“Technology reflects who we are. If we want to have better technology, we must be better people.”
– Nikola Danaylov
(Review the Future Podcast, Episode 57)
(Review the Future Podcast, Episode 57)
Thank you for reading this...you are the one for whom this work is made.
If you have any questions, say hello. I'm always glad to hear from you!
love,
Michael
– Music – Paintings – Writing – Talks –
Watch on YouTube
Free Downloads: Narration | Music
Buy a print of "New Age Cleopatra"
What happens when we cease identifying Nature as something outside of us? What will our culture look like when we see our cities and our songs as something Earth is doing? This video features my Google Glass first-person footage while live painting my own vision of a future in which "made" and "born" are not two separate categories, narrated by an excerpt from one of my talks on human evolution and transpersonal psychology, and scored by music improvised on acoustic guitar and looping pedals as a performance of this new cybernetic nondual paradigm.
"Really" featuring Jenuine Cello
I've been waiting years to grab a solid video of this song, one of my favorites – it goes deep, says a lot in few words, and has a lovely funky little break in the bridge that opens up this modest number into something truly groovy. Superb accompaniment by my friend and frequent co-conspirator, Jenuine Cello.
Recorded live on Febuary 4th at the monthly live looping residency Jen and I have held at Strange Brew Loungeside, Austin's finest listening room, for 14 months now. (Incidentally, you can now like the Loopers' Night fan page on Facebook or join our Facebook group for more direct participation.)
Lyrics:
