Tuesday, December 13, 2011

psydefects

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been very reclusive lately.

Lex and I have been busy working on artist portfolio websites which will be up probably within the month - expect a link to Lex's site to be popping up soon.

The track I'm uploading today is a painfully unfinished piece of dance music with lots of bass, artificially tuned ambiguous vocals, and generic beats. It ends with a transition that goes nowhere because I didn't know what to do next. If you have any ideas, please remix it.

Also, I'm workin on a new Boxus EP secret secret style, don't tell anybody!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Dominance in Hand

The dominant hand becomes the focal point of active thought, when work is to be done. It anchors the body around its action potential. We encounter a tool and the muscles in that hand tense, instinctively recognizing their potential for use in interaction with the thing. The non-dominant hand is more relaxed. It is aware that it may need to help out in some way, but its ability to interact with the object is underdeveloped, and it can remain calm in its own ineptitude.

Henceforth I will refer to the dominant hand as Dominic, and the non-dominant hand as Jim. Dominic is a real go-getter. He's perpetually high-strung, and quick to clench at a moment's tension. He is also highly intelligent, having been trained for a life of constant observation and reaction. He sees where we are going, sometimes better than our eyes do. When darkness makes it impossible for us to comprehend our surroundings, he is there to literally grasp them, reaching out bravely into the unknown. He also speaks when our mouths need assistance, echoing with particular strength our hellos and goodbyes, which are rife with gesture. Dominic is the king of gesture, unless society demands that Jim be used in his place (I am thinking mostly of a left-handed person forced to always take part in right-handshakes).

Jim is Dominic's lazy twin brother. He is less reliable and less outgoing, but a diligent worker all the same when his powers are invoked. He is often tasked as a counterpart to his brother in activities requiring their teamwork (typing, piano, etc). He also fills in for him when Dominic is busy performing a more prominent task. For instance, Dom might be writing with a felt pen while Jim scratches your nose. He performs these duties well, and indeed he leads a busy life. I consider Jim a dear friend, and I shun the idea that he is a strictly "inferior" member of the team. Sure, he is less able to act on his own accord, but his role is an important one, and we should appreciate the zen-like life he leads behind the scenes.

A word to the ambidextrous - your world is unknowable to me, but it is one of immaculate beauty. Be thankful! You have a regular socialist utopia on the ends of your arms. You have somehow managed an even division of labor, of focus, and of stress between these two incredibly versatile pieces of your self, and I consider you blessed.

A word to the handless - RESPECT. You've clearly been listening to a lot of Boxus.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

BACK IN IT

a zombie came up from the deep earth and gold chips fell from his jaw to the soil.

We live in Oakland now. I'm going to start uploading tracks again.

Here is one.

It's called "Transcription", and features the inexplicably talented Scoville T. Benricksson on upright bass.



This was Scoville, before his head (having incurred several deep stab wounds) began to rot and was violently discarded:

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Knowing It

We got a mini-vacation a few weeks ago, when our friend asked us to puppysit four dogs.  This is a very intelligent boxer named Bella who learned to swim with us in the pool.  Knowing is hard, it's true. But with enough focus and a fork in your hand, you too can enjoy a soup bowl.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Severance

The new Boxus album is finished and is available to hear & download for free at bandcamp! Physical copies will be available when I have more supplies to print CDs. I'm also finalizing floppy disk singles for the track Black Sands. They'll be $1 each, contact me if you're interested!

If you like this album, please share it.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

safe120

Originally sung by soldiers to their estranged families over the wire in World War West, safe120 hit the nation at a sensitive time, and is remembered affectionately by young men and widows as a sad but certain reminder of the beauty burning at the core of all hardships.

Keep an ear out for dark120, plump120, k120, and others in a continuing series of 120bpm hits.



Saturday, June 11, 2011

We Hate Music

I forgot I ever made this track, til it popped into my head a minute ago while I was washing dishes. This is some unreleased shit from a couple years ago, around the time I started Multiversic. Underneath the song is a photo of everybody's favorite uromastyx lizard, little Leo Johnson. He relaxes when vertical.



Sunday, May 29, 2011

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Heroes of The Paragon, vol. 2

" Why didn't you tell me he was coming?"

