tunes: this is not for realsies

This Is Not For Realsies - 1997

Sublime music. Where did it come from?
I am only a messenger.
It is the future. It is the hall of records, endlessly repeating.
It is truth. It is love. It is danger.
It is a warning about corruption.
It is a sign pointing the way to good.

Track Details
Advice To You
Tuning Note
Spatialization Note
Listening Suggestion
Quotes
Instruments Used
Other Things To Ponder
A Simple Prayer for Epiphanies

I. Track Details

1. Data Track

This is a data track and contains a large number of data files to explore. This CD-ROM track is in Macintosh format and can be explored on any Mac with a CD-ROM player. It contains artwork and other materials by or relating to X. J. Scott, and perhaps the art patron. Every one of the autographed early releases (Serial Numbers 1-20) of this CD contained a slightly or greatly different set of files here. No two CDs were alike. Each was an original and unique work of art.

2. Directed Call

Meaning:

Introduction to State of Mind.

This piece is derived from the first call I received on my answering machine after going without a phone for six months. The phone company wouldn't let me have a phone (even though I had one six months before) unless I gave them the national identification number over the phone, or appeared in person with an identification document which required the indentification number. They said that otherwise they couldn't be sure who I was. Of course it's obvious that (1) since I don't have to come in and show identification documents unless I refuse to acknowledge the number; and (2) since the numbers are readily obtainable; that I could really be almost anybody over the phone. Knowing and speaking someone's indentification number over the phone proves nothing. Their concept of identification is odd. Why do they need the number or a picture card linked to the number anyway? What's the real reason? Is the identification number required to tell who you really are? The answer is that it depends on who you really are. If you are a parent-less machine that was manufactured in a factory, your serial number is proof of your existence. You just have to decide whose side are you on anyway. Eventually, someone else (a friend) got the phone for me.

The first message I received on this phone line was from a woman who thought she had gotten her boyfriend's answering machine. She did not even notice that the voice on the message was mine. She simply and easily trusts that the number she has called forth is correct.

This track examines the interaction between intimacy and anonymity in Western technological culture. With a phone, I can now be reached. I am no longer as isolated as before.

Without a phone, no friends visit since they do not know when I will be home. My neighbors are not known to me-- all my friends live across town or in other cities. This contrasts with tribal cultures where a network of friends lives nearby. Not having a phone is symbolic of hermitage and spiritual isolationism. A required test of resolve for those who wish to deny the beast, it strengthens.

A family member would never fail to recognize your voice. Although the woman who calls "loves" her mate, she does not know what his voice sounds like.

Feel:

Starting with an isolated yet integrated and broad mystical Eastern wailing, it becomes frentic as ascending one-shot arpeggios burst forth and the general funkiness of living in the artsy part of downtown -- in a apartment overlooking the ocean, the downtown skyline and the airport -- breaks forth. The general feeling is positive and whimsical.

3. I heard it on the machine

The previous track called out a question to be answered. This track continues to ask, what is the meaning of technology in our lives? People hear things on machines. They trust the machine -- whether it be a television, a printing press, a network, or an answering machine to give them truth. In many ways, technology has replaced human relationships. People communicate through one-way directives. People watching TV expect to be entertained. They do not need to react or interact in any way, but only listen. This form of listening is different from that found in relationships where empathy and interaction are required by the direct face-to-face contact. Since most time is spent interacting with machines, people then begin to treat others as they do the machine -- wanting to control them, turn them on and off at will without regard to the humanity and free-will of the other. Also, technology is a demanding talker. Talk, talk, talk,-- it never listens to you but it demands to be listened to. There is a limit to the amount of time each day we can stand attentively listening to something without interaction. Technology such as TV and the Internet leaves us tired and feeling unreal. When real people do arrive, we are too tired to listen to them. Yet we want them to listen to us and when we do we demand they give their attention. Our tendency is to talk to another as the TV does without pausing or caring how the listener is taking it all in or whether or not she understands. What passes for communication in our culture has become a form of self gratifying masturbation that does not require a partner's interaction, nor make demands of our time or consideration or timing other than whenever an urge arrears its head.

The responses heard in this piece were given by people who encountered my answering machine prompt "For a list of ways in which technology has failed to improve the human condition, press 3 now." When 3 is pressed, nothing different happens. It beeps as a regular answering machine, but is hyped through advertisement to appear to be something it is not. The callers are blissfully unaware of the point, and instead pleasantly wonder why pressing 3 failed to deliver the list. Technological failures are ubiquitous and invisibly expected. These failures are not perceived as extraordinary. These failures are so normal they are not even perceived; they are part of the background noise of everyday life. They have become invisible even when noticeably calling attention to themselves as part of an artistic criticism. The point is lost. We must ask at some point it it's such a good idea to trust the technology and to abdicate relationships. It seems easier and less trouble to deal with predictably unreliable technology than on unpredictable, reliable people.

