Τετάρτη 1 Ιανουαρίου 2014
Happy Birthday/NO
Precession Of The Equinoxes started in January 2013, so this ugly mutant child of the blogosphere just became 1 year old ('birthday cake' taken from here, suitable theme for this special occasion here)!
Apart from this joyous occasion, in this post i'd like to share one of my personal favorite books, NO by Boyd Rice.
NO is a collection of essays where Uncle Boyd talks, among others, about his personal views on Equality, Liberty, Sexes, Idealim, Police State etc.Even if you don't agree with his statements, Boyd's provocative way of thinking and writing makes NO a very entertaining book for the reader nevertheless.Precession Of The Equinoxes offers you the 2009 edition, if you want(and you should, if you enjoy this one!) to buy the 2011 expanded edition with 13 new chapters, click here.
Finally, have a pleasant and meaningful new year.
Δευτέρα 2 Δεκεμβρίου 2013
From Beyond part 2
'But in his paradise logic came to visit
A mythic creature with beauty in its voice
And gave him insructions on how to prevail
And overcome the panic of his twisted reality'
(Bjorn 'Aldrahn' Dencker)
As most of you (should) know, in August and September of 1977 two Voyager spacecraft were launched to fly by and explore the planets of Jupiter and Saturn.Voyager 1, after successful encounters with the two, was sent out of the plane of the ecliptic to investigate interstellar space(more information about Voyager 1 and 2 here and here).
One of the most fascinating aspects of these two space probes is, among others, that they recorded and processed electromagnetic data during their course in order to be perceivable within the human hearing range.
In simple words, they recorded the sounds-music, if you prefer-of our solar system..to be more specific, we are talking about 'audio' data from planets' magnetosphere, about electromagnetic field noise within space itself and from charged particle emissions from the rings of certain planets, among others.
In 1992 NASA released a 5cd compilation of these recordings, named Symphonies Of The Planets-NASA Voyager Recordings which naturally became quickly legendary among audiophiles, field recordings/dark ambient fans and people who were just curious to hear these sounds from space.
Being an ambient fan myself, i find these recordings fascinating from many aspects.First of all, from a clear music perspective, this is A-quality drone.Second, the fact that is not of human origin(though processed by human-made equipment)makes it even more spectacular.Moreover, it was highly influential for dark ambient in general:take as an example Lustmord and his awesome 1994 album titled The Place Where The Black Stars Hang.. i don't think i need to continue, the connection is obvious.
So, to wrap it all up, while the first part of From Beyond thematic post was about sounds from supernatural(?) sources, in the second part we offer a dark ambient landmark of-verified-otherworldly origin..for what is worth,you don't get bored visiting Precession Of The Equinoxes, right?
Σάββατο 2 Νοεμβρίου 2013
Full Metal Panic
A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.
Δεν μπορώ να πω με ακρίβεια γιατί μου αρέσει τόσο το Tetsuo του 1989, ένα ωριαίο(και κάτι) low budget ιαπωνικό cyberpunk φιλμ, σκηνοθετημένο από τον Shinya Tsukamoto, το οποίο έχει σήμερα αποκτήσει cult υπόσταση μεταξύ των βλαμμένων(με κεφαλαία) καθ'ημών. Να είναι η ασπρόμαυρη εικόνα που προσθέτει στην μεταλλική αισθητική της ταινίας;Να είναι ότι Tetsuo λεγόταν ένας από τους δύο πρωταγωνιστές στο πολυαγαπημένο μου Akira(btw,αν έχετε δει το Akira, οι αναφορές είναι προφανείς);Να είναι ο άκρως εθιστικός σουρεαλισμός και η ευρηματική(αν αναλογιστούμε και τα μέσα)σκηνοθεσία;Να είναι το τέλος, ένα από τα καλύτερα που έχω δει σε ταινία μέχρι σήμερα;
Σίγουρα σε ένα βαθμό είναι όλα τα παραπάνω, αλλά ρίχνω το κύριο μερίδιο ευθύνης στο φοβερό soundtrack που έκανε ο Chu Ishikawa για να ντύσει το φιλμ, ένα από τα καλύτερα δείγματα industrial(φυσικά) μουσικής που είδαν το φως αυτού του κόσμου, με αποτέλεσμα να αντιλαμβάνομαι το Tetsuo τελικά, ως ένα τεράστιο videoclip του παραπάνω Οst.Ρίξτε μια αυτιά στον παρακάτω ύμνο για του λόγου το αληθές:
Αν ψηθήκατε από το παραπάνω (ξεδιάντροπο) promotion μπορείτε να παρακολουθήσετε ολόκληρο το Tetsuo εδώ
αλλά ειλικρινά(μιας και η ποιότητα δεν είναι η καλύτερη δυνατή) θα σας πρότεινα να κάνετε υπομονή και να το προμηθευτείτε από εδώ.
