#also please let the symbiote have one (1) second of peace

[creepyeyesandfrogs]

every few months the venom brain worms come fuck me up again and every single time i go "ohh let me get up to date with the comics again!" and every time i get psychic damage from it

[fishmalazahn]

Scoundress Saturdays #20 The Visitor Part 1

Breha had watched Leia push her dinner around her plate all evening, choosing instead to sip carbonated water, busy herself with making sure Kira’s food was cut into precise pieces and pretending that everything was fine. She’d also observed Han’s hand and how it stayed planted in the small of Leia’s back for almost the entire evening.

“Mumma.” Kira looked at her after dinner after they had adjourned to the lounge for after dinner caff.

“Yes loved?”

“Someone here to visit.”

Leia smiled and smoothed her hair gently, Kira had been taking about a visitor for the last couple of weeks and it wasn’t until after the positive pregnancy test that afternoon, that Leia had realized that she was feeling the force signature of the life taking shape deep with her her body. “Hush loved.” She spoke gently.

“But mumma, someone here to visit.”

“Where?” Breha asked simply.

Leia looked at her her mother knowing exactly where and wondering if Kira did as well. They watched Kira move from Han’s lap to Leia’s.

“Well, go on.” Breha urged gently. “Where is this visitor that you are so insistent is here?”

“Right here.” Kira spoke, still struggling not to pronounce her Rs as Ws and placed her hand against Leia’s stomach. “Someone here to visit.”

Han and Bail stopped their conversation and looked at Kira and Leia.

“Who there mumma?”

Leia shot Han a helpless look.

“You’re pregnant.” Breha stammered. “Oh!” She pulled her into her arms. “This is so wonderful.”

“Congratulations.” Bail spoke clapping Han’s shoulder.

“Now.” Han spoke firmly. “It’s early yet, you know and we’re still real cautious at this phase.” He looked at Leia taking her hand in both of his. “We hadn’t planned to tell anyone just yet.” He looked at Kira.

“Sorry.” She spoke quietly. “Sorry daddy.”

Breha and Bail knew more than anyone else in the room about wanting to wait just to be sure the pregnancy took before telling anyone. They both nodded sympathetically and Breha smoothed Leia’s hair in that same gentle way that Leia smoothed Kira’s.

Leia looked at her mother and smiled tightly.

“It’s alright sweetheart.” Han soothed Kira gently, picking up on her concern. “Isn’t it Lei?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong loved.” Leia spoke gently. “You just wanted to know who was here.”

Kira nodded. “But who mumma?”

“That’s your little brother or sister.” Breha spoke up without thinking.

“They come to visit?”

“Not for a long time yet, but you can feel them can’t you baby?” Leia spoke gently smoothing her hair.

“Uh huh, can you mumma?”

Leia nodded pressing her hand to her stomach. “Pretty neat huh?”

Kira nodded pressing her hand next to Leia’s. “I in there?”

Leia looked at Han.

Han smiled and hooked his hands under Kira’s arms. “C’mere bitsy.” He spoke sitting her on his lap.

She looked up at him.

“It’s getting close to your bedtime Princess, and you’ve got to help me think of a story.”

She nodded she took their nightly improvisational stories very seriously.

“Now.” He got up. “Let’s go put on our jams and think of a good story, yeah bitsy?” He spoke slinging his shoulder roughly. “Let’s go you little hooligan.” She squealed and laughed with delight at his dad-acrobatics.

“Say goodnight to your lita and your papa.”

“Buenas noches lita and papa, te amo.”

“Te amo, mija.” They both spoke.

“And your mumma.” He swung her down to Leia lap once again.

“Night mumma, love you.”

“Night loved.” Leia spoke gently holding her close to her chest. “I’ll be in later to check on you.” She kissed her forehead. “I love you.”

She nodded. “Mumma?”

“Yes?”

“I say night?”

Leia looked at her quizzically. “What?”

Kira put her hand back against Leia’s stomach. “Night in there, te amo.”

Leia looked at Han.

He cleared his throat. “Come on bitsy.” He spoke gently picking her up. “Let’s go on our adventure.”

“Okay daddy.”

Leia sighed. “I wish Master Ferus were still alive. I just don’t know what to do with her.”

“Train her.” Bail spoke simply.

“She won’t let me and I don’t want to push her.”

“Why won’t she?”

Leia shook her head. “Vader.”

Breha rubbed her back gently. “Give her time.

Leia nodded. “This one is strong too.”

“Obviously.” Bail nodded.

