Felt Live

Daily Affirmation

Doesn't everyday deserve a moment for one's eyes to well up with love and gratitude? This is mine for today. I look forward to the new Belle & Sebastian with bated breath.

I will perform with Tatsuya Nakatani

Excellent poster by Andrew Chadwick

Self portait upon hearing one's own voice

I read through my own
observations with the speed and precision
of joyless creation
unbending to the forms and figures
as if passing over miles and decades
of unending text unfurling behind
like a spool of delicate ribbon

there is little value in pointing
out how little value there is
in these said observations,
an obtuse echo,
a ringing in my ears
of a not altogether unpalatable
sound, but not exactly
one I clamor for.

words and picture by BCFL

Pura Esencia

Barreling aimlessly through eons of darkness

I’ve come to rest at your feet

With none other to offer

But measly shreds of condensed energy

Measured out in loud, labored breaths

And globules of shiny, white matter

All manner of talents

Equate to nothing

In the court of reality

And matter not to the high judges

In their flowing garments of

Credentials and opulent achievement

You, as an honorary member of this committee,

Find value in quiet,

In the scent of the moonlight

Reflected upon the choppy waves,

In the smell of the lowly

And chagrined nape of my neck

Where you deposit

Love and miraculous

Touch upon touch

words and picture by BCFL

 

Striving to be a stable bow

On Children
by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Show at Display on July 24th

Enter View

Thanks to my friend, Andrew, I was introduced to an amazing artist by the name of Jen Clay. She creates an educational show for adults called Allon Allou. Recently, she performed live at one of Andrew's Action Research shows at Display in Gainesville. See that performance below. Also, be sure to follow the Vimeo link to watch Allon Allou episodes.

I will be creating a theme song for Allon Allou in the near future! I am super excited about that!






http://vimeo.com/channels/allonallou/46232765

Free Music

Some of my favorite music lately has come to me in the form of free bandcamp releases. I want to share them with you, whoever you are.

De Nada was from Tallahassee, FL. I far as I can tell they are no longer a band, but they recorded an amazing, artful ep with David Settle. Members of De Nada are also in Grounded and SALES. Both of these post De Nada groups seem pretty decent with a lot of potential, but it's the unique style and approach of the vocalist coupled with the dynamic, creative playing that makes them truly something special. It's not often you come across a rhythm section this tight and focused with a singer that has something tangible and sincere to add to the soup. Good on them for capturing it. David Settle's recording of the whole matter with a very minimal set up only adds to the mystique, for me.

http://denada.bandcamp.com/


Jane Jane Pollock was from Florida, I think. I remember them playing tons of shows around that I never had the chance(or interest, for that matter) to go to. Sucks for me because it turns out they are fucking amazing. So this next one is somehow related to them. I believe Danny is one of the members in the band Jane Jane, which is the latest incarnation in the JJP schema. Being that I love organs, the beach, and Arthur Lyman, this one was bound to find it's way to me.


http://dannydanny.bandcamp.com/releases



Enjoy,
B

My hero

Lester Polsfuss invented everything relevant to the music I make, to the music that has influenced me: the electric guitar, multi-track recording, reverb/delay units, and the looper. Thanks, Les.

Digital Graffiti 2014

A piece that Aaron O'Laughlin and I collaborated on
some time ago was submitted to Digital Graffiti in Alys Beach, FL. Digital Graffiti is an annual festival combining video art and architecture wherein the videos are projected onto the buildings of this town. The piece we submitted has been selected as a finalist in this year's line up.

You can see to a small degree what one could expect to encounter at Digital Graffiti by viewing the video above and watch our entry on the Hifi Envelope Facebook page here. I will accompany our piece on solo guitar and electronics during the evening of June 7th, 2014.

http://www.digitalgraffiti.com/

Words I can understand

Selected Ambient Life

I recently read an article that dissected Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II and it pointed out that this record turns twenty years old this year. Throughout the article there are various accounts of hearing this album for the first time and the long lasting effects it has had on the individual.

This article(which can be found here) reminded me of my own experience finding this music, or rather it finding me as is often the case in my experience. I was sixteen years old. My best friend, his girlfriend, and I had driven out to the beach where we dropped acid. It was my first time. We hung around the beach, which was about 30 or 40 minutes form where we lived, hoping to have this experience together near the water. Nothing was happening. An hour later we were convinced we'd been given bunk acid.

We piled back in to Stephanie's Cutlass Supreme(which was a total cherry, by the way) and started heading back home, angry and disappointed, to find the guy who'd led us astray. After traveling east on I-4 from Daytona for about twenty minutes it started happening: from my vantage point in the backseat on velour seats I noticed colors(green on the left side, purple on the right) dividing my field of vision. I sat in the back and pondered this for a moment wondering what the fuck was going on. The head lights of on-coming traffic became sparkling diamonds veering off from the road curving directly into my eye sockets. They were blinding me and it was the most dazzling thing I'd ever seen. I started to realize what was happening and this realization spread through my being like a message I had always been wanting to receive. A song on the radio caught my attention. We were listening to Echoes on NPR. It must have been a Saturday night. It was the perfect song to begin what ended up being an insane journey. I was reminded immediately of Brian Eno and Harold Budd, which were my among my favorites having followed the breadcrumb trail from Cocteau Twins' collaboration with Harold Budd.

I was aware of Aphex before this album, having been really into the Polygon Window and AFX releases, as well as much of what had come out on Warp Records, that came before this and I can't say this album altered the path I was already on, but it certainly reinforced it. It's been part of my life longer than it has not been, at this point and though it's not something I turn to that often anymore I have a tenderness for it, it's sounds, and the remembrance of the sweet, naivete of my person when discovering it.

Happy Birthday, Selected Ambient Works Volume II.

As if you were listening/watching

In October my good friend and sometime band mate, Andrew, offered me to play at one of his Action Research shows that was in conjunction with one of Chris Miller's Boardwalk Shows(sure to be a thing of legend). It was a nice day with good people. Jacob played a one string droning object of his own creation while Ryan played trumpet and some percussion. I played an open tuned, bowed guitar, some pedals, and other gadgets. It turned alright, but it was better when we were rehearsing it in Ryan's living room.