4. Self-Styyled Massk

Meaning:

As a result of not interacting with others, people emulate the acting of TV and media and each adopt massks. People relate to each other through scripts based on shows they've seen and books they've read, rather than based on how they want to be treated themselves, or upon feedback they receive from others. Everyone develops a set of massks which they present on different occasions. But the massks are worn at all times! The danger is that the real self is never developed and only the façade receives obeisance. The massks inextricably merge with the identity and the soul dies. All that is left is an automaton, predictably unreliable and thus very satisfying.

Feel:

Familiar, wandering, dawdling, call-to-questioning, commenting.

(the previous two tracks imply the next track)

5. It's Time to Go; Your Call has been completed

Meaning:

The log drums are reminiscent of drums signaling to me calling me from across a great distance. The inharmonic, distorted instrument that begins half-way through is like a clock's chime or alarm saying that it's time to get up.

Feel:

Transitional. Storytelling. Soundtrack like.

Intonation notes:

Note the intriguing, yet well-fused harmonies exhibited in the jazzy brass sections in the middle.

6. Sulphrous Smoke upon the Blackened Ocean Blue

Meaning:

This is about traveling across the ocean. A sense of movement, of water and smoke is very noticeable through swells and motion. The Rainstick reminds us of water. The Nigerian ceremonial Graps rattle suggests magic or ritual.

Feel:

Classical, but with indeterminate meter and odd modulations and melodic turns.

Intonation notes:

The arpeggios actually make use of the 88cET pseudo-octave present at 1232 cents. This is far enough off from the 1200 cent pure octave as to appear to be unusable as a consonance. Yet it passes as an octave because the natural/pure octave is not intrinsically wired into your brain; only its approximate size is learned through extensive exposure. The approximation of the common and familiar tonic-fifth-octave sequence in the arpeggios serve as a further cue to get the brain to accept the sharply augmented octave acceptable, or at least passable. I submit this tune as proof that the 2:1 ratio is irrelevant to the brain's recognition of the octave-class interval.

7. Island Climate

Meaning:

Having arrived at a new place, old things have been left behind. A new life has begun.

Feel:

Classical. Transitional. Structured, yet free. Logical, yet unpredictable.

Intonation notes:

This tune has the most sophisticated harmonies of the sections. Of particular interest is the intriguing harmonic transition that occurs near the end when the log drums return.

8. Those Who Stayed Behind were Turned Into Salt

Meaning:

Completely acoustic, the most natural of all the tracks, signally a successful return to a more real form of existence.

The rainstick from "Sulphrous Smoke..." has become the sound of a disintegrating, crumbling, salt pillar. Pretty, crystalline and exceptionally clean and clear. The sound of the rock pillar only comes at the end; before this the rain stick is more ambient. Again, the use of the Nigerian Graps suggests that magical forces may be involved.

The sounds of those who are left behind are largely ignored except to relate their state as disintegrating pillars of salt. Most of this track deals with simple, joyful, pure percussive elements of the unpretentious celebration of daily life.

Feel:

Transformational, pure. Unpretentious, natural.

This album is a testament to my denial of the validity and reality of all situations everywhere and finding assumptions and premises dubiously concocted by people and institutions with questionable motives and ethics and any and all real evidence completely specious.

The first part (tracks 2-4) questions the assumption that technology and society are of any benefit to the human soul, or if in fact they are destructive and irresistible seductive forces.

The second part is in call and response form. It depicts my response to the conclusions that visit me in the form of visions and the unmistakable voice of God -- both aurally heard and through synchronicity and coincidence. We all have a choice. We can choose to seek the truth by listening to the voice and follow the will of God. Or alternatively, we can have fun with our gizmos while it lasts (Part I).

Tracks 6-8 were written about things before they happened & thus captured them pure, in their essence. It is sometimes the case that writing about what happened after it actually occured in chronos time unfairly discolors the artwork with my personal interpretation of the events, an interpretation formed as my consciousness experiences the event in chronos time. But the pure event as it actually occured, uncolored by experiencing, is present and available as a snapshot throughout all time. The creative process transcends time and has access to this point-of-view, found outside of time. Thus, writing about what happened before it happened gives a clearer, more unbiased imaging.

II. Advice To You

Sell all you have. What do you need it for?
Give to the poor. You'll learn something.
Love God. Listen when He speaks, whether as a small still voice, via an angel, or through synchronicity , serendipity, and coincidence. Follow His guidance.
Love your neighbor. No matter how annoying he is, he is a fellow creation of God and as such has dignity and holiness.

That's all there is to know and all you need to know.

your

Whose side are you on anyway?