“You’re going to have your hands full if you don’t figure something out.”

She nodded. “I hope that the force isn’t as difficult for her to deal with as it is for me.”

“She’s more attuned to it than you were.” Breha spoke. “You and the force were always in some sort of conflict. You fought it so hard, for her it seems to be more apart of her. It seems more symbiotic.”

Leia nodded, she’d noticed. It reminded her of how Luke worked in the force, peaceful and comforting. “Maybe I can learn something from her.”

“Have you decided how you’re going to explain to her where she came from?”

Leia shook her head. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“What was the outcome of Carlist’s raid on the clone base?”

“They destroyed the base and left nothing behind.”

“Did they find anything?”

“I didn’t ask.” She spoke quietly. “I don’t want to know. They took enough from me with my knowledge, I’d rather not know what they took from me without my knowledge.” She picked at her thumb.

Breha took her hand gently laying it across her palm moving slowly and carefully. “Mija.” She spoke quietly. “You’re so hard on your hands.”

Leia nodded.

“These are the hands you comfort Kira with you have to be more careful with them.”

“She does it too.”

Breha nodded. “It might help her if you worked on that together.”

Leia nodded.

“If she watches her mumma stop doing it, she will too.”

Leia nodded. “Han knows.”

“Han knows what?”

“He’s seen the report, Carlist sent it to him on accident. He was so angry, neither of us wanted to know, and now he feels like he’s keeping a secret from me.”

“Let him tell you.”

Leia sighed. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“What if, what if she’s mine?”

“There’s no question in my mind that she’s yours. And I think you know that as well.”

Leia sighed.

“Daddy.” Kira spoke as Han tucked her into her big girl bed, they one he’d built for her, the one that was extra long so that he could fit too.

“Bitsy.” He spoke with mock seriousness.

She smiled. “I in there?”

He sighed sitting on her bed. “That’s a long story bitsy.”

“Wanna know.” She looked up at him with Leia’s eyes. “Please, daddy?”

He sighed. “You mama is going to kill me.”

She furrowed her eyebrows at him, looking just like her mother.

He held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright.”

She shot him a self satisfied look and curled up with her stuffed Wookiee and Han hoped she’d fall asleep quickly.

Han frowned at her trying to figure out how to answer her question. The simple answer was ‘no’, but ‘no’ wouldn’t suffice. It was so much more complicated than just ‘no’. Han sighed, he knew the answer he just had no idea how to frame it for an inquisitive almost three year old. He knew how old she was, she now had an exact birthdate, birthdate wasn’t the exact phrasing he was looking for.

“Daddy.”

He sighed. “Give me a second Bits, I’m thinking.”

She sighed and crossed her arms across her chest.

[amollion]

The AnitVirus (Virus continued)

The Anit-Virus

***RECOVERED AUDIO RECORDINGS***

***ALL SUCH FILES ARE TO BE LISTEND AS BLACKWATCH***

***NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONEL MAY VIEW***

*** UNAUTHORIZED PERSONAL VIEWING WILL BE SUBJECT TO TERMINATION***

*Unknown scientist:

Since the development of the transwarpgate we have often theorized that the distance that we can send objects through may be infinite (We are still trying to figure out why living matter cannot go)

It may be possible to modify our current gates into a far larger one so that instead of connecting two gates we use one as a massive cannon. In theory at least (we have yet to do the maths) we can teleport objects into other galaxy's.  

*Unknown scientist

The mega transwarpgate is finished and finally, it's taken nearly 200 cycles and most of that was to get funding, the last bit of funding was redirected to the military after the Dewq uprising. Pesty insects interfering with our work.

*Scientist Bequtoni- Believed to be the successor of previous scientist.

The first test run of the Gate was....conflicting. What was sent was a probe that would send back data on the planets in the target system but it seems to have crashed on a planet, it sent only a few seconds of imagery and information saying the planet was a dead one then cut out. We might have to adjust the targeting array.

*Scientist Bequtoni log No. N/A

After a lot of trial and error tests we have successfully launched a probe into our neighbouring galaxy and the results are fascinating. Much like our galaxy the planets formed in a variety of ways but usually within a similar pattern. Only a very few were truly unique but that was not the best part. Life! Sentient life was in that galaxy and it was advanced or at least enough to roam the stars. We had our probes cloaked from view and their primitive sensors so we can observe them without interfering with their development. Such a unique insight to the development of our neighbouring galaxy.

