Goat Key

Today has been a rather good day. I spent the earliest hours of the morning, probably midnight through to around 4 am, reading a good portion of Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse. The first section of the book (that covers the afternoon and evening of the first day) is very good, but nothing compared to the second and third sections. Some of the most poignant and violently critical literature I've ever read. A thorough condemnation (at least so far) of the state of western civilisation (post World War I), and the perception of existence that pervades this rotting society. The way Woolf treats time across the three sections, for me at least, creates a feeling of intense objectivity and pessimism. Comes to terms with, in a very immediate way, the concept of real consequence on a massive scale. It is also fascinating to see where Beckett drew some of his influence from, especially in terms of his portrayal of man, and use of time.


After all that I caught some sleep before being woken up around 8.30 to do some chores. So I spent my morning ironing my clothes and washing windows in the alcove off the kitchen. While washing windows I listened to one of my favourite cds that I acquired late last year. It features five works for string quartet by the Swiss composer Jürg Frey. Everything about this cd is enticing. From the initial packaging (as with all recent Wandelweiser releases) is very clean, very simple, and reflects somewhat the stripped-down, minimalist nature of the music. On the inside, a few paragraphs of text discuss the concepts of 'anonymous material', the translation of Agnes Martin's paintings sense of 'visibility' to a similar 'audibility' in music, and the point at which "concentration on what is essential becomes possible, and allows one to feel that he is starting from zero."

Each of the five pieces follows a similarly careful, thoughtful, and reduced aesthetic approach. Rather than talk at length about all five pieces, I will mention specifically on the last piece, Streichquartett II (1998-2000), which is quite possibly the most stunningly beautiful work for string quartet I have ever heard. Structurally the piece consists of 2-3 seconds of sound, followed by 2-3 seconds of silence, followed by 2-3 seconds of sound... and so on. This goes on for the full 28 minutes and 59 seconds. Harmonically the piece uses beautiful yet seemingly conventional tonal harmonies. The beauty of this music, then, comes from the textures used. The extended techniques are used in such a way that the string quartet actually sounds like a choir. No joke. Variations on what might be tremelo bowing very close to and directly on the bridge create an eerie timbre, with micro-fluctuations from 'chord' to 'chord', in which the pitches are heard faintly through a mist of toneless string noise and faint overtones. The pitches themselves sounding, as I said, more like a very distant choir singing ominous chords in a quiet manner. I recommend this cd to anyone and everyone. It can be ordered from the wandelweiser website or erstwhile records distribution (for orders in the US).

I also found out, while washing windows, that the small segment of fence that I destroyed in December when I crashed the car is going to cost me US$2000 to 'fix'. Thats almost as much as it cost to repair the car... to repair a fence. Added insult to injury being that it is a fence... a false border... an ideologically detestable object.

Following all that, I put together my new shaver (old one broke a while ago) and cleaned up my hairy face, took a shower, and went to a jazz festival at my old high school. My girlfriend was singing and playing with the jazz band and such. After that we (Jessie and I) spent the evening dancing in various forms to Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica and Shiny Beat (Bat Chain Puller) and eating ice cream sandwiches. Opposite aesthetic to the window-cleaning/Jurg Frey, but such is our post-post-modernist predicament. Or something.

Now I am home and once again listening to Frey's Streichquartett II (1998-2000). Before which I listened to Radu Malfatti and Taku Unami's Goat Vs. Donkey, their second duet release this year, this time on that Taumaturgia label. It is available for free download from both the labels website and here: http://www.archive.org/details/goatvsdonkey

It, on the surface, is very similar to the previous release, Kushikushism. I have yet to give the two a good comparative listen, however. Doing so is something I'm going to be anxiously awaiting over the next few days. The music on both discs is sublime.

To finish off this rant, I would just like to say that the current economic situation and the political response to it has been pathetic and shameful. Yet another example of our corrupted and rotting species showcasing its obedience and slavery to that which it has created. All this talk of 'dangerous toxic assets' makes me laugh. Economic growth is a fickle measurement of human exploitation. Significant change is not coming. I can only hope the system as it is continues to falter and fall until we have no choice but to abandon it. Until then the possibility of a 'succesful reform/revamp/re---' of the world economy hangs heavy over the fate of every living thing on this planet.