Κι επειδή αν το δείτε και γουστάρετε δεν υπάρχει γυρισμός(ήτοι, θα θέλετε να ακούτε το soundtrack συνέχεια μετά), το Precession Of The Equinoxes παραθέτει σύνδεσμο παρακάτω για το Ost της ταινίας,το πρώτο δισκάκι από το Tetsuo Complete Box.Revel in metal!
Πέμπτη 10 Οκτωβρίου 2013
From Beyond
The recordings of Okkulte Stimmen.Mediale Musik, spanning more than a hundred years, are divided into: trance speech (words spoken by mediums in a presumed altered state of consciousness during a seance), direct voices (speech in a seance without an apparent natural source), precognitive claims, xenoglossy (speaking in a tongue apparently never learned by the speaker), glossolalia ("speaking in tongues" or in an incomprehensible language), paranormal music (reputedly channeled from a dead composer or interpreter), raps and haunting phenomena, and electric voice phenomena. There are also not-easy-to-classify tracks such as that of the final seance in which Houdini's wife finally gave up trying to obtain any credible evidence of his survival through mediums, and various shamanic songs..
The first CD contains the trance speech, direct voices, and precognition (although other CDs also contain claims of precognitive information) sections. It begins with recordings from the two children involved in the famous Enfield poltergeist case. The voices sound masculine and spooky, but the statement in the booklet by an unnamed speech specialist that a child could not maintain such imposture for hours without damage to her vocal cords lacks supporting evidence. Tragic and even spookier is the soundtrack in the sad case of Anneliese Michel, whose possession and exorcism culminated in her death (for a general discussion of this case, see Cardena, 2007), demonstrating that some of these experiences are by no means child's play or fraud. In the more benign form of identity alteration known as trance mediumship/channeling, it is fascinating to listen to the playful voice of the Feda control of one of the most researched and successful mediums in history, Mrs. Leonard. In contrast, I hope that medium Leslie Flint did not actually communicate with a discarnate Oscar Wilde, as this would imply that in death Wilde gained in pomposity while misplacing his famous wit. Worth mentioning in this first CD are also the soundtrack of the hyperventilation (up to 300 breaths per minute maintained throughout long sessions) of the medium Rudi Schneider, and a recording of the Nazi-friendly medium Hanussen, who used secret information on how the SA would burn the Reichstag to "precognize" this event, yet did not foresee his own death at the hands of his political masters after his indiscretion.
The second CD includes xenoglossy and glossolalia recordings, although it would be more precise to call them vocal utterances during altered states of consciousness as they include shamanic songs that may not necessarily involve the assumption of a foreign or secret language. In this context, it is a pity that the collection does not include a fragment of the exuberant poems/chants of the Mexican mushroom shaman Maria Sabina (Estrada, 1977). Nonetheless the CD contains some fascinating surprises such as the incantations by the infamous esoterist and "Great Beast" Aleister Crowley, and glossolalic prophecies recorded during Pentecostal services.