*Scientist Popilon Log No.90

Something is wrong within our neighbouring galaxy, they formed into a coalition some three hundred standard Pholian years ago and have enjoyed relative peace but suddenly they are arming themselves and amassing huge fleets. Having watched these races all our lives we feel a sense of connection tot hem even if they do not even know we exist. Many of us are considering making contact but the Lords will not hear of it, they deem it a matter beneath our attention and our only mission is to observe. Many of us do not agree but we cannot defy the Lords.  

*Scientist Kogfirm Log 23

Our neighbours are at war on a galactic scale, using the information wee have gathered they seem to originate from the world where our first probe crashed, are we responsible for this? I hope not because whoever it is that our neighbours are fighting are spreading like a virus, even when our race conquered our galaxy we did not spread so quick..

*Unknown Military Officer

Because of our cloaked probes we can get detailed scans of this virus like aliens that are scorching their own galaxy, we have only limited scans of their actual bodies but their ships seem...alive. Our scientist say they are a combination of organic components and non organic components. One of their conquered planets we observed them growing a whole fleet in only a few weeks. We have classified these files should anyone get hold of them, if the subjugated races find them and start learning how to grow ships the whole empire would collapse.

*Unknown Biologist

We have gotten our first deep scans of these virus aliens and what we found was both terrifying and fascinating. Their entire body is full of mirco organisms and bacteria and even some parasites that are more symbiotic in nature to them, their touch is also deadly. We observed the transformation they wrought on a world just by simply being their, the soil died and the air became unbreathable to any but them. In a sense they are terraforming organisms. Their life spans are not long and it seems they are unaware of the carnage they are bringing to the galaxy. In the time it takes for them to take over a star system and move to the next many generations have passed. Whereas the other races of the galaxy have incredibly long lifespans and perceive time differently, the passage of months to them would be many years to the virus. Luckily they are not so advanced as to detect our probes, I shudder to think what they would do with such technology.  

*Unknown (possible scientist or military officer)

The last days of the coalition is upon them, they have fallen back to a single star system and are fortifying their position, we have begged the Lords to let us send aid but they simply say it would be pointless now. We watched as the virus arrived and began slaughtering them, it was heartbreaking to see an end of an era but it filled me with pride to see they did not back down and fought to the last even if the battle was brief. Many are talking about retiring the project as there is nothing left to observe, that whole galaxy is now dead and it is likely nothing will ever live there again. Not while the virus is there. I can only hope that they consume and destroy themselves.

*Gefensew (civilian star gazer)

Ever since the story of our neighbouring galaxy and their struggles became public I have been fascinated by them, I find myself steering my scope towards that part of the universe in a hope I'll catch a glimpse of one of their ships. In fact I may have found something else, a star that I charted has gone. It did not go supernova as it was not due to do so for man many more millennia. Since I saw this I have noticed other stars going dark, what is going on there?

*Scientist Veonp

The funding for our galaxy observation may have been cut to the bare essentials and now only a handful of the probes are working since we don’t send new ones to replace the ones we loose we are just waiting for them to go offline too. There is not anything to observe anyway, the virus just keeps swarming and swarming to every single planet or moon they can find. They will probably soon just consume themselves. That was until we witnessed something we have always thought impossible. It was a mega structure that covered an entire sun, at first we weren't sure what it was for but that soon changed. The suns light...went out. Just...gone. Has their hunger grown so much that they are resorting to consuming suns? How did they even do it? None of us can figure it out and only give random hypothesis. It seems our funding may go up.

*Unknown scientist.

We have launched a further 5000 probes into the galaxy, many failed to transmit but those that did are all telling the same story. The virus is consuming the suns of all the star systems and at an increasing rate. We calculate that in as little time as one of our centuries there will be no stars left.

*Unknown scientist.

There are no stars left, the galaxy has gone dark and can no longer be seen in the night sky on any planet. That galaxy's tale has finally and truly come to an end. As resilient as the virus was there is no way they can survive, nothing logically can. Even if they could, where would they go?

*Final transmission from outpost 6529 (believed to roughly some millennia later)

“Unknown vessels transmit your identification codes”

“Inaudible”

“Say again, transmit your identification codes”

“Still Inaudible but louder”

“Hold your position until while we scan your ships”

“Screeching sound”

***Transmission ends***

*Audio recordings of patrol fleet 183.987 investigating the situation from outpost 6529

“This is Admiral Oeal of the Pholion Empire please identify yourself”

“........”

“You are trespassing in Pholian space identify yourself or we will open fire”

“.......Hungry”

“Say again”

**Log ends***

*Audio recording from the Pholian Empire's Council of Lords.

