For those who stayed behind

In continuation of 'Personal Politics: My Truth' I like to talk about the decreasing group that stayed behind,
Apperantly they are going too slow to catch up with modern digital day society,
Slow seems like a bad thing,
But it really is not,
With 'fast people' in ascendancy it is getting harder for the ones who actually take the time,
Good thing about time is that time is always there,
Time runs never out of time,
So why do we do then?
People who have time for time are seeing way more things than people who have time for no time,
So when fast people are all running with their mouths to talk without sound slow people are seeing that social media has grown way out of proportions,
It has taken over the world,
I get the feeling that fast people don't know where they are going,
They pull and push the world aimlessly,
Not to go in a certain direction but just for the sake of going fast,
While the slow ones are somehow forced to watch how it is becoming a confusing mess,
No one knows where we're heading to and why we are going there in the first place,
The vast majority goes with a new trend while a smaller group doesn't really understand why everyone is blindly following this marketing propagenda,
The two groups will never understand each other,
That is beacuse everyone is in both,
In some cases you walk with the group and in other cases you dissociate yourself from it,
It is too personal I guess to fully understand both sides,
And it depends on the case whether you understand one or the other,
Rarely both,
Fact is that the minority groups always bites the dust,
And the particular case where I'm heading to (with this writing) it will be almost impossible to disagree with the bigger party,
People who do not wish to participate with social media are considered ignorant fools,
If you want a cellphone without internet, touchscreen, camera or a thousand other options but just only for 'old fashioned' calling and texting you will be laughed at and the only choice you have are mobiles designed for old people,
So it's safe to say it's pretty uncool,
If you don't have Facebook your changes of being invited at parties will be smaller and unless you're making an effort to actually see your friends and family you will be quicker forgotten,
People just do not want to understand why you don't have a profile,
While the question should be:"why DO you have a profile"?

Now I do have a cellphone with touchscreen and too many functions and I use facebook (sort of)
But the phone I got from a friend (who got a newer one) and I don't have internet on it,
I only use the call and text functions (alright, and the recorder) and I hate the touchscreen!
And I got sick of all the invitations I got in my email to get a Facebook account so eventually I gave in and now I get to read everything that everybody's doing while I DON'T want to know anything of it,
But still I keep reading all the useless bullshit that users are posting,
So I got sucked into the majority group while I rather stood with the disagree'ers,
I also am not fond about this new way of communicating which seems very shallow and one dimensionally shaped,
All this information about ourselfs makes us more less interesting than the other way around,
and for what? to get a 'like' from our fellow keyboard warriors?
Now I don't really use my profile actively, I rarely post but somehow I still feel the urge to occasionally look on it for what other people have to say,
While I don't want to know,,,
But now that almost everyone is hooked it becomes a routine in your daily life to let others know what you are doing,
It is so egocentric,
And because the internet is already making us anonymous the socializing through the medium makes this upgraded human even less attractive,
I hate it,
But at the same time I use it aswell,
Curiosity is such a strong force,
I want to delete my facebook but I give myself excuses for not doing it,
Some reasons: I might miss the cool stuff or loose so called 'friends' that I might need someday
Those aren't good reasons at all but it's enough to hold me there and I'm ashamed to do so,
This is for the people who are still on the 'slow' side,
I have the utter most respect for you if you refuse to be dependent of this imposed digital way of communication,
I'm trying to get back with you,
So keep writing your friends letters instead of tweets and make a statement that you can perfectly live without all this crap,
I am proud of you!

