molten vapour at the core / a vacuum into which to pour
Ian M
Posts: 123
This is a bit of a rant done quickly one morning while listening to Jim O'Rourke's 'Insignificance' album on record, noticing if & when & and why the surface crackles and low background grumble interfered with the experience. For instance, it got to me when the needle bumped over a particularly rough patch, but not when a car droned in a wet, drawn out torture past the window, or with that damn house alarm that's always going off in the middle of the day for no reason.
Vinyl always brought its own background sound effects with it, but you tolerated it because you could see the whole physical process of the music being made, and empathise with that daunting struggle of the needle in its groove. All that jazz. And the big almighty secret - you could still get lost inside its imperfection. Perhaps that was the only reason you could, cos with a push-putton, world-denying digital experience if it's not perfect it's nothing.
Anyway, here it is. Forgive me if it crackles a bit
Digital is an all-or-nothing proposition.
All or Nothing : one or zero : all or nothing.
It's a demand continually made.
Demanding attention either undivided
Or elsewhere entirely.
1 means nothing Other is permitted access
To the spectrum.
It's a calling to the endless quest for silence
Absolute beyond that 1.
Audiophilia does not admit the bird singing at the window
Into its scheme.
Anything beyond that 1 is an unfortunate undesirable -
Even your noisy bodily functions as beholden -
To be ignored or suppressed.
1 prescribes annihilation for all but itself.
0 means you have to look away for your own safety.
The cops going 'Nothing to see here' at the scene of the crime
It impels the beholder to other distractions
Any distraction so long as it relates in no way
To the original incident.
0 is the way your friends conquered music
Through the internet and mp3
And then moved on to other things
Not quite knowing what they lost.
0 is the promise of immunity
From all dirty processes in question;
An equally insane counterbalance of homogeneity and sterility
(Of product to be consumed)
To the exclusive promiscuity of your relationship to the other, 1;
0 was all you missed in a first glance
So digital was like the promise of immortality that collapsed after ten years
Suddenly while analogue was only beginning
To blur around the edges:
Slowly admitting more external influence on its being
In the universal health of natural decay
Analogue admitted change and adapted to new conditions
Digital stood tall and resolute before sands shifted beneath its
Sure foundations and it all came crashing down.
And the secret to success?
No propositions. No demands. No promises.
'Maybe one day'
'But not the next' (your retort)
'No: things'll be different then'
You'll just have to come along for the ride.
Vinyl always brought its own background sound effects with it, but you tolerated it because you could see the whole physical process of the music being made, and empathise with that daunting struggle of the needle in its groove. All that jazz. And the big almighty secret - you could still get lost inside its imperfection. Perhaps that was the only reason you could, cos with a push-putton, world-denying digital experience if it's not perfect it's nothing.
Anyway, here it is. Forgive me if it crackles a bit
Digital is an all-or-nothing proposition.
All or Nothing : one or zero : all or nothing.
It's a demand continually made.
Demanding attention either undivided
Or elsewhere entirely.
1 means nothing Other is permitted access
To the spectrum.
It's a calling to the endless quest for silence
Absolute beyond that 1.
Audiophilia does not admit the bird singing at the window
Into its scheme.
Anything beyond that 1 is an unfortunate undesirable -
Even your noisy bodily functions as beholden -
To be ignored or suppressed.
1 prescribes annihilation for all but itself.
0 means you have to look away for your own safety.
The cops going 'Nothing to see here' at the scene of the crime
It impels the beholder to other distractions
Any distraction so long as it relates in no way
To the original incident.
0 is the way your friends conquered music
Through the internet and mp3
And then moved on to other things
Not quite knowing what they lost.
0 is the promise of immunity
From all dirty processes in question;
An equally insane counterbalance of homogeneity and sterility
(Of product to be consumed)
To the exclusive promiscuity of your relationship to the other, 1;
0 was all you missed in a first glance
So digital was like the promise of immortality that collapsed after ten years
Suddenly while analogue was only beginning
To blur around the edges:
Slowly admitting more external influence on its being
In the universal health of natural decay
Analogue admitted change and adapted to new conditions
Digital stood tall and resolute before sands shifted beneath its
Sure foundations and it all came crashing down.
And the secret to success?
No propositions. No demands. No promises.
'Maybe one day'
'But not the next' (your retort)
'No: things'll be different then'
You'll just have to come along for the ride.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
nice to read, ian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Harrison
Do you know if there are any editions of his work that don't have a huge fuck-off Thom Yorke quote on the front cover?
People thought I was cool for reading George Monbiot until they saw the cover of Captive State with a similar endorsement and went 'oh, right...' with an understanding nod. Even though that was only one of many reasons I was reading it
cheers
Ian
A mate of mine went to school (in Abingdon?) with Thom Yorke. I think he was a couple of years younger than him, though. He said Thom was a very serious, assiduous type and that he was amazed and pleased he became this anti-star and figurehead of a certain cool.