Lord 1: “Are you seriously asking us to believe that a space faring race that consumed a galaxy has crossed the vast void without the use of a gate and is now entering our galaxy?”

Scientist: “The evidence shows that is the case, these ships bare the same markings and designs as the virus”

Lord 2: “Impossible, these ships are obviously just another space faring race that has remained hidden and are now looking to expand their boarders”

Lord 3: “What if it is true though, I would be happier if we sent the Scourge fleet just in case”

Lord 2: “That fleet is only used to wipe out stubbornly rebellious systems, not to calm your worries old man”

Scientist: “With respect my Lords, the evidence is rather overwhelming and if we do not act now and eliminate them now they will breed and spread”

Lord 2: “You speak above your caste, the military shall decide on what cause of action to take”

Military officer: “This incursion into our space is simply a rebellion that has some backing from an unknown source. I will personally go and break them to show the might of Pholian Empire”

**Applause**

Lord 1: Then go, destroy these rebels and make sure all remember to fear the Pholian Empire once more”

**The fleet enters the Virus's system and disappears from then on all Virus controlled sectors are referred to as Dead Sectors**  

*Council of Lords Audio recording (Roughly one Pholian Century since the Virus's arrival)

Lord 1: “What did you say!?”

Scientist 1: “We believe more fleets of the Virus have made two more incursions into our galaxy”

Lord 2: “How did they break the containment?!”

Scientist 2: “We believe these are separate hive fleets, the same race as the first hive fleet but not connected to them”

Lord 3: “We are barley containing the first hive fleet how are we going to face two more? Even the Scourge fleets can't defeat them and their planet sized Hive ships”

Scientist 1: “Well...we do have an idea”

Lord 2: “Speak”

Scientist 1: “We have been studying the remains of the Virus and we believe we can produce an Anti virus if you will”

Lord 1: “What do you mean?”

Scientist 2: “It is the same way we treat virus's within our bodies, we copy their genetic structure then program them to search out their own kind and destroy it thus curing the patient”

Lord 3: “Are you saying you want to clone these things?”

Scientists 2 “Yes and condition them to seek out and destroy the Virus which they would see as another species”

***Silence as the Lords speak amongst themselves***

Lord 1: “Since we do not have any immediate alternative you may proceed”

Scientist 1 “We will need a planet to birth and breed the clones”

Lord 2: “You will have it”

***Clones of the Virus as birthed quickly and placed on a planet to grow at their own pace with technology slowly introduced till they give the AnitVirus a small Virus ship and they soon begin building their own. These AntiVirus's have an artificial gene that when activated by the Pholians will make them seek out the Virus and destroy them. By the time the Clones are deemed ready 20% of the galaxy is now considered Dark Sector. The gene is activated and the AnitVirus's head in the direction of the Dark Sector. Cloaked probes monitor the battles which seem to end in stalemate, this prompts the Lords to order the creation of more AntiVirus to take over from their current fleets who are loosing control of the containment areas of the first Virus fleet***

*Audio recording of Admiral Fewqol as he leaves to engage the Virus with his AntiVirus fleet, this is believed to have taken place some thirty Pholian years after the AntiVirus's creation*

“This is Admiral Fewqol ready to lead an offensive into Dark Sectors”

“Good luck Admiral bring glory to the Pholian Empire once more”

“What's left of it” (It is believed he turn off his com before saying this)

-Admiral's fleet enters Virus held system-

“Ready the AntiVirus”

“All AntiVirus ships are green and ready to engage”

“Unleash them”

“Sending attack command now”

-Recovered data shows this system to be a heavily infested system and Admiral Fewqol has enough AntiVirus to match it-

“Virus ships inbound”

“Have the AntiVirus open fire now”

-Silence for approximately 6 seconds-

“Why are they not firing?”

“I don't know sir I have sent the attack signal three times”

“Sir? I am getting a com signal from the Virus's main Hive ship”

“So? All they send is screaming, ignore it”

“No sir, this is words, spoken in Pholian”

“.....Put it through”

“.............sickness..........slaves...........free.....will.....”

-Silence for 14.09 seconds-

“Sir...the AnitVirus ships are turning away from the Virus and locking weapons on us!”

