The idea that you could listen to music or continuous sound while meditating is common. The practice probably goes back to 'seeing' meditation as a means of relaxation. However, the definitions, practices and aesthetics seem to diverge, mutate and converge, in the world of healing arts. New practitioners provide for new experiences, creating new relations within an emerging landscape which is more cerebral, less material. Over time, it brings us closer to nature, states of tranquility and balance. Artists motivated by this new experience are innovating, while moving away from fixed definitions and customs. One such artist is Aditya Vernekar, creator of Coma Conscious and an electronic music producer. Dwelling into the conscience as a practice, he is exploring and experimenting, pointing towards the undefined: "states between sleep and wakefulness" that we access via music and sound.

It's a bit of a weird story ... starting with a bunch of close friends who decided to dwell into 'Pranic Healing' (for different personal reasons). I'm not sure what changed about them in the beginning, yet I'm sure a lot changed afterwards... but all of us didn't connect as much as we used to earlier. Things that didn't seem possible, seemed otherwise after the experience... thinking patterns and personalities changed drastically and I was making ambient music for meditation, for active listening. Inspired by one of the meditation techniques called 'Twin Hearts Meditation'. During and after the process, we felt like we entered a 'Karmic Playground' of sorts. That uncharted new place kind of feeling... Even our teachers felt so, as we couldn't be sure if our feelings were 'made up' or were 'true' in nature. The experience inspired me to compose an album titled 'Mirrors'. In short, deep changes occurred yet none of it was pre-planned. I still have not told them about this release (outcome) and I think it's time.

What is Coma Conscience?

Traditionally, we believe 'conscience' to be a moral compass of sorts. Something which acts as a guide... tells us if our actions (and choices) are right or wrong. Just or unjust. Now, my argument might sound like a totally diverging viewpoint, than what we are usually accustomed to. Conscience, it seems is something we humans developed along the way, as means to our own safety and survival. But very little is known as to how 'beneficial' this idea really is, to a given individual and the world she or he belongs to. This 'conscience' and 'othering' may not be so beneficial to you or me... What if it's not an integral part of us? Many times it's hostile to you and comes in your way and disapproves of most things. In my opinion, the more one keeps this type of conscious happy, the more miserable one becomes over time... They say that clinical psychopaths have very little to no conscience... we place high values on success, modernity, competition and material gain... Then have we bypassed our conscience? So by 'Coma Conscience', I guess what I'm describing here, is a condition - of the urban woman or man, who evolved into a Cyborg-like being, an entity of industrial functions. Morally corrupt,  self-serving, seems to be enjoying life, but at the same time is haunted, conflicted, with the conscience faltering in their minds'. That state is a strange epiphany of sorts!



Correlating the music, the Handpan and a 'Sound Bath'

The term "Sound Bath' is a catch-phrase, a marketing term coined for 'immersive active listening experiences'. With sound as a central element, what we experience while lying down with eyes closed. Off late, the practice has become globally popular and has rapidly transformed... but it goes back to the mid 1990s. Used on a scale involving many people, by the well known ambient music composer Robert Rich in his 'Sleep Concerts'. He called it "dreamcatching" And now we have a growing number of musicians, including electronic music composers, curating "Sound Baths'' using singing bowls, gongs, flutes, bells and chimes, ambient music, resonance and frequency etc to induce calm, steady and even meditative states. Also delving into 'limbonic states' between sleep and wakefulness. Neurologically speaking, new spaces within our mind. The underlying objective is to reduce anxiety and restlessness, and provide mentally and physically secure places, of calm and peace.

In this aspect the 'Handpan' is an amazing magical instrument. The design (materiality and geometry) creates a resonance unlike any other instrument.  There is a 'shamanic' quality to its tonal expanse. Longtime acquainted with Vikram Shastri, founder and maker of 'Mantra Handpans' provided the inspiration, the way forward. Vikram Shastri is an activist and music composer and his Eco-conscious assembly of Handpans, not using materials which involve cruelty, while crafting the instrument in a very durable and affordable sense. Both of us, motivated by a common vision, experiences which de-stress, help us unwind, transcend and bring people together. Which then would correspond to a self-sustaining culture perhaps... something we create for us and for the future generation(s).

Future cosmology, maps and plans?

Well, being an Aquarian, I disappeared and dissociated from the live music scene for a while. Worked on my health, formulating new ideas and return to making more music. With a new project avatar 'A-Pax', I hope to release music in multiple genres. For different spaces and audiences. As of now everything from deep house to dub techno to psybient to progressive and even trip-hop and post-rock is seeping into my audible universe... What's been lacking for me is the space to blend the emotions, textures and reach intense dynamics on my audio canvas. The ambient and healing side of music is also a new horizon for me, as I mentioned with handpan collaboration, an emotional and celebral new path. That said, I have 8 solid releases so far with Coma, a good enough foundation and material for intimate live gigs...

