Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell: The Drift

One listen, and it was a bit of a struggle. I think I was too focused on saying what the instruments were doing, whereas here it would’ve been better to have let the song’s name influence the writing. In retrospect, the song does have a bit of a drift to it and I missed it entirely.

Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell’s “The Drift” is from The Process.

I hope you enjoy.

Wafting beeping in a silence. Warbly sounds and percussion plays tense, plays playfully. Humming bass, and all sorts of angles. Everything feels like it’s forming, working together to start congealing. And it does start coming together. More detail and shape form. More come together.

The beat reveals itself. Steady, feeling slow, but at the right pace. The bass wanders and seems to stretch and smear, almost. The beeping continues and takes on new shape as the bass changes. The percussion keeps things together; the percussion keeps the form and structure.

It’s almost as though everything is sliding in and out of each other, but this is careful and considered. It’s about the sound and space, and minimalism. And calm, and groove, and texture. And eventually keys finds themselves adding, but only for a moment.

Saxophone comes in, playing moments to come forward, and it plays in pieces. It provides context and more framing, and the keys eventually return, working with it, though with more space… at first. Eventually they play a bit more, and it’s almost as though brief flashes of movement are being witnessed.

And something a little melancholic comes in, then percussion diminishes. It shrinks a little, and bass returns, and there’s something going on here that seems conclusive. Something that seems like a big climax, but instead goes for small. Quiet. No need to greatly announce as a hum comes in and takes over before fading away at the song’s end.

 

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Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell: B3

One listen.

Went in, knocked it out. Happy with how it turned out as, whilst htere’s some stretching early on, I think this came out really smooth.

Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell’s “B3” is from The Process.

I hope you enjoy.

A rumbling, and keys come in. They come in and dance in bits. Start and stop. They descend stairs before starting to rise up in bits once more. Rising, distorting, rising higher and then filling out as they shine and shimmer above, beautifully.

They shine, they shimmer, they twinkle. It’s an elevated moment that seems to reach beyond. It seems to look further, coming to some sort of realisation and catharsis, and they fragment and shrink right up there, right at the height of it all before sinking and falling down.

At this space they flicker before striking. A gentler sound plays out and rises itself before suddenly stopping at the song’s end.

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Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell: Spiral

One listen. This one threw me off a bit and I got stuck on what was happening with the beat, but never really getting into describing it. I think that harmed the writing overall.

Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell’s “Spiral” is from The Process.

I hope you enjoy.

Percussion pulses and and rolls. It seems slow, almost relaxed. Then a sound leads to its tightening. Buzzing in here, and little beeps. And then the space opens. The percussion remains tight, striking softly among low waves of eerie calm.

Back to the main melody and that percussion remains unrelentingly committed to creating pulses of sound among a continual percussive flow. Bits and pieces sound out here and there, around the driving beat. And soon the space opens once more, and everything rises and rises before once more settling to the main rhythm.

Driving, continuous, steady. Reliable, and questions and mystery here and there, and then the open space again. And it’s changed, and maybe it changed last time, but it seems to show something. An image, a scene forming, a coolness. It’s a fragment.

More questions, more mystery. More pulse, driving forward, pushing onward, pushing hard. Pushing further and further before that space returns with a different view, almost carrying, almost sending somewhere else, somewhere further along. It’s calm, mysterious. It’s revealing, but it reveals little, and it moves toward a point. Intensity builds with minimal instrumentation, and it rises and rises until the final beat, a brief dissipation and the song ends.

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Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell: Black Arc

One listen.

This was easy to start. Great. I started slowing down. Not great. Spent a good bit of time trying to catch up, but I wasn’t actively thinking too much, so I’m not too fussed.

A bit of imagery came through here and there which I also think is good. I feel like I was moving toward some sort of balance between imagery and instrument description. Maybe I was; maybe I wasn’t. I’m happy with how it turned out.

Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell’s “Black Arc” is from The Process.

I hope you enjoy.

A brief silence before sound comes in. Something grows and bass plays a waking melody. A cool melody. Percussion arrives and now the bass plays something that seems to march along that beat, but it marches joyously.

