winter 2008/2008

above: photos from various locations in massachusetts, new mexico, and california (photos by a.t. and f. coloccia).

currently in the works:

-isis: "wavering radiant" album art is now in its final stages - u.s., european and japanese versions will all have different covers and interiors based around the same themes and basic elements. previews of the finished layouts to be posted here soon.

-house of low culture: material is being prepared for an upcoming split 12" with mamiffer , as well as remixes for pyramids and lustmord . also in the works will be a collaborative project project with tom neely called "the wolf". tom is writing/drawing content for a book for which HOLC will create a soundtrack. the finished product will likely take the form of a hard-bound book packaged in tandem with two 10" records - release date is tentative, but we're aiming for summer. all of these materials will be released in one form or another via hydra head over the course of 2009.

-lotus eaters: "mind control for infants", the debut album by lotus eaters (consisting of james plotkin, stephen o'malley, and myself), is finally going to see the light of day on the vinyl format. the album (originally released on CD via neurot recordings in 2001), is undergoing a transformation for its new incarnation. the new version will include alternate mixes of the original tracks, a bonus track not included on the CD version, and revamped artwork. taiga records will be handling the release - please take a moment to familiarize yourself with their fine label if you haven't already.

enhancing: a good dose of snow in various locations, ofermod "tiamatü", birchville cat motel "four freckle constellation", einstürzende neubauten "fünf auf der nach oben offenen richterskala", deathspell omega "chaining the katechon", green grass in the valley, m.o.s.w.f., prurient "adam tied to stone", deep listening band "then & now now & then", leatherface "fill your boots"

darkness of the future

Above: details from illustrations for ISIS "Wavering Radiant"

Below: excerpt from C. G. Jung's "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" (1961)

"Our souls as well as our bodies are composed of individual elements which were all already present in the ranks of our ancestors. The "newness" in the individual psyche is an endlessly varied re-combination of age-old components. Body and soul therefor have an intensely historical character and find no proper place in what is new, in things that have just come into being. That is to say, our ancestral components are only partly at home in such things. We are very far from having finished with the Middle Ages, classical antiquity, and primitivity, as our modern psyches pretend. Nevertheless, we have plunged down a cataract of progress which sweeps us on into the future with even wilder violence the farther it takes us from our roots. Once the past has been breached, it is usually annihilated, and there is no stopping the forward motion. But it is precisely the loss of connection with the past, our uprootedness, which has given rise to the "discontents" of civilization and to such a flurry of haste that we live more in the future and its chimerical promises of a golden age than in the present, with which our whole evolutionary background has not yet caught up. We rush impetuously into novelty, driven by a mounting sense of insufficiency, dissatisfaction, and restlessness. We no longer live on what we have, but on promises, no longer in the light of the present day, but in the darkness of the future, which, we expect, will at last bring the proper sunrise. We refuse to recognize that everything better is purchased at the price of something worse; that, for example, the hope of greater freedom is cancelled out by increased enslavement to the state, not to speak of the terrible perils to which the most brilliant of discoveries of science expose us. The less we understand of what our fathers and forefathers sought, the less we understand of ourselves, and thus we help with all our might to rob the individual of his roots and his guiding instincts, so he becomes a particle in the mass, ruled only by what Nietzsche called the spirit of gravity.
Reforms by advances, that is, by new methods or gadgets, are of course impressive at first, but in the long run they are dubious and in any case dearly paid for. They by no means increase the contentment or happiness of people on the whole. Mostly, they are deceptive sweetenings of existence, like speedier communications which unpleasantly accelerate the tempo of life and leave us with less time than ever before. Omnis festinatio ex parte diaboli est - all haste is of the devil, as the old masters used to say.
Reforms by retrogressions, on the other hand, are as a rule less expensive and in addition more lasting, for they return to the simpler, tried and tested ways of the past and make the sparsest use of newspapers, radio, television, and all supposedly timesaving innovations.
In this book I have devoted considerable space to my subjective view of the world, which, however, is not a product of rational thinking. It is rather a vision such as will come to one who undertakes, deliberately, with half-closed eyes and somewhat closed ears, to see and hear the form and voice of being. If our impressions are too distinct, we are held to the hour and minute of the present and have no way of knowing how our ancestral psyches listen to and understand the present - in other words, how our unconscious responds to it. Thus we remain ignorant of whether our ancestral components find an elementary gratification in our lives, or whether they are repelled. Inner peace and contentment depend in large measure upon whether or not the historical family which is inherent in the individual can be harmonized with the ephemeral conditions of the present."

NOCTURNAL LOS ANGELES

above: nighttime in los angeles (recent documents)

accompaniment: cold cave "painted nails", swans "filth", "the wrestler" daron aronofsky, circle "katapault", dälek "gutter tactics", harvey milk - weston sessions, roger doyle "the ninth set".

