Bil Sabab Power Hour: Cocteau Twins - Blood Bitch

"Blood Bitch" is a song by Scottish post-punk dream pop band Cocteau Twins. It was released in 1982 on their debut album titled "Garlands". While it distantly resembles the bands signature sound - it is very unlike their future output. There are no pop elements - it is pure "take no prisoners" misty gothic post punk. TV Tropes has an entry that perfectly describes what it is - "Early Franchise Weirdness". The band was trying to find their footing. But in case of this song is perfect as it is.

There is resentfully silent mood, unwholesomely morbid tone, sullen mannerisms and gloomy undercurrents. "Blood Bitch" is circling predatory pitch black sonic roundabout with low, ominous throb. It is minimalist bloody post punk. But is so much more. It transcends beyond being simply a song. It is like aimless wandering in the thick fog - taking a step only to realize you're stepping into quicksand and slowly and helplessly getting sucked into oblivion - slowly suffocating. And then you understand that this pity pit also covers a black hole and you're about to be torn apart. It is very intimidating. It puts you in a state of "twang'" despair. It makes The Cure circa "Pornography" sound like Mamas and Papas. And I like it that way.

"Blood Bitch" is built around unrelenting mechanic beat. It is unmistakable Roland 808. It sounds thin, crisp and crunchy. This stone cold thumping also adds that particular "Big Black" ugliness to the music. The other instruments are drowned in echoes, swelled and flowing on the surface face down. There will be no bubbles.

Bass line is very interesting. It is seems to be a backbone of a song but in the same time it is constantly slips away. It lashes the ground and unsettles clouds of dust. But then it turns to liquid - as if it was merely ripples, splashes, whirls on the water's surface. It creates heightened sense of momentary falling due to rug pull.

Guitar is lurking deep in the background. It creates entangled web of textures - akin to the mist. Distorted screeches, shimmers and feedbacks are laying one on top of another. Sounds go like a straight lines speared from far away that come curdled into a ball spirals and bounce away going away like boomerangs and then reemerging as squalls a squalid tar. It sounds smooth. First it soothes, then it smothers with numerous effects - chorus, reverb, flanger and delay.

From a lyrical standpoint - it is not that much. Just some general character building rambling. It is effectively entwined with the music but not very fleshed out. Images of "Blood Bitch" are just grim and dark. Elizabeth Frazer narrates a horror story. She enters the song like a smoke cloud from a burning petroleum. She blends in a bit but still is very distinct. While she actually sings words although she is obliviously standing on the edge of slipping into singing in tongues. It is mesmerizing balancing act. She sounds haunting. There is ominous throbbing in her voice. It buzzsaws its way through the song. It is interesting to listen how she accentuates words - elongates vowels, wrists consonants, spits out certain syllables.

MFT: Minion Language Translator and Kennyspeak

I have a soft spot for gimmick translator. Some time ago i wrote about Star Wars-themed translators - R2D2 translator and Chewbakka sounds. Now it is time to talk about other gimmick translators.

***
Like it or not - Minions are major brand with massive following. It is easy to see why. They are cute even if they look like a fanfic frankenstein mash-up of Lego figure with Spongebob. They have these funny mannerisms and banana episode is sublime. There is nothing new i can say about Minions. This brand is a curious case of completely vacuous and somehow lucrative brand built exclusive on its memetic qualities. And so it is natural that sooner or later such brand will have some bizarre spin-offs.

Minion language translator is a cynical cash-in. It gives you an opportunity to translate some text into fancy Minionese - because it is kinda fun. "Ba tis la til yee agei", apparently (don't forget to do the "delete chop" afterwards). It sounds like a "post-apocalyptic language of some woefully devolved creatures who traveled back in time in order to hang around". It is mainly composed of short and snappy sounds with occasional guttural fills. It makes Minionese language suspiciously similar to Klingon language albeit being completely rubbish. It is perfect for sound poetry in a lettrist vein. All these "tadda buzz buzz batooay doodle mi tee toot yee pudum our hum tit" are fun to do. But nothing else.

The translator is not very though-through though. Beyond initial concept it is extremely limited. It uses dictionary which is narrowed to some very common words and phrases. Sometimes it becomes needless overbearing chore - you have to play a lot with the words in order to get them translated. And even then it is very repetitive and unimaginative. It gets old fast. There are no variations depending on the context. You can't rampage on Buffalo sentence. But If you succeed - you may manage to labor some fancy odd lettrist moo doo-dah ding acephale plum-plum toot-toot. 