When the other sounds come in, the melody shifts. Something smooth, rolling, almost. Progressing. More joyous, in a sense, or at least more strident. The keys wail and shout, and move with energy, and it’s all massive even though it’s small.

The bass and percussion on their own, continuing in rises and falls, breathing, marching steady. Other sounds return, layering, filling a space. Creating a gathering of sorts. And then it peels back once more, though a little less, and it’s this cooled scene. A cooled moment as everything progresses toward where it must.

And then something familiar, with smoothed out, gliding sounds. Gliding and walking smoothly. Floating in the air before the keys take off and expand whilst remaining small. Flying fast, moving with care, moving with elegance.

On and on the sounds continue. On and on and finding spots and spaces of change and transition, and looking forward staring off into something. Finding calm at the end of the day, finding calm in a grand, vast space, and finding it at home and sitting down as the sounds stop and the song ends.

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Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell: B2

One listen.

I’m now working to clear as much of these songs I’ve queued to write about as I can. Could probably get it all done in a few days, if not one day, but I also value my getting other things done. But there will be quite a few of these coming.

Anyway, I queued this up a while ago, and I guess my urge to get moving has helped me get into the right mode to start on this. Early on I realised how my writing was going and I tried to stick firmly with it. I was hoping to touch more on a sense of the human condition, but that wasn’t coming forward, which is fine.

Jon Batiste, Chad Smith & Bill Laswell’s “B2” is from The Process.

I hope you enjoy.

Sound hums calm and prepares, and the keys come in, descending in waves. Descending in drama. They rise as they descend. They ascend. They play in cascades and fall, fall and keep falling. And other sound stirs, soft, comforting. Relational, almost.

The keys break up and play a new melody. They play carefully and play with space, and they seem to be looking to go further up. To ascend further. And they do when they start descending, and as they do they start distorting. Fraying. Underneath the cascade another melody plays, continuing on from that brief space.

Almost looking forward, looking through it all, looking through the cascade… something builds and it keeps on building, but it doesn’t become a build in the sound, so to speak. The sounds aren’t growing thicker, more encompassing.

The melody changes once more… almost. It feels like a reflection, and it seems to have shrunk. There’s a questioning in it; there’s concern, but there’s still a rising. Rising higher and higher, and having less to reach that top point before cascading once more, before finding a point to rest at the song’s end.

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Five Frames

These images represent some of the last year, which, if you’ve been reading Stupidity Hole for at least that long, you’d know has been a real intense emotional roller coaster. I think that shows in these five images, though they don’t cover the whole period. But what you’ve got here are themes of self, identity, longing, impression, emptiness… those things. There’s also stuff like an external search for internal understanding and reason through scene. A lot of things.

Also relief.

This is my submission into the three hundred-and-eighty-seventh Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. The theme for this one is “Your Journey in 5-10 Images“.

This one was tough. I saw what was coming forward in the first images, and the

The host of the Lens-Artists challenges cycles weekly between the following people:

Tina

Patti

Ann-Christine aka Leya

John Steiner

Sofia Alves

Anne Sandler

Egídio

Ritva

Beth

This one is curated by Leya. The next one is curated by Anne.

I recommend joining the community and participating in the challenges. They’re pretty straightforward, allow room for interpretation, and provide a good way to think about photography in general. If not, however, then at the very least you should check out what others submit to the challenges.

I hope you enjoy.

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One Thousand Word Challenge 246: A More Relaxed Day

I need to start writing something now as I’ve wasted the day and I don’t want it to be a total waste. Therefore, if I start writing now, I’ll write something and there will have been some productivity in the day.

I want to write about a Kate Bush song but I’m not going to do that now. It won’t be “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” as there’s probably been enough said about that song at this stage. Not much else can be said about it, though I’m sure plenty can. Therefore, it is not what I am going to write about. I’ll write about other things, instead. And I’ll write about the Kate Bush song that I want to write about at another time when I’m feeling more in the mood for it.

This coming week I need to start knuckling down and clearing everything. Everything to where it should be, everything getting prepared for the end. There’s not much time left and I haven’t spent enough time getting everything ready. It’s gonna be an intense week. It won’t be as intense as other weeks I’ve lived, but it will be intense. A lot of writing. A lot of writing being prepared. A lot of other things and the spinning around and panicking as I do that quite well. If I panic enough, then perhaps I will panic as hard as a good panic can be. And I’m sure that everyone already knows that I do like to panic hard. Though I don’t, but you know.