WANT TO TRADE RECORDS?

i have a whole list of records i'm looking for, but there are 2 in particular that i'm on the hunt for at the moment:

1. swans "anonymous bodies in an empty room" LP (pictured above)
2. neil young "dead man" soundtrack 2xLP

i have just about every isis, old man gloom, hydra head, lotus eaters, house of low culture LP, 2xLP, test, press, CD, + CDR available for trade (with only a couple exceptions), so if you have either of the above listed LPs, or can obtain them for me i will happily trade - just leave a comment with what you want in trade and a contact address and we'll work it out. thank you.

NEW ADDITION, STUDIO, etc.

from top to bottom:

-pancake - new addition to the clan as of xmas 2008
-isis in the studio - contemplating snacks while "listening" to mixes
-isis in the studio - the reliable series of masks
-isis in the studio - maintenance
-isis in the studio - aaron harris hitting some things
(isis studio photos: faith coloccia)

someone asked about a title for the new isis song that we "debuted" in our live set on our recent trip to europe. since there are already some lo-fi videos of this on youtube i figured we could share the title: "20 minutes/40 years". so that's that. i'll spill more as the time gets closer. all tracking is finished at this point, 6 or the 8 songs are mixed. closing in on it. artwork to commence shortly.

holiday cheer: pancake + robot + orange, xasthur "all reflections drained", krallice s/t, cat power "jukebox", desert christmas, T.R. vs the GZA, TJ's chocolate covered peppermint jo jo's, the golden noose around my neck, lustmord "other", boris "smile", james hollis "under saturn's shadow", dreams of flight, yoga songs from split with ghäst, etc.

TORCHE 12" etc

above - images form the forthcoming torche 12" ep. top to bottom: front cover with sticker (black ink on gold metallic foil stock), back cover, A + B side LP labels. the photos were supplied by reed segovia and mark thompson, and the background watercolors were made by faith coloccia.

a quick response to comments left in regards to the last post about the election of barack obama and my related enthusiasm: to clarify, i don't think obama is a savior of the world or even the US, nor do i believe him to be perfect. i don't believe that all or most of the massive problems we currently face (globally and nationally), will be solved quickly and cleanly in the next 2, 4 or even 8 years. that said, i do believe that obama is a far sight better than what we've suffered over the last 8 years, and certainly can't make things worse than they already are - and even provides a formidable prospect of improvement. i am perfectly aware that he is fairly middle of the road as far as his record is concerned, as was the rhetoric espoused during his campaign, and also as exemplified by his choices for his cabinet. he is however the first presidential candidate in my lifetime (to have had a real shot at the presidency), that i have found in any way inspiring or truly promising. considering there was widespread slavery in the US a little over 100 years ago, and rigid segregation in many parts of the country well into the 1960s, the election of barack obama is a significant statement in historical terms for that reason alone. another important aspect that i've considered in regards to prospect of an obama presidency is this: while a really radical shift is needed on many levels in this country, it is highly unlikely that a candidate with equally radical views would and could be elected to the presidential office. obama may be able to affect at least some perceptible level of change due to the fact that he IS fairly middle of the road and therefor won't draw continual and vehement resistance from the right. it's inevitable that the post election enthusiasm will wane and a visible degree of cynicism will set in once he takes office - the reality of his presidency cannot possibly live up to the idealistic expectations that many have pinned on him. there is a long hard road from this point forward towards a recognizable degree of ascendence, but i remain optimistic that obama is a truly capable catalyst for raising us up a good measure from the depths we're in which we're currently treading.

cause for celebration

it's a few days after the fact now, but i just wanted to express my profound elation in regards to the election of barack obama. like many other people of my generation this seems to be one of the only truly positive socio-political events to occur during our lifetimes, and perhaps the paramount one - at least as far as this country is concerned. as i watched the poll results roll in i felt a greater sense of joy than i would have even imagined possible in the final moments of a presidential race, and that feeling grew even more pronounced when his victory was declared. i was lucky enough to be able to share these moments with others who are not only dear to me, but shared similar feelings of happiness and great relief - my girlfriend, brother, and my sister-in-law (as well as a good many other folks via phone and text message). all were in agreement that this was a profoundly moving and important occasion, perhaps unlike any other we had known.

though obama has certainly been handed one enormous pile of shit to shovel (far more than any other president in the last few decades), he seems more than capable of the job, formidable as it is. i've never had much confidence or enthusiasm about any major US politician (let alone president), and perhaps i'm pinning too much hope on our new president elect, but if he does even half of what he has proposed, our currently dismal situation can only improve from here on out.

thank you mr. obama for providing a glimmer of light in this uncertain age. thank you to everyone who helped make this possibility a reality.