WebOfDistress http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:23:26 -0700 Fuzz.com en http://www.fuzz.com/ http://www.fuzz.com/_/images/logo/blimp.png http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Martyrs-and-Patsys-with-Nukes-Oh-MY http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Martyrs-and-Patsys-with-Nukes-Oh-MY#comments
Maybe I'm over-dosing on informmation, maybe I'm reading alot more into the nominations of McCain/Palin ticket, maybe I'm just a conspiracy geek, maybe... just maybe I'm on to something. It's been pointed out, that Palins' religious affiliations back home, are dubious, as certain videos on YouTube and other internet postings document. On video from inside the church she attended, she herself has been caught, espousing their beliefs, yet seems to have distanced herself from them recently. As well as, McCains seemingly innocent distancing himself from his documented religious affiliation. These two are ripe for picking in the "patsy" role. Anyone who has blindly followed the Bush Regime without question, and has voted against action to investigate and prosecute Bush for his role in instigating this war, are perfect targets for a larger worldwide coup. The events of 9/11 would be viewed, as a minor stepping stone to this future event.

Like I said, MAYBE....but do the research, don't take my word for it, but if you still believe 9/11 was an al-Queada initiated attack, dismiss me as a total nut-job. First, go back about twenty to thirty years, look at the players, look at policies, look at the escalation. Don't just look at "our" team either.. think "globally" because this isn't just being manipulated by us. We've allowed ourselves to be moved into striking position, to begin the greatest cleansing of all time, while dis-arming the rest of the world. Any Dictator does the same thing within the country he rules, 1. Find an enemy, to rally the people. 2. Disarm the enemy. 3. Destroy militias oppopsing the State. 4. Disarm the populus, after the enemy has been neutralized. These are just basics, but there's an uncanny similarity to what we are currently doing no?

If the assassination of one man, could trigger events that ultimately led to World War I, and World War II... what would it take to begin setting up for WW III? Hmmmm?]]> Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:23:46 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Martyrs-and-Patsys-with-Nukes-Oh-MY http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Frightened-the-Ostrich-buries-its-head http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Frightened-the-Ostrich-buries-its-head#comments
I had started to write a larger blog about this, but, who cares? Apparently, Americas Top Model, and other diversions, seem to be more on the mind. I just hope this pattern of behavior ends soon, because we're going to have to be the ones who step up. We are the ones who are going to have to voice these concerns. We are going to have to face this "reality show".... or learn to live in it, after the fact. By then though, the damage will already have been done, and reactive thinking has proven time and again to be ineffectual.

I am disheartened, angry, sad, frustrated, outraged, all at the same time, but I am most importantly... NOT SILENT.]]> Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:15:36 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Frightened-the-Ostrich-buries-its-head http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Latest-Track-Posted http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Latest-Track-Posted#comments
Consumption is the latest addition to the album Origins, http://www.last.fm/music/WebOfDistress/_/Consumption?autostart. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.]]> Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:41:37 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Latest-Track-Posted http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/The-End-Of-Free-Downloads http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/The-End-Of-Free-Downloads#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:41:03 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/The-End-Of-Free-Downloads http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Imagine-A-World-Without-Oil http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Imagine-A-World-Without-Oil#comments
Considering that the United States consumes 25% of the oil produced worldwide, and only possess's 2% of the oil reserves, anyone can see that the current hike in prices, will only continue upward. You don't need a degree in economics to comprehend the situation we'll be facing. You don't need to be a mathematical genius either, to equate that more people equals more oil used. We aren't just beginning to tap this resource like India and China and Africa, so adding these new drains into the equation now paints a bleaker picture than before. Just to make the situation a bit clearer, 90% of all Chinese believe they'll own a car within the next five years. The population which, in numbers alone could shake the earth, if they all jumped at the same time. Which now brings up the question, "So how much oil is really left?" The answer is, that nobody knows for certain. Even though the technological advances made in the last 35 years have made finding oil reserves more efficient, they haven't done a thing to reap greater yields, from a single barrel of oil. Then there's the un-advertised fact that over 80% (possibly 90% by now) of reserves have already been discovered, leaving very few places left to look. Again, you don't need to be a genious to see where this will inevitably lead us.

