Tuesday, January 13, 2009

in search of anodyne through ritual and magick (and cross-referencing)


Keeril Makan's In Sound, further illuminated at Badasses of Contemporary Composition
where I said:

A friend's Facebook status was just set as "________ is anodyne", which I found rather inspiring, for I think that is what we ultimately seek, not some basic-zen/basic-physics equilibrium but anodyne, something soothing to the mind or feelings
The "Invocation" opening John Zorn's i.a.o (lala) has a similar arcane mystery about it, that is it noise trying to be quiet that I find really intellectually soothing. If we weren't so removed from our animal, mystic nature, we'd be alarmed when it gets quiet and would find the racket of existence reassuring. One of Zorn's many strengths is his building a whole out of disparate parts, hence the seductive Latin/tribal/ritual throb of "Sex Magick" that follows it, and fomr that, it finds a soothing spot across varied and rocky terrain.

Inferring from the song titles and something I've read, this record is about ritual and its through ritual that we find our peace. The trick is not getting too stuck on the ritual, the word ritual itself getting rearranged and truncated into a rut.

Zorn has a track on here named "Lucifer Rising", possibly named for the Kenneth Anger film with the notoriously contentious soundtrack. Supposedly Jimmy Page recorded one for it, and an argument between the guitarist and the filmmaker led to him being replaced by Bobby Beausoleil, and early member of Love and later, a notorious member of the Manson Family.

here is it with Beausoleil soundtrack


Now that I've made a connection to Love, I need to go in search of the Zorn/Anger crossovers to bring this all full circle, or pyramid, or whatever shape the magick anodyne ritual requires.

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