Personal Politics: My Truth

In continuation of Bad Listener I shall now write down my philosophy about the arrogance of our way of  'thinking for others',
The title of the song 'The Unthinking Majority' from Serj Tankian sums up perfectly how our human behaviour works,
We like to think that others don't think (or think less) about everything than we do ourselfs,
Now at the same time everybody has all the answers to problems that go from inside your house all the way up to global proportions,
And we all agree on how 'they' are doing it wrong,
Is it not a little bit arrogant to say that the majority is unthinking?
It often looks like it but than again it is only been seen from your own point of view,
So is one (prejudiced) source enough for us to convince us that THAT is the(!) truth?
It is probably better to call it 'my truth',
Ocourse I also suffer from this 'the(!) truth' syndrome,,,
I too think often;"Why don't you all see how it really is!?"
But then I realize myself that I shouldn't think like that,
What if I am wrong? than I convince everybody to be wrong,
But even when I am right than it still isn't necessary to set my truth above others,
Now I don't say that you may not convince others of your truth,
The more point of views you can look at it the clearer your own truth can be seen,
Unfortunately we often interpreting other truths in a disrespectful way,
We are going too fast to see other opinions so we like to stick to our own,
which will be clouded and colored if you leave it like that,
If you master the technique of using breaks to go slower it will reveal itself much clearer,
You will be able to hear the music (I love metaphors!) and see through different point of views the truth which you eventually consider as 'my truth' and not as 'the(!) truth,
That is for the fast people who haven't figured out to use breaks (or to walk instead of drive,,,)
Now I should point out that I am fully aware of the fact that I present 'my truth' as 'the(!) truth' in this piece of writing,
I truly think that this kind of thinking will make the world a better place (yeah, I'm that sort of a guy),
But as said earlier it is a good thing to convince people of 'my truth' and therefore it is necessary to state my truth as the(!) truth to make a point,
This way of thinking made me start the hearless music project in the first place,
Without an open mind stuff like this makes no sense,
It makes perfect sense to me,
That's why I play for traffic and make a fool out of myself,
Within the project everybody's mind has to open up,
But it is also arrogant to think that my mind is more open than yours,,,
That is not the case,
It is to make my point stronger and more convincing,
That I will discuss in a later writing,
For now I shall enjoy the last part of this awesome music composition called "Canto Ostinato" by Simeon ten Holt,
You should check it out if you like piano music,
It is beautiful.

,RUtger

Keyboard Warrior

Does anonymity makes it that easy to become non-human?

Or maybe even more an authentic human than we are in 'real life'?

I'm talking about the behaviour of our digital representation on the interwebz,

Do manners still matter when you do not have to deal with the consequences?

My take on the issue is that we all starting to develop a second personality,

An uncivilized creature who only cares for itself,

One that is easely temped to inappropriate demeanor (measured with first personality standards) and has a rude and disrespectful attitude towards others,

This mentality of treating our fellow companions like dirt is ofcourse nothing new,

It has always been there within us,

Arrogance tells us to act like that,

But atleast we always have to face the reaction of the person that just got just belittled,

That is not the case with this new race that I call the "Keyboard Warrior",

It (no he/she anymore in this new created breed) says provocative things about everything and trolls (to give an example) every girl who is on youtube commenting about her boobs (whether nice or ugly, big or small),

Now he dare not to say that to her in real life (and that's a good thing) but why than do it in fake life?

It's safe and no real wars have to be fought,

But it doesn't make anyone feel better and it is totally unnecessary,,,

So it's just because "it" has the power to say it without feeling any shame?

And is eventually everybody to become a trolling ass like those?

I hope not,,,

Barking dogs don't bite and the trolling hero is in real life nothing more than an equal,

So it could be anybody,

Whether it is a social or non-social type,

It's almost like you need to find the spy who betrayed us all but it could be every person in the world,,,

Cause this new breed we created is just the beginning,

Sooner or later we start to think it's normal and we're going to use it in real life,

It already is actually,

People are showing less and less solidarity towards each other and in my opinion that is because of our digitalizating world,

We adapt with the technological revolution that is going on in the last couple decades,

So it's natural to evolve into a new kind of human,

But at this stadium of this just started evolution I do not think it is a good improvement,

The Keyboard Warrior shows less human qualities (atleast the ones we are used to) and it seems that "it" is highly superficial,

Funny thing is that I always get the feeling that everyone is superficial but I'm doing the right thing when I remind myself that I shouldn't think like that (as I explained in "Personal Politics: My Truth", couple post back),

But I also think that everyone has the same feeling,

So we all suspect each other for "not thinking deep enough",

And there's that spy again,

These paranoid feelings against each other only invigorate the anonymity in us,

How many times have people said:"I don't trust anyone anymore like I used to"?

And everyone has that feeling,

sometimes or always,

So the value of the anonymous becomes more important and that is exactly where our new breed is heading to,

The Keyboard Warrior is anonymous itself and therefore it doesn't have to trust anyone anymore,

It's reaction of being vile in general is more logical and I'm affraid that we are just at the start of this kind.

