One Dog Clapping – Glitterheads on the Loose!

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Glitterheads on the Loose! is the fifth and final instalment in the Meeting the Changing Landscape series I’ve been bombarding you with this year. I’m going to have a bit of break from all of this shenanigans for a bit and listen to some music made by other people for a while.

But first, for those interested, this is what it’s kind of been about. Bear in mind that the descriptions below are radically simplistic because that’s what happens when you have to use words for 4D concepts. I make no apologies for jumping between first and other persons willy nilly.

To give some context, I drew you all a picture:

meeting the changing landscape

Aren’t I nice?

The picture didn’t turn out quite how I intended – I had more of a kind of 3D spiral in mind but had to give it up when my lack of ability at drawing actual things made the futility of the effort all too apparent. So I went for more of a directional thing. But when I say directional, I don’t mean linear. This was not a linear thing.

The Castle is Burning is in the north. The north is associated with cold, restrictions, a harsh mistress, so it is naturally the obvious place for a burning castle.

Hills to Die On are naturally in the east. I shouldn’t have to explain that one.

Alternarratives are in the south. This actually works on several levels (hence why I wanted a spiral) but for the purposes of trying to make this seem a bit easier, these are the foundations and they are also a damn sight warmer.

Internal Route Fury has to be in the west, the land of death.

Glitterheads are on the loose above all of those places, and link them all together. They are both all of the preceding stories and something altogether more different.

The way I got to be a Glitterhead was by examining the Burning Castle for what it was, discerning it and not judging it, examining how I was reacting to the landscape it provides. It is quite one thing to say that this is what I don’t want, however, so I had to ask – what do I want? Hills to Die On were and are the answer. The tl;dr summary is that on those Hills you will find love, authenticity, your true voice, and the courage to express all of those things regardless of how you’ll look since the person you ultimately have to answer to is yourself.

To get to those Hills, I needed an alternative narrative, a better story – some Alternarratives. They have to take into context of where you are so that where you are going makes more sense, and most importantly, helps you want to buy into the journey.

There’s a reason we ain’t on them Hills, however. So I had to take these Alternarratives into the void where my demons lay waiting – they are actually rather active demons and don’t need much prodding; nonetheless, I felt that I had to take the fight to them this time.

This was the Internal Route Fury. In truth, this has been going on the whole time. I think it’s a feature of the human condition, rather than a bug. But if you can’t test your Alternarratives here, they ain’t worth telling.

Come out the other side, my friend, and you are invincible. You are a Glitterhead and you can be set loose. This does not mean perpetual gravy, far from it. You will still have to operate in a Burning Castle for the duration whilst you navigate towards your Hills, but you have Alternarratives and you can survive the Internal Route Fury. Of course I don’t mean literal invincibility, I mean fundamental invincibility. Bodies may come and go, but we will continue.

Any further questions should be sent by the ghost or on a broomstick, to meet me here at sunset when the tide has washed away. But don’t think you’re alone here. You’re a piece, not a fragment.

I offer this story and this series to Saraswati in perpetual and ongoing thanks for the continued flow of music through me.

One Dog Clapping – Internal Route Fury

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Madness!

In many ways, but not all.

So I attempted linearity… actually, scratch that. I did no such thing. What I meant was that I attempted to make sense, but again, it’s just possible that I actually did no such thing.

So what happens when you purposefully take yourself through the void? Internal Route Fury, that’s what. You have to test these Alternarratives against your demons, after all, otherwise they’re a waste of words.

There is actually an overarching plan to all this. And if you believe that, you might just believe that it’s me that’s behind it. And one or more of those statements may only be a half truth at best.

The final instalment in this series will probably be called Glitterheads on the Loose! Because, ladles and gentlespoons, that is exactly what we are.

One Dog Clapping – Alternarratives

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It is 9/9/18, and 9.09 pm (BST) when I click the publish button on Bandcamp. We have entered the time of the new moon. Fittingly, I have ‘Ritual‘ by Fire! Orchestra playing.

Alternarratives is the third album in the ‘Meeting The Changing Landscape’ Series, and the halfway point. It is about, broadly speaking, telling ourselves better stories so that we can head towards the Hills to Die On.

The next album in the series takes a turn back into the void as these better stories wrestle with the demons that would have them remain unspoken, and will be called Internal Route Fury.

 

One Dog Clapping – Hills to Die On

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I could write a whole essay, nay dissertation, on the travails of getting this thing over the line due to PC breakdowns, temporary patches, surprise findings of old pcs in a cupboard, etc. I’m not going to, as it would be of very limited interest.

So this is the yin to The Castle is Burning!‘s yang, or vice versa, I’ve currently forgotten which one is which. I call this my positive album, whereby we find the pockets of light in the darkness that are worth living for, and thus also dying for. The tl;dr summary is: love, authenticity, dreams, banishing fear, and variations on those themes.

Once I’ve adapted to changed settings (for which credit and huge thanks go to my friend Chris Hall), I will get on with the next in the series, which will be Alternarratives.

One Dog Clapping – The Castle is Burning!

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It is 103 weeks (I counted ’em) since I last bothered the world with music; it will be significantly fewer before I next do so – single figures, hopefully.

This is the first in a new series called ‘Meeting the Changing Landscape.’ There’s an obvious link to the first album from the previous series, but the most pertinent thing about this album is that it is my take on where I see the world at this moment in time.

The next album in the series will be about where I’m going to go, and the subsequent ones will be about how I’m going to get there.

I’m going to update the website later – it will still be a mess, but it will be a less cluttered mess with a brighter feel.