Today has been a slow day and I’m glad that I’m getting to doing things now. Just wish I started earlier. Could be worse, though. I’ve watched the rain come and fall on everything, albeit not at the time I had hoped. I had hoped for all the rain to fall in the morning. I wanted to head into the city and take photos.

I was hoping for an empty city, and it would’ve been great. Just being there, experiencing the weather. Experience a sense of emptiness. Perhaps a feeling of an area being abandoned. At the very least, an area not feeling like it usually does. Still, today hasn’t been a total loss.

Being inside, experiencing cool weather has been greatly, deeply pleasant. I have to admit that much to myself. Watching the trees bend in the wind has been wonderful. It’s changing shape and form, and I’ve been fortunate enough to experience it all on a day like today. But what else can I say about it all?

This space that I’m currently in feels very still. It feels quiet and at peace, and it feels pleasant, too. It’s just a nice day. A slow day. A day with rain falling when the rain decided to fall. A day where expectations are discarded. Lowered. Thrown away. This is good.

I worry about time slipping away all the time. Or rather, I worry about it a lot of the time. Still, I’ve only really begin to live my life over the past couple of years. Sure, I’ve lived, but I’m really living now. I can take it easy here and there. I should take it less easy than I do, but today is okay. Today I’m not beating myself up over not getting enough done as I’m still doing things, and perhaps this is something that we all need to consider more often. Perhaps we need to consider more often how much we do and do not let ourselves get away with, and how often we should allow ourselves to get away with things.

This is not that important a thing, really, bit I think it’s something worth thinking about here and there. Realistically we so often coast through life without a care or worry, and that’s great. It’s great right now. It’ll be great tomorrow. However, I need to let myself be comfortable with relaxing more often. I know that I’m not, so today, being comfortable with the idea is great. Being fine with it. Letting myself off the hook, so to speak.

The rain is falling again, and it’s pleasant. It reminds me of times looking out a window and onto a street. I can’t see the street around here from where I am currently sitting, and that’s also good, I think.

Once more I find myself thinking about Glebe. I remember times when it would rain heavily, and that rain smell would rise. Supposedly it’s not a good smell to be around, but it’s still pleasant. I’d stand at the front door sometimes and I’d watch the rain fall. It would pelt down in thick sheets, hammering away at the asphalt. It would violently strike the ground, but it was so peaceful. So calming.

I’d see the water follow the gutter as it moved away from where I could see it, and I’d watch it for a while sometimes, too. And eventually the rain would pass, and it would pass gradually. It would pass smoothly, and there’d be a stronger sense of peace and calm, and it was just nice to watch.

I do miss that, but this rain is also nice. I can see less where I am currently sitting, but I still get to see the rain fall. I can see it fall on to roof tiles and through trees. If I open the door and stand on the stairs, I can see it fall onto my plants as it helps keep them alive. I get a sense of stillness from this as much as I got a sense of stillness from Glebe, though it’s all in motion. Everything is.

The world keeps turning and all this keeps happening, and I wonder how many more days of rain I have left to experience. How many more do I have that I can still appreciate. So I’m glad I’m not being hard on myself for having a slower, more relaxed day, because this is nice.

The time it took to write one thousand words: 14:32:05

Decent enough speed.

I wasn’t expecting this to veer off into remembering rain, but I’m glad it did. I’m glad that this progressed unexpectedly. It feels more natural to me.

Written at home.

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1570: Rambling about the Job Hunt

Oh, what a hot and horrible day it is today, but I feel fine. I feel good. Am in a rather great amount of pain, but I still feel good.

I feel alright.

The last few days have been odd. Weird. Strange. All of those things. They’ve seen a lot of intensity, but today is not an intense day. Well, it is, but it could be worse.

A few days ago I had confirmation that I was getting another work contract. Elsewhere in the university, as is the way with these things. It was a significant relief, and I think about all that time I spent where I was incredibly downbeat and despairing, especially whilst at work, and I feel I could have been better, but everything was just so overwhelming. Everything was just too much. And then that news came in and I was relieved. Of course I still need the contract before I can definitively say that everything is good to go, but it’s happy days ahead.

