#pay the rent

[furmity]

Acknowledgment of Country

I acknowledge the Meru people, whose ancestral land we purchased and now live upon. The nations of the Ngawait, Erawirung, Nganguruku, Ngawadj, Njaiawang, Ngaralda peoples, and others.

I say sorry for all that was taken and that which is lost. We shall go gently, and we will pay the rent.

I respect these peoples' continuing relationship with the land and waters, and I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

The Dreaming is still living in Meru country, as it always was, and always will be.

[genderfuckpirate]

this Invasion Day, I'm paying the rent

While I wanted to be able to support the Invasion Day protests in-person, my immune system is still shot from COVID and I didn't want to risk being exposed again. Instead, I've chosen to donate. I know that donating is not a possibility for everyone, but if you can here's a great article on different charities to support:

You can also set up a recurring donation at Pay The Rent. I've donated to BlaQ, a charity supporting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander LGBTQ+ community, as well as SEED, the Indigenous youth climate network.

We have a long way to go to repair and address the ongoing damages of colonisation and discrimination in this country. Changing the Date is just one step. We need to be looking to the future and supporting First Nations folk directly.

Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.

[silveragelovechild]

Back in the day, I saw the “Underworld” (2003), a Matrix like action movie disguised as a vampire film. I think it was suppose to be set in England, but it had an Eastern European vibe. While the main characters were English or American, supporting actors were not. I later found out it was filmed in Hungary.

I bring this up because Viktor, an ancient vampire, was played by an actor who not only drank blood but he also chewed the scenery. A few years later, when seeing the two sequels, I realized Viktor was played by Bill Nighy, an actor I usually liked. He must have been paying the rent with this role.

This week I saw “The First Omen” and as so it happens, Bill Nighy plays a Satanic priest. I guess Nighy’s rent was due again. It’s a prequel to the 1976 Antichrist classic “The Omen”. I won’t delve too much into the plot but it involves Margaret, a young American woman (Nell Tiger Free) invited by her home town Cardinal (Bill Nighy) to attend a nunnery/orphanage in Rome.

Margaret soon experience odd visions. We also learn that as a child she had psychotic episodes where she couldn’t tell the difference between her visions and reality. (But through out the movie, character ask her if she’s doing okay and she always answers that she’s fine.)

Like all of the earlier Omen films, some grisly deaths herald the coming of the Antichrist. They are suitably shocking. There’s also a scene where Margaret witnesses a woman give birth, but the thing crawling out of her who-ha isn���t a baby. (That might give pregnant women in the audience nightmares!)

As a prequel, this movie adds a very interesting backstory to the Omen lore… why were all those nuns and priests working so hard to give birth to the son-in-satan? The answer is clever.

On the whole, “The First Omen” is an effective Antichrist Movie with one exception. Towards the end, a car driven by nuns-out-of-hell crashes into another car. A young woman crawls out of the wreckage and soon begins twitching and jerking. It goes on so long, to be frank, I thought she was doing a hip-hop audition for the Italian version of “So you think you can dance”.

But fortunately after the scene, the story gets back to it purpose - the birth of Satan Junior

If they do a sequel (which would be a remake of the original) I nominate Ethan Peck to play the role of Robert Thorn, originally played by his grandfather Gregory Peck.

By the way, ten years after “Underworld” (2014) Bill Nighy played a Demon Prince in “I, Frankenstein”. Hopefully Nighy made enough on The First Omen (2024) that he doesn’t need to pay the rent again until 2034.

Brazilian actress Sonia Braga plays Sister Sylvia, a satanic nun in this film. Back in 1976, she starred in the delightful “Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands”. Braga made a number of American films soon after, including “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1985). I haven’t seen Braga in a film in quite some time. I absolutely did not recognize her in “The First Omen”.

[ehlnofay]

always was always will be aboriginal land. sovereignty was never ceded.