Just like that:

one ip ptt ptt sak fat

ka batooay non cono whaaat? 

pik tis pelo ka piklo da ko pik tem amee

bend fino ip ka am miko thru! 
pewgun tu ooo  ka mo ooo

coo leelas. leelas sodre.

yee prompo linda aka. 
loo yee mac tu pad. 
batooay non blink. 
nop tu efsob. 
ka am pata da vowuke 
pak ria pat koop tu coz

***

I don't really care about South Park. Not my cup of tea. But I really dig this particular thing. Kenny McCormick is a cultural icon. His muffled incomprehensible speech (dubbed KennySpeak) is a thing of beauty. It is stupid simple and extremely inspiring. Muffled speech is not really explored in poetry. It is easy to understand why - it is a one trick pony, not much to do. But there are so many possibilities - whether it is remixing of existing texts or creating something new. It can really transcend the text and make it significantly different. Which is always a good thing.

Mffpmp! Kenny Translator is much more sophisticated than Minion language translator. It goes way beyond translating certain words. It uses its own vaguely distinct alphabet which based around transposed english abecederium. That makes it a serviceable cipher tool with a slight tongue-in-cheek feel. With its help you can translate anything into KennySpeak - this gagged, muffled, indiscernible semi-coherent noises for those with hardships of hearing. Because why not? Try to spell it - it is a real challenge. Basically it is anti-scat. It is sound poetry equivalent of lowercase. It obfuscates the text and turns it into warbling tone float.

KennySpeak works best with list songs. It turns them into shamanic dada roundabouts. Chemical terms and german superwords are also fun. You can also try to do dialogues. If done right - it might be hilarious.

Here is how buffalo sentence looks like in KennySpeak - Mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf Mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf Mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf mmpfmfmpfmpfmmmpmfppf - fun fun fun.

Also until recently Kenny always died - that was his signature schtick. His causes of death must be used in some Twitterbot.

MFT: Esquire "Daily Affirmation from a Beautiful Woman"

Watch this video. Watch it closely. Think for a moment what it is. It depicts some attractive lady saying to the camera "You're a sexy man". No set-up, no explanation, not even wink-wink. Just a single phrase delivered in a blandest way possible. It is must be motivating. But it is not. Why? Dunno. Apparently, it must be, because if else, why bother? But it is not? Then what it is?

Let's take a step back.

I've been surfing through Esquire Magazine's YouTube Channel and here's what my impression - it is like Buzzfeed by Filthy Frank. It manages to mix all sorts of things in one big polished piece of truly glorious YouTube Poop. This is not a joke. Their channel is extremely bizarre in its tenacious blandness. There all sorts of things - stupid how-to's, really creepy series "Women We Love" which is all about objectification of female body (good job, y`all), some out of context bullshit, guest vlogs, Brian Cox pronouncing names of various types of scotch, Patrick Stewart saying italian words. And then there is this.

Medium shot of attractive women who announces a quick staring contest and then, a moment later, congratulates the viewers and applauds to his "staring skills". What is it? Why it exists?


These videos are part of "Daily Affirmation from a Beautiful Woman". It is a series of motivational videos produced by Esquire Magazine in 2012. It is very simple - in each episode eponymous Beautiful Woman says something really "nice" to encourage the viewer who must be a stereotypical male "man's man (meh)" because otherwise it is utter nonsense. She says something that can be considered as an "affirmation" by masterminds of chick flicks. It is very cliched. In fact - it is riddled with every conceivable cliche about attractive women and motivational speeches. It is grey.

It is so cliched you start to think there must be a dig somewhere. Because it can't be straight. But it is and that is the weirdest part of the series. Someone really thought it will work out. Because people usually dig such stuff. But it kinda failed. And then it managed to overcome itself and transform into a piece of conceptual art in my mind. Because what else it can be?



I have no idea how this stupid series managed to attract so much of my attention. Maybe because i have too much free time. Or because i have nothing else to do. Look at it. "You're a man" - what is this? Should reenact the end scene of "Boogie Nights" after hearing that?



As motivational series "Daily Affirmation from a Beautiful Woman" is extremely inappropriate. It manages to miss the mark so much the shell flies all the way into the outer space where it pointlessly hangs out waiting for someone to hum "When you wish upon a star". As Dwayne Johnson once said "if i miss - the wind behind my punch will give you pneumonia and you will die anyway". That's how this series plays out. It is not motivating. It is astoundingly perplexing.

And really-really puzzling. Although this video had grown on me.



"Daily Affirmation from a Beautiful Woman" stars Jessica Gomes who is definitely a beautiful woman from a standpoint of glamour magazines. She looks nice in a frame although she's so polished you have to wrestle with your suspension of disbelief. She's pure eye-candy, because "why not?". And she acts like a machine approximation of female behavior - extremely unnatural - it feels really uncanny. And she talks in that surreal temptation-inducing, apparently seductive "la di da di, rat tat tat" manner.