Long story short? The slides above speak about the "draconian nature" of current social-media. The internet is one of the biggest contributors of global pollution and emissions. Emerging opinions, academic research and personal experience, together makes the central argument. That current forms of social media are increasingly anti-democratic -  the emerging norm is of mediocrity (cult worship, new closed societies and misinformation) and that public expression will be increasingly censored on the biggest social-media platforms, in the emerging future.

Can you tell if a piece of music was composed by a machine or human being? Can we agree as to what makes music feel human? Is speech (voice, syntax, rhyme, body, emotions) exclusive to humans? Can patterns regenerate? Can machine intelligence supersede human presence? These questions are a bit useless when we see scientists, artists and programmers embrace Artificial Intelligent (AI), as a convergence of experiences and knowledge. Stepping stones of a new direction? Emerging electronic music, heading back to it's experimental nature, colored by data, maths, fiction, theories and all that is AI... and yes the artist as well!

One such band is the visionary Mouse on Mars (MoM), a Berlin based duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma with collaborator/percussionist Dodo NKishi. MoM has been at the avant-garde of German electronic music, almost as a "signature of joyful experimentation". Given a certain 'German privilege' (tech, institutions, curators etc) ensures continuous innovation and experimentation, Toma and Werner as producers have explored deep and hard, to make sure each MoM album sounds strikingly modern. And so is the case with the new album titled AAI (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence). MoM's 18th album is a collaboration, with programmers, academics and graphic interpreters. The 'über alles' of AI and electronic music are calling the album as a "quantum leap further". The new album by MoM is an exciting 'event' for us, to discuss the emerging paths of composition, collaboration and control, based on AI.

Lead by Prof Louis Chude-Sokei and Dodo NKishi (drummer and percussionist), a group of software programmers explored AI, as a narrative and compositional tool. Most of them inspired by science-fiction. Text which often dwells into existential themes however framed within a technologically superior future. Artwork by Casey Reas, pioneer of computer graphics language processing, an emerging example of code based art. Infinitesimal to be precise!

Fans and fanatics consider Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma, to be scientist (wizards) of synthesis and generative electronica. Working with AI tech-collective Birds on Mars and former Soundcloud programmers Rany Keddo and Derek T, lead to the creation of 'bespoke software'. A program capable of modelling speech by learning human input. A new virtual singer? "Allowing Toma and Werner to control parameters like speed, body and even mood, thereby creating a kind of speech instrument that could be manipulated like a synthesizer". The legacy of speech to synthesis, voice modelling, robotization, sampling and all such endless manipulation is decades in the making, going back to the 1960s (Delia Derbishire, Ray Kurzweil, Elaine Radigue, Atom™ etc). In 2022, we are eager to know more about new AI based tools. More importantly, what they may deliver beyond what has already been achieved. Take Emmi (2005) for example, coded by Prof. David Cope which generated Bach like etudes, as sheet music and midi, for classical musicians.

Anarchic Artificial Intelligence as a record, is clearly turbulent and perhaps a potent example of things to come. Divergent and peculiar, staged yet spontaneous, normal (linear) sequencers and popular DAWs do not lead to this sort of ebb and flow. This sort of "differential regenerative music". The multitude of machine generated voices layered across the album, makes it more accessible to people. The singers are artificial and political, poetic yet incoherent, dark and even slightly emotive. However placed within limits, as heard earlier in various types of electronic music. Long time in the making, computation tools have impacted our creativity since the early 1970s. Consequently influencing (deeply) how we think about music, as means to collaborate with and also bear new expectations based on new output. MoM's new album is carrying that legacy forward, facing the future, stoking a decent amount of "anarcho-hope" along the way. Thrill Jockey as a progressive label too boost!

 
From the sleeve notes of AAI. "Chude-Sokei’s text, as machine learning advances, robots begin to develop language, conscience, deliver with empathy - also acquire “anarchic” and unpredictable qualities...". Outside the realms of experimental electronic music, that vision does not concur with reality, especially when we see (and feel) the sharp rise of divisive algorithms, digital censorship, AI used by social media, by the police and surveillance states. Does AI serve people? Not so sure as we investigate further. Faith in current forms of AI is clearly detrimental, when it comes to history, identity, ethnicity and political beliefs. But this was about music right? As a new collaborator, AI is definitely an exciting prospect, proliferating rapidly, similar to earlier waves of technology that impacted the previous generations (culture, production, labor, industry etc). The release note of AAI posits that "we must embrace AI and technology as a collaborator to break out of our current cultural and moral stagnation, and to ensure our survival as a species".

At an artistic level one finds inspiration (and hope for regeneration) when composers and music producers speak with such resonance and meaning. At an individual level, this insurgent technology will surely impact the way we imagine music. However this technology, like most innovation and use, is clearly dependent on the given privilege (nation, race, access etc).

