Geoforms

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An impulse to create outlined the space in which a universe was to be built and so it was. Defined and solidified. This was followed by an intent to form things and implant in them a persistence, an enduring state of existence. This universe was then filled with clouds of radioactive dust, a malleable form of energy with which to bring to shape the hallucination of a creative impulse from an image formed in the mind of an intelligent being. A dream was then projected from the mind of a Maker and many other cooperating minds so that by it began the process of creation. For by this dream alone, a desire for images to become mobile, the universe began to take shape.

Geoforms, begins with a syncopated overlaid set of drum tracks that form a brief intro. They will be the backbone for the entire duration of the song. It sets the stage for a sparse melodic drone of mid-range notes that playfully counterpoint with another short line of bass notes, in call and response format. The rhythm guitar holds a splashy chord with shimmering effect that sustains itself throughout the intro until it releases the tension by flowing into the next section of music that rises and pulls you up with it.

The compression of the gravitic pull of this piece represents the built up pressure with which planets started to form. Within one critical moment, an ignition takes place, and thus the core of a planet was lit. Geoforms too ignites with an explosion of energy into the second section of the song and shows how a process slowly forms by building up energy and unleashing it in a magnified release.

The great ball of energy upon which the Earth grew and its enormous pull gave it its eventual size. The pull of other large masses and their interaction with the laws of the forces which govern their motions placed them all, each in their own orbits and positions. The extensive magnetic field of the Sun and the numerous magnetic fields of what would become the other planets all interacting put everything in its place and thus the universe was set.

In Geoforms, this idea comes to life when just a few musical elements center around a simple idea and rhythmic structure that eventually expand and release the energy that was being concentrated in the intro. But like all forms of energy, whether creative or astrophysical, when it reaches a critical mass of compression, the energy must be released and dispersed into the environment, particles blown out of an explosion.

Over millions of years, all of the planets cooled and became rocky or gaseous balls circling the Sun at differing rates of orbit. A day on Earth was defined as a rotation of the Earth on its axis, with a year referring to a completion of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. The illusion for us is of the Sun rising and falling, when in actuality all that occurs is that the Earth turns, while the Sun remains motionless.

Originally, as one mass of radioactive energy, the Earth formed a crust over a ball of molten rock, mostly composed of iron. Gigantic plates of rock, the continents, move about the surface of the planet and perform minute movements by grinding against each other to form mountains, shores, and rifts causing an endless arrangement in landscapes I call Geoforms. The movement of these tectonic plates are what make and re-make the look of our world over time. The slow and persistent motion of these plates build oceans, generate earthquakes, erode coasts, and sink entire continents.

Geoforms captures this element of slow and persistent tectonic motion with a smooth melody in the second section as it contrasts against the jaggedness of rock from the guitar strumming, which gives the illusion of a staggered mountainous region rising out of a plain. The low notes in the main theme speak as if they were a great command proclaiming the eternity of life and existence, back of everything we see, feel, and hear. Moreover, the tones of the melody have a courageous, almost triumphant quality that illustrate a motive power underlying the process of forming and remaking the Earth for eons.

On Earth, evolution would follow its own unique planetary blueprint in geology and biology, environment and life forms. Not only would the environment cool and harden, but it would also become the landscape we now know, inhabited by plants, animals, and more importantly, water. But whether here on Earth, or on other planets, Geoforms really tells the story of all planets and the way they develop according to the blueprint by which they were designed - in chance formations governed by universal laws coded into the fabric of the cosmos.

The third section of Geoforms reveals this fact about Earth and in sound shows us several scenes of oasis. One is a refreshing area of land irrigated by water diverted from a nearby river to help fertilize fields and their crops, another is a gorgeous waterfall filling a large pool at its base where the myriad life forms can gather to drink, frolic, or bathe, and lastly, a vast ocean spreading out into a seeming infinity where there is no end to the horizon. Fish, plant, and man all benefit from the bounty that is provided by the Earth as it evolved from a creative impulse to build a dream and to give it form.

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Related Music:

Geoforms

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Marc

https://stereothesis.bandcamp.com/

The Atmosphere of Music

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Sound disturbs the air molecules in a space and causes vibrations to agitate against every part of the body. When sound is organized into music, it fills a space with sonic vibrations of a particular pattern and that pattern is what  affects the mind, activating the emotions, restructures the atmosphere within an environment to create a mood.