'I don't know. I didn't want to worry you.'

"Michael! When a threat presents itself you do not ignore it and hope that it chases its own shadow away! Two weeks you've known and I could have been preparing. What is it now.. two days, by your shoddy estimate? They'll take EVERYTHING, Michael." With a slippery mist in her eyes, she mumbled, "They'll even take me."

'Yeah... So. Am I fired?'

Michael looked bored. Lady Volara sat, on the verge of tears, at her desk. Her brows narrowed as fear crystallized into hate. She saw deception behind the man's lackluster expression. Muscles tensing and veins coursing, she rose, with a steady stare fixed upon Michael's face. The fear seeped into him like juice into bread.

"Traitor!" she shouted in a stern and focused burst, "I will not allow you the sacred gift of death among your companions! YOU DIE NOW!!!"

Michael fell out of his chair and ran, making a frenzied dash for the door leading out of the Lady's office. Of course, it was bolted shut, impossible to open. His body slammed up against it with a thubb, and he started banging on the door and walls in a hopeless fury. Volara stepped toward him, pleased at his distress. Her left hand crept up calmly behind his head, and after a moment's pause, she grabbed his skull and crushed it like a cheap melon.

"Asshole," she whispered, "got my hand all bloody."

She turned to retrieve a hand towel from the utility closet. But then she froze, standing perfectly still, drops of blood still trickling down off her arm. Soullivuhn stood in front of her, wearing a sedated half-smile.

She gasped. "Sou--"

'Shh! Call me not by name. Not here.'

He approached her and touched a finger softly against her lips.

"They told me you were coming. Do... do you want to kill me?" she whispered, her eyes finally panning up to meet his perplexing glare.

'No Vola, not this time. Things have changed. I can't expect you to trust me after what happened in Tvet, but... we need you, Volara. The Paragon needs you.'

Her eyes gently danced through Soullivuhn's thoughts, trying to get a reading on his true intentions. All they brought back was confusion, and a strange warmth. She thought of bacon and fried potatoes. But why?

'I have The Box,' he said, penetrating the unusual silence.

Volara looked alarmed. "I should have known. To be playing such dangerous games with space and time... how did you even get here? To the 23rd Sun? I recorded your death personally, Soullivuhn, seventy years ago."

'I am a man of many deaths. But let that not alarm you. My presence in your life is a necessity. Perhaps I am not really here. But you see me. More important still, you hear me. And you can take my words and use them to change the world, if you will follow me.'

"I won't leave my country. But... you must tell me. What is this place you seek to take me to?"

'The place is a time. 1792. Illsbrook.'

"The Paragon Wars. No! Soullivuhn, you cannot tamper with such fragile history!"

'It is out of my control. I have a role to play, and so do you. What you know as the present may never be the same, but it is my great hope that perhaps it could be... better.'

"This is madness," replied Volara in a deep voice, "but you know what? I'm fucking hungry."

"Yeah man let's bounce," replied the Magnificent Moving Box.

Wait... [struck by the sensation that she was now leaving her body, Volara froze up in a state that was unusual, but not altogether uncomfortable. She knew they were doing it. But somehow she didn't care.] The colors and the attributes of being were as they are, and she felt them become what they once had been, on a level of geology coming undone and mountains shrinking back into the land. And this is ok. This is good. There is a feeling of Soullivuhn and the.. shape.. with me. But I am alone.. And the structures, as in a dream, are time.

"And I'm... Im here?"

Drops of blood fell into the sand at her feet.

Soullivuhn lit up with a massive grin. 'Welcome to the Island of Dreams, Volara.'

Friday, May 6, 2011

Heroes of The Paragon, vol. 1

Soullivuhn took a long, thick drag and stroked his enormous beard.

"Luck," he said plainly.

"Bullshit!" the captain replied. "Fucking sorcery! BULLSHIT!! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!"

The Magnificent Moving Box said nothing, but bobbed up and down in a slow and steady rhythm.

Soullivuhn remained calm. "Be steady, captain. We won't touch land for another several hours."

This kind of tirade was nothing new for Soullivuhn and his crew - few ship captains responded well to piracy. He made sure to bring on board three oak barrels full of powdered oxycodone, to quell the inevitable tensions.