And while watching this thing - all you can think of is "eh, huh? Why?" Sheer velocity of its effervescent repugnancy is debilitating.

I think "Daily Affirmation from a Beautiful Woman" is an example of unintentional trolling.

It is seemingly po-faced atrocity. It was meant to be inspiring but it plays out so straight you mind goes amuk. It feels wrong. So wrong you get a teaser of "Prometheus" played in your head for a moment. It is mind-numbingly empty. And that is where it succeeds. It is more than just some random motivational video. It is full-on all guns blazing deconstruction of the genre. It takes all seemingly effective elements and mixes them into disengaged morose look at the null and void that it really is.

BSPH: Anne Tardos – Refrigerator Defrosting (1975 )

"Refrigerator Defrosting" is a found sound composition by french-american artist Anne Tardos. It was recorded in 1975 and released in 1982 on a cassette release titled "Gatherings" along with her other sound experiments. The track is situated on side 1 and lasts for approximately fourteen and a half minutes. "Gatherings" cassette was part of Charlie Morrow's "New Wilderness Audiographics" series - it was recently digitized and re-released - check it out.

"Refrigerator Defrosting" is a minimalist musique concrete piece in a vein of Fluxus conceptualism. Sonically - it is just an elaborate recording of refrigerator defrosting and water dripping and hitting the panels creating resonance coupled with subsequents mutations of sounds. Microphone was placed inside the refrigerator. Its position creates weird ambience - it feels really uncanny although it shouldn't - probably it is just some tape distortions.

Composition sounds barebones but it is extremely hypnotic. Its seeming monotony turns out to be very dynamic. It feels all the same but it is always different. It marvelous how simple it is. While listening to it i was trying to catch probably non-existent barely audible tweaks and tricks - overlay of tracks, slight phasing, panning, flanging or just collaging. But no - it is all happening as it is. It is funny how your mind just don't want to get over it and desperately tries to find some shenenigans.

One of the more bizarre elements of "Refrigerator Defrosting" is its kinky (really) groove. It is basically a prototype for much-much later minimal techno and trance music. The rhythm is steady and supplemented with a variety of elements - along with the basic line there are lots and lots of deviations, variations and fills. It makes the track really dynamic. Due to similar pitch of different water drops it blends together and the resulting sounds are really disorienting. It helps to maintain cautious attention.

Conceptually "Refrigerator Defrosting" represents two things. First it is reappropriation of found sound. Second it is defamiliarization of mundane periodic routine. It is eye-opening in its tricky nature. "Refrigerator Defrosting" is turned into musical composition by sheer force of will of the author. Because why not. By the way - here is how the score looked like:

But whimsical "why not?" doesn't make it a joke. It is not some static ambience - quite the opposite - there is a lot going on and for some carnal reason - it sounds very structured. The tinkling resonance is very textured. Drones and pulses start to grow on it over time. It is fascinating showcase of organic generative music.

It reminds me of very streamlined riff on "Ionisation" by Edgar Varese - very percussive and generative but also exteremely alienated. It is just a water dripping but over time notion of reality goes away and a ripples of frequencies start to sound like bleeps and whoops of some sort of trautorium. You adjust yourself to it - adapt your senses to its shape. And it is wonderful experience.  

I once neglected my fridge for too long and then wanted to extract piece of meat out of it. 

While surfing for information

It is fascinating how simple

BSPH: George Lucas Found Poem

Sometimes all you need to do in order to write a poem is to surf through the wiki wormhole. That's how i've made this poem. However, i can't say it happened accidentally. It wasa a result of methodical pointless wandering. I was frustrated by the lack of personal space on my then-workplace. I felt insecure and watched upon. It was extremely uncomfortable. I was unable to concentrate properly and that irritated me to the point i had moments of helpless stupor. I felt blank and it was horrifying. In such moments i was websurfing. It really helped to keep myself together. 

One day feeling extemely bad - i just opened Wikipedia and clicked on Random Page link. 