AI based music sounds promising, however yet to arrive as a game-changer. AI will impact the incoming generation of music producers, in ways which will be audible in the music. About popular electronic music of today, 3 decades in the making, has arguably gone past it's apex. Every proto-culture follows a meteoric rise and consequent flattening out. Perhaps in the near future, electronic music itself will be 'more intelligent' - however artificial or regenerative. Sounds yet unheard coming from systems yet to be imagined. The first steps, the groundwork towards that transformation, is surely happening now. Mouse on Mars has yet again put out a bold and meticulous sound, a statement, divergent and exciting, far from the mainstream. MoM is "engineering systems" for future hits!

Earlier this year, FEMWAV launched a new program, based on distributed mentorship, called Organic Support Program (OSP). The objective is to provide one-to-one mentorship which is free of cost. OSP is for emerging female and queer musicians (based in India) who need help (skills) that directly impact music production and more importantly the "ability to navigate the music industry". Given that music education and training in India is clearly expensive, always centered inside big cities - OSP is an intervention to such limitations of finance and distance. With OSP, FEMWAV is offering a way for "education without economic constrains". We asked FEMWAV a few questions about OSP and the need for this new type of mentorship?

What is OSP?
A network of music professionals are contributing 10 hours each over 6 months – to empower a new artist (you!). Hands-on knowledge, skills and insights. Building blocks necessary for a stable dynamic career. Individually 10 hours is less than 1% of our annual working time. Yet when we add up and value, it’s simply powerful and pragmatic know-how!  Check the diagram below to figure the timeline and growth...

Why? Remember when you were a newbie, looking around for help,for guidance and gigs? How to? Where to? Just like that, today’s emerging female and NB talent merits the guidance, solidarity and love. FEMWAV is addressing the problem with a new ‘organic’ solution! Education independent of economics. Existing academies and music schools in India do not encourage nor allow free exchange of knowledge and skills. Our research shows that a majority of the courses offered in these schools, are insufficient and sometimes misleading - especially for new artists with limited resources (money). Music schools and academies in India as a culture, do not teach students how to 'navigate' the industry. The missing component, to make an artist independent and not just professional.

For Who? In India, thousands and thousands of women (at least) have no access to professional guidance, production skills, PR, mentorship and funding – all of which are needed to manifest a successful career in music. Institutions, schools and ‘big artists’ do not address this principle point of inequality. Hence to create an intervention, we opted for a new strategy. As any experiment, we are starting the program at a small scale, to observe the primary impact. The idea is to amplify organically, when more and more mentees can participant at the same time! Check the 8 modules (worth 10 hours each) that we are offering.

Calling it organic kinship?
A good mentorship program should create new kinship on both sides (the mentor and the mentee). This connection (and motivation) should be free of economic exchange. The deal is simple. OSP modules (worth 10 hours each) are conducted over a 6 month interim period. ‘Distributed Mentorship’ works online and in-person. Each module adds new skills, knowledge and insight for the aspiring talent. OSP is based on one mentor and one mentee exchange model. Both agree to enter a mentoring relationship to help the mentee develop, improve and achieve her goal. OSP is self-regulatory. Which means that FEMWAV will not be monitoring every stage. We trust both sides to excel! Check the basic guidelines created to maximize your participation, ensure growth and safety.

OSP Introduction and details
Program is active now!

 

A playlist to disconnect from routine based activity. Sound as a medium - a passage over time - to travel inwards, with your ears, mind and body (not just eyes). Disconnect from structures in order to connect with the androgynous (no words), amorphous (temporal) and ambient? Close your eyes if be, and begin an imaginary journey. Where and how far do you wander? Perhaps you can go way further...

1. Takashi Kokubo (小久保隆)
2. Hiroshi Yoshimura 'Green' MV2
3. Tomoyuki Asakawa Bioçic - Aqua バイオシッ
4. Max Richter Passage Piano Edit MV3
5. Elaine Radigue 'Occam Ocean'
6. William Basinsky - Disintergration Loops + Water Music II
7. Aphex Twin 'Stone in Focus' Original Ver
8. Hang Drum by Vibhas Rahul + Live Sampling

https://www.mixcloud.com/audio_pervert/ambient-to-disconnect/
duration - 42 minutes

"Kinship"
Definition : A "system of social organization based on blood based family ties..." (Encyclopaedia Britannica). That organization also exists within nature, culture, language, arts and interpersonal relationships. Numerous types of kinship, extended, temporal, living or dead.

Professor Emerita, eco-feminist and writer Donna J. Haraway has progressively amplified the concept of kinship, as a direction, leading us out of the Anthropocene (our current age). The missing kinship we need, to face the perilous state of the living planet. She’s been at it for decades now! Her landmark 1985 “A Cyborg Manifesto” was a bit of an "earthquake" within prevailing feminist theory. In 2003, "The Companion Species Manifesto" examined our innate connection to dogs, as well as other non-human “critters” (a favorite Haraway word). By early 2000, Donna Haraway was an emerging figure in animal studies, ecology and feminism. Her background as a scientist and cultural scholar, extended her influence beyond academia, inspiring a generation of artists, writers and new scientists. Haraway is insisting, with brilliant insight, backed by scientific power, that our relationship with nature has fundamentally gone wrong. And that broken status is getting worse, and is missing 'kinship'. Now think of "kin” and “kind” - etymologically they’re closely related. To be kind is to be kin, but kin is not kind. "Kin is often quite the opposite of kind. Not necessarily be biologically related but in some consequential way belong in the same category, group, species etc with positive and negative consequences..." says Haraway.

