the unraveling

For Sale: The US Government

Dear Corporations,
I would like to announce my candidacy for public office. Since the Supreme Court has now made it legal for you to spend money to influence elections, I am proposing a new, more cost-effective system to get the job done! Having 35,000 lobbyists on capitol hill is so 2009. Instead, I propose you give the money directly to the legislators. Let’s cut out the middlemen and bring plutocracy direct to the public! I will happily review any and all offers!

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/25

Go Veg!

I’ve been a Vegetarian for almost 2 years now… I eat great and feel great. There are a number of reasons I made this decision (mostly I believe it is one of the great ethical arguments of our age), but certainly the impact of livestock animals (and specifically the impact of factory farming) on the environment is a good reason to “lose the meat”. I encourage everyone to give it a try… even if you aren’t ready to drop it altogether, cutting back helps too… (and it’s good for your health!)

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/go-veggie-to-fight-global-warming-says-expert-1810134.html

Truth or Fiction?

Can anyone tell the difference anymore? It irritates me when people ask “did you hear about the…?” in hopes of starting a water-cooler conversation about the drama of the week. Who cares? Aren’t there more important things to discuss? While Wall Street is dismantling the nation and the earth is on track to becoming unlivable, we are caught up in these banal and irrelevant infotainments. We need to revive our sense of skepticism in this country… there’s far too much bullshit that passes for “news” and a lazy attitude towards even the most basic fact checking. When it all falls apart no one can say we didn’t deserve it…

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/25-0

new extropy available now!

So what the hell… the album is ready to go and it’s not even Tuesday. You can grab it now from http://www.evolvesingularity.org Thanks for all the support.

New extropy - October 13th

I’m excited to announce that the new extropy record is finished. It’s my best work to date. I feel like I’ve managed to create something powerful here, something greater than myself… and as an artist it has exceeded my greatest expectations.

I’m torn between the belief that great art is beyond the commercial, and the feeling that our era of abundant “free” music and instant gratification has devalued it’s art to the point that it is almost worthless to most people. I have no illusions that this work is anything more than a labor of love. Nevertheless I want to share it in a way that does not reduce it’s value to zero. For this reason I am not going to give it away as a free download. I’m not intending to profit from this, only to insure that the listener must put forth some effort to “earn” the experience, even if it is a token amount. If this reduces the scope of it’s appreciation, so be it. I’ve put every part of myself into it’s creation and consider it a fair exchange.

The physical release will be limited to 20 copies, some of which will be allocated to close friends and family who have encouraged and supported me over the years. The remaining quantity will be available for $20 (incl. shipping within the US). The package is hand made, & hand embossed, with 2 Cds, and 2 12pg. booklets in an outer sleeve.

The initial digital release will be available as 2 .zip archives of full resolution audio files that can be burned to CD or converted to mp3/m4A/FLAC/or whatever format you prefer. I’m asking for a paypal donation of $5 (but you can donate more if you feel it’s warranted). You can barely get a sandwich for $5 anymore - so if you feel comfortable paying $5 for food that will be sewage in 24 hours, I hope you can swing it for art that will last forever.

The worldwide digital release will be later this year, but it will be available through Amazon, iTunes, and everywhere else once it makes it through the various set-up processes.

I’ll post an update on the blog here with instructions for ordering once the new website is up and everything is ready to go.

Again, thanks to all of you who have followed and supported extropy over the years. We are fortunate to have a small group of dedicated fans and we love you all. cheers.

O) PART I: THE INFINITE

01  cepheid variable

02  Aura

03  Perseus arm

04  asymptote

05  the dreamers

06  radii

07  mind sequence

08  swim

09  electric trees

10  the immortal

11  Aenea

12  the believers

O) PART II: THE IRRESOLUTE

01  the answer

02  depths

03  circumstance

04  Charybdis/Scylla

05  gravity well

06  at the center, a black hole

07  the absolute

08  parallax view

09  time stem/oblivion

10  the unnamed

11  hymn for the aeon

swim

I came really close to finishing up the new record this weekend, but in the end I decided to scrap the vocals on “asymptote” for a minor re-write. Sometimes my perfectionism pisses me off. Actually it’s ironic that this would be the last track to complete… the last line is “the closer I seem, the further I appear”. Anyway, it’s almost there. I did spend several hours getting the sound just right for “swim” and since the release date is only a few short weeks away (October 13th) I thought it would be alright to drop one more track out there. (click the title to download).

Close your eyes and float in the ocean of a million years…


swim

relax your mind

and let it in

all that came before

will be again

in a dreaming moment

in an ocean of thought

before      we       fade

           we      will         rearrange

tiny gods

collect the past

time’s secrets held

in luminescent grasp

absorb us

into your dreams

The end of rational discourse

An excellent article… one could almost trace this alliance of ignorance and self-interest back to Nixon and the “New South” but it certainly has reached a shrill note in the age of Palin. I’ve been concerned about these radical elements since Obama has become president, and while he has yet to live up to his promise (despite the dyspeptic contradicting labels of “socialist” and “fascist”)…. the stew of irrational hate is brewing. Are we in for another Oklahoma City, or worse? These are the convulsions of empire at it’s end, the death throes of democracy, and an “all bets are off” power grab from those who will do and say anything to consolidate their hold on the world and it’s dwindling resources. Fact is only an inconvenient obstacle that can be manipulated, marginalized, or fabricated to serve this end.

My 1933 Nightmare - David Michael Greene 

Electric Trees

I’ve been working on this track since July of last year… and I’m finally ready to let it leave the nest. This was greatly inspired by Dan Simmons Hyperion novels and is probably one of my favorite tracks from the new record… anyway, without further comment I give you…

Electric Trees 

suicides and electric trees

parasites and bad dreams

there are ghosts in the faraway

a crown of thorns

and a spire of blades

stay away

but stay awake

i see a crowd craving judgement day

get out

  of the way

the army of the cross will take your soul

and prop it up on a wire

shaping shudders into screams

pain sings

in electric dreams

and

the loop is repeating

endlessly

Charybdis/Scylla

April said I should post this one, so here you go… more coming next week. Album is coming together… Charybdis/Scylla

i’m on the outside now

looking in

it seems the pure are not so pure

and the truth has no meaning

between the pious and banal

and the ugly uncaring cold

i’ve lost my way

you will live forever

if you just believe

if you do what we say

a loving creator waits for you

at the end of the path

with the holy

the ordained

the true

follow me

follow me

there is no hope

there is no god

despair will burn your throat like acid rain

nothing fucking matters

we are just maggots crawling across the corpse mounds

of humans past

and if we dare to make a mark

who will care in the end?

i’m on the inside now

looking out

i don’t know what to believe

there are too many devils happy to show me the way

and i wish i could escape

but the monsters have got me now

the monsters have got me now

extropy… track list

it’s starting to fall into place so I thought I would post the track list for the forthcoming extropy record. Going to sum it all up I hope. self-titled..

O) PART I: THE INFINITE

01  cepheid variable

02  Aura

03  Perseus arm

04  asymptote

05  the dreamers

06  radii

07  mind sequence

08  swim

09  electric trees

10  the immortal

11  Aenea

12  the believers

O) PART II: THE IRRESOLUTE

01  the answer

02  depths

03  circumstance

04  Charybdis/Scylla

05  gravity well

06  at the center, a black hole

07  the absolute

08  parallax view

09  time stem/oblivion

10  the unnamed

11  hymn for the aeon