future. Then there’s always word play and how it takes you down a loophole and back. You lose your mind for a second in the silliness of our language and find an unexplained meaning in the game. I have many a friend who are endowed with this through older generations of friends long gone and so on. Silliness needs a history. The idea to get 100 people together to create a large ambient “G” hum is on the same level as making an iPhone app that lets you discover hidden treasure buried by complete strangers in your local area or cutting vinyl records in half and gluing them back together to hear what they sound like [coughcough]. The idea is almost as elusive when thought up as when it’s finally undertaken. The “G” Hum parade went off without a hitch. I remember initially walking out of Bows & Arrows thinking, “This is too small…” and then two trumpets fired off triumphantly only to be followed by 5 little melodicas and the faint sound of little battery operated keyboards. We had created a Tibetan Buddhist buzz. All this said, people need to engage silly ideas more often. Make some history out of those ideas. If the guys at NASA knew it was this easy to reach outer space they wouldn’t have spent those billions of dollars, they would have accessed the moon via different crafts.

<3,
Daniel Trudeau [aka Pregnant], via Impose

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permanent moods

Noah -- December 9, 2011 -- eye candy, new tunes and premiere.

Ghibli – Aubrey de Grey (Jessica Jalbert remixed)

Nelson Mandela once shared that, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”. As long as I’ve been aware of Tom Mike’s prolific consumption of ‘internet presence’, it has become his knack for exploring the possibilities of a collaborative language that have kept me around. Now, I’m not referring to his dizzying amount of information and sounds shared via facebook, tumblr or twitter, but the way in which he threads his relationships into a tapestry of aural destinies. Focusing on Ghibli, the manifestation of Tom’s musical output this year, we followed the story of a young Canadian producer/musician eager to experiment with classical music samples in the context of trance, hip-hop and general dance music. The introduction alone is inspiring, and with Pythia Tom delivered a collageifesto that speaks headspaces beyond “I’ll C U When U Get There” or Rob Paravonian’s “Pachelbel Rant“. His stitches can be viewed as a modern evaluation of détournement, that is, turning expressions of the ancient monarch-capitalist system against a modern equivalent, and among his more local relationships to sound it is THIS approach which keeps my heart racing whenever we have the chance to speak.

Today we have the pleasure of sharing a remix that Tom recently put together for his galpal Jessica Jalbert which gravitates around the literal notion of language and how fundamental sounds can be applied to form new shapes. These shapes result in the development of a new language, one of depth, color, and shape that may be the norm up north in Tom’s progressive city of Edmonton, AB, but here in the repressive United States we rarely know such linguistic beauty. Even in a more traditional remix Tom’s ability to convey something deeper than the presentation of sweet sounds shines through, and for that our smiles shine right back. After the jump I’ve also included a remix made up by Pariah Carey and visualized by Rachel Evans.

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meat of our matters

Noah -- November 3, 2011 -- changing the world and eye candy.

No Monster Club – Wish Me Well

Putting videos together really isn’t a strength of mine, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be a whole lot of fun. A few weekends ago I got together with a few friends and shot a short PSA on the effects of the meat industry upon global climate change, deforestation, and the world at large. The more I’ve taken the time to think about the ritual of meat the more I’ve also developed a thread in relation to sexuality, both are highly fetishized and in Western society I’ve found value in comparing the default carnivore to the default heterosexual. Of course it’s all a part of the larger issue which is the industry of prescribed culture, but still fun to think about and a conversation piece rich for discussion. Anyways, enjoy the video and hopefully I have the confidence to make another someday about another subject I’m interested in. If you dig the tune, I’ve included it for download!

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cadavre exquis

frnds -- October 31, 2011 -- expanding our horizons and eye candy.

by brian vu

Absent Fever – Exquisite Corpse

Composed by impulse and the stream of consciousness, seven juxtaposed artists came in union to create a collective vision; distinct and furthermore one. Seven of the Absent Fever artists collaborated to create one seven minute song. Each was given only the previous artist’s one minute to base their one minute off of, and was told to compose from solely initial creative reaction. In result is a seven minute long guide through the soundscape of Absent Fever. Videographer Library Voices then interpreted the entire stream of consciousness into a visual depiction of the landscapes visited. It sounds almost like an afterthought of a global-travel, and looks like it too. As if the sounds are soaring between the ivory coasts of the equator, wrapping their presence around the sphere. The travelers collected grains of sand and salt, blizzard and air-currents from each dwelling passed. Country, to corner, city, to village, without realizing, they’d had pieces of everything. And somehow, the diversity compiled itself into something more together than they could anticipate. Each had a map of their travels ingrained in the palms of their hands and the wiring of their subconscious; when each sat to make song, the song was together. There were seven travelers, and their retelling of their voyage was one.

order of appearance:
0:00) KYNAN 1:00) Gracie 2:00) Birkwin Jersey 3:00) Wonder Bear 4:00) Ra Cailum 5:00) Galapagos 6:00) Guerre

<3,
Absent Fever

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mister fantastic

Noah -- October 30, 2011 -- bffs and eye candy.

USF – Point Break II

I’d rather be ashes than dust.
I would rather that my spark burn out
in a brilliant blaze, than be stilled by dry rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor than
a sleepy and permanent planet.
The proper function is to live, not to exist.
-Evel Knievel, quoting Jack London [beginning issue #1]

Penned by Seattle’s Jason Baxter [of USF] & Mac Hamilton with artwork produced by New York’s Derek Charm, Trip Fantastic shares the epic tale of the fall, rise, and eventual downward spiral of a young celebrity daredevil. Though the series is only an issue deep, as the adventure began one month ago, we’ve already found introduction to a totally radical variety of characters [like the low-profile scientist on the run from Interpol], situations [I need a makeshift hang-glider in real life], and both the graphic layout and art design are developing a new precedent towards my understanding of narrative in a linear online reading experience. I’d hate to spoil any of the initial surprises for anyone, but I’ve personally never read an animated graphic series that visually represents what is meant to be felt and really hope that Jason will integrate his own homemade sounds in the future. Head here to read the first issue, and don’t forget to click play on the official mixtape to listen as you read along. First issue in limited print November 10.

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faded like a gradient

Noah -- October 28, 2011 -- bffs and eye candy.

Cop Magnet – Koolifornia

#HDBOYZ is the world’s first high definition boy band, and the collaboration of media enthusiasts Alex Kelly-Hoffman [Cop Magnet, Gvcci Hvcci, Max Velocity], Ryder Ripps [dump.fm, internet archeology], Aaron David Ross [Gatekeeper], Colin Self, Tabor Robak, and Thunderhorse. Now all of these fine individuals are beyond deserving of their own praise, but considering that today is my sweetie roomie Alex’s birthday we thought it’d be nice to just collectively say “we love you and can’t wait to see what you come up with next”. Enjoy the video above from their debut performance at MoMA PS1 in August, show it to your friends, and click here for the straight up visuals to “Unzip” which has been stuck in my head for a month now. Alex began recording “Koolifornia” [off Distraction] two years ago after crashing at my apt for a week with Cameron, and he still hasn’t made the trek but we’re workin’ real hard on getting him out there coughfmlyfest2k12cough.

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