Okay, so what? No more oil, big deal! What will this really mean to the average Joe? I can't speak for him, but, I know how it would effect me. Most people really don't even associate oil with everyday common household objects: toothbrushes, plastic bags, computers, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, clothing, but all these items are petroleum by-products. So bye bye synths, bye bye computer, bye bye free time, bye bye relatively inexpensive food supplies. Food? What? Yes food too! In America the agricultural industry is also petroleum driven: machinery runs on it, and fertilizers and pesticides all are petroleum by-products. A trip to the grocery store will be a rich mans luxury, we all are beginning to feel the pinch already, reflected in the cost of goods, and it has only just begun. Factor in that the farmers will have to pay people to do the work the machinery used to do. Plus, the inflated shipping costs to get goods to markets, and this is also dependent on how much growing lands are producing food over bio-diesel crops. Drive-thru culture will end, fast food won't be fast if it's even available. Jumping into the car to drive to work, won't be an everyday occurance, for the simple fact that there will not be anymore gasoline.

Now I think you're beginning to formulate the question, "Well what about the Bio-fuels and other alternative fuels?" Practically speaking, there isn't enough usable land mass to grow the amount of vegetation, needed to supply the need for fuel. Top that with the resulting yield of fuel vs. cost to manufacture the amount necessary to meet the demand, and you'll find the cost will still be beyond the reach of average people. I have confidence that the technology can be engineered, but when will it become accessible? Currently, the amount of time and financing of research into developing the technology, is minimal. Justification for this lack of research is that there isn't a current demand that rationalizes the expenditure of funds. In other words, why develop these alternatives when there isn't an immediate need for them? The between the lines translation is, "We can't profit from it yet". In essence, we've been sold out by the very people who have been profiting off of us for all these years. The same people who made us dependent on their products, are now ignoring the monster they created. In all reality though, the oil companies and car companies aren't totally responsible, we are too. Our insatiable lust for status symbols, and striving to obtain the false ideal of the 'American Dream' is now turning on us.

So, there you have a tiny glimpse into the future, the problem has been exposed, now what? Statistics already show that the average person has already cut back on their driving, since gas prices began rising. I'm certain this trend will continue, as long as prices continue to rise, I know I'm planning my trips better. Will just cutting back on our driving alone, stave off the impending crisis? No, again, it's just a delaying tactic to an inevitable event, but every bit helps. Action needs to taken, and our government representatives should be bombarded with requests for attention to address this issue. To get more details watch the film A Crude Awakening, and I'm sure there are many other sources to find as well. Other things we can do are recycling more, using less, and implementing alternative energy sources into our homes annd lives. Capitalism is a funny thing, entrepeneurs will supply the solutions when the dollars are buying them! The sooner we wean ourselves of the petroleum jones, the longer the resource will last, to be used for things we cannot produce without it.

* Gets off the soapbox*]]> Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:00:52 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Imagine-A-World-Without-Oil http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Fuzz-Exclusive-Track-Moonrise-Over-Desert http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Fuzz-Exclusive-Track-Moonrise-Over-Desert#comments Moonrise Over Desert available for free downloading as a Fuzz Exclusive track. It won't be available anywhere else..MySpace.. Last.FM... ACIDPlanet...nowhere! I also made Stretched Beyond Your Means downloadable as well, just one of those minor details I forget to do after posting new tracks. I would also like to thank everyone who has listened, I'm glad you took the time to at least drop by and hear what it is I do. Thanks!]]> Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:00:20 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Fuzz-Exclusive-Track-Moonrise-Over-Desert http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/The-Middle-Man http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/The-Middle-Man#comments Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:31:09 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/The-Middle-Man http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/America-The-New-Third-World-Nation http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/America-The-New-Third-World-Nation#comments
So, how do I equate some of these seemingly little things into America becoming a third world country? Simple, just do the math. How long will it take for us to say enough is enough? How long will it take you to stop shopping at Walmart? How long will it take for Americans to start grasping the fact that they've been sold out by their own government? In the interest of their own good and their corporate sponsors - not ours? Why do American car companies refuse to acknowledge that they are making sub-standard garbage? Then they have the audacity to insult our intelligence, by saying they are concerned with fuel economy, only twenty five years too late. Oh, but we have cup holders, so you can keep from spilling your beer while your driving, brilliant!