Drew and Lanley were playing hopscotch in the back of the cabin. They had carved the traditional lattice of boxes onto the wooden floor with an old sketchknife, and were taking turns hobbling across, most often tumbling over before they could reach the end of the line. Soullivuhn eyed them suspiciously, wondering how much of his drugs they had taken.

The door swung open and Henry of Higgins stuck his round, shiny head through the opening. Drunkenly, he hollered "IT'S TIME! COME QUICK!"

Soullivuhn flung a bit of radioactive tape over him and pulled him into the room. "Henry," he said calmly, "what seems to be the problem?"

"The LARKS!!! Come quick, men!"

"Ah! Henry, good looking out," Soullivuhn replied in relief, having expected sour news. "Come on Box, to starboard!" He slinked out of the cabin with a sedated excitement common to him. Henry followed drunkenly behind, and the Magnificent Moving Box elevated itself and floated outward behind its companions, swaying gently as it propelled itself forward.

The Larks of Evershoal were a thing of legend to local sailors and enchantors. Mages once hunted the Larks for their golden tailfeathers, which were used in healing rituals and the production of certain fine elixers. But this practice was outlawed during the Tvetic revolution, when the mages of Illsbrook were chased from their schools by the invading Tvetic armies. The people of Tvet considered the Great Lark a mythical and divine beast, and once they had gained control of Illsbrook and the Paragon Empire, they forbade the hunt of Larks and many other sacred avian species.

It could not be denied that the Larks were beautiful. With a wingspan of nine to twelve feet, they appeared like fe athered dragons in the sky, angelic in appearance and monstrous in size. Their feathers gave off a faint golden glow, which seemed to linger in the air even after they had passed. Soullivuhn and his companions stood in silence and awe, watching as the magnificent birds spiraled around and coasted along the sides of the ship, seeming almost to speak to the men through their elaborate and otherworldly dance.

The spectacle was cut short by a sudden burst of gunfire from above. Airships! Airships? In the Paragon they wouldn't be in development until 2014. The Magnificent Moving Box immediately rose into the sky and decentralized the ship's main weapon system. He noted retroflex pumps attached to the engine, which indicated the craft had been built by early 22nd century Glotian mechanics. But who brought it here, to the mid-Atlantic, in 1792?

The Magnificent Moving Box could not make out the figure of a pilot - perhaps this was merely a drone, a scouting unit. He wondered which of Soullivuhn's many foes might have the resources for intertemporal espionage. When he began approaching the ship, it initiated a disintegration sequence, as Box had predicted. Drones indeed. He lowered himself to the men, and explained to them his understanding of the situation, and the perplexities which vexed him. The probability of danger was as real as it was imagined.

Drew and Lanley burst out the cabin door in a flurry, tumbling about, half laughing, half crying. Drew had sewn an oven mit to his right ear, and filled the mit with olives, which he would periodically remove and throw toward Lanley's mouth. Lanley was annoyed by this, but too intoxicated to pay much attention. Instead he stared blankly forward while attempting to keep his balance, but swaying back and forth in a blistered dance.

"Well guys," said Soullivuhn, "I don't know about you, but I'm fucking hungry."

"Yeah man let's bounce," replied the Magnificent Moving Box. Just then a massive island rose from the depths of the sea, peaking above the ocean just underneath the ship, and landing the crew directly atop the newly formed beach.

"Excellent work Box!" spouted Henry of Higgins. Soullivuhn looked worried, but exhuberant all the same. Lanley fell over and broke six bones in his face.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Cornerstone

Today saw the [ever tentative] completion of CORNERSTONE, an epic Severance track built as a sequel/remix to the ground-breaking party anthem Corner Store. Expect a third entry in this series, Stonercore, to be released soon. On that note, happy belated holiday to 4.20 enthusiasts!

I'm uploading a mushroom-related picture nicked from wikipedia's archives to celebrate our recently received shipments of cordyceps extract and dried reishi. These are some of the best natural health enhancers around; we highly recommend adding some medicinal mushrooms to your daily diet!



Saturday, April 9, 2011

Drosophila

The cutest song I've ever made. Named after flies but dedicated to lizards, our beloved Leo and Shelly Johnson.