Kinship is one of the most important organizing components of society. Kinship has been part of our evolution, some argue even before the dawn of Homo Sapiens. What is referred as social, is an invisible but universal institution that ties individuals and groups together. Hosting relationships of layered complexities amongst us all. Haraway points out that some of these institutions, over millennia have failed to progress and hence elicit change. With a sense of emergency she explains "making kin seems to me, is most in need in a culture that rips us apart from each other, in a world that already hosts almost 8 billion human beings, with very unequal and unjust patterns of suffering and well-being. By kin I mean those who have an enduring mutual, obligatory, non-optional, you-can’t-just-cast-that-away-when-it-gets-inconvenient, types of 'relatedness that carries consequences'... as we relate to our children and they relate to us.. I have a cousin, the cousin has me; I have a dog, a dog has me; i have the earth and the earth has me..."

In her book Staying With The Trouble (2017), Donna Haraway insists on "stirring up" and "confronting troubled times". She compels us to feel the indigenous people's kinship to natural systems (rivers, mountains, forests etc). She describes how the Anthropocene has rapidly run off the rails. "We live in such mixed up times... made of so much unnecessarily killing... the ongoing mass extinction and severely impoverished ecosystems... society constantly fluctuating between anxiety, pain, speculation and momentary joy". Haraway insists that by making new kin, new relationships, "new trouble" and "clearing away past myths", we stand a chance to make way for a future, which will not be based on "salvation, magic or technological progress". She eschews, gradually divesting from the current epoch (the Anthropocene), moving into what she conceptualizes as the "Chthulucene". The book aptly and fully describes a future landscape of unforeseen bio-mutation, not so far away, where the human and non-human are inextricably linked in "tentacular" forms and practices. "I imagine those replete with tentacles, feelers, digits, cords, whip-tales, spider legs and unruly hair... Multi-species with the ability to share ecosystems in harmony.. very different from the sky gazing Homo Sapiens 10,000 years ago...". Oh! sounds like another Hollywood 'alien mutation' meets 70s Sci-Fi? Actually far from it.

Influenced by the flowering of feminist science fiction of the ’70s and 80s, Haraway cites books which could be seen as radical, dark and beautiful, like Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, Joanna Russ’s The Female Man, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren, and the Tales of Nevèrÿon to name a few. Haraway went on to create her "little skein of fibers based on science fiction, like 'string figures, speculative fabulation, science fact, speculative feminism, and even so far". However Haraway is not merely amplifying nostalgia and science fiction. While on one hand she retains a clear kinship with the above writers, yet on the other hand she presents new horizons, based on emerging science and ecology, new ways of thinking to be precise. Her implications of kin versus family are vast. Revised, of kinship which encompasses all non-human relations.

That kinship which gradually removes the Homo Sapien from it's dominant position. She slams at the old farcical myths and idiotic notions of glory that we have held on for centuries. Haraway unboxes her ideas, with the objective to improve our relationship with the planet, at micro and macro levels. Haraway is no moralist. She is replacing 'human relations' with 'kin' which arguably brings about a transformation. A revolution of our hierarchies and priorities. The very definition of what amounts to a family and why kinship goes way beyond blood, race and language relationships. Why not care as much about a Mudskipper as you do about your niece or a Blue Whale or a Panda? Sounds too far out?! Perhaps we are struck down by our own limitations, unable to re-imagine and re-act.

Haraway's argument and imagination is linked to the evolution of bio-science - made of ecology, genetics, marine biology, medicine, stem-cell research etc. For about forty years now, Haraway has connected analysis and activism. Staying With The Trouble (2017) transcends disciplinary boundaries. Traversing biology, science studies, art history and philosophy with fiction, political activism and new Etymologies. She insists that we learn to tell new stories, that strengthen ecological response-ability and individual resilience. She warns with duress, that a world characterized by ongoing environmental irresponsibility and irrevocable faith in technology, is both "appallingly murderous and leading us even closer to ecocide...". 

Haraway questions our food and agriculture. The system of mono-cropping has yielded an epic disaster in slow motion. From America to China to Chile to India, the impact of modern agriculture resonates with Haraway's conclusion. "When you take the complex biodiversity of a given region, and you not only radically simplify its ecology, but you also rapidly reduce the kinds of organisms, flora and fauna that live there. Then, you displace the labor force that’s already there and import a new labor force, using various forms of force, contract, even violence and indentured servitude. You bring in new crops, seeds, fertilizers, chemicals and irrigation systems, that promise higher and higher yields, proffered by the global markets and economics... the state and private corporations also bring in a labor force that literally can’t run away... At the same time, we begin to notice how bankrupt the ecosystems have become.. And you call all that “agriculture”? questions Haraway in a recent interview.