“Get us out of-”

**All AntiVirus fleets suddenly turn on the Pholians, with no fleets available the Pholian Empire collapses, their homeworld is besieged but they do not fire but simply broadcast their screaming communication onto the planet. It is unsure how this caused the death of all 16 billion individuals**

***END OF RECOVERED AUDIO LOGS***

***FOR INFOMATION ON VIRUS BIOLOGY SEE FILE 2466***

***FOR INFOMATION ON VIRUS TECHNOLOGY SEE FILE 2467

***BOTH GALAXY X452 AND X453 HAVE GONE DARK AS ALL STARS HAVE BEEN CONSUMED AS WELL AS ALL PLANETS***

***GALAXY'S BOTH NOW LABELLED DEAD***

***CURRENT LOCATION OF VIRUS'S HIVE FLEETS***

***UNKNOWN***

[tinymixtapes]

Interview: Wave Temples

The current crop of New Age and ambient projects emerging from the Bandcamp ether are mostly background noise, filler music for empty workdays or zone-out sessions at home. Tripp, ephemeral, forgettable… One project I initially lumped into that category, but quickly found much more beneath the surface, is Wave Temples. This anonymous Floridian journeyman takes the tired trope of field recordings littered over hazy keyboard riffs and turns it on its head, offering a loaded back catalogue that’s immersive, compelling, and puzzling. His most recent voyage, Isle Enchanted, was released via Not Not Fun at the close of 2016 (and now available in a limited second edition), and it’s as good a starting point as any for those ready to dive deep into the Wave Temples vibe (see also the vast and varied releases on his Rainbow Pyramid imprint). Tiny Mix Tapes caught up with WT over email, and, in keeping with the mysterious and anonymous nature of the project, I didn’t know what to expect until my inbox buzzed with responses touching on everything from a breakdown of his discography, swimming with sharks, and the influence of dreams on his work. --- Can you tell me about the formation of Wave Temples? How long have you been playing music, and what led to you start this project? Well, it’s complicated. This project has been growing from seed for almost 10 years now and the longer it’s gone on, the harder it is to tell where one things ends and another begins. I’d like to say it all comes from drugs, like maybe just some kind of old lazy new age indica, or a post-nostalgic opioid bliss floating up from some insta-vapor cloud in this seemingly never-ending digital culture loop, but that wouldn’t be totally accurate. I wish I could say more exotic, maybe a dark rich jungle sativa, mystic in epiphyte blooming succulent heart, feeding a dense foggy soul tattooed with shimmering crystalline waves, the dancing flicker of Maori effigies burning from a time long past, or the beckoning call of Easter Island. Oh, what a treasure that would be?! But that wouldn’t be the whole truth either. The truth is probably more ordinary, as it goes. I’d say it’s been far closer to star-charting moments of perfect coincidence in an otherwise chaotic sea of randomness; making the best of difficult situations and striving for a more harmonious existence. At some point I had become disillusioned by a lot of music culture and there seemed to be a line crossed for me when so many forms of music and art stopped being about any kind of idealized catharsis or post-tribal vestige and all just hollow ethereal fad, image, and celebrity. This is the way of things; I get it. I just couldn’t be a part of that kind of world anymore. A lot of this path has also been tied to deep self-analysis of how my own behavior and belief systems directly effect my own reality and how base energy through intention lead to certain outcomes. It’s in this regard that I feel it’s weird to just talk solely about music or aesthetic when the evolution of this project has so directly been symbiotic with a long path of serious growth and change in my own life. Maybe Desert Islands by Gilles Deleuze is a key for philosophy, but that came much later. An inevitable outcome of already set sails or a discovered lost treasure, perhaps. Or, maybe, just a byproduct of subtle homage to the Fourth Way spoken of by Ouspensky and flowering up from some post-Theosophical Gurdjieff-esque styled garden of allegory, maybe; or just willfully being as uncomfortably boring as possible as a contrarian middle finger to noise and punk kids, a peaceful rebellion to the attention deficit-disordered modern world. That would definitely explain some of the past live shows. All would apply. To speak of the Wave Temples project distinctly… It’s been deeply personal by design. It’s been influenced and furthered onward by unique and intense hallucinations and dreams. This statement may seem a little cliché these days but interesting to note because I’ve never been a person to invest too much in dreams. Maybe I’ve never dreamed this intense or had such a systematic interpretation as I do today, but I doubt it. I am a skeptic at heart and I don’t think I’ve had dreams quite like this prior to 2013. I have plenty of ordinary dreams and long periods without any dreams at all, but on the rare occasion there are these dreams that inspire and further the Wave Temples narrative that have been richly enchanting and rewarding. My original intentions leading to this project were just to follow a childhood love to create narratives and play around freely on a voyage of self-discovery. To this realm, Atlantis and islands of mystery, the alluring quest of the old tropics, and all the sacred mysticism that still lie in secret exotic portal locales across the