If you aren't outraged, then you're not paying attention. I'm sure if I spent much more time I could cite names, links, articles, voting records, and an avalanche of facts, but this is a rant. I'm not apologizing, I'm not the one/ones who should be apologizing for the betrayal of you and me. Think about it, but not too long.. we are running out of time.]]> Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:53:32 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/America-The-New-Third-World-Nation http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Why-do-we-need-albums-at-all-anymore http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Why-do-we-need-albums-at-all-anymore#comments
The idea of albums, to me, is an archaic mechanical system, and in todays marketplace, is not an ideal model for getting tracks out there. Now my reason for thinking the album idea is an old mechanical device is this; Do people even buy albums today, when they can stream the songs they want individually? Or snag the "hits" off a P2P network, or buy the single tracks off of one of the giant download sites? Very rarely, do I myself buy a whole album anymore, unless I have heard the entire album, and enjoy the whole album. Now I wish I had this option a few years ago, and the ease of getting to hear the entire album, before buying it.

Another downfall to albums, as many artists have alluded to in various interviews, is that they are forced to make concessions, which to them, is an insult to their integrity. Frank Zappa for example, made Lather as a four-sided record album, and was denied Lathers' publication by his label, and consequently threatened to be sued for breach of contract. Even though he had fulfilled his end of the contract (by two more albums than required), the label could'nt grasp his condition it be released as a Four Sided Album. Then there's the album title "All Killer, No Filler" which in itself denotes the labels' insistence on their policies, of only backing certain tracks the artist produced, to stretch their profit margins. At the same time, their policy is responsible for killing the artists' overall marketability, by undercutting their integrity, forcing them to release crap just to fill space. A double-edged sword, thrust into the heart of music as art.

I went through my media player last night and lumped my songs into folders, just to verify something. I can say I could have 4 full albums, by the mass-media definition of album. Not to mention, all the songs actually are relevant to the folder they are in. But, at the same time, they are worlds unto themselves, in their own ways. As an album, these wouldn't work simply because the songs are from different genre styles. Serial Dreams to me is a full album, by my definition of an album, and by the old model definition, yet would never be published by a major label. Two or three songs would be given the go, the rest would either be scrapped or, slated to be put on a different album. That's the reality, current signed artists face.

Then comes the internet, and DIY'ers, from everywhere and every style. Having new web-based platforms like Fuzz.com, Last.FM, and others, they not only have the say what they make, they also determine how to sell it. Whether to lump it into an album, or singles. I look at Last.FM's policy of allowing an artist 4 Featured Tracks as limiting, yet, I also comprehend the ideas that, "less is more" and "leave them wanting more", to a degree. The same with the artists' albums, they only show 4 listed albums. I begin to start thinking of what this means in the new scheme. Well, regardless of that, what I think is this.. "Why do we need albums at all anymore?"]]> Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:13:37 -0700 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Why-do-we-need-albums-at-all-anymore http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Serial-Dreams-Project-Overview-Descriptive-Information http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Serial-Dreams-Project-Overview-Descriptive-Information#comments
What started it all, was my experiences of having the phenomena of Serial Dreams, and trying to process them, into something coherent. Which in itself is, psychlogically speaking, an improbable task to undertake in itself. Serial Dreams are a phenomenon, of having related dreams over the course of several days, weeks, and in some extreme cases months. These dreams are significally different from ordinary dreams, in the aspects of their evolution, and cohesion to each other, in which the dreamer is taken through a storyline. Night after night, I was living another reality, sharing time with various people, having conversations, relationships, everyday life things, but in a lucid dream state. When the dream ended, it picked up right where it left off the previous night, and evolved as the night progressed, each night adding another episode. Realizing what was happening upon awakening, I was understandably a bit shaken up by these dreams. I have had similar recurring dreams prior to these, where certain elements were present, but they weren't as vivid or cohesive as what I was currently experiencing. I had two distinctively different Serial Dreamscapes, in three separate time spans. One was a single experience, and the second series was split up, with the single dream between the two other occurences.