Friday, April 8, 2011

Synthesizer Blues

Another beautiful collaboration conceived and produced in the last 24 hours.



Thursday, April 7, 2011

DS10

We started this song earlier tonight, with Lex playing the Korg DS-10 while I sequenced on the computer.

If you have a Nintendo DS, you owe it to yourself to buy the Korg DS-10 software immediately. It's as fun as fuck and very versatile.



Sunday, April 3, 2011

DraeDumDao

The fantasy is all that matters. Kiss the moonlight.



note - this song is from The Fog Apocalypse, the EP which gave this blog its title. If you like it, consider buying a copy at the webstore (or ask me for one).

Friday, April 1, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're back. Internet is up at the new Collexive studios and regular updates are finally resuming!

We'd like to celebrate the holidays by wishing everybody a happy soul-stuffing Thanksgiving! Crack open a cold beer, snap apart a wishbone, and reLAX!

We started this song on November 24th 2010, and finished it yesterday. It's called Tryptophantom. Soon to be released on a special Thanksgiving-themed EP also featuring the Boxus song "Corn", which appeared in Emilio Monroe's acclaimed horror short "Designa".



Monday, March 21, 2011

Leland's World

Hey everybody,

Lex here this time around. Shoutout to the homies.



Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Several Deep Sea Journeys Box Set Preview

It's been a few days since the last update, so this evening I'm uploading a set of four tracks, representing episodes selected from the upcoming blu-ray box set release of the popular WB show Several Deep Sea Journeys.

Season 5 Episode 3 - The Emerald Thieves

A congregation of oceanic gem bandits in the caves of the North Sea. Track features tape samples from an interview recorded by my grandfather many decades ago. This is a work in progress.



Season 6 Episode 11 - Skepsis

A track from the upcoming album Severance. I played this at the space 120 show as well. The episode itself is kind of hard to describe. It was filmed entirely on an experimental polysynthetic tape which bent and stretched the frames when played back, giving the image a skewed, nauseating swagger. Despite the fact that most viewers experienced great discomfort while watching the original episode, it remains a favorite of many die-hard fans. The plot is slow but action-packed, as Clarence and Joale lead their search team through the remains of the old transport hub in Skepsis.



Season 7 Episode 1 - The Lost City

I posted this track a couple of weeks ago. We follow the team at long last through the great Lost City. The music reflect's Altra's nervous excitement with a sharp beat in three sets of five.

This episode ushered in a great deal of confused excitement regarding the legendary seventh season of SDSJ. After director Rex Londage's departure at the conclusion of season 6, veteran documentarian Ruano Cyrtec was hired to take his place. Ruano's first attempt is a gorgeous and inspired installment taking the viewer on a mind-grinding journey through the many-dimensional architecture of the sea.



LONG-LOST PILOT!!! RARE AND EXCLUSIVE!

I made this song when I was 15. The version here is just slightly remastered. This is the first recorded footage pertaining to the SDSJ series.





Friday, March 11, 2011

Babylon

This one's for Andalucia.

Created today, at 8:30pm. Consider it a work in progress.



Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Glock Jam

This post is brought to you 2 hours late courtesy of Stone's Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale. Excellent beer, cheers everybody!

(The song was recorded by The Doing Things in Transit Ragtag Band in the Spring or Summer of a recent year.)



Tuesday, March 8, 2011

On Both Sides

This is an older song which never found a home. The picture is of many dead bees, inside a lamp post somewhere in UC Santa Cruz (oakes). If you have any thoughts on these tracks, leave me a comment here or on soundcloud.



Sunday, March 6, 2011

ragtag

ATTENTION:

Beginning today, March 6th 2011, and ending forseeably on April 16th 2011, we will be uploading a new piece of music with visual accompaniment every day. If you like any of this material please stay tuned to fogapocalypse.blogspot.com for further developments.






Wednesday, February 9, 2011

SDSJS7E01TLC!

Season premiere of Several Deep Sea Journeys!!! Friday @ 10PM on the WB!



Friday, January 7, 2011

Jesus is Alive

First ever BLOG-EXCLUSIVE track, to accompany EPISODE 1 of RIBEYE PUCK.

Saturday, January 1, 2011