The final CD illustrates different phenomena. The first soundtracks are of compositions and performances presumptively directed by dead composers. They include a couple of pieces "transmitted" through Rosemary Brown, from an LP that got considerable attention some years ago. Some have argued that a "mere" housewife without much formal training could not herself compose pieces that are pleasant and stylistically coherent with those of the proposed composer, although not extraordinary. This argument, however, implies that only formal training can give rise to feats of creativity, something that even a modest perusal of the lives of eminent and largely self-taught artists (e.g., Schoenberg, Frank Lloyd Wright) shows to be false. In the case of Rosemary Brown and other channeled material (see Hastings, 1991), one could argue that some people may have an unusual chameleon-like talent to imitate various styles without necessarily creating a new one. Whether this explanation, the actual transmission of works by deceased creators, or some other one holds the day, it is clear that we need to investigate this phenomenon far more and see whether it shares commonalities with the extraordinary reproductive skills found in savantism (cf. Snyder, 2004).
This CD also includes raps and haunting phenomena such as a cup suddenly and inexplicably exploding, some of them investigated by the German parapsychologist Hans Bender. The CD ends with various examples of electronic voice phenomena, one purported to be by the important French writer and politician Andre Malraux, and music seemingly interspersed in the midst of the noise found in recorders, telephones, and similar media. These phenomena have received media attention (e.g., various films and the acclaimed play The Weir, by Connor McPherson) but little controlled research has been devoted to it, although this may be changing. For instance, Colvin (2010) reports that raps from a number of poltergeist cases evidenced an acoustic pattern that differed from that of normal taps, and a recent book summarizes the research on electronic voice phenomena and includes a CD with various examples (Cardoso, 2010).
Okkulte Stimmen. Mediale Musik provides a treasure trove of examples of a realm that has had, and continues to have, enormous cultural import, regardless of its evidential impact for the validity of purported parapsychological phenomena.
(review taken from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ )
As you can understand, the above recordings cannot be judged or interpreted under a musical point of view.However, if you are into occult and paranormal or if you like dark music in general, perhaps you will find something in Okkulte Stimmen.As for me, i find these recordings much scarier than many black metal albums out there...
1
2
3
The first CD contains the trance speech, direct voices, and precognition (although other CDs also contain claims of precognitive information) sections. It begins with recordings from the two children involved in the famous Enfield poltergeist case. The voices sound masculine and spooky, but the statement in the booklet by an unnamed speech specialist that a child could not maintain such imposture for hours without damage to her vocal cords lacks supporting evidence. Tragic and even spookier is the soundtrack in the sad case of Anneliese Michel, whose possession and exorcism culminated in her death (for a general discussion of this case, see Cardena, 2007), demonstrating that some of these experiences are by no means child's play or fraud. In the more benign form of identity alteration known as trance mediumship/channeling, it is fascinating to listen to the playful voice of the Feda control of one of the most researched and successful mediums in history, Mrs. Leonard. In contrast, I hope that medium Leslie Flint did not actually communicate with a discarnate Oscar Wilde, as this would imply that in death Wilde gained in pomposity while misplacing his famous wit. Worth mentioning in this first CD are also the soundtrack of the hyperventilation (up to 300 breaths per minute maintained throughout long sessions) of the medium Rudi Schneider, and a recording of the Nazi-friendly medium Hanussen, who used secret information on how the SA would burn the Reichstag to "precognize" this event, yet did not foresee his own death at the hands of his political masters after his indiscretion.
The second CD includes xenoglossy and glossolalia recordings, although it would be more precise to call them vocal utterances during altered states of consciousness as they include shamanic songs that may not necessarily involve the assumption of a foreign or secret language. In this context, it is a pity that the collection does not include a fragment of the exuberant poems/chants of the Mexican mushroom shaman Maria Sabina (Estrada, 1977). Nonetheless the CD contains some fascinating surprises such as the incantations by the infamous esoterist and "Great Beast" Aleister Crowley, and glossolalic prophecies recorded during Pentecostal services.