In the early part of 2007, I began work on the idea of Serial Dreams, but only as a single work, not as a conceptual collective. Serial Dreams was born, and subsequently re-born, as I was having some issues with the first attempt (at sonically) visualizing what I wanted it to become. The track became Serial Dreams and Serial Dreams [ Neuro-Synaptic Mix] but during the course of re-working them, it seemed to wish to coagulate itself into one entity. An alchemical transformation which in Latin is essentially 'solve et coagula', as described by C. G. Jung, in Vol.14 the Mysterium Coniunctionis of his collected works. Although this work indeed did coagulate into one entity, it was broken down again into Serial Dreams Part One and Part Two, due to its sheer size, and also due to the relevance factor of 'tie-in', to the scope of the conceptual idea.

In December of 2008, is when the idea of a collective work and conceptual album, built around Serial Dreams, finally manifested. With Serial Dreams the song versions being problem children, due to various issues within themselves, I proceded to focus my attention on other aspects of the experiences. Falling In Or Without, In Memory Of Our Dreams, Serial Dreamer and Hyper-Sleep (both sections), were all built during January through March 2008. Sensoria, had been written and finished in December of 2007, but I didn't have any conscious idea why I made that track. It Never Sleeps was made earlier in 2007, and was being considered for addition to the Serial Dreams Project, but only Sensoria made it to the finalized project.

With a pretty good idea of what I wanted to belong in the project, and having produced the additional pieces to add to it, I began assembling it into the storyline. I dropped the tracks into CD Architect as I envisioned them to play out, and played them in sequence, (minus Serial Dreams Part One and Two) and after several different sequences, I was forced to go back to work on Serial Dreams Parts One and Two. There was just too much unknowns in the equation without the bedrock pieces in place. I managed to get reasonable working versions of Part One and Two completed, and added them in. Again, I mucked about with sequence, and was still not very keen on the whole. So I shelved the project for a bit, while I created WebOfDistress, and killed off Depression as my primary page.

Having made the transition from Depression to WebOfDistress, and getting mostly everything re-posted, and organized, it was time to get back to work. Still facing the quandry of the sequence order, I practiced some avoidance and went back to the individual tracks, made some slight edits, and tweaks, and re-renderred them to a more stream-friendly VBR. It was during this process, when the issue that was bothering me, revealled itself, and I ended up trading names on Falling In Or Without, and Serial Dreamer. Repositioning the re-named tracks to their respective places in the sequence, quickly resolved a large portion of my issues with the collective work. Some feedback from Gabriel Jones about Hyper-Sleep [Suture] was employed and Hyper-Sleep [Reprise] was born, and incorporated to the project. Placing it between In Memory Of.. and Serial Dreamer [Part Two] finally made the sequence order fluid.

Once I had made the decision to procede with the Serial Dreams project, there were other issues to face, in regards to sound design. Selecting and matching sounds used, to fit the already established parameters, the original Serial Dreams track had set. Then, how to apply those parameters to the works to be produced, and how to differentiate the separate individual components, against the theme components, while maintaining the conceptual theme as a whole. Identifying the need for the separation of real and dream ideas, was a key element, in sound selection. Not only to acknowledge the reality in the dreamscape, but to differentiate the real and surreal elements within such a complex environment. So, in order to portray the dream aspects, I chose to use soft-edged sounds. While keeping the real aspects sharp edged, for example the percussive elements. Not very original I will admit, but archetypal, hence their effectiveness. To determine the masculine and feminine aspects of the dreamscape, was a bit tricky, having already assigned the percussions to another element. I succeeded here by representing them in bass and treble instead of just assigning a particular instrument to one or the other. Which overall, I am exceptionally pleased with the interplay expressed, in all tracks associated with the woman series. The vocal clips, I used for accentuating the duality of the phenomena. So unreal, yet so sensationally stimulating, almost to the point of physical side effects.

I hope this little summary, helps you the listener, to experience the storyline on a more subconscious level. Or, on a more conscious level, where you can apply the descriptions to the interplay of instruments and sound to a world that exists in my head. Thanks for the support, D.]]> Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:36:50 -0800 http://WebOfDistress.fuzz.com/blog/entry/Serial-Dreams-Project-Overview-Descriptive-Information