Portable Shrines

Experimental music fans take note: The Unsound Music Festival kicks off tonight in NYC and continues through 2.14.10.  Originally (and currently) based in Krakow, Poland, this is the first time New York gets a hit with a little help from Wordless Music, the Bunker, Issue Project Room and the Goethe-Institut New York. The art and noise will commence 8:30 p.m. at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center and it’s free.

Lillevan's reconfigured version of Andy Warhol’s ‘Screen Tests’ live projections

This month we are excited to feature Moon Duo- a new project from Ripley of the Wooden Shjips.

The fine folks at Arthur recently posted a killer tune by Moon Duo- Check it.

Here’s the latest installment of Extra Dimensional. Check out the last installment HERE.

“The soul is not in the body, the body is in the soul. Do you understand? Look…..we….. are……..you. Try to remember.

The above is something that seemingly omnipotent alien beings tell Jack Frost in Grant Morrison’s brilliant series The Invisibles, right before he learns to bend reality to his own will for a brief period. Despite being one of my favorite pieces of art in any medium, I still don’t own the series in its entirety due to my inability to commit to buying things like graphic novels when I can get them for free at the library (you actually have to get The Invisibles through inter library loan as the SPL doesn’t have it). But in this case I’ve made an exception and decided to buy a volume every six months or so to slowly run through it all again for a second time. About a month after reading that particular passage, I woke up from a deep lucid dream state where I felt as if I’d been submerged in a rich and luminous reassuring energy that was hell bent on imparting a distinct message to me.

When I found myself returning to semi-normal consciousness I struggled to grasp onto this particular nugget of wisdom due to its strange and otherworldly nature. It was becoming rapidly lost in translation between realms. But then it was as if a visible translation program emerged in my mind’s eye and quickly codified the intent of the message into terms I could easily comprehend. “The soul is not in the body, the body is inside the soul, try to remember.” It didn’t get through with optimum efficiency, but it couldn’t have come across any more clearly. I briefly basked in a feeling of existential bliss and slowly drifted back to sleep. In attempting to pursue a more shamanic or magickal life path, as I’ve been doing for the last four years or so, events start to happen that seem impossible and yet, if you think of the world as rooted in a more expansive cosmology, they all begin to make sense. Accepting that differentiated world view is a fundamental tenet to truly pursuing a life of sorcery

Of course, The Invisibles was largely written as a means to help Mr. Morrison (who has a documentary coming out later this year called Talking with Gods) explain an alien encounter he had in Katmandu, where sentient beings invaded his life and took him outside of the time stream. He was shown that we are eternal energy sources being grown inside of time as a means of creation, but aren’t even fully aware of ourselves as of yet; still infantile in our development – which further explores the idea that higher forces are manipulating us as a means to expand reality or “increase novelty” as Terence Mckenna would have referred to it. To quote the man himself, they showed him that:

“the universe was, was a larval form of what they are, which is fifth-dimensional entities. And the only way to grow a fifth-dimensional entity is to plant it in time, henceforth our universe.”

Read more…

At the Rendezvous.

Also- 7PM Thursday 1/28 at Cairo 507 E. Mercer: Big Spider’s Back, Tiny Light and White Buffalo Black Madonna

We are all visible interference patterns in pulsating wave fields, dig?  The song is you…

Another synchromystical mini-epic by Soundlessdawn from the Labyrinth of the Psychonaut.

Straight out of Blade Runner and Logan’s Run, Samsung’s new id card is one scary little piece of plastic…

Our spiritual space brothers and sisters at the Chicago Metaphysical Circus are having a little psych fest. Looks cool, maybe we can open a worm-hole to the windy city and pay ‘em a visit. Wanna come?

And now a real mind blower from Soundlessdawn. You really should check out the Labyrinth of the Psychonaut for more information…

A good post on Evolver about How Television Affects Your Brain Chemistry.

A good excuse to visit the Blue Moon this Sunday…

An oldie-but-goodie for sure but things to keep in mind (and keep repeating to yourself) amidst the inevitable madness of this new decade…

PS- thanks to all who came out to the Funhouse saturday, it was a great night. If you missed it here’s a recap…

Prolific New Zealand experimentalist Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel) will be making only four stops in the US and this is one- Saturday Jan. 9th at the Funhouse in Seattle. Melt your face with sound.
Our Love Will Destroy The World (New Zealand)
AFCGT (check out their new shit, it will mess you up good)
Dull Knife (members of Story of Rats and Du Hexen Hase)
Great Falls (Hemingway, Playing Enemy)
With brand new hypnogogic visual accompaniment by Portable Shrines

Dig the latest chart-smashing hit from AFCGT,  “Two-legged Dog”

This vid is real nice too-

Then come see em at the Funhouse Saturday 1/9.

Thank you and come again.

articles at news.com.au and at the Daily Swarm

Roland S Howard was one of the most unique guitarist/songwriters of recent history, and one of the most underrated. These Immortal Souls are seriously one of the best bands I have ever come across. This is terribly sad news.

MELBOURNE musician Rowland S Howard has lost his battle with liver cancer.

He passed away this morning, aged 50.

Howard was waiting for a liver transplant and had canceled recent shows due to illness.

The influential guitarist came to prominence as a member of Melbourne punk band the Boys Next Door who became The Birthday Party, fronted by Nick Cave.

Howard wrote their iconic hit Shivers, and his guitar skills would inspire a generation to come.

The guitarist was also a member of bands including Crime and the City Soultion and These Immortal Souls.

His second solo album, Pop Crimes, was released in October to critical acclaim.

His final gig was at the Prince of Wales in October to launch the album.

In an interview with Rolling Stone to promote the album Howard spoke of his years of poor health.

Being told that you’ve only got a couple of years to live without a transplant is a pretty frightening experience and certainly changes the way you feel about your life, (it) makes things so much closer.”

Howland appeared in this year’s Melbourne punk scene documentary We’re Living on Dog Food, released with the DVD of Australian film Dogs in Space.

Tonight (12.27.09) the Stranger’s Dave Segal is spinning some records from his insane collection at the Grey Gallery in Seattle 7:00pm - 11:00pm. Last week Garek Druss (aka Story of Rats) was rocking the psych and norwegian death metal all night-Dave’s set should prove to be just as fabulous…