The final CD illustrates different phenomena. The first soundtracks are of compositions and performances presumptively directed by dead composers. They include a couple of pieces "transmitted" through Rosemary Brown, from an LP that got considerable attention some years ago. Some have argued that a "mere" housewife without much formal training could not herself compose pieces that are pleasant and stylistically coherent with those of the proposed composer, although not extraordinary. This argument, however, implies that only formal training can give rise to feats of creativity, something that even a modest perusal of the lives of eminent and largely self-taught artists (e.g., Schoenberg, Frank Lloyd Wright) shows to be false. In the case of Rosemary Brown and other channeled material (see Hastings, 1991), one could argue that some people may have an unusual chameleon-like talent to imitate various styles without necessarily creating a new one. Whether this explanation, the actual transmission of works by deceased creators, or some other one holds the day, it is clear that we need to investigate this phenomenon far more and see whether it shares commonalities with the extraordinary reproductive skills found in savantism (cf. Snyder, 2004).
This CD also includes raps and haunting phenomena such as a cup suddenly and inexplicably exploding, some of them investigated by the German parapsychologist Hans Bender. The CD ends with various examples of electronic voice phenomena, one purported to be by the important French writer and politician Andre Malraux, and music seemingly interspersed in the midst of the noise found in recorders, telephones, and similar media. These phenomena have received media attention (e.g., various films and the acclaimed play The Weir, by Connor McPherson) but little controlled research has been devoted to it, although this may be changing. For instance, Colvin (2010) reports that raps from a number of poltergeist cases evidenced an acoustic pattern that differed from that of normal taps, and a recent book summarizes the research on electronic voice phenomena and includes a CD with various examples (Cardoso, 2010).
Okkulte Stimmen. Mediale Musik provides a treasure trove of examples of a realm that has had, and continues to have, enormous cultural import, regardless of its evidential impact for the validity of purported parapsychological phenomena.
(review taken from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ )
As you can understand, the above recordings cannot be judged or interpreted under a musical point of view.However, if you are into occult and paranormal or if you like dark music in general, perhaps you will find something in Okkulte Stimmen.As for me, i find these recordings much scarier than many black metal albums out there...
1
2
3
Τετάρτη 25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2013
Crossing The Fields Of Duat
Αλλά τι είναι ο Άλλος Κόσμος(Δούατ) και τι σημαίνει το όνομα αυτό;Δούατ είναι το όνομα που οι Αιγύπτιοι έδωσαν την παλιά εποχή στην περιοχή όπου πήγαιναν οι νεκροί όταν άφηναν αυτή τη γη και η λέξη μεταφράζεται σαν Κάτω Κόσμος, Άδης, Κόλαση, Υποχθόνια χώρα, Τόπος των αποδημησάντων πνευμάτων κλπ.
Το ακριβές νόημα της λέξης είναι άγνωστο και φαίνεται να έχει χαθεί σε αρχαίους καιρούς.Από την άλλη μεριά η Δούατ κατέχει όλα τα χαρακτηριστικά που συνδέουμε με τις προαναφερόμενες λέξεις, γιατί ήταν τόπος αόρατος και σκοτεινός και θλιβερός, υπήρχαν λάκκοι πυρός σε αυτόν και αποτελούσε την κατοικία θηρίων της κόλασης και των καταδικασμένων.Μιλώντας γενικά μπορούμε να πούμε πως ο όρος 'Άλλος Κόσμος' αποτελεί ακριβή απόδοση της Δούατ.Για τους Αιγύπτιους η Αίγυπτος ήταν ένα όνομα για όλο τον τόπο εκείνο, ο οποίος περιβαλλόταν από μια αλυσίδα ψηλών βουνών, σαν το Γκέμπελ Καφ των Αράβων που ήταν τρυπημένα σε δύο θέσεις: μια τρύπα στην Ανατολή και μια στη Δύση.Στο δειλινό ο ήλιος περνούσε από τη δυτική τρύπα και ταξιδεύοντας όχι κάτω από τη γη, αλλά στο ίδιο επίπεδο και έξω από την αλυσίδα των βουνών, γυρνούσε στην ανατολική τρύπα των βουνών, μέσω της οποίας ερχόταν για να αρχίσει τη νέα μέρα πάνω από τη γη.Έξω από την οροσειρά των βουνών, αλλά κοντά σε αυτά, τοποθετείτο ο Άλλος Κόσμος και επεκτεινόταν παράλληλα με αυτά.Στην εξωτερική πλευρά του ήταν μια άλλη αλυσίδα βουνών και ένα ποτάμι που έτρεχε ανάμεσα τους.