[mias-back-from-the-dead]

tbh i think the funniest phenomena that's been happening in the last couple years is "youtuber, having gone too deep into the research hole, has been made an investigative journalist against their will"

[shotmrmiller]

single dad simon not knowing how to be a dad. not his thing. doesn't get it. hand him a gun and he can take it apart and put it back together in his sleep. but a diaper? formula? baby food??? knows next to nothing.

so you see him, miserable old man with sunken dark eyes, hunched shoulders and a screaming baby at his doorstep with groceries in his hand and decide to help. (besides, you're also suffering with a lack of proper sleep)

he's not a good dad but he's a protective one. he's at your throat in an instant, baby in arm almost behind his back, ready to sink his teeth into your jugular. you squeak out that you're a part time babysitter. you can help. you've got the most experience with babies her age.

you keep your eyes on him, tired eyes now sharp as flint. it's scary how quickly he'd moved. footsteps barely a whisper. his breath chills your skin.

threatens you with your life if so much as a hair on her head is hurt. he must be really tired if he's willing to accept help being this defensive.

you take the chunky babe and bounce her as he opens the door to his flat. you don't dislike kids but you're not their biggest fan either. babysitting is just a means to an end. easy money that goes toward your tuition.

simon, you come to learn, doesn't care. he thinks you're the missing parent. he doesn't ask you if you can help watch over the child. simply knocks on your door and hands her to you with the diaper bag. mutters that he'll be back and with food.

he helps himself to your couch when you tell him that the baby is asleep. takes off his shoes and is snoring in seconds. simon also doesn't help the rumors going around the building. "a terrible parent, you are. how could you abandon your baby and husband? he's been struggling for months!"

simon leaves you sputtering when he tells them to stop talking about his missus like that or he'll kill them in their sleep. burp the baby, pet, or she'll keep us up all night.

at least he pays well :/

(if you go out for a friends night, which he will drop you off so stop talking about uber, he's telling you to go say goodbye to our baby who happens to be asleep in her crib and if you're wearing a short little number he's gonna watch you bend over to kiss her fat little cheek before he takes you to the bathroom to eat it from the back and is sending you to his car with trembling legs and a slap to your arse. don't look so tasty next time idk)

[justinempire]

Pay The Rent

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[wanologic]

The Mansons have Infinite Money

[furmity]

HEMLIG BOUGHT US A HOUSE!

Haven't been saying anything til it was signed and sealed but it is DONE!! Honestly had thought and hoped this would happen a year ago. Ever "two or three months away" but no progress. Do this, do that, save this much more. Hemlig stressed as anything, me banging the optimism drum but even I was losing hope it would be done this year.

It's been all go the last few months since we found THE ONE. Hoping no one bought it before we were ready, they didn't and the price went down. Months with this one particularly bad broker who was taking forever and writing unintelligible emails, applying elsewhere but nothing was working and the finance date was looming.

It was actually the conveyancer who made it happen. He put us onto his "gun" at one of the big banks who had it all sorted in about 18 hours!! It is always about who you talk to, that same bank said no a few weeks ago. Legends the pair of them! All praise!

I can't say where without doxxing myself, it's a small town a long way from Kaurna country. A lovely old house with a big yard and a nice porch to sit on. Our marital home (and our wedding put off because of all this). It's finally happening.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the stolen land which has been purchased. It is not right. It is not fair. We acknowledge their Elders past, present, and emerging, knowing what it has cost them for us to be there. We shall be good neighbours, ever aware of their relationship to the land and waters, and we will go gently. We will Pay the Rent.

[t4t4t]

Hi !

I got bottom surgery on July 25th :3

I'm recovering well but I'll be on bedrest for a while. Collie and I will need rent help for September/food/gas/utilities/etc. Two disabled trans women. Anything helps ! Thank yall so much for all you've helped so far, it's saved my life ❤️

https://venmo.com/u/nora-esther-rose

https://www.paypal.me/NoraEstherRose

https://venmo.com/u/Leah-Esther-Rose

https://www.paypal.me/androgynophore

[nikiferous]

Handers brainrot

[newsbites]

News from Australia, 18 May

New federal laws to ban Nazi symbols across Australia could be fast-tracked after senators from both parties called for legislation to be enacted.

2. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed a planned Sydney meeting with other "Quad" leaders from US, India and Japan will not go ahead, after US president Joe Biden pulled out of his Australian visit to deal with domestic issues.

3. Aboriginal Australian artist Richard Bell is exhibiting an installation at the Tate Modern art gallery in London. Embassy is a work in support of Aboriginal land rights.

4. A number of high profile sports organisations have come out in support of a "Yes" vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum.

5. Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, an Australian aboriginal elder, teacher and artist, will visit the Vatican later this month to speak on themes of spirituality, ecology, and reconciliation between the Church and Indigenous Australians. 

Aside from her meeting with Pope Francis, the main event of her trip will be an evening reception at the Vatican Museums on the 30th May. There, Dr Ungunmerr Baumann – whose artistic work draws on both Aboriginal and Christian traditions – will present a new specially commissioned piece. 

