Shuffle, Shuffle, Shuffle

Fig. 1. Philip Guston - Painting, Smoking, Eating, 1972-3

'Where do you put a form? It will move all around, bellow out and shrink, and sometimes it winds up where it was in the first place. But at the end, it feels different, and it had to make the voyage. I am a moralist and cannot accept what has not been paid for, or a form that has not been lived through.'

Philip Guston

Your Ears Will Orgasm #10: Relatively New (MixPod Player)

1. Goldfrapp - A&E
2. The Ting Tings - Be The One
3. Vampire Weekend - Everywhere
4. Feist - Sea Lion Woman
5. Deerhoof - The Tears And Music Of Love
6. Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor

All Of The Magic, None Of The Tricks

Fig. 1. Caspar David Friedrich - Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon, 1824

'Longing is the umbilical cord of the higher life.'

Søren Kierkegaard

Your Ears Will Orgasm #9: Olivier Messiaen - Oraison (MixPod Player)

Addendum:

The following poem was sent to me by Katie, a regular reader and commenter, as a response to Caspar David Friedrich's image. I am posting it here for the benefit of those who do not normally peek into the comments box - and, needless to say, as a way of expressing my thanks for her spontaneous contribution.

Mist in the Valley

These hills, to hurt me more,
Than I am hurt already enough,--
Having left the sea behind,
Having turned suddenly and left the shore
That I loved beyond all words, even a song’s words, to convey,

And built me a house on upland acres,
Sweet with the pinxter, bright and rough
With the rusty blackbird long before the winter’s done,
But smelling never of bayberry hot in the sun,
Nor ever loud with the pounding of the long white breakers,--

These hills, beneath the October moon,
Sit in the valley white with mist
Like islands in a quiet bay,

Jut out from shore into the mist,
Wooded with poplar dark as pine,
Like points of land into a quiet bay,
(Just in that way
The harbour met the bay)

Stricken too sore for tears,
I stand, remembering the islands and the sea’s lost sound...
Life at its best no longer than the sand-peep’s cry,
And I two years, two years,
Tilling an upland ground!

E.S.V. Millay

Mr. Stravinsky Rode A Horse Called Serendipity

Fig. 1. Igor Stravinsky

'I was made a revolutionary in spite of myself. . . . All creation presupposes as its origin a sort of appetite that is brought on by the foretaste of discovery. This foretaste of the creative art accompanies the intuitive grasp of an unknown entity that will not take definite shape except by the action of a constantly vigilant technique. This appetite that is aroused in me at the mere thought of putting in order musical elements that have attracted my attention is not at all a fortuitous thing like inspiration, but is habitual and periodic, if not constant - a natural need. The very act of putting my work on paper, of, as we say, kneading the dough, is for me inseparable from the pleasure of creation. So far as I am concerned, I cannot separate the spiritual effort from the psychological and physical effort; they confront me on the same level and do not present a hierarchy. What concerns us here is not imagination itself, but rather creative imagination: the faculty that helps us to pass from the level of conception to the level of realisation. In the course of my labours I suddenly stumble upon something unexpected. This unexpected element strikes me. I make note of it. At the proper time I put it to profitable use. The faculty of creating is never given to us all by itself. It always goes hand in hand with the gift of observation. And the true creator may be recognised by his ability always to find about him, in the commonest and humblest thing, items worthy of note. The least accident holds his interest and guides his operations. If his finger slips, he will notice it. On occasion, he may draw profit from something unforeseen that a momentary lapse reveals. One does not contrive an accident: one observes, draws inspiration from it.'

Igor Stravinsky

Mr. Stravinsky's Marvellous, Metronomical Ontology

Fig. 1. Igor Stravinsky


'Music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the coordination between man and time.'

Igor Stravinsky

The Incredible Rightness Of Doing

Fig. 1. Sabine Weiss - Porte de Vanves, Paris, 1952


'I can, therefore I am.'

Simone Weil

Last week I discovered something (boxing) through a wonderful old friend (Mischa), then rediscovered something (dance) through a wonderful new friend (Jana). Yes, there has definitely been a sublime symmetry to the asymmetry of my recent experiences - about which I will write more at a later date.

Fig. 2. Flip Schulke - Ali Shadowboxing Underwater, 1960

Fig. 3. Pina Bausch's Wuppertal Tanztheater - Le Sacre Du Printemps (m. Igor Stravinsky), 2008

Your Ears Will Orgasm #8: Igor Stravinsky - Le Sacre Du Printemps (MixPod Player)

How To Shock Friends And Influence Patrons

Fig. 1. Tracey Emin - Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made (detail), 1996

'One thing that success has taught me is censorship.'

Tracey Emin

Your Ears Will Orgasm #7: Gentlemen Prefer Bondage (MixPod Player)

1. Nina Simone - Do I Move You?
2. The Velvet Underground - Venus In Furs
3. The Twilight Singers - I'm Ready
4. Machine Gun Fellatio - Throw Me On The Bed
5. Hot One - Fuckin'
6. Space - The Female Of The Species

La Petite Vague

Fig. 1. Traditional Japanese Wave Fabric


'Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.'

Anaïs Nin

Your Ears Will Orgasm #6: Les Danseurs (MixPod Player)

1. Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance
2. Empress - Dyin' To Be Dancin'
3. Billy Idol - Dancin' With Myself
4. David Byrne - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
5. Robbie Fulks - Dancing Queen
6. Funk Brothers - Dancing In The Street