The contract is, once more, not a permanent one. However, it does carry me for a good while so… yeah.

So that news came and then I had an awful sleep. Had a good sleep since, but still. Need more rest. I’m also in quite a lot of pain right now. I should be rest but I’m not as there are things that I want to take care of. Things that I want to get out of the way and writing is one of them, so that is what I am doing now. And I’m already running out of things to say. Surprising.

I’m in pain and I’m not resting, and I don’t want to let it hold me back so I’m trying to not let it. But I will rest. One day.

So I’m still quite happy. I’m still rejoicing, though I certainly have calmed down a lot. But these are good days. There are good, happy days ahead, and I’m here, relaxing. Trying to not get too excited. Technically it’s not official until the contract is signed, after all. But happy days.

The whole process of hunting for work is a stressful one, and perhaps far too stressful than it should be. So much work goes into hunting and there’s so much time spent on doing it. I think about how you hear about people looking for months and getting no bites, and it seems like it’s a constant arms race to get a foot in the door. People are always hiring and people are always applying and it continues on and on, and for what?

Of course there are plenty of reasons why people get rejected, but so much of societal function relies on hating work, and there’s so much promise of opportunity. Of course success is not guaranteed, but it is what is fed, and maybe we need to spend a lot of time rethinking these things. I got lucky this time around. Plenty of people don’t.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 07:10:50

Slow. Took a bit of time due to the pain, but got there.

A lot of struggling early on and I think that comes through quite a lot.

Written at home.

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Inflated Horse

Here’s a horse. Inflated. As part of this shopping mall’s (shopping centre?) celebrating the year of the horse, which is this year.

I hope you enjoy.

 

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Five-Hundred Word Challenge 1569: The Weather is Strange

This weather is strange. It is odd. It is creating a lot of pressure. The pressure it creates is in the form of temperature, and let me tell you, that temperature is… something.

Think I’m ending this space at just the right time.

So anyway, it’s more odd weather. Gloomy weather over a gloomy day. Spread thick, spreading across, and I’m still on the job hunt. More job rejections. More cycling through applications. All of that fun stuff and it never seems to end, so I just keep looking. I keep on searching and hoping I avoid unemployment. Hoping I dodge it once more. Incredibly tiring stuff, but you keep going. Or rather, I keep going in this instance, but you keep going. You just have to keep on pushing on and trying your best, and so do I. But it is tiring. Stressful, draining, tiring and it just keeps on going.

This is not something I want to contend with right now. It is something I have to contend with, however, so I keep on going. I keep ploughing through.

Nearly twelve months since the cessation of a long-term relationship, and one I’m glad to be free of, but it’s all lining up well.  The last day of this contract is the anniversary. I do find it funny, in that way that timing can be, and that’s at least a bit of reprieve in a concrete pressure cooker.

So everything feels like its pressing more and more and I’ve a little smile among it all. Tough times, rough times. Will see what happens. Always will see what happens. Don’t want to be writing this stuff when there’s not much time left, but you know how these things go. But I’d rather be bringing the joy. When the idea of what lies ahead is so shortened; when there’s little that can be seen beyond the next week because of what is going on, though, makes things difficult to be joyous. But you try. Or rather, I try. We all try, and we keep on trying. Not much choice.

It’s a heavy morning and it’ll be a heavy day. Just more routine, more going through the motions of applying and applying and more applying. More sending out letters and going “Yeah, I can do the job quite well, will you give me an interview?”, and making alterations to everything so as to somehow make myself more appealing.

At the very least it’s getting a little lighter outside, so maybe that’s a sign. Maybe that means I’m going to win the lottery or something. I hope it does. I could then get my place and then write forever, and relax. I could relax and sleep and take it easy, and that’d be awesome. That’d be the best. I could get the place I want to get, put a friend up for a while and then disappear. Really think about things. Think about life.

But that’s a dream, and I still need work.

The time it took to write five-hundred words: 09:16:94

I slowed down a lot at the end. Tried to think about how to end this and it wasn’t coming to me.

Bit of a miserable writing. Don’t want to be but it’s what’s coming forward.

Written at home.

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