[jonbatesiloveyou]

Big Black Delta

The Great Unknown

Jan 16, 2012 BIG BLACK DELTA By Laura Studarus

Former Mellowdrone frontman Jonathan Bates has stepped out on his own as Big Black Delta. While his debut full-length—the appropriately named Bbdlp1—defies categorization (Ambient? Danceable? Loud?)—it’s difficult to deny its potent blend of heavy beats, scream-along choruses, and eerie electronics. Sandwiched somewhere between otherworldly aspirations and childhood memories, Big Black Delta makes a strong case for looking ahead while continuing to learn from the past.

Under the Radar joined Bates in Echo Park, CA for a cup of tea and a conversation that wound from making music alone, to the effects of color and shape on music, to the tricky business of enlightenment, to just about everywhere in between.

Laura Studarus (Under the Radar): Most important question first: Who would win in a fight, you or Anthony Gonzalez from M83?

Jonathan Bates: Anthony! He’s a lot more athletic than I am. I remember when I went on tour with him; there was a ping-pong table backstage. I had all this vibrato, and I said, “Let’s do this.” He was like, “Okay.” And then he just killed me. I was like, ‘All right, from now on I won’t challenge him to any physical thing.’

Have a lot of people found out about Big Black Delta through the M83/Big Black Delta Daft Punk remix?

Absolutely, yeah. Also just friends that I’ve met. I worked with [White Sea’s Morgan Kibby] on her stuff. I’ve met a lot of different people through Anthony. The Daft Punk thing, you can see on Google alerts or whatever. It just pops up all the time. So I would have never had that otherwise.

And you used to perform as Mellowdrone. How do you draw a line between that project and your current music?

Mellowdrone became a band after awhile. I loved it. It was great. We ended up on several different labels. This was the early 2000s, when labels were trying to figure out that there was no use for them any more. There was a lot of painful times that we went through towards the end of that. When we finally left Columbia, we made a record afterwards, and I was like, ‘I don’t even know if I want to do this shit anymore. Should I just make music, or should I hang drywall?’ It was a lot of fun, but it was also not what I wanted.

I took time off making music, just doing other people’s music, playing in M83, stuff like that that wasn’t the creative side; it was just other people’s stuff. It wasn’t until I got home after the last tour with them. I was working with my buddy Alessandro, who used to be in Nine Inch Nails. I had been making music the really really old fashioned way. He was like, “Here, do you want to borrow my laptop and see what that’s like?” I ended up buying it off of him. To be able to make music without having a manager, label, or structure or anything other thing—that’s what it initially started as.

Why it’s called Big Black Delta, my favorite past time is Ufology. I found this one video where it’s just Dan Aykroyd foaming at the mouth talking about these things. I’m like, ‘That’s fucking awesome, I’ll just use that.’ That was it. Musically there’s a huge difference. Everything’s on the laptop. It’s just me making sounds.

It sounds like you were dealing with a lot of burnout on your last band. Is there a way you’re protecting yourself against that now?

I think I’m stronger. When you’re 24, 25, 26, you’re lucky enough, you’re blessed enough to be making money off of music, you can’t help but be serious and take shit personally. I think I’m tougher now and I’ve seen some crazy shit. From violence to where life can lead you. Now it’s okay, shit’s cool, man. As long as I keep that attitude I think I’m going to be fine, regardless.

Big Black Delta is a solo project, yet you have collaborators like Morgan Kibby on a track, or your two drummers. How easy is it to let other people into the process?

It’s hard. With [drummers] Mahsa [Zargaran] and Amy [Wood]—who again I’m very blessed to have— they’re playing parts that I designed. I played those, I played everything. So far, everyone who has ever done anything for me—except for Alessandro—has done what I’ve asked them to do. Morgan came in and it was, “Here, can you sing it like this, and do that?” But that’s a learning process. It’s like being in love with somebody. To be truly in love with them you’ve got to trust them and be like, “Whatever you’re going to do you’re going to do.” You can’t always be sitting there. If I find somebody I can do that with, I would love to do that. I just haven’t found that person yet. I’m open to anything, because all I care about is something cool. I want to make something cool or be part of something cool. If that requires 30 people, I’d love to be number 27.

You could turn Big Black Delta into The Polyphonic Spree.

I know, right? Can you imagine the rider for that band? It’s not even socks or liquor, it’s like, ‘We need six hundred square feet, please.’

How much thought do you put into performing?