world. “To be true to thy self” apart. Keys to the Inner Islands was monumental for me. It was recorded around an intense journey to the southern-most tip of Key West in spring of 2013 and waking up to deep, middle of the night dopamine overloaded hallucinations while sleeping in my car. What are some pieces of music, film, art, literature, and cultural ephemera that shaped the sounds you pursue with Wave Temples? Season 1 episode 10 of In Search Of… with Leonard Nimoy was totally a way back starting point for the aesthetic of this project. Not so much the scientific need to explain the unexplained or discover the undiscovered, but just the flirtation with the wonder of wild enchanted ancient mysteries set to that backing raw lo-fi mystical synth music. It does make for the start of a really great narrative. It’s a shame they never issued just the soundtrack. The ability to craft a unique atmosphere through sound has been a long time fascination for me. Lots of the original music from the first season of In Search Of… was really interesting. I’ve always liked that kind of electromagnetic dirty lo-dub weird and raw. The new age phase by Kitaro was a huge unconscious influence on me from a very young age. At the time I had no concept of New Age as a genre, I just thought of it like a film score to a film that didn’t exist and I really loved that idea. I spent a lot of my teens listening to my dad’s cassettes and letting my imagination roam. In retrospect, as much of a sad teenager as I was, I was really happiest during that time. My only critique was that it was just too clean. I wished that this kind of music existed with the same raw lo-fi DIY passion that I found in early punk cassettes, but this was before the internet, so it’s all I had. That’s definitely a vivid experience that originally inspired me towards this project. Had I known of stuff like Iasos’s early work or J.D. Emmanuel at the time, who knows… There are however, many other later influences or experiences both musical and otherwise that have either inspired or justified this project to continue. Ana from the blog Microphones in the Trees was vital support that turned me on to a lot of like-minded people through her massive compilations and reviews. The Laboratory in Gainesville and all the improvisational experimental shows that used to happen there had a very strong impact on me at a critical point in time. Seeing Moemlien on tour with Unicorn Hard-On and Container at Action Research Halloween in 2011 was really important to me, but there have been several really excellent musical and aesthetic intersections made over the years that are also totally worth the research for the internet adventurous. The more hidden side of Florida and her associations with the old Atlantean tropics have been a huge point of inspiration. Hermeticism, anonymity, individualism, isolation, adventure! Florida in general holds some interesting mystery portals all her own. A very weird place for the attuned initiate willing to keep her secrets. Your Bandcamp page links to this video. How does this influence the sound and aesthetic of Wave Temples? That is definitely, probably, a measured byproduct of seriously taking “not taking it serious” very seriously, or not? I’d like to think it has a lot to do with Bermuda ley lines, or Malta. Her mysterious allure is very much within the spirit of this project. I think that video sums it up perfectly. Isle Enchanted by Wave Temples Reading Britt Brown’s recent RBMA interview, the term “vibe sessions” stuck out for how he described his earliest experiences with new age and ambient shows. That phrase seems apt for what I hear when listening to Wave Temples’ back catalog on Bandcamp. With Isle Enchanted, were you going for a specific mood or feel? I don’t think I was aiming for any mood or vibe directly, other than maybe just good natured and peaceful. The desired outcome with this project tends to be more like room music or maybe an organic form of atmospheric wallpaper music would be a better term, where it works best when put at low volume on speakers and just allowed to fill the environment with ebb and flow. My main goal is always to make something that pleases my own environment: nature, cats, plants, bugs, birds, and now a fierce young lady dog. Low key plays a big part of it. I like soundtracking environments. The process however, always starts by returning to the narrative and often continues in intervals with notes taken periodically, experimenting with different methods, loops, and timbres, arranging technique or approach, then decoding it all together in post. It’s always cerebral first and foremost. I do have places that I’d like to go with albums like this one, but often the process defines itself as it goes along and ends up being new and uncharted. That is the most fun for me. The process is sort of like my journal, observing, documenting, and codifying the cross sections in the physical and metaphysical currents of my life and translating them into works of sound adventure. Up until this year, the voyage had evolved into a search for home and all the interesting human distractions along the way; pursuit of a lusting life and forgoing its destroyer. With Isle Enchanted specifically, it was coming out of the Cymatic Abyss, where stillness and patience dominate all vibration, discovering the teleporting island and now arriving at new destinations. Hearing rumors, stories, and mysteries. Reading up, daydreams, night