Becoming Music
Welcome, sojourner! Thank you for being with me in this moment. I have some news and announcements, and perhaps you’ve already noticed the change in the newsletter name. I’m officially rebranding from “The Prophetex” to “Becoming Music” because I feel it more fully embodies my practice and what I want to write about, while being a bit more legible for folks who might stumble across it.
“Becoming” is a powerful concept, and the more I have meditated on it, the more it feels like the center of everything. Recognizing and allowing yourself to be in a state of perpetual becoming can remove so much of the weight of existence. If you feel powerless and useless and barely able to drag yourself out of bed, you are still in the state of becoming. If you feel energetic and motivated and clear-minded, you are in the state of becoming. Even as you pass the threshold of accomplishment by finishing something difficult, you are still in the process of becoming. Becoming is the state we all live in all of the time, and yet it is easy to forget, because we are focused on the past or the future. Right now, in this moment, we are all becoming.
“Becoming Music” speaks to music as a spiritual practice. I will continue to write more about this, and I’m pretty sure there’s a book in there somewhere, and maybe more. My musical journey over the past 4 decades has brought me to a place where I can clearly feel the purpose and meaning of music in my life as powerfully as any religion or spiritual philosophy. I start each day with contemplative improvisation, touching the sacredness and timelessness of sound to remind me of my true nature and my connection to the source. Moving forward, I’d like to use this space to share more of my practice and insights around the true power of musical as a spiritual endeavor.
Sacred Math
The image at the top of this newsletter is the cover of the newest Qid Love album, Sacred Math, which I am releasing today.
Sacred Math is a 30ish minute guitar meditation over a bed of ambient drone, glitch, and noise. Like most of my work, this is fully improvised from start to finish. The title “sacred math” refers to the underlying process-oriented harmonic exploration that is happening through the progression of xenomes (A17-A1F). I spent the hour previous to this recording building the Bardo room and fully moving into the timelessness of that space, so I feel this recording presents an authentic snapshot of my becomingness in that space.
For the full experience, listen with eyes closed and noise cancelling headphones. Practice deep and mindful listening, paying attention to the space that develops around you and the way you feel in your body.
To celebrate this release and the first Bandcamp Friday of the year (the day they don’t take a cut of sales and 100% goes to the artists), I decided to make all of my current Qid Love releases available at a 75% discount. You can take advantage of this offer from any of my album pages.
Cryptid Soup
I recently converted my Bandcamp site to a label account, and made Cryptid Soup even more formally a label. As part of this, I divided my Qid Love, Echo Root, and Mood481 releases up into separate artist accounts, creating clear distinct eras and hopefully making my catalog of over 150 releases a little easier to parse and digest. I’m also happy to add fellow cryptid Girl Ballz to the roster, so it’s not just me!
Of course, one of the other things that Cryptid Soup has to offer is a Discord server, which is growing and expanding daily. I hope you’ll drop in, share what you’re working on or thinking about, and add to the conversation !
Thanks so much for taking a few minutes out of your day to be with me in this space. If you stumbled across this newsletter and haven’t subscribed yet, now’s your chance!
I LOVE ‘becoming music’ !