That’s one of my favorite bits. I built a lighting rig, this huge LED panel thing. I have dueling drummers. With Mellowdrone it was guitar pedals and playing the instruments. We did everything live and tried to recreate everything. We were concentrating. I was playing three instruments and singing at the same time. With this, I just have a laptop making sounds and a chaos pad that I can control my voice live with. The rest of it is me running around. Like when you’re vacuuming and listening to George Michael. That kinda feeling. I’ll just do that in front of people. I enjoy it; I love it, because being backlit is cool too. No one can tell what’s going on. It’s just like, ‘Wow!’

How easy is it for you to get into an uninhibited headspace?

Now it’s no problem. When I was younger I was more timid. You have that voice in your head that we all have. It’s, ‘You suck’ or ‘You’re going to fail,’ or ‘Don’t do this.’ I realize that’s just self-preservation. If you’re going to make something, and you’re going to go off and perform it, and you want people to give back to you, you can’t be scared. It took time to realize that. It’s a neat thing once you break it.

Was there an external catalyst that helped you come to that realization? Or was it just time passing?

Time. And there was a couple of times, like I said, that I saw some crazy shit violence. Seeing people almost die, that kinda thing. When you see that, and you realize that [snaps], it’s so hokey, I know. Things just go, they happen regardless. That kinda shit opens your eyes up. You’re just, ‘What am I afraid of? I’m not a doctor, if I fuck up, no one’s going to die. Or an engineer, the building won’t collapse. I’m just making songs. Don’t be fucking afraid.’ That might sound reasonably obvious. It wasn’t for me for a long time.

And so UFOS are a hobby for you?

It’s beyond a hobby. Politics is ultimately, to me, is boring. We know how human beings are. Politically you can see how things usually have an arc to them. Science is cool, I enjoy science and astronomy and things like that. I guess that’s my version of religion. You want to believe in something that you don’t have evidence of. So I can see how that would be viewed that way. The reason that I like it so much is the possibility that there’s something out there that’s way evolved beyond us.

Let’s say, for example, that there are things out there that don’t even speak anymore. It’s just too rudimentary. They’re telepathic. Meaning that I could read your mind. Meaning that things like lying are no longer in existence. It’s not something you can even fathom, but if you could live in an existence where you didn’t have to lie or pretend, or all these things that you and I spend so much energy and money on, on a daily basis, just to survive, who would you be then? That kinda shit makes me happy. I don’t know why. Just to think that there’s always more.

Are you an idealist? Do you believe we could evolve to that point?

If we’re given the chance. I believe in evolution, so I believe it’s not even up to us.

Do you feel like the human race is going in a positive direction? Or are we devolving?

Positive is a humanistic term. Are we getting rid of shit that we don’t need? Yes. That will always happen. I think there’s always been church verses state, red verses blue, there’s always going to be a ‘My team is better than your team.’ I’m thinking that once you do away with all these semantics that you and I have to do, how intelligent would you be? You could spend all that energy probably just on self-growth and shit like that. You’d probably be the most amazing human being on earth. I want to believe that that’s possible on some level.

Do you think that’s only possible through an external catalyst, like another race coming in?

No, not an external catalyst. I just like the idea that we’re going to grow. We’re not going to be fucking throwing sticks and stones at each other for fucking forever. There’s things out there. There’s so much shit that you don’t know, that I don’t know. People were convinced the Earth was flat. Convinced! That’s the biggest buzz I get in life, is learning something. Learning a secret, learning how they press this metal [hits the table]. I get nothing but fucking joy from shit like that.

Do you trying to bring some of that into your music?

Absolutely. I think that’s why it’s dirty, it’s really fast. I don’t think it’s hiding behind anything. If you like it, cool, if you don’t, fuck it. That, what we’re talking about, I try to do musically. That’s why the UFO thing comes to play. I use it to remind myself of that kinda shit. It’s like how some people will have a Virgin Mary saint to remind them to be a good person. I’ll think about this shit and be like, ‘Hey there’s more out there.’ Keep going, you might find something. Was that nerdy?

Ha! Not at all. Way more interesting than the traditional line of questioning. “How did you make your album?”

[laughs] Right, right. On a laptop!

It reminds me of the concept of Situationism—where art isn’t separate from your life, it’s an extension of you.

Yeah. You asked what the difference between Mellowdrone and this was. At some point, and I can’t tell you at what, Mellowdrone became a thing I had to do. When you start doing that as an artist, you’ll end up making a lot of shit that you can’t stand behind. I agree with that school of thought, that I’m not smart enough, or I can’t separate the sides of my brain enough. I’ve got to live it, I have to live it. If I try to fake it, there are just so many dudes out there who are doing it way better.

