Some news that I think warrants a bonus episode!

1. I’ve improved the website so you can now get news through email or RSS instead of having to listen to me
2. I have a track on the just released Four Seasons of Bonk Wave Autumn Waves 1 album
3. That track is also on my Broadcast EP and some of that is on the physical media release Connector: Overtime Edition

Inspiration for getting the website and words more sorted:

this occasional society - for their excellent newsletter

ATTKS TH DRKNSS - for their blog and talking about meanings in instrumental music

Was Emulsion of Mabon a knock-off of the Wicker Man? A lot of people saw similarities in some of themes at least. A kind of folk-horror that was probably creepier, darker, and sexier but ultimately weirder and more abstract. Does anyone actually know what is going on most of the time in this film? The woods are majestic, the fires are numerous, and ultimately where you can read Edward Woodward’s death in the Wicker Man as generally horrible or a positive precursor to rebirth and future wellbeing, this ends as a true uplifting celebration. The darkness as a welcoming partner rather than something to be cautioned about.

East Berlin 1961

This is just a blank postcard. The picture is Westminster Abbey.

I don’t think I’ll be getting anymore of these, it feels like it’s time to go. Take care folks.

Some behind the scenes notes, getting ready to wrap up Season 6, thoughts about social media, and some recommendations.

Last episode comes out on Tuesday, and then there will be a break before anything new arrives.

The website I mention for Ben Barlett (Vera composer amongst other things): https://www.benbartlett.com/

Prague 1933 and 1973

If there were a way to abandon words completely, I would be tempted. Perhaps I’ve had a life already, or one still to come, as a mute monk.

But it is not possible for me at the moment. Instead maybe I could abandon serious words for the majority of time and interactions?

After all, if I must mask, why not fit the mask better to my needs and moods? A closer representation of what lies behind.

Toronto 1906

I met an interesting chap today. All uncomfortable urgency in movement. Ideas burst from him as a force. Like a conduit, desperate musician.

They called all critics the enemy of human expression and claimed to work for a system that builds laws to ensure that those who fit what society wants are rewarded, while those who do not are left to suffer.

I like it. There’s some nihilism there but with an optimistic energy undercutting it.

Paris 1923

Trust me. People come and go. Go mostly. Slip away and go their own separate way. You need to make the most of them while they’re here. Love costs. It takes effort and work.

Some wise words I’ve collected from a couple of places. Maybe borrowing words from other people could work when I’m struggling for my own?

Freedonia 1933

It sounds very serious, all this, doesn’t it? There is room in it all for the silly, the fun, the joy. Maybe that should be the focus of my words from now on?

The quietness stems from the tangle of serious words attempting to describe and communicate things that are ephemeral and shifting. Music handles that much better. Maybe words can do more or similar through humour?

Venice 1947

You might also say that my mask and I are equally real. Real and unreal, yin and yang, the mysterious way and the M25. Tribes, belonging, separation. Time and space, concrete and snow.

All different things. Built differently out of different stuff. Yet perceived by me as just things, just Strange Textures of ourselves.

Infinite variety of perception being aware of itself.