III. Tuning Notes

176

264

352

440

528

616

704

792

880

968

1056

1144

1232

The works on this CD use 88 cent equal temperament (88cET) as their tuning system. In 88cET, the notes are 88% closer together in pitch than in the tuning Western instruments (particularly synthesizers) are tuned to. 88cET has no octave and thus falls into the enormously large set of beautiful and exotic non-octave tunings. 88cET has a very good fifth, and three classes of thirds, none of which are major or minor. Many wondrous, striking, effervescent harmonies can be formed in 88cET and as you can hear from listening to this work, it is not dissonant, atonal or strange sounding at all, but rather gorgeous and exotic. I have only worked with 88cET a short time. The possibilities and growth possible in this and other xenharmonic tunings boggles and astounds me--it is a mystery.

0 88 176 264 352 440 528 616 704 792 880 968 1056 1144 1232 1320 1408 1496 1584

unison subminor third neutral third supermajor third major septimal tritone fifth major sixth harmonic 7th major ninth major tenth

1/1 ~7/6 ~sqrt (3/2) ~9/7 ~10/7 ~3/2 ~5/3 ~7/4 ~9/4 ~5/2

IIII. Spatialization / 3D audio notes

Listen for a new form of 3D sound developed just for this album. It's most noticeable on the Rainstick during the track "Those Who Stayed Behind...". Listen on a good stereo system (not headphones) and sit between the speakers about 5 to 7 feet away. The Rainstick will appear at times to move away from the speakers to your sides. It is a subtle effect & not all people are capable of hearing it. Also listen for detailed movement in other percussions. These effects can also be heard on "Sulphrous Smoke Across the Ocean...".

About the types of 3D audio invented by X. J. Scott...

V. Listening Suggestion

This album may contain sounds, melodies, and harmonies unlike any you have ever heard, yet which are cohesive and logical. If so, the neural networks within your brain may form new pathways as your brain attempts you assimilate the structures inherent within the music. Lay on the floor and try listening to the album with all the lights out the first few times. You may experience synaesthesia which is a perceptual state in which sounds appear as brilliant moving colors. Lights and colors also occur when you have major revelations, shifts in perception, or experiences new states of awareness -- all of which are accompanied by brain rewiring.

VI. Quotes

"The direct coupling of brain and machine is beginning now with applications in injured and diseased victims. In the end, the ultimate human-machine interaction is 'thought control.'
This emerging technology, the Air Force should aggressively encourage and exploit."

--"New World Vistas: Air and Space Power for the 21st Century" -- a 1996 study commissioned by Air Force Secretary Sheila E. Widnall to make a serious examination of air conflict of the future. The study was conducted by the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.

"The Cyber Situation is the integration of the entire OODA Loop Cycle under the control of commanders, decision makers, and analysts. Supporting components include all-source information collectors, archival databases, the Information Integration Center (IIC), a microscopic chip implanted in the user's brain, and a wide range of lethal and nonlethal weapons."

--US Air Force 2025 study

After a very short period of time, sometimes as few as thirty seconds, the brain of a television viewer enters the hypnogogic alpha state. This is the trance state of deep relaxation and heightened suggestability in which a person has little will to resist directives and in which he believes what he is told without questioning.

-- Herbert Krugman, "Brain Waves Measures of Media Involvement", Journal of Advertising Research (1971): 3-9

VII. Instruments Used

Yamaha SY77, Audio Technica AT813a Cardoid Condenser Mic, Nigerian Agogo, Nigerian 36" Akan Kan (gong), Nigerian Waist Rattle, Nigerian Graps (Ceremonial Double Rattle), Tone Block, Guiro, Bodhran (Frame Drum), Chilean Rainstick, Steinberg Cubase VST. Effects Used: Reverb, Chorus, Digital Delay, Autopanner, Fuzz Box, EQ.

VIII. Other Things to Ponder

Morphogenic Fields.
Frogs falling from the sky.

VIIII. A Simple Prayer for Epiphanies

God, grant me that which you know is best for me.
And God, grant me the grace and courage to willfully and joyously accept your gifts to me that are the best things for me in my life, regardless and in spite of

how I feel about receiving these gifts,
how I feel about the gifts themselves, and
without regard to what I myself, in my arrogance, think is best for me instead of these gifts.

Amen.

Contents

I. Track Details

1. Data Track

2. Directed Call

Meaning:

Feel:

3. I heard it on the machine

4. Self-Styyled Massk

Meaning:

Feel:

5. It's Time to Go; Your Call has been completed

Meaning:

Feel:

Intonation notes:

6. Sulphrous Smoke upon the Blackened Ocean Blue

Meaning:

Feel:

Intonation notes:

7. Island Climate

Meaning:

Feel:

Intonation notes:

8. Those Who Stayed Behind were Turned Into Salt

Meaning:

Feel:

II. Advice To You

III. Tuning Notes

IIII. Spatialization / 3D audio notes

V. Listening Suggestion

VI. Quotes

VII. Instruments Used

VIII. Other Things to Ponder

VIIII. A Simple Prayer for Epiphanies