Kinship is vital to the well being of a person and a community. Because different societies define kinship differently, they also set varied rules governing kinship. Given certain rules impose limitations, setting boundaries, fostering myths. Many times such kinship is detrimental, divisive to the way we connect (and view) others. 'Don't talk to strangers'! The "non-kin" such as other species, other races, languages, customs and cultures. Wild animals are not how the dominant culture frames them. Countless doltish animated 'Hakuna Matata' movies or lavish hi-definition documentaries enable such false narratives and myths to perpetuate. The loss is ours however, and not of the "critters". Haraway laments how generations of children have been force fed such detrimental narratives, while she opines on the need to challenge (and divest) such traditional forms of kinship.

At the heart of Donna Haraway's vision is a marriage of science, activism and art. A regenerative state between human beings and nature. In her numerous lectures and presentations, we begin to understand some of the practices for becoming "more worldly and less clan type". Especially in a time of unprecedented environmental destruction, mass extinction and exodus, ongoing war and a chaotic overloaded civilization. When asked if she is speculating a better future in the face of collapse denial? She replies "No! For one thing, I think that’s cheap... that I can just go on enjoying myself or suffer chronically in despair? Or join a closed group or embrace new green myths. It’s lazy. It's a dead end of sorts... I’m neither optimistic nor pessimistic. Those are but extremes...The book I wrote was called Staying with the Trouble on purpose, and yes I am against techno-optimism..."

How did cows, goats, cats and rats reach Tasmania? Did the Brown Grasshopper fly all the way from Botswana to Brazil? How did alien weed occupy the old forests? How did mosquitos evolve and adapt on slave ships? How did African Bullfrogs multiply in Australia? Why is Cannabis Indica found allover the world? Organisms and colonization. Invasion and transformation. The native and the foreign. The human and the feral. The host and the parasite. We are skipping above the Anthropocene space-time. The earth is revealing a multidimensional odyssey. Nature inspires us to tell stories, set new narratives, that are "simultaneously about human beings and also about the natural world". Why? Perhaps to "provoke wonder in the midst of dread". Welcome to the Feral Atlas!

The Feral Atlas is an interdisciplinary multimedia project lead by Anna Tsing along with Jennifer Deger, Alder Saxena and Feifei Zhou. More than 60 scientists, anthropologists, artists, poets, graphic designers and map makers have contributed to it's research and design. Backed by the University of Arhaus, University of California, The Danish Research Foundation and published by Stanford University Press, the Feral Atlas is "playful, political, and insistently attuned to more-than-human histories". Groundbreaking and beautifully illustrated, the digital atlas is a convergence of science, anthropology, art and politics. 'Feral' in this context, talks about the ways that living beings, as well as non-living beings, react to the kinds of infrastructural projects humans come up with. The infrastructural impact of ships, airplanes, trains, cars, farms, highways, pipelines, dams, cities, mines, nuclear power-plants, oil drills, factories, ports etc etc. Addressing that "planetary odyssey" is missing within most economic policies, conventions of development, lifestyle and environmental action.

Anna Tsing explains the compelling need to create new histories and narratives, in order to view the "non-human" in ways not achieved before - not by myth or mainstream science. "There are particular ways of storytelling about humans, and then there are wholly different ways of storytelling about plants and animals, or rocks and climate... We don't know how to mix these up very well. They have different genres, different expectations, and so most of the time we tell stories about humans as if we humans lived in a vacuum. And, in the same way, when we tell stories about plants and animals, or rocks and climate, it's as if they lived without humans. So somehow, the challenge of the Anthropocene is to figure out how to bring these ways of understanding the world together...[springer.com]". The transformation of land, rivers, mountains, waterways and jungles, also coincides with the displacement of millions of species. The great acceleration of human systems leading up to the ongoing mass extinction. The ruins of past empires leading up to the giant wheels of our civilization, threatened by it's own maddening construct and size. The past 500 years contain several 'detonator landscapes' - singular events in history, often unfolding with "terrible consequences".

Invasion, Empire, Capital and Acceleration (Detonator Landscapes)
What are Detonator Landscapes? Singular man-made events which tremendously impacted the world. In ways unforeseen, cascading over time, distance and ecosystems. Take some of the loudest examples of Detonator Landscapes, as pointed out by Anna Tsing in a recent interview. Spanish ships lead by Columbus reach the 'New World' (1492). The First Industrial Revolution (1770). Hiroshima Nagasaki A-Bomb (1945). Advent of Globalization (1982). Not just points on a timeline, these historic events (triggers) lead to multiple changes (detonators) rapidly destroying ecosystems and messing up the overall natural order. Our history of conquest and it's consequences. Anna Tsings encapsulates this continuum as "world making and world destruction" happening at the same time, again and again. According to Tsing, the Corona virus pandemic is not a Landscape Detonator. She, like many scientists insists that the virus was a consequence of existing factors. The rapid industrialization of China, the toxic meat processing industries within, the non-human actors (pigs, bats, bacteria etc) and rapid global transport - binding together as feedback loops, from which the last pandemic emerged. A fatal consequence and not an accident, as we were made to believe.

The Feral Atlas depicts multiple temporalities and the visually rich interface shows how the world changed, over centuries, due to Invasion, Empire, Capital and Acceleration. Unforeseen and irreversible changes, leading up to our current geologic age, the Anthropocene. To wrap, Anna Tsing insists on extending our knowledge and kinship with the world around us, "in order to see and feel, both non-human and human histories, that get entangled with each other all the time... the Feral Atlas is a teaching tool, a storytelling device, unraveling our past and present, for the emerging generation..."

https://feralatlas.org/

"I was born and brought up in Bhopal.. academically a Policy Maker, Communication Designer, and Filmmaker.. studied at NIT Bhopal and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. For the past 6 years, I have been working as an indie audio-visual composer, academic and writer.. dwelling in film, animation, space design, soundscape ecology and communication design."

A Bhaskar Rao, a.k.a Mustard Lake, is an interdisciplinary artist making music, conceptually based around nature and it's limitless manifestations. Bhaskar has recently released an album titled 'Particles of A Cloud" featuring five compositions. Described by the artist as "being present and being a part of the soundscape being generated, physically." Bhaskar wants to "translate the experience of ‘nature’... rhythm of the natural world through a human perspective... accepting the in-comprehensible, as a legit experience in itself". There are very few artists in India who align their creativity around nature and it's evident breakdown (climate change, global warming, loss of habitat etc). Can music help us create kinship with nature? We feel that it's pertinent to amplify the effort of any such artist, which in consequence encourages other artists, especially from the generation facing the incoming future.

Tell us about your process? How you fulfilled the concept?
A while back I realized that listening in itself is an integral part of composing. That lead me to emulate, experiment, with the limitless expanse of natural and human-made soundscapes. I have always been drawn towards the spatial and tactile aspects of sound. I am particularly interested in making compositions to be heard in 'different spaces'. My production also has been critical, in terms of arriving at the ambient form. Field recordings, acoustic instruments, analog synths and other esoteric instruments form the act of exploration. Is how my sound involves being present and being a part of the soundscape, physically. The ambient form also gives me the freedom to manipulate. To experiment with the legibility. The making of meaning. Call it structure.

For 'Particles Of A Cloud', the first step was listening to Bir, the place itself. Listening to Dhauladhar mountain ranges, the surrounding ecosystem, the people, their lives and livelihoods. Countless elements of nature that exist within the landscape. I wrote about the experience of listening and observing. Poems, phrases, words... To me, writing, just like sound, is a slowed down process. The synthesis of text and sound is something I find exciting. Articulating the compositions. A flux of temporal elements.. Simultaneously I made a lot of field recordings. In order to get thematic flow, the sonic palette eventually is a mix of the above processes, spaces, instruments and aesthetics. A brief audio visual narrative for you at - https://buddhijeev.in/particles-of-a-cloud

Chances are that you shop on Amazon. But let's get to that a bit later..


Remember that mid 60s superhit song 'It's a man's world' by James Brown (godfather of soul)? The ballad acquired a new life and a whole new devious meaning in 2022. Amazon, the world's biggest retailer and "customer-centric company" commissioned the tune for it's global campaign starring Indian working class women. Indian ladies (not skinny models) riding scooties across the urban landscape, whizzing past idle gawking men, making Amazon deliveries with pride and confidence. The montage is replete with the typical 'Indian male gaze' brushed aside by the delivery ladies, beaming with a sense of achievement and empowerment. The advert ends with the Amazon logo and the chorus "This is a man's world... But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl..." The round up message ‘SheIsAmazon’. Yea Right! What is actually amazing, is the merger of gangster capitalism, a deceitful ballad composed long back by a wife bashing pop-icon and labor exploitation at a global scale. Bravo corporate fairy tales!  

"You’re being tracked by a computer the entire time you’re there... You don’t get reported or written up by managers. You get written up by an algorithm. Happens many times a month with various workers” said Geller (ex employee at Amazon warehouse UK). She goes on to add,“You’re aware there is an algorithm keeping track of you, making sure you keep going as fast as you can, because if there is too much time lapsed between items, the computer will register that, and most probably will write you up, and you will get fired. The firing process can take less than 1 hour sometimes...” 'SheIsAmazon', the riding Indian ladies, James Brown's song are all part of a cleverly crafted mantra, far from the emerging reality, which tells us that it's not a man's world nor by any means a woman's. So who's is it? Lets join the dots.

The Final Panopticon!
It's no secret that Amazon's colossal growth and domination corresponds to abuse of workers, preposterous tax evasion and rampant unfair market practices. The rapid and near complete buy out of markets in countries like USA, UK, Germany, Japan closely followed by India, Israel, Mexico, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria and Brazil makes Amazon #1 online retailer. Amazon Prime Day is upon us, a 48-hour period in which to scoop great deals. Be it the latest Samsung Galaxy or Unisex Crocs or Sex Dolls (with basic AI) or what-desired-product-have-you. But all us 'best deal hunters' seldom comprehend, less care about what goes on inside Amazon warehouses dotted around the world. A recent international petition by more than 40 social justice organizations begins to unravel the extent of labor abuses orchestrated by Amazon's management, 24/7. Amazon’s panopticon-style surveillance is a "nightmare of labor rights as well as civil liberties" states the ACLU in a recent article. 

The Panopticon is a surveillance system, initially installed inside jails across England (during the 18th century). Rapidly adopted the world over, the design and infrastructure allowed all prisoners of an institution to be observed by a single security guard, without the inmates being able to tell whether they are being watched. Panopticon would eventually be applied across public spaces, factories, banks, even hospitals, mental asylums, sports arenas etc etc. Today, at an Amazon warehouse there are few security guards and the Panopticon is governed by Artificial Intelligence. Big brother is indeed watching! By virtue Amazon warehouses are like jails or military garrisons where any deviation or failure to complete tasks (per minute), merits punishment, demotion and even expulsion. "Lead by example" they tell us. Yet we read about people behaving like robots and not the other way around.

Here is a list of some of the abuses faced by Amazon workers, in different parts of the world - compiled by For The People, as part of a lawsuit. Warehouse employees based in the US, UK, Germany, Spain and France described a mandatory 60-hour work week during the holiday season (Christmas), which led to frequent ambulance calls for injured or exhausted coworkers. Several warehouse workers were forced to do their jobs in sub-zero temperatures. Workers faced repercussions for taking bathroom breaks and falling short on quotas. A few hundred workers also pee in plastic pouches (offered by Amazon's management) which they dispose off at the end of their schedule. Still not pissed off?! Employees were expected to scan a new item every 11 seconds or risk getting fired. A majority of workers who complain of headache, nausea or fatigue during work hours are most often prescribed Aspirin. Women who have sued Amazon for pregnancy discrimination. The firing of a warehouse worker as retaliation when he ranted online, exposing the company’s “robot” like treatment of its workers. A recent Guardian article reveals that schoolchildren in China work nights to produce Amazon Alexa Devices. These schoolchildren aged 18-14, based in mainland China are listed as "interns" and not as contract based workers. Amazon's P.R. guarantees "a zero tolerance policy" towards child labor practices and products.

Amazon's management has placed 26 concurrent algorithms to monitor, record and evaluate the performance and movement of all it's workers, be it via direct surveillance or mapping every working hour. Sarah Schnierer (ex white collar employee) pointed out in her post, "an unrelenting pace and cutthroat environment that doesn’t take into account personal obligations of employees, especially all through the pandemic". Less we forget to mention, that the mega-corporation also offers free (capsule sized) courses on mindfulness, breathing, physical training and general ways of reducing stress. "Lead by example" they tell us? Yes, but lets see if Jeffrey Preston Bezos can pee in a plastic pouch under harsh lights and the ever watchful eye of corporate surveillance! A short trip to space with select groupies is more likely.

The godfather, wife beater and super bad!
This is a man's world (repeat)... man's world... But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl..." Every time we hear those lyrics and the wailing voice of James Brown, the irony begins to rear it's ugly head. It’s no secret that James Brown eventually collapsed into his dark violent side. Last Summer's biopic 'Get On Up' left out many of the darker, uncomfortable and violent incidents that Brown instituted or participated in. Call it sanitized entertainment which enables cult worship (it's an industry). However Brown's tryst with violence, alcohol and guns would start early in the 1960s. In 1963, at a local concert in Georgia, Brown tried to shoot his musical rival Joe Tex. The incident led to seven people being shot. Luckily no one died. The trail of violence would turn domestic, along with his dwindling fame in the early 1980s. His daughter Yamma Brown recalls the surge of violence in her biography titled Cold Sweat. "I swear that during those fights, I could feel the whole house shake with my father’s crazy rage. He would be very drunk. Whenever he’d start, my sister Deanna and I would run for cover, wherever we could..." recalls Yamma Brown in an interview with The Vulture. 

Brown's substance addiction, love for guns and capacity for alcohol reached an apex of sorts in 1988. Run-ins with the law during the summer of 88 landed him on probation. Further acts of unabated violence lead to criminal charges, including assault and battery with intent to kill. Between mid 80s to early 90s James Brown was apprehended by the police and let out on bail at least 6 times. The number of assaults by James Brown on Deidre Jenkins (2nd wife) and Adrienne Rodriguez (3rd wife) remains unclear. In her book Yamma recalls witnessing her father beating her mother Deidre, out in front of the house, when she was 5 years old. Yamma went on to experience such violent episodes, all the way till her early teens. "I'd been programmed to accept abuse as part of life..." Yamma recounts in 2018, almost 12 years after the death of the godfather of soul. "I got soul and I'm super bad!"

Shut The F**K Up & Sell!
The US federal safety test found more than 4000 products on Amazon deemed unsafe, banned or containing harmful elements. The list includes expired baby food, toxic dog chewers and fake Karaoke microphones. The list also included products mislabeled, fake pain relievers, fake pregnancy tests, dangerous children's toys, defective diving gear, helmets, oxygen cylinders, welding equipment etc etc. A recent article by NPR speaks of more than 10 varieties of Fentanyl, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Morphine (produced in China) shipped allover the world and especially to the US via Amazon networks. In recent years, with increasing frequency Amazon has banned thousands of harmful products and fake brands from their listings. However that is cosmetic at best. One can sell and ship thousands of products (including gun parts and hazardous chemicals) on Amazon. Such products have been on sold on Amazon for years. Some of them even designated “Amazon’s Choice” (which means that the product was indeed an Amazon delivery)

While championing women's rights, empowerment, pride march, inclusivity and mindfulness, Amazon also shipped more than 1.3 million sex dolls between 2020-2022. On Amazon, millions of cheap trashy plastic toys are marked as "Educational (Creative Thinking)". Despite many ongoing lawsuits, Amazon continues to host more than 12000 types of skincare and beauty products which contain hazardous elements such as mercury, lead acetate, zinc oxide etc. Amazon doesn’t take legal responsibility for unsafe or fake products because "it’s technically not the one selling it. Any disputes have to be taken up with the third-party seller". Good luck dealing with Jelly Wong & Co. from Guangdong! When shopping online it’s common to find amazon.co.uk dominating your search results. A different domain might show up if your searching from Chile or India or Fiji. Amazon offers a plethora of services to other businesses. Hence chances are, that you will end up using a service that is ultimately provided or owned by Amazon.

The smallest retailers suffer the most in terms of failure to deliver on time. Even as this figure is just 10% of all Amazon based deliveries, the loss is born by the individual (in some country) and not by Amazon (in almost every country). While Amazon's algorithms and extended web services promise higher visibility and point of purchase, there is little doubt about who the real winner is every time. The last ten years, Amazon has gained most of its ability to bully and exploit independent companies from its cross-business integration. As a result, in the online market, where producers and consumers could expect fair competition and dynamics, now have to abide by Amazon's business ethics (or the complete lack of it). Amazon then becomes the single arbitrator of prices. Doesn't matter if it's a Dual Pencil Sharpener (0.85$) or a Russian Sable Fur Coat ($44,350) or a 'Silver Morgan' Dollar ($995,000).

The cost for next-day (or next-hour) shipping, equates to massive emissions of CO2 per day, per week, per month and so on. Amazon like many of the biggest polluters, has duly pledged, the transition towards 'clean energy' as expected. Well 50% by 2030. We know well that all such "renewal green and clean energy" is dependent on fossil fuels, mining, devastation of big habitable zones. Shipping trash across the world is killing the living planet. Most of the times, we are clueless about the mind-numbing game of "toss, catch and deliver" that is being orchestrated by the algorithms, enacted by thousands of workers, involving an armada of ships, planes, trucks, vans, cars and motorcycles, till that brown parcel reaches our doorstep and we smile! Ever think of your Amazon purchase as a 'carbon bomb' if you prefer?

For Amazon, in essence labor is disposable and growth endless. We are still a good decade away from functional robots replacing the downtrodden terminal workers. However that is not just the case with Amazon. Such as been the trajectory of our industrial civilization for almost 200 years now. Hear the Indian lady Swati Rustagi, Director of International Markets at Amazon, shows tacit obedience to the mantra as she declares "have a mindset of shooting for the moon... Setting audacious goals is crucial at Amazon and core to who we are." This is what makes Amazon a brilliant and grotesque mega brand at the same time. It's sheer outreach and propensity to eat up everything that still exists outside it's global dragnet. Meanwhile, the 'SheIsAmazon' campaign featuring Indian working class women is not being aired on Indian mass media, instead we are viewing it on mainstream channels in Germany, Spain, Denmark, Holland, UK and France. It's easy to guess why? Because such heartwarming, exotic yet false narratives work wonders in countries far from India, in societies way more affluent and equally gullible.

At the end of 2020, Jeff Bezos (richest man on earth) made a hasty visit to India, promising $1 billion as future investment but was booed by thousands of angry traders, craftsmen and suppliers and even the Prime Minister refused to give him audience. To understand this ugly specter, earlier Jeff Bezos had donated $100million to the Obama Foundation. The vicious giants of late capitalism, love to throw money around while ruining lives, economies and yes the planet too!

As for facts, to validate the extent of Amazon's labor abuse, unfair trade practices and tax evasions, there's endless evidence. Add thousands of lawsuits aimed at the company from around the world. Yet from a moral standpoint it seems nearly impossible to convince well meaning people, like you, that Amazon is a deplorable and vicious monopoly, based on abuse and power, eventually sustained by our collective greed. What makes us shop on Amazon is not even important here. What would it take to change that? Contemplate for a minute even, before you shop on Amazon next time. Someone somewhere out there is actually working (like a slave or robot) to fulfill your irresponsible wanton desires. Sleep well and shop less!