Μπορούμε να πούμε λοιπόν, ότι ο Άλλος Κόσμος έμοιαζε με εκείνο το μέρος της Κοιλάδας του Νείλου που συνιστά την Αίγυπτο και που ήταν από κάθε άποψη κυκλικό.
Αφού ο Άλλος Κόσμος βρισκόταν στην άλλη πλευρά της αλυσίδας των βουνών που περιέβαλλαν την Αίγυπτο και συνεπώς στερείτο του φωτός του ηλίου και της σελήνης που φώτιζε τους ουρανούς της, σκεπαζόταν από την ομίχλη και το σκοτάδι της νύχτας και ήταν ένας τόπος θλίψης και τρόμου.Σε κάθε άκρο του υπήρχε ένα διάστημα που δεν επικρατούσε τελείως σκοτάδι ούτε τελείως φως, το ανατολικό άκρο όντας τελείως φωτισμένο από τον ανατέλλοντα ήλιο και το δυτικό από τον δύοντα.
Εκεί που τελείωναν αυτά τα μερικώς φωτιζόμενα διαστήματα άρχιζε το 'παχύ σκοτάδι' η 'πυκνό σκότος,', δηλαδή το 'εξωτερικό σκοτάδι'.Το μέρος του Άλλου Κόσμου που ήταν κλειστό για την Αίγυπτο ήταν ένας φοβερός τόπος.Μερικά τμήματα ήταν έρημος, άλλα ήταν δάση, ενώ άλλα ήταν θαμνώδεις τόποι και δεν υπήρχαν δρόμοι μέσα από οποιοδήποτε μέρος της.Ίχνη υπήρχαν, αλλά ήταν μάταιο για την απενσωματωμένη ψυχή να αποπειραθεί να βρει το δρόμο της μέσω αυτών, αν δεν καθοδηγείτο από κάποιο φιλικό ον που να γνώριζε τις 'οδούς' εκείνης της φοβερής περιοχής.Παντού υπήρχε παχύ σκοτάδι.Όλη η περιοχή του Άλλου Κόσμου κατοικείτο, αλλά τα όντα που διέμεναν εκεί ήταν εχθρικά στους νεοαφιχθέντες και μπορούσαν μόνο να εξευμενιστούν με δώρα ή να υπηρετήσουν τις ψυχές των νεκρών στο δρόμο τους για το βασίλειο του Όσιρη με τη χρήση επωδών η λέξεων δύναμης.Ο δρόμος ήταν επικίνδυνος λόγω των φοβερών θηρίων που ζούσαν με τις ψυχές των νεκρών και στον έναν ή τον άλλο τόπο ο πεθαμένος υποχρεωνόταν να περάσει ποτάμια που τροφοδοτούνταν από τον ποταμό της Δούατ, ακόμη και να διασχίσει τον ίδιο τον ποταμό.Σε ένα μέρος αυτής της φοβερής χώρας βρισκόταν μια περιοχή ονομαζόμενη Σεχέτ Χετεπέτ, δηλαδή Ηλύσια Πεδία και μέσα σε αυτή ένα τμήμα αποκαλούμενο Σεχέτ Ααρού, που αντιστοιχεί στον Ασφοδελό Λειμώνα των αρχαίων Ελλήνων.Σε αυτό ζούσε ο Όσιρης και η αυλή του.
