[ Hypnos Forum ]

We'll we have not had a cold winter in some years - even frost is not as hard as it used to be.....I worked for a number of years in forestry and everyone said the same, need a good cold winter to kill off the bugs.....

I believe there were a couple of cold ones in the early 60's and 1946-47 was also particularly bad. In North wales in the 46-47 one people were able to walk across fields over the hedges as the snow was so deep, many farm animals died. Food parcels were dropped on cut off villages by the air force - some cars abandoned in december were not picked up till about March. Some snow drifts were 20 feet deep...

This is of course in the southern UK, Scotland and Northern England do get a lot more snow - but I think they were even harder hit in the years I mentioned.

Thats pretty effective - and pretty too

Are you able to stay in the dream state while awake? Then again tying to do this deliberately might not be a good thing to do??

Nearest I ever came to such things was many years ago when I was learning about herbalism (not something I kept at) and using a couple of herbs i took them every night in a drink for 'dreams'....what was a real head trip was that the dreams I had were not whacky or wierd, but as real as the days experiences only with just one or two very slight changes - one of which was that i had not used all the tomatoes in the evening meal that day. To say I could not understand why there were no tomatoes in the fridge is an understatement - I was blaming everyone and no one could understand why I was so adamant. It took me a few days to realise what was happening, by which time I really did not know whether I was coming or going, and it took a couple of days to clear out my system once I stopped.

A friend tried it when I said what happened and she had a very similar experience. It showed me how simple it can be to fry our brains, and in ways that are much more subtle than a bad trip.

Narcolepsy...how does that affect your life? Saw a documentary recently, hard to imagine living with it

Mike's observation is interesting, the sheer level of noise in most people's daily lives masking
any minor tinnitus they may have. I would imagine this is not the case for people with more severe
forms of the condition.

I was wondering whether one of the 'functions' of ambient music is to drown out noise in a different
manner? Replacing unwanted sound - noise, with something you want to hear. I'd like to think that
amongst all those commuters out there, some are lost in their own ambient world in their earphones,
slightly more relaxed amidst the sonic chaos around them.
 

cheers

I was thinking that ambient artists and listeners might listen to music/sound differently and be more aware of the sounds in their own heads and ears?
Pete

Great discussion - a few random thoughts -

The time limits of the media available has always 'limited' the time music has on each 'disc' in the past, but now that is much less of an issue - given the ease of access to DVD writers in home computers perhaps we will see more really long releases (rather than 'this disc has every track by Black sabbath on it'), but apart from joining two Cds worth of my own music that were connected I must admit I have not considered it. I think it would take some time to work out what I would do for that length of time.

Also, remember that the 3 minute pop song was very specifically put together, I can recall hearing years ago about the reasons, but can only recall vaguely it was to do with general attention spans, creating variety to keep people hooked and it's easier to fit it in than an opera or whole symphony....more likely to make a lot of money that way.

As to time and effort for listening etc I think there are a huge variety of pressures and things affecting each of us. I know I grew up with LP's and just twenty or so minutes a side - so on first encounter of an hour long piece I was ecstatic - but I recognise that I too struggle with listening to 76 minutes unless it is part of something I am doing (or for Floating which was partly made that long so it lasted longer than a 'therapy' session and so did not disturb the client by stopping before they had finished). When I was younger I was able to spend hours just listening to music - even with a full time job. But now I have other responsibilities and it is not so easy. I also spend a lot of time listening to my own music, especially during the processes of creation so I do not listen as much to other people's music as I would like to do.

I wonder whether the actual instruments also 'limit' us. I know many guitarists who almost always have a guitar in their hands and are just 'playing' exploring sound and looking for the song that's waiting to arrive with them - but I have to turn everything on, check the connections etc - so it's not just about the time we listen, but how and why.

Oophoi said that the shorter penumbra releases he put out did not sell as well as he thought the quality of the music deserved - and he did get a number of comments/criticisms about there not being 70 minutes music on the discs.

Immersions comments about time and a meditative space have some truth in them, non western cultures do look at time and consciousness differently and it is rare to find people involved in anything like the Dine (or Navajo) Yeibichei ceremonies which can last for four days and nights with very specific (ie not made up as you go along) chants, music and actions. I am not suggesting that people try to take part in the Dine ceremonies but pointing out that they are a very different space to a concert or a festival as they engage every thread of the social/cultural/spiritual/survival weave of the tribe or people. i think that would make for very different listening.

Hey Mike, perhaps the next Hypnos release could be a collection of 3 minute tracks - each of us taking one of our albums and distilling it down to a 3 minute shot

housing, mortgages, finances, many businesses - lots of struggle for people happening here now.

A friend works for Honda and despite BBC saying no lay offs for Honda, the company he works for is a subsidiary and they are having a lot of redundancies.

Some companies are doing well, the cheaper supermarkets and the £1 shops doing very well.

P.S. I think the use of font is as important as the rest of the art and I try to use photoshop to add/morph any font I use so it is more part of the artwork than overlaid on it....

I had all Klaus's albums up to Live and X was one of my favourites, as they all were for different reasons. I liked the front cover, was like being pulled in Klaus's sonic slipstream and flying off......

This link should work

http://www.myspace.com/oophoidrones

cheers
Pete

Just seen the last few posts - and this link works for me and the original one does not - but it looks the same......