dreams, hallucinations, investigations, just for a whole designated period dedicated to producing something. Once fully absorbed, clear the slate and just experiment. On the inside of the cassette cover of Isle Enchanted there is a non-linear track listing that kind of explains the narrative of this specific adventure. Reading back through it some 6+ months later, it sounds eerily similar to a sudden and chance adventure I had right about the time of this albums release… but was originally inspired at the crest of spring 2016 by tales of the adventurers employed by the Roman emperor Augustus in discovery of the yet to be tamed Isle of Capri, places like the labyrinthian Medici gardens of Florence, and the story of the discovery of Margate Shell Grotto in England… and how that all kind of related to the experience and possibilities of weird discovery of our own old hidden tropical-post-memphis styled estate that we’ve come to call home this year. Your releases give the impression of being formed from loose jam sessions. Is that the case? Do you put together tracks with an album or release in mind, or do you pick and choose from a lot of material? Aside from the inherent limitations of arranging within cassette format, I wouldn’t say loose jam sessions in any traditional sense. It became clear a long time ago that there is absolutely no fun for me in overly structured music, and I very much prefer a loose jam session with attuned people over some sort of monotonous rehearsal. Over the past 25 years of playing music, I have had a flirtation and/or chance to evaluate almost every type of music that exists on earth while trying to hone my own filter of influence. Methodical improvisation I’ve found tends to be the most exciting, especially in a live-show situation. A clean mental slate as far as technique is also helpful to keep it challenging. I often write for this project through live shows. Not only is it about the only fun way for me to perform something like this live, but it is also fun to pick up a show when I can and come out and sketch live for people or, on occasion, just willfully piss people off with being intentionally as boring or as sloppy (or as pretty sounding) as possible is totally fun too; especially opening at harsh noise shows. Most live stuff never makes it to recording as it’s performed either, so that’s great, too. Throughout the year I enjoy collecting sounds and timbres and moments that influence. Returning to the inner island is like a pilgrimage for me; a chance to center and sort things out. Though I am finding that the more I go along this path, the inner island is becoming more of an outer island and that to me has been the most rewarding outcome from persisting with this project. I spent a lot of my teens listening to my dad’s cassettes and letting my imagination roam. In retrospect, as much of a sad teenager as I was, I was really happiest during that time. My only critique was that it was just too clean. As stated earlier, each recording has been part of an ongoing narrative. Up until now it usually begins by arriving and ends by departing. Across the Shores of the Barrier Sea is a little different because it was from material created during a few years that I was totally lost, aimless, and in deep despair. It’s a mix of material from two highly orchestrated big gear live projection shows in the summer of 2011 mixed with cassette and battery-operated, reel-to-reel field recording experiments from late night sketchy bike rides in 2011 and 2012. At the time the project didn’t have a name but the process was already beginning to take root. There might also be some material slipped in from a quartet I joined for a show curated by Al Margolis at the Stone in Manhattan in early 2012. It’s never been officially released but I recently made it available to download on bandcamp by request. Keys to the Inner Islands was monumental for me. It was recorded around an intense journey to the southern-most tip of Key West in spring of 2013 and waking up to deep, middle of the night dopamine overloaded hallucinations while sleeping in my car. This proceeded a sudden chance adventure the next day to the increasingly lost but hidden, wild, and raw old Key West; eventually ending much farther north in hidden treasures near Cedar Key by Summer. That whole adventure sealed the deal for me. The album was released on cassette through Rainbow Pyramid, and later in short handmade run cassettes/digitally as the album Spring Ritual, which also included an extended kind of an ‘open ocean’ EP from the period right after departing the Isle of the Feathered Serpent that was 2013. In the Shade of the Island was darker days than Keys, definitely moving deeper into darker territory. A limited cassette only release from Mexican imprint Department Tapes that had a track play at the 24-hour guerrilla FM broadcast ‘The Dark Outside’ from deep in the Dark Sky Park of the Galloway Forrest Scotland in October 2013. Floating Garden/Hidden Temple was and is cassette-only, released through Rainbow Pyramid late 2013. This album joined an ending celebration of the Year of the Feathered Serpent, but started as a commission for a collaborative installation with a fantastic nature stop-motion filmmaker (also botanist and surfer) David C. Montgomery for a zoo’s festival of lights exhibition in December of that year. That album was also right in the wake of a lot of deep personal tragedy that would go on to directly influence the events of my life in 2016. Nice