,RUtger

Confessions: I am Music

Let's just talk about music for now,
No continuations of a subject with deep philosophical thoughts and world improving intentions,
Just a nice little chatter about music,

Some people get attracted to music cause it helps them through the hard times,
Others to let themselves loose,
And a rather small group loves music just for the music,
Because it's just the greatest thing on the planet,
I am part of the last one,
Ofcourse it helped me through rougher periods and it makes me want to dance and set my mind to blancs,
But for me the appreciation for this phehomenon goes deeper than anything else,
Deeper than love,
I can safely say that music IS my girlfriend,
I love her more than everything or anyone else,
What kind of music it is doesn't matter,
When I started it did matter,
I was obsessed with metalmusic in all sorts,
I guess it was the intensity of sound that attracted me to the genre,
The music itself was more interesting to me than the whole scene around it,
I never really felt like a metalhead,
Though the people were cool,
But I missed something there,
The fragile side of music was not really represented in metal,
So after a couple years of full blown guitarwalls of sound I realized that I needed a more emotional form of music,
And with that transition I knew that my love for music would only grow more tall,
So I started to explore all the different styles in music, hopping through genre to genre,
Some appealed more to me than others,
Styles that were easely digestible I could not make myself swallow while some very challenging types went in like my own saliva,
I still have an aversion towards 'blues' for example but something like 'minimal' I find endlessly interesting,
When I heard Steve Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians' for the first time I was intrigued,
The stuff like that nowadays is all digitally produced by one guy but this composition was all live played on the spot! (by 18 musicians!!! who would've thought?)
Same goes for a piece of Iancu Dumitrescu called 'Pierres Sacrees',
How can one even make those sounds without computers!?
Fascinating to say the least,
And first time I heard it it scared the hell out off me,
Beacuse of that I really liked it,
I always hope that music does SOMETHING to me,
That kind of music I appreciate the most,
Take the overwhelmingly beautiful dreamscapes from Sigur Rós which colors the whole world in the most fantasic shades or the very sad thin piano songs by Soap&Skin which makes every bit of hope useless,
Both are magnificent but in opposite ways,
And both can bring me to tears everytime I hear them,
Also in oppostite ways (joy and sorrow),
So naturally I bring those aspects to my own music,
Sometimes I play the piano so loud that I totally have a metalvibe going on but in a very bombastic yet dreamy way which makes it accessible again,
But a moment later I play so quietly that you're imagening the sounds more rather than actually hear them,
There will always be a part of me which want to make things larger and heavier than life,
But I learned through music I can reach the same effect by doing the opposite,
That's probably the main reason why I can relate to Post Rock that much, with all the build ups and climaxes within the music,
That genre probably influenced me the most (besides my metal roots which made me start to play music in the first place),
But I take my influences from all places,
I like diversity; aslong as it is still intens,
Actually that word is the best one to describe how I like my music,
And because I am music that's how I like to feel and live,
It is the most real,

I shall end this post with a short list of albums which changed my musical life,
They're not necessarily my favorites but atleast I all love them,
In chronological order;


Fear Factory - Obsolete
Meshuggah - I
Dream Theater - Train of Thought
Yes - Close to the Edge
Pain of Salvation - BE
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Grand Opening and Closing
Sunn O))) - Black One
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada
Sigur Rós - ( )
Dead can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
Damien Rice - O
Björk - Medúlla
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Ólafur Arnalds - And They have Escaped the Weight of Darkness
Simeon ten Holt - Canto Ostinato


Difficult to make such a list,,,
Feels like it's highly incomplete,
But even to keep it short it's probably already too long,
aw well,,,
In my next post I'll give some more insight why I choose these,
And to close it up I'll say a not so needed sentence to make a point.

Bad Listener

In continuation of Post,
No the title is not Homogenic (3rd post/3rd record),
although that is my favorite Björk album,
I like her a lot,
Yes,
But to go deeper in the project of the hearless music (more to come) I shall give a little insight now;