Let me reconstruct my journey. It started with a quick look at the titles of Piet Mondrian paintings. Then i've found reference to Piet Esolang and moved to the page Esoteric Programming Languages. R2D2 speak was mentioned there and so i moved to George Lucas page. After a quick scan for something-something i've clicked on "George Lucas Filmography" link and started looking through the debris of charts. Directing and producing credits weren't particularly exciting (although i think his early experimental work deserves more attention) -  but then there were acting credits. I never really thought of George Lucas as an actor. And so i've looked through and there it was - the magic line:

1991 - Hook - No - No - No - Yes - Man kissing woman on a bridge

At first i wanted to do a snapshot but it was a little off to me. It was interesting but nothing more. I wrote it down into my notebook and left a sidenote "George Lucas". This note was buried for a couple of weeks. And then i had several free hours with nothing else to do. And so I was gazing through the notes and stumbled upon "George Lucas" once again. I instantly thought of  Gerogerigegege (because Gerogerigegege is always on my mind) and it struck me - i already made it into a poem:

'

It was one really simple change. But it created a narrative. It transformed the whole thing from curious trivia tidbit into an abstract narrative with sly namedropping in the end. It was based upon fact but it spinned it to the point it performed tornado mayonaise pop-ah-ca-choo in a parallel dimension. Its extreme opaqueness makes it look like an elaborate erasure but it is not - it is simply reappropriated and decomposed chart. 

MFT: Aargh! Bullshitspeak and Bullshit Generators - Headbangers Journey

Bullshit generators are things of beauty. All those empty pointless lines that make no sense on their own coupled together somehow manage to drive into the negative zero-sense zone even further. To the point it is just some noise filler placeholder - way beyond reason. Something that may be called "semantic Eldritch abomination". But, to be honest,  that's too much honor for such trifle.

BSPH: Story of Mine Booty CBVPD

Narcissistic self-appreciation \ deprecation time! This is "Mine Booty CBVPD". It is a silly title. I think it is terrible. But i thought it was just right for the thing at the time. And so it sticked and i was too lazy to come up with anything worthwhile later.

"Mine Booty CBVPD" is a minimalist psychedelic ambient drone "sha-la-la, blah blah boom boom" stomper with long lasting mind-melting bore-inducing effect. It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and then on and on and on and on and so on and so forth - it is really long for no particular reason (except for "serious art is long", of course). It was composed by yours truly in a eight week long fit of inspiration in late January, throughout February and early March of 2015. It was a fun time. Let's call it Bil Sabab Overdrive.

"Mine Booty CBVPD" was born out of spite for Amboy Dukes "The Journey to the center of the mind". I always found this song to be annoying. Many years ago i was having sound editing blast with. I've stretched it out to couple of hours of insignificant lowercase ambience. But it wasn't fulfilling. I wanted to make my own ultimate trip music composition - for real. And then it happened.

"Mine Booty CBVPD" is based around a sample from a song by Captain Beefheart titled "Day Poppy". It was inspired by early minimalist work of Steve Reich - "It's gonna rain" and "Come out" in particular. Its phasing hypnotic repetition and subsequent pareidolia caused by sonic distortion and permutation was major aesthetic influence. Another important source of inspiration was then nascent vaporwave and seapunk. While it is not that apparent in the resulting composition - i was really into it at that time and i desperately wanted to repurpose some old fancy musik in an unexpected overly creative way. However things went in a completely different direction and so all that is left of original vaporwave influence is that overwhelmingly incognious and relentlessly stupid title.

Technically it is very simple composition. In its foundation lies two second sample from an introduction of a song "Veteran's Day Poppy" by Captain Beefheart. The main reason behind the choice was simply because i felt that this little bit was completed wasted in a song. I wanted to reappropriate it and make something worthwhile with it. Before that i've tried to do something with a rhythm track from Velvet Underground "The Gift" but it was too rough and low riding. Instead of creating thumping sonic landscape - it was just a bob-sham gurgling swamp of featureless noise. On the other hand "Veteran's Day Poppy" had clean and crisp sound that was perfect for further experimentation. (Thank you, Frank!)

"Veteran's Day Poppy" sample was stretched out to 30 second bit and then doubled with one more track with sample pitched down. It creates Black Sabbath-y unison pulsing groove completely absent from original bit. It always reminded me of some zigzagging buzzsaw shuffle. Then the whole thing was played on two and then three separate media players. Resulting overlapping and permutations were recorded and analysed. After some tries and errors i've managed to create a chart of permutations and based upon that i've started to combine things.

At first i used randomizers to define the sequence. But it was proven to be not very effective as it made the thing sound like switching channels and definitely not like "journey to the center of the mind". After few unsuccessful tries i switched to manual combining. It was time-consuming but very satisfying. Brick by brick i've made a perfect sequence that truly reflected what i thought was "Journey to the center of the mind". Sadly it is not that apparent in the final composition. It appears to be happening at random. On one hand - it always irritated me. But on the other hand - it is fascinating how natural it sounds. By any means it shouldn't be like that. And yet it is.

I'm really proud of "Mine Booty CBVPD". I think it is one of my best music composition. Sadly it is also one of the last time i really managed to create a serious music composition. But you never know what will happen next.