Well-designed music causes mass hallucination during a music experience. When people gather in groups to listen to music, the patterns that emerge from the speakers perform their magic and the music experience takes hold of every person present on two levels.

Firstly, the music experience is interpreted by the individual according to their own emotional development and personal history, which allows them to relate to the music and mold it in a way where it seems it was made just for them.

Secondly, the music experience produces an atmosphere which blankets a group of people and collectively they share a common experience that shapes their perceptions in the moment. Whatever they see, feel, and hear during the music experience in this context is a mass hallucination, since it can only be seen, heard, and felt by them and no one else outside of the space being filled with the atmosphere of music.

When it is wisely used and carefully selected, music can reinforce or shape a mood by creating an atmosphere that surrounds, envelopes, and fills everyone within a space with a pattern of thought transmitted from the composer.

A vinyl record, cassette, CD, and mP3 file interpret information on a sound system, but they are not the music. Music is what is projected out into an area through the speakers. The music is what happens when all of the parts of a sound system operate properly to allow something be heard and felt.

Music is a powerful force and through the patterns that project out of the speakers, we are held in its sway and can experience things we would not be able to otherwise. The music experience consists of two levels of understanding and feeling, the individual and the collective, but all of it comes back to the way music works on the mind and our emotions. By hitting us on two sides, music touches us deeply and makes its impression on our psyche on a nonverbal, almost precognitive basis.

What is heard and felt is what’s called the music experience. The music experience is not an act or performance, but rather is what the composer wants you to hear and feel while their music is creating the atmosphere you’re sitting in.

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Related Music:

Who's Eating You?

Rear View Mirror

Bodies in Rapture

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Marc

http://stereothesis.com/

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Snake People

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The snake has deep symbolic meaning in all societies around the globe both for good and evil. Some of its significance ranges from sexual connotations, notions of evil intent, all the way to a deity or god form that is capable of imparting wisdom to mankind.

In this song and music composition, “Snake,” I wanted to bring out the elements of the snake that I felt I could related to and express with convincing dramatism. To do this I needed music to establish that vibe. So what I did was use a micro-tonal tuning on the guitar, which worked perfectly by creating a variety of exotic textures as I experimented searching for the right combination.

The music was designed to make you feel like you entered a ritual chamber where something (or someone) was going to be sacrificed. The darkness of the space was lit with the dim light of candles and filled with the smoke and odor of incense. The rattle at the introduction and throughout the song present the Snake as a mythical man-animal hybrid luring a new victim into his sex ritual ceremony.

Snake people come in two forms, men and women, who assume the characteristics and behavior of the animals as we understand them. When they speak they use slippery words that sound good to the ears of others, but hide their true intentions. When they act to do good, they do so with the expectation that such labors on their part will derive some reward, repayment, or enslave those who they’ve assisted. All in all, their thoughts are drawing boards for the spinning of social webs that are designed to ensnare others in traps of their own making.

Having fallen into one of a Snake person’s set-ups, the target strangely feels grateful for receiving such an invitation because Snake People are extremely talented at charming their victims. There’s even a sense of obligation for going or showing up to the ritual chamber that occurs in the mind of the person to be used and sacrificed, since Snake People are expert at eliciting other people’s confidence and cooperation.

In the song “Snake,” the main character is a mythical man-creature who greets and invites his female catch into the sacred space and proceeds rapidly to begin the act for which he had intended for his victim. Once the Snake-Man reveals his true intent and nature as a person, the reaction of the victim changes and becomes a massive let-down. Her hopes were raised by his smooth words, cool demeanor, expensive taste, and nice possessions only to be shattered by the reality of the situation and the act in which she is engaged.

The Snake-Man, in contrast, experiences elation at seeing his victim’s reaction when he finally exposes the truth about himself. As she is going through all the emotions associated with her feelings of deception, the way it changes her physical appearance actually brings the Snake pleasure.

The spell that overcame the victim was initially generated when the Snake enveloped her in a web of psychic energy which he placed over her as they first met. The effects of this web lasted all the way until she arrived at location of the ritual chamber. Now as the sex ritual begins and demands further involvement, the spell became a deep trance which increased with every form of compliance she allowed herself to commit.

