Last week, I decided to walk a lot. I walked four miles through the city one day, five the next and then topped off the week with a six mile walk from my house on NE 60th and Burnside to NW 24th and Kearney for my daily meeting. On these walks, I felt free and strong and clear and inspired. Music is a massive part of my existence. It is actually something I would die for (in whatever context that could possibly happen and on no certain terms). During one of my walks, I decided to give my will to spiritual forces that be (whatever they may be and again on no certain terms). Between a church and the Tibetan monks, I requested a song from the universe. This is what was given to me. And I think it to be absolutely perfect.
There are many things about this tune that I love and that resonate (well it doesn't hurt that I can really pin down the lyrics as they are repeated over and over much like the monks I chose to spend my afternoon with), but that it was simple and perfect and carried a message I needed right at that moment. I realized I had been walking with a lot of fear (and am continuing to do for some reason). Fear is something that pinned me to addictions and also pinned me to bad people and self-destruction. So why, with all of this progress, do I get the feeling I'm on hot coals again, being stabbed by hot pokers, or feeling imaginary pangs of dread? In the hours of walking and praying and chanting and more walking, there was relief and it lasted for the entirety of this canticle.
What's interesting about life for me, are the constant circular movements the universe creates. We always say "that comes full circle" or other variations meaning to come around, linking things, people, places to each other. This happens for people who "get it" as it requires attention to detail when things happen, why they would happen again, etcetera, and what it all means. Total awareness. Lately, I have found that I have been drawn to electronica duo pop bands. This isn't where the reader laughs at how oddly profound I sound when stating that this has serious spiritual significance, but it really does. It's not my fault I find extreme beauty in tiny things. But this band is new and beautiful to me.
FC Kahuna is a British DJ and electronica music duo consisting of Jon Nowell and Daniel Ormondroyd. They feature different artists for vocal contribution namely Icelandic singer Hafdis Huld, who is a beautiful tiny blonde pixie singing barefoot at the piano for this ballad. Their first mix album Another Fine Mess is a followup album of the Another Late Night compilation series featuring tracks by Blur, The Polyphonic Spree, Green Velvet, Josh Wink, and others. They have remixed for bands including New Order, Felix Da Housecat, Mellow, and The Faint.
Not only do they mix for some pretty kick-ass bands and have an Icelandic frontwoman, but they were also featured in the show Six Feet Under, a show I live and breathe for, and also Riding Giants, a movie I cannot live without.
I realize I have been very drawn to electronica pop duo bands for a while now, really gravitating toward them. Among the most popular in my life right now are Air, Zero 7, Broken Bells, Holy Ghost!, and now FC Kahuna. Speaking of full circle, Zero 7 is also featured in Six Feet Under with their track "Distractions" which is a painful, heartbreaking ballad that I just so happened to be listening to with a friend of mine the other night. Sia, featured vocalist for Zero 7, also features her ballad "Breathe Me" for the season finale. And on that same night, I reconnected with Air, whom I have written about in previous entries, and also with Broken Bells, who everyone knows I obsess over. If it's a James Mercer project, it's my new favorite. If it doesn't get anymore connected than that, I don't know what does.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Black Keys came out with a new song today that is only available digitally, titled "Lonely Boy", Kirsten Dunst stars in R.E.M.'s new video, and Tom Waits, the one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter and master storyteller talks to Mark Richardson in an exclusive online interview about his first proper studio album in seven years, goofing off with Keith Richards, killer robots, and why "the truth is overrated".
Divine energy. It exists and it is all around me. I experienced my first divine intervention the other night with two people very close to me, expressing that somewhere in my spiritual quest for peace, I have attached myself to something oppressive. Maybe so. Maybe I just continue to make bad choices, whether I am "healthy" or not. I live in a suffocated darkness right now. But at the very least, I have synthesized psychadelic rock and electronica loveliness pushing me on through. No more crazy adventures for a while. I'm done with my distractions. (For now).