You’ve made a lot of music independently, and without that pretense. If someone came to you and wanted to use it a car commercial, would you let them?

They did. In Mellowdrone they used it in a car commercial, which was interesting and an experience in itself. I got to see it through. Big Black Delta, if someone wanted to use my music, it would depend on who it was and what for. If Texaco was like, “Here’s half a million, we want to use ‘Ifuckingloveyou’ to help lobby drilling offshore,” I’d be like, “Fuck, that sounds really nice, but no.” Every scenario presents itself. I make money off of other things as well. Luckily Big Black Delta, as long as I can keep it, is just going to be what it’s going to be. I won’t interfere with that shit. I am a capable musician. I can do a lot of other things that no one will ever know about.

I find it funny that your project is so well thought out, and there’s so many themes going on, and yet the title of your LP is so basic.

Oh, right. I get a lot of comments on that. That’s just because if you were to look at my music hard drive, there are just folders of sessions. We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of things and ideas. Let’s say if right now I came up with a chord structure and a melody and a little ditty for you, what would I call it? What day is it today? Let’s call it that, that, that at that time. When I see that, the music will come back into my head. It’s just a form of catalogue. It was either that or a number or something, so that if you like the music, you can place your imprint on it. If I told you it was ‘John’s big bang boom boom boom,’ there would be the image for you. Caspar did the artwork exactly how it should have been, and I’m presenting you an image. I feel like it would be overkill to say, ‘and this is called ____’ You probably already have a word for that.

Is that another form of honesty for you? Leaving the title open like that?

It’s not honesty; it’s how I would like to be approached. I think it’s just manners. [laughs] I’m very thankful that anyone would listen to this. If you’re going to listen to this I’m not going to assume you’re an idiot.

There’s the title: Manners. The most well-mannered LP this year.

I’m actually going to rip you off on that one.

Do it!

Then we should start a band called Manners. It’s like, ‘What are you guys about?’ Are you serious? ‘How do you guys sound?’ Polite. [laughs]

There’s a lot of great sounds going on in the album. Is it my imagination or does “Dreary Moon” have a weird romanticism to it?

I love those old string scores, especially from mid-‘70s French films. Even in the first Friday the 13th. They would have these string sections. And when they would dub these string sections onto the movie reel, you’d have these canisters that were rolling it. So you had this inadvertent note that would go, ‘eeeeeee,’ and fluctuate because you had mechanics. There was nothing you could do about it. That brings back a nostalgia to me. That reminds me of being four or five years old, closing your eyes and the sun’s coming through and everything is bursting orange. That kinda, ‘I’m about to fall asleep and it’s five o’clock on a Sunday afternoon and I’m five-years-old’ kinda feeling. So it’s making everything purposely out of tune and random moments. Just a nice little song, dressed that way. “Dreary Moon” is just a little ditty on the guitar kinda thing.

Do you find nostalgia to be a driving force?

It’s one. I think of things in colors. Numbers and shapes, your personality—if you were to bring up any number I would tell you what color it is in my head.

Do you have synesthesia?

That’s what it’s called, yes. Smells and things like that I equate with colors and shapes. That’s my master. Whatever happened in 1979 or it happened yesterday, did that moment make me see colors? Can I make music that makes that moment pop up again? It’s really quite simple. Oh that—I’m going to make music that sounds like that.

I read that a lot of musicians have that association. There’s actually a list on Wikipedia.

I’d like to know that.

It’s 100% true if it’s on Wikipedia, right?

That’s what I’m talking about. Evolution, right? Do you remember when you had to go to the library? Now you don’t even call someone up and ask, ‘Hey how do you do this?’ Google it! I don’t fucking know. Twenty years from now it’s not even that any more. You’re already hooked up to it. You just have to think about it, you know what I mean? That’s what I’m taking about, those kind of possibilities. I would be a better person.

I know this is going to sound cheesy, like that show Caprica. But the human brain is only about 100 terabytes of information. Your memories and synapses and stuff like that. I have three terabyte drives in my house right now. It’s 2011. Two hundred years from now that will fit onto here [picks up his keychain]. This is you. Not only that, you don’t need this body any more. It’s like the Matrix, but it’s real though. This shit is happening. As long as we don’t blow each other up. As long as you’re connected in this web of shit are you really you anymore? No, you’re just part of this collective mass. I feel like that is going to bring us back together and make you realize, ‘Shit, I can’t be an asshole.’ I’ll open the door for you’ Know what I mean? ‘I am you; I’m attached to you.’