In the second verse of “Snake,” the victim at one point starts to look for an exit, but the Snake-Man anticipates this and thwarts her effort by diverting her attention to the next action she must perform before she’ll be released again into the wilderness of human society.

Pain, distress, and worry - emotional or physical - in his victims is a source of joy for him because to him what he does and how it affects others is nothing more than fun and just the way life is - eat or be eaten. The rule of the jungle is a male or female Snake’s philosophy of life.

“This is why I love you,

This is what I love about you,

This is when I love you

This is how I love you.”

Wrapping up the piece is the chorus, which is actually the Snake persons mantra. When they’ve succeeded in manipulating, humiliating, using, and destroying their victims, they actually mix complements with the humiliation to make the experience even more hypnotic for the victim by spinning it with confusion. Their goal is to break the will of their victim and remake them into loyal pets, but for those who will not comply and are not easily broken, Woe! To them who will not bend into the fold.

To hear the track “Snake” from the album
Dynamo Symphonia by Stereo Thesis...click here.

Marc

http://stereothesis.com/

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The Music Vault: Overflow of Creativity - Revisited

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Creativity cannot be contained or regulated since it flows to hidden recesses in the mind or soul and pools into reserves waiting to be harnessed. When too much creative energy is forced into a pool of reserves and is not allowed to flow freely into artistic production, pressure builds in the mind of the individual restraining himself.

This scenario occurs all too often in the field of the arts and the entertainment business, which is totally out of alignment with the needs of the artist and their desire for complete freedom of artistic expression. Instead, what happens, for example as in the case of Prince, is the record label decides how much and how often the musician/composer will be allowed to release their work publicly, so the artist can either wait for the label to dictate their rate of production, break the contract to move forward on their own, but risking a lawsuit, or start a new project under a different moniker, then proceed from there.

Some of the recent revelations about Prince’s music vault illustrate how much unreleased material there must be in the music vaults of most top bands and other solo artists in the music industry that’s just waiting to see the light of day, but won’t because the record labels want to control as much of the production process as they can to protect their investments in the works of their artists. It can be safely assumed that there must be as much unreleased material as there is released material in every artistic field, but for financial reasons or investment purposes labels aren’t allowing the artist the freedom to push their material out publicly.

At one point, Prince in his battle with his record label demanded that he be allowed to release albums at a much faster rate than they were allowing him to, specifically 2 albums per year, in order to keep up with his speed of production and the immensity of his creative vision. This would account for his vast unreleased music collection as well as additional materials and media.

Interestingly, no one doubts that Prince was in possession of such material and that it consists of at least 50 fully produced music videos, full-length albums, and many other kinds of media produced by the artist. In total, there are probably hundreds of hours of music ready for release in the vaults, but rumors are that the material is likely to be released slowly over the next 2 decades. It is also believed that this material includes songs that the artist once said contained some of his finest work.

When a person’s creative capacity is restrained or unnaturally regulated, from within or without, the soul of the person quietly determines that the vehicle is inadequate to serve its aims, therefore the body or restraining influence must be destroyed. Whether the artist restrains their creative capacity by withholding their artistic output or by hiding or withholding their artistic creations, the pressure of withholding becomes a kind of psychic pain, which is formed from the artist’s inability to freely offer their creative work to their audience.

Without resolving this dilemma completely, the psychic pain can morph into physical pain, which forces the artist to find ways to reduce or eliminate the pain. Too often, when artists go through this process of degradation, they self-medicate and frequently overdose. When the artist destroys their body, using one method or another, their decision is swayed by choosing the lesser of two evils. Instead of fighting the record labels in court, which could completely wipe the artist out emotionally and financially, they find other ways to escape the situation.

Prince, along with the many other artists, musicians, and composers, who are trapped by the restraining influence of music labels made his choice and for that we lost a tremendous talent whose absence became an immense void in the soul of humanity. This type of artistic departure I term “black hole creativity” because of the vacuum it leaves in the collective creative mind of all people.

Creativity needs freedom of expression to ensure the physical and psychological health of the individual in possession of an immense artistic capacity. In fact, our physical bodies are the vehicles or tools for artistic production, so when a person works in harmony with their creative capacity, their mind and body are at ease with the nature of the creativity that resides within them. The artist must be free to create as often and as quickly as they are capable and for this they should be amply rewarded and revered.

Click here to learn more and read the article “Black Hole Creativity.”

