Monday, January 14, 2013

Antibothis 4: The occultural stew is hot!



Antibothis Occultural Anthology Volume 4 is now available, with contributions from myself, Chad Hensley, Polly Superstar, Crimethinc, Z’ev, Trevor Brown, Raymond Salvatore Harmon, Ewen Chardronnet, Joe Coleman, Karl Buechner (Earth Crisis’ lead singer), Júlio Mendes Rodrigo, V. Vale (RE/Search Pubs), Robin Rimbaud (Scanner), Francisco Lopez, Mason Jones (Charnel Music), André Coelho (Sektor 304), Joe Ambrose, DJ Balli and Adolf Marx.

As usual with this excellent Portuguese anthology, we find ourselves positioned in a gap between the old and the new on many levels. The occultural, post-industrial (as in the music/subculture, not as in general history), avant garde environment swings easily between play and philosophy, between genuine transformation and abstracted discourse, between pure experimentation and thorough thinking. Most of it is still fairly fresh, I have to say. If there’s some kind of code that unites these disparate voices, it’s an antithetical stance against the passive collective, expressed in eloquent experiments. Single voices spewing out disdain or frustration in honest, poetical and sometimes scary bursts.

What’s the point? Well, perhaps to reflect that even stern individualists need to be in touch with similars. As fodder for continued thinking and as an example of this kind of outsider networking, Antibothis does a great job. In a fragmented world like ours, that’s not a bad thing at all.
My contribution to the stew is A Mega Golem Official, written for Vicki Bennett’s Radio Boredcast project in 2012. It’s another limb (actually a very special kind of gristle) in the magical being that is evolving entirely out of art. By reading the text, you also contribute to its birth. I cannot guarantee the result but I applaud your courage in partycipating.
”Now, what exactly is it that I do? Am I in the right position? Well, I look and see and then I recount in my own way. This has happened, take it or leave it. I used to think this was escapism or a psychological-emotional fulfilment, but it’s not. It’s about making a contribution to the unlimited collage, the Quantum Quilt, that is the overall human existence on this planet and in this omniverse. History writing in four or even more dimensions. Yes, I write, I read, I cast an occasional spell, I aspire, I inspire, I take pictures, I make pictures like reflection surfaces, I’m the Mega Golem’s cock and balls – a really privileged position to be in, I should add – and I enjoy it more than I dare to even admit (probably for superstitious reasons).”
You can listen to my friend Thomas Tibert’s aural magic treatment of this text c/o the wonderful entity WFMU. Our collaboration here actually makes this the latest/last Cotton Ferox transmission… Ever? We shall see, you shall hear.
The CD compilation that comes with the anthology is curated by Philipe-Petit from the innovative French record label Bip-hop and includes: Scanner & Sci-cut.db, Murcof, Bela Emerson reworked by Same Actor, Israel Martinez, PAS & If, Bwana, The Stargazer's Assistant, Michel Banabila & Philippe Petit, Cindytalk, Xambuca, Kk Null, Mark Beazley, and Machinefabriek.
Scanner’s trip-hoppy, slowmotion-paintballing anthem ”My Lip Cam” is my current favourite. Very simple in structure, yet very atmospheric and intense. Xambuca is also truly great. A very edgy and electric track, increasing in energy as it progresses onwards. On the whole, this CD is pretty predictable and symptomatic of this environment: a mix of (dark) ambient, musique concrète and experimental electronics. But it’s all enjoyable stuff and definitely a good soundtrack to the textual material, which is basically (dark) ambient, musique concrète and experimental electronics in word form. Dive right in!

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