[laughs] Sorry. Should have brought weed and patchouli. Let’s start a new Occupy Echo Park!

We demand unity for all!

Sponsored by Ani DiFranco. [laughs] Hope I haven’t taken you too far off.

No I like it. You learn stuff.

Learning stuff is the coolest interaction there is.

Did you grow up listening to a lot of heavy synth-driven music?

No that’s the thing with Big Black Delta. If I could be in any band I’d be in Pantera. I grew up listening to a lot of metal and heavy, heavy bands. I graduated high school and learned about songwriting. Things like that. The only things I listened to like that, was The Lost Boys soundtrack. It’s never a conscience thing. I just like [that] with the synth, on a laptop, I can do any fucking thing I want. Like I was talking to you about going in and out of tune. I can do that way easier with a synth than I can do with an analogue instrument. It’s easier to become imperfect and fast with electronic equipment. And it’s cheaper too.

It’s like you were talking about with the storage space. It’s so easy to listen to your project and assume your influences—when there’s so much available; the truth is that we’re no longer the aggregate of your music collection. We’re like the aggregate of all music.

Right. And I love that, because when I was in high school, if you were a metal head, that’s it. You better not be caught listening to something else. Now you go to high school, and you see kids that have Madonna, next to Mastodon, next to Suga, next to Billy Ray Cyrus. There’s no shame in it. It’s like, ‘Fuck yes! Finally!’ Granted, they don’t realize how cool that is. I’m like that, and I think you’re like that. You don’t listen to one kind of music. So I’m going to make music like that as well. I’m not going to have any inhibitions. Today I’m going to listen to Ray Conniff. Tomorrow I might want to listen to Death.

Do you feel like with all that availability we’ve demolished the idea of the guilty pleasure?

No, there’s always going to be shame.

Until we reach unity.

Right. There’s always going to be shame. For example, did you hear about Nickelback that was going to play some game in Detroit? A million people signed a petition to get them off. That’s such a joke now, that if I bought a t-shirt you’d laugh. I’d get in the car and be like, ‘hey check out this song,’ and you’d be like ‘ahahhaha’ and then after awhile you’d be like, ‘Oh fuck, this guy really likes this shit.’ That will always be there. You know what I find? People are now attacking the way music is made as well. It’s not so much, ‘I like that guy,’ it’s ‘I don’t like his fucking shirt.’ That kinda thing. Maybe it’s always been that way.

With the experimental nature of your own project, do you see a clear line to the future and what you want to try next?

No. That’s the thing. I just put out this record and now I want to do another one. Two days ago I sat down to go over those little ideas I was telling you about. Holy shit, what do I want to hear right now? That’s where I have to start from. That’s quite a long process to get your mind quiet. All good songs come to you. You don’t write them. You have to put yourself in the right mind frame for it. But I don’t know what the next thing is going to be. Or if there’s going to be a next thing.

I don’t know, drywall could be calling.

If you’ve ever worked in drywall, you’ll know the powder builds up, and by the end of the day, the inside of your nose is completely caked. When you say that, I taste it in the back of my throat. I’m not knocking drywall hangers. You guys are tougher than I am. That’s not a bad thing. I’m coming across as elitist. No, I’m broke. That’s the thing. Every guy I know that hangs drywall for a living has a house and pays his bills on time, shit like that. So who’s the idiot?

I love the assumption that people who work in the music industry are instantly cool.

Right. That was my favorite thing, going to parties when Mellowdrone was doing really well, and people being like, “You drive a Honda Fit?” and it’s like, “Yeah, that’s all I could fucking afford dude.” I appreciate that you think things are going well. It took me six years to pay it off! [laughs]

There’s tradeoffs. I feel like I’ve got to see some amazing shit. Dude. I have seen parts of the human psyche that I would never give back. I would never give it back for a stable nine to five. Everyone’s got their purpose in life. Some people want that flat screen. They want to sit and enjoy their flat screen because they’ve been working for some other asshole all day. Mine is that buzz of, ‘Oh shit, I didn’t know that!’ That’s how you change your oil! You know what I mean? As long as I get a steady diet of those, I will always figure out how to pay rent.

Check out our exclusive Big Black Delta mixtape.

[wilsonmybeloved]

ive literally never interacted with the rats smp ever besides like once

but ren and martyn exist. and a lot of my other favorite creators. so we're going headfirst into rat yaoi. raoi, if you will. ratataoi?? ratatouille yaoi? ...ill work on it

[bloominflowers]

i like them a very normal amount 😳