Dreams is all ocean exploration and was released on the Space Coast Florida imprint Illuminated Paths. It’s more of an intentional experiment based on research into sleep cycles. I wanted to soundtrack the rhythm and movements of sleep. This release was only part one though. The same outcome can still be achieved with just one part, but to get the full effect in theory, you have to listen to it through room speakers at a low audible level on repeat throughout the night. Every two cycles would approximately complete an average deep-sleep cycle, and it’s all math after that. Part 2 will get done one day. This is really the only album so far that was meant more for digital formats for the auto repeat feature. The cassette release was double repeat 90+ minutes but the tape still needs to be flipped. Sleeping Tortugas, released on Florida/California imprint Rotifer Cassettes, was more of an orchestrated and track-driven album. Set to a whole summer period in 2014 of intense, fantastical hot night dreams that bled into smooth serene day dreams and vice versa. A truly surreal place of intense feminine energy, sometimes dark, sometimes motherly, surrounded and hidden by fog; where the water shallowed and bubbled to the heartbeat of giant sleeping turtles. From the vast warm bubbling spring between their archipelago-sized bodies, to up under the gaze of high-tiered jungle cities and structures looming down from their massive shells, sometimes peaceful and surreal, and at times a place of dark adult rituals held in tiered fluorescent pools under a black starry sky, emptying down into a deep sparkling cenote lined in waterfalls that housed some ancient marriage ritual. I wasn’t able to stick around but it was intense stuff. A truly fantastical experience for me. A healing experience, but almost dangerous in its seducing allure after a while. It was hard to move on. After that we entered the Cymatic Abyss, with a brief excerpt Tales from… released as a split with dank ambient tropical sound wizard Heat Surreens via Rainbow Pyramid in January 2015. Right now there is an out-take from the Isle Enchanted sessions online via Hartzine in France and a track for the massive ‘World Ambient’ comp release at midnight New Years 2017 via Onmyodo imprint from Portland/Seattle. How did Isle Enchanted come to be released through Not Not Fun? Whose idea was it to write “Masterpiece” on the cover? I was introduced to Britt through fellow Floridian John Touchton of Severed + Said. He caught up with me very figuratively swimming with the sharks that surrounded our soon-to-be-home Hawaiki. We started talking in email during the voyage over and eventually things slowed down enough to be able to trade some stuff and lay down some material that had been building up. I knew a little of Not Not Fun via Russian Tsarlag and I was really looking forward to a solid excuse to unpack my gear and record something at Hawaiki for the first time. Ultimately it came down to time, chance, and circumstance lining up to afford the right conditions. As far as the cover art, I left everything up to Britt. I have a very hands off approach to working with aesthetics for labels. I originally sent some photo examples to help flesh out a vision of the narrative the best I could, but often a tight physical product design is what a good imprint does best and a micro-managed affair is not quite in the spirit of this project. I believe the “masterpiece” portion was keeping within the aesthetic of old pulp adventure books which I thought to be a very appropriate concept. While this interview is going to run in early 2017, these questions were sent right at the tail end of 2016. What are you proud of from this year, and what are you looking forward to, musical or otherwise, in the new year? To say 2016 has been a monumental year for me would be an understatement. Close friends have said that this was the year I finally grew up but I don’t agree. I don’t believe there really is such a thing as “growing up,” but long since planted seeds did begin to really flower and bloom. Chance and circumstance took me on one long surreal roller coaster of a wave all year long. I swam with sharks, crash landed onto my own little island life, got married, and saw the barriers between make-believe and reality blur in ways I could have never imagined; got to go on most excellent adventures, learned that the most exhilarating experiences come in the face of imminent danger; successfully quit smoking after 23 years, and had the fortunate opportunity to release this album on Not Not Fun, and everything else in between. It’s going to be hard to top 2016 for me. I’m not so much proud as just thankful because none of this would have been possible just a few years ago. Life is long and certainly a weird mysterious happening sometimes. I imagine 2017 is going to be a very busy year in many realms of existence; maybe too busy at times, probably turbulent considering. I’m still open to far out voyages but I’d also hope to explore more inland territory too. I’m interested to get more into experimenting with composed and/or orchestrated music. I’d love to record live on the Isle of Malta. I don’t know… I am truly infantile to a whole new life, open to the possibilities, both pleasant and otherwise. I am truly thankful that 2016 was what it was for me and at this point I just try to savor the calm quiet moments between surging tidal currents, keeping my eyes open and focused forward. We shall sea… http://j.mp/2mjKcLv