Click here to learn more and read the article "The Overflow of Creativity: Why Artists Need to Find New Areas to Conquer, New Worlds to Explore"

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Related Music:

Dutiful Son

Lonely King

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Marc

http://stereothesis.com/

Remember to join our mailing list.

To support Stereo Thesis with a financial donation securely through PayPal, click here.

Live Music Recordings and the Element of Surprise

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GET “SONIC WEAPONS: The Official Stereo Thesis Music Sampler” FOR FREE.

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“Subtle material like those which exist in recordings of jazz and other improvisational music becomes more interesting and meaningful upon relistening.”

– Brian Eno, The Studio as a Compositional Tool

"Live music recordings" are simply a music recording approach that harnesses the ease and immensity of digital recording equipment with the freedom of improvisational music. The basic idea is that you'd improvise a new composition from the beginning of the recording process, track by track, until you achieve completion. 

The purposes of recording live music or of recording improvised music are to improve the sensitivity of the musicians or composer and to exploit the element of surprise. Recordings of live concerts and classical music clearly illustrate this principle in action.
 
What's wonderful about digital recording equipment is that it allows the solo musician, composer, or unstable band to  transcend time by freezing music in a digital universe. This is extremely useful because any new musician can come in at a later time and fill in the missing parts in a piece of music. The solo artist can also perform this function by creating the illusion of multiple players by multi-tracking.
 
The way in which he would achieve this is whenever a new track is going to be added to the piece he, in effect, acts in the capacity of a new player coming into the recorded ensemble with his own perception of what the piece should sound like or with what he would like to add to it. This psychological approach will increase the chances for another layer of the element of surprise. 
 
The new player infuses an existing piece of music with his unique signature of creative energy, technical skill, and emotional expression (style). All of these factors are injected into the music he adds to and the surprises manifest as he reacts to the twists and turns of rhythm and melody. In my music, I don't worry as much about getting each part just right, rather I'm concerned with capturing an energy or solidifying an idea. That's the only thing worth recording.

Recording live music includes the idea that chance events and musical accidents might stay in the recording as a way of authenticating the actual "live-ness" of the music recording. The advent of affordable digital music recording equipment leveled the playing field in terms of sound quality. That means for good or bad all music can be recorded at more or less the same quality. On some systems and software the mixing and mastering process can be completed with the touch of a button. So what's going to determine what's good or bad about a song will only be the strength of the composition and the level of musicianship.

Another way to think of the studio is as an environment where music recording is done as opposed to a place that determines what music will be made. The difference between these two viewpoints is one of quality - freedom vs. restriction. The element of surprise must be preserved at all costs. So when producing live music recordings you have to balance spontaneous performance and rehearsals. Rehearsing should only be used as a way of determining the possibilities within a song, while the recording process should unleash the live energy of the musician that allows him to spontaneously arrange the material he discovered during the rehearsals.

The field for digital distribution and marketing of music has also leveled a barrier that stood between the composer / musician and the consumer. Now the lines of communication are direct and open to all. With this barrier gone too, the quality of the composition and musicianship must be stressed on any recording that gets made. Average songs and mediocre musicianship can become popular, but they don't last and are easily replaced by other average songs and mediocre musicians.  A vicious artistic cycle.

Live music recordings can bring the living energy of an artist through the music to the consumer. The little imperfections, outtakes, and minor variances all give a digital recording a "live" feel. And when they are permitted to remain in a studio recording, all those little things a composer didn’t intend to be in a recording take on an added significance when listened to over and over again. No consumer listens to music they like only once. Instead, they listen to it many times over a period of years, so the music grows more meaningful as they change from their experience of living. As they grow, the music they listen to also changes and takes on deeper significances.

Now if you do decide to edit or erase little imperfections or musical accidents be very selective and only remove those that interfere with sound quality and not those that reduce technical skill or emotional expression. Sometimes it’s the chance events and musical accidents that become the reason why an audience falls in love with a recording. Good music is always used as an essential part of life to highlight meaningful events and important moments in a person's life.

  

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Related Music:

Creative Flows

Rear View Mirror
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The Computer Music Man: Top 10 Arrangement Tips for Home Recording Artists

Art and The Emotional Rollercoaster
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Marc
http://stereothesis.com/

Remember to join our mailing list.


To support Stereo Thesis with a financial donation securely through PayPal, click here.