(απόσπασμα από την Αιγυπτιακή Βίβλο των Νεκρών, εκδόσεις Πύρινος Κόσμος)
Δε με νοιάζει αν θα ακουστεί τουριστικό σε κάποιους ψευτοελιτιστές, αλλά η ανάγνωση του Αιγυπτιακής Βίβλου των Νεκρών υπό τη συνοδεία του καταπληκτικού Saurian Meditation του Karl Sanders προσθέτει στον όλη εμπειρία της ανάγνωσης(όπως άλλωστε θα παρατηρήσατε κι εσείς, αν βάλατε τα κομμάτια να παίζουν ενώ διαβάζατε το απόσπασμα) και προτείνεται ανεπιφύλακτα.Και μιας και το album βρίσκεται εύκολα και streaming(συστήνω την αγορά του πάραυτα), το Precession Of The Equinoxes θα πρωτοτυπήσει-για τα δεδομένα του-και δε θα δώσει link για το album.Αλλά για το βιβλίο......έκδοση, η προαναφερόμενη.
Τετάρτη 14 Αυγούστου 2013
And For The First Time Life Will Triumph Over Death
Across almost two millennia, the Catholic Church maintained a stranglehold over life in Europe. It was able to do this because Christianity gave it a monopoly on the meaning of life: everything that was sacred, everything that mattered was not to be found in this world, only in another. Man was impure, profane, trapped in a worthless earth with everything beautiful forever locked beyond his reach, in heaven. Only the Church could act as an intermediary to that other world, and only through it could people approach the meaning of their lives.
Mysticism was the first revolt against this monopoly: determined to experience for themselves a taste of this otherworldly beauty, mystics did whatever it took—starvation, self-flagellation, all kinds of privation—to achieve a moment of divine vision: to pay a visit to heaven, and to return to tell of what blessedness awaited there. The Church grudgingly accepted the first mystics, privately outraged that anyone would sidestep its primacy in all communication with God, but believing rightly that the stories the mystics told would only reinforce the Church's claims that all value and meaning rested in another world.
But one day, a new kind of mysticism appeared; those who practiced it were generally known as the Brethren of the Free Spirit. These were men and women who had gone through the mystical process, but returned with a different story: the identification with God could be permanent, not just fleeting, they announced. Once they had had their transforming experience, they felt no gulf between heaven and earth, between sacred and profane, between God and man. The heretics of the Free Spirit taught that the original sin, the only sin, was this division of the world, which created the illusion of damnation; for since God was holy and good, and had made all things, then all things truly were wholly good, and all anyone had to do to be perfect was to make this discovery.
Thus these heretics became gods on earth; heaven was not something to strive towards, but a place they lived in; every desire they might feel was absolutely holy and beautiful, and not only that—it was the same as divine commandment, more important than any law or custom, since all desires were created by God. In their revelation of the perfection of the world and themselves, they even were able to go beyond God, and place themselves at the center of the world: accepting the Church's authority and objective world view had meant that if God had not invented them, they would not exist; but now, accepting their own desires and perspectives as sovereign, and therefore accepting their own subjective experience of the world as the only authority, they were able to see that if they had not existed, then God would not exist.
The book of Schwester Katrei, one of the sources that remains from these times, describes one woman's pursuit of divinity through this kind of mysticism; at the end, she announces to her confessor, in words that shook the medieval world: "Sire, rejoice with me, for I have become God."
Of course the Catholic Church responded to this heresy by slaughtering the Brethren by the thousands. Anything less than a campaign of all-out terror would have sealed its fate, as its authority was almost entirely undermined by this new liberating theology. Despite the violence of this repression, however, the secrets of the Free Spirit were passed across vast measures of time and space; they traveled unseen and uncharted, through corridors hidden to history (perhaps because they consisted of moments lived outside of history?) to appear in social explosions and near-revolutions hundreds of years and thousands of miles apart.On many occasions the power of the Church and the nations that served it was almost broken by these seemingly spontaneous uprisings; they appear throughout official history like a heartbeat in a sleeping body.
taken from CrimethInc's manifesto, Days Of War, Nights Of Love.
Gonna leave Athens once more from 16 to 23 August, so next post is expected after 23 of August..also, MEGA will be used again as the main file host for Precession Of The Equinoxes.Take care.
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