We are hasty people,
Enjoy a fast ride,
Hurry to be 'on time',
And because we all are on 'speedy mode' we do not have time to stop and see/hear/smell/feel/sense/know what is going on,
I find this disturbing,Now ofcourse I too get fast,
And when sped up it is of no use to go slow,
Why then do it? you might ask,
It is a good thing to know where your breaks are,
I know where my breaks are,
And I use them,
Jeej for me,,,
Now I always like to use music as an example,
In this case 'fast' means; easy to be quickly satisfied,
I hear a song or melody and when it sounds okay I will go with it,
This counts for everyone,
So the 'okay' is good enough for me,
so it seems,
Luckely (for me atleast) I hear a diffirence between music that sounds like music and music that sounds like money,
I do not like the sound of money
I do like money,
If you have too much of it I volunteer to take it from you,
Actually I am kidding,
Bad listeners are the ones who do not hear the difference,
They are not to blame,
If they like it it is perfectly okay with me, (or without me)
But they go (too?) fast,
Unfortunately a lot of those listeners DO have a problem with appreciating music that sounds like music, (slow people causes traffic?)
If one has heard too much of the other kind it is hard to not mistaken it for the real one,
Again I do not blame them,
I probably do it aswell on other aspects,
But because music is so dear to me I take it highly,
The tunnelvision of what are the boundaries on music are way too close,,,
As for me; I try not to see the boundaries,
Everything can be music (or art for that matter),
I am not a hippie,
I like sound, that is all,
The way of thinking that there are no boundaries is my break to the fastness,
It is literally an open mind of interpreting life as a whole,
Cause it is not only the music,
It is everything,
Now I do sound like a hippie,,,
bleh,
Now to go back to the project of hearless music,
Some might see that as a boundary:"what is the use of playing if we can not hear it?"
(they probably think too practical anyway rather than see the art of it,)
On first sight I agree with them,
But that is the 'fast' part,
Cause if they stopped they would understand,
Now in the metaphor of playing for traffic (aka: the people who have no time to listen) this is total  irony cause when they stop they actually CAN hear the music, which is the point of my statement,!
Not that I want people to stop and listen, then I really am the slow person that cause traffic,
Or even to understand why I am playing there (reminding you that a lot of people do not want to stop, that takes a mindshift aswell),
But if people want to know I have a good explanation for why I am doing this,
(and it is also to get the attention on me in a striking way rather than play on a regular stage where you expect it, which ofcourse I also will do)
Pretend like you did not read the last "( )" part so we can wrap it up with a feeling of satisfaction.

Post

In continuation of Debut,
The new born concept of hearless music is yet to be fully understand with anyone,
Even by the creator itself,
It is not a variation on 4'33 by John Cage,
That piece is written to witness the silence in music,
I liked it,
But the hearless music IS actually played with sound,
The crowd is the non-listener,
They are doing their own little things,
Like listening to their own music,
Or watching the road while driving,
That is a good thing to do,
I support that,
And it will not be my intention to move their attention away from it,
As was the case with the trainconductors,
No,

At the place where cars and people meet,
I stood on a bridge that is in use for walking and cycling people,
From there I played to the traffic below me at rush hour,
I was not playing really good and I forgot most of the songs I know,
The drivers with steering wheels did not care,
They liked it,
I recieved applause, waving, thumbs up, WTF faces, bright lights, hootering and ignoring faces
I liked it,
So apparently even though when nobody can really hear you people still appreciate music,
Or they just get a good laugh from some crazy dude who's playing for cars and trains.

,RUtger

Debut

Apparently I have something to say,
For now no one will care,
Perhaps it will change,
I would like that,,,
Now I shall start with my sayings about tellings;

Yesterday on the 6th of may I caused several traindelays,
It was not intentionaly and it was the opposite of what I was trying to reach,,,
I went to this temporary station at the beach which is only in use in the summer,
There I played music for the people who where in a rush,
They had no time to listen,
But if they looked out of the windows they could see me playing my guitar,
Which was the reason I played on that spot; music is more than the sound it makes,
I proofed it on that day cause people knew I was performing music,
They have seen it,
If I was in the likings of my fast crowd I may never know cause they never heard me,
But I have catched a few smiles,
After a couple fast trains the following ones weren't fast at all,
Some even stopped,
Did they want to make time to listen to the (untill now) unhearable music?
No,,,
Although I would've been honored if they did,
The driver with no steering wheel stopped to tell me the following;
"are you suicidal? If we think someone is trying to jump we aren't allowed to go fast,,,"
I was shocked! Trains that are not allowed to go fast?!?
Because I stood still on a platform in the middle of somewhere with no people around me?
I was just playing some nice tunes for the trains and the people in it,
Not to kill myself,,,
I shook the conductor his hand and told him I ment no harm at all,
Apparently something that was ment as a nice and happy gesture for people with haste turned out to be interpreted as an attempt to suicide,,,
Today I'm going to try a different way to play music for people that have no time,
See if drivers with steering wheels are accepting my invetation for hearless music.

,RUtger