March 27ths

3/27/2024

I came across something I had written in the diary after listening to a David Bowie interview. He said what he was interested in were the top-level systems–he didn't want to just make canoes (songs), he wanted to make the waterways. I think that's what I was thinking at the time I was doing Ancient AI: a system that I could use to write all the songs with and use the top-level metaphor of machines–specifically machines that were broken in some way, and so I used a lot of glitchy things. On the video I've been using some datamoshing and glitch art set against the backdrop of images of cave painting. I thought that was an interesting contrast between modern and ancient worlds. But then I realized it's been seven years since I released it and have had a change of heart about things, so I went back to the canoes (songs). I wasn't so interested in reinventing the wheel. That's what Bowie was thinking–it was more a matter of infrastructure–building out a new plan for a new city. I tend to like songs–I like making the “boats” because you can get lost in experimental concepts. Writers are in a different spot because they have to be in the trenches and you can’t see the landscape from down there. 

[3/27/2025: Perhaps the better way to resolve conceptual ideas is to add them later in the process. It becomes the “package” for a disparate group of songs (boats). Some boats will be very large and you’ll need a waterway (concept) that can fit them all].