analog e

9/5/24

September 5th, 2024

I am supposed to see the anniversary re-release of Coraline at Violet Crown today, but am still quite sick and debating whether I should go-according to CDC guidelines, it is fine, and I have an N95 mask, and so far I am the only one in the theater. However, I’m too sick to walk anywhere or safely drive and am not sure I want to be out of the house, plus all of my professors have asked that so long as I am testing positive and clearly ill I please stay home, so I am not sure why I would make an exception for a movie if I cannot even sit in on class.

This whole experience of COVID has been abjectly miserable-I am so weak and lightheaded that I can barely function. I’ve been playing some Nier Replicant, which I am hoping to be a better experience in Japanese/French than it was when I played it in English ~3 years ago. I love Automata dearly but Replicant was not quite as narratively compelling. 3 years is a long time, however, and my appreciation for media is ever evolving. I was not into rap in the same way I am now 3 years ago, nor was I a Limp Bizkit fan. Things change! We’ll see how it goes! It’s interesting so far catching nuances of translation between the Japanese audio and the French subtitles with what little Japanese I recall.

The flowers in the garden have fully bloomed and the temperature has cooled, so I walked about and snapped some photos-it was lovely being outside for a bit. One of the boons of living where I do is having a fully maintained garden which requires no effort on my part to maintain.

I will probably make an effort to play some fiddle soon-it’s difficult to play anything technical or sprightly but I can at least sit here and work out tunes-I need to figure out the c part of this Breton suite.
RE:VAMP-Moh Baretta

September 4th, 2024

Opening with a repeating piano motif that reminds of the primary arpeggio in Silent Hill 2’s “Promise (Reprise)”, RE:VAMP is immediately a haunted album, closely following the darker atmospherics of Unorthodox more than the “Radio Love” sampling freewheel of #THISISNOTADRILLX2. It reminds me of Ken Carson’s stellar release last year, A Great Chaos, which has a similar focus on hazy, dark beats and murky, prominent bass. Even the cover, xeroxed like a 90s Power Electronics tape, shows a more severe tint than the vivid anime past, continuing the motif established by the alternate streaming cover of Unorthodox. This departure from Surf Gang and partnership with fk is creating a space for Moh Baretta to elaborate on sonic motifs he was already exploring, and the result is an unnerving walk through distant alien resonances, shifting spaces, and corner-of-the-eye apparitions.
The Butterfly

September 4th, 2024

My first (proper) session tune proved to be The Butterfly, which I understand to be a conventional choice, but it’s a tune I enjoy playing and with which I have a fair competency. Being unfamiliar with Durty Nelly’s, I sat meekly at the bar (usually I sit in on The Whiskey Jar morning session and am more familiar with and to the folks there) until, halfway through, the session leader, half of the local duo Silo (I’ve seen them perform live at WTJU), sat beside me to order drinks. We talked for a bit, and I ended up moving into the circle once someone vacated their spot. I was pretty reticent, but I talked to the banjo player beside me about Lannigan’s Ball and people gradually joined in. The woman across from me extended her fiddle, overwhelming my attempts to politely decline with enthusiastic insistence-which is my experience with sessions: if it becomes known that you can play an instrument in any capacity and you do not have an instrument, an instrument will be pressed into your hands. A gorgeous instrument with a deep brunette stain and tone to match, the unfamiliarity of the fiddle/bow and my deep discomfort with performing publicly as a fiddler led a quivering start, but I eventually found some semblance of footing, even if that footing was suddenly incapable of tapping out the time. The tune went well enough-I forgot to signal the end and had nothing to follow with, so it ended a little abruptly, but everyone was complimentary and kind. I attempted Foxhunter’s to follow but couldn’t quite get it out on account of the profound anxiety riding from having just played an entire tune on a fiddle in a session. I’d intended to take Elsina to the Whiskey Jar this past Saturday to maintain momentum and hopefully be a little less profoundly uncomfortable with myself, but first-week-of-class-covid caught me and I was instead a feverish bed-ridden puddle. I’m still not in particularly good shape and will follow up my Monday absences with Wednesday absences due to still testing positive. It’s been difficult to focus on reading, but I managed today to work out part of the Suite Loudéac, which is a set of four Breton Tunes, so it wasn’t entirely a wash.

9/5/24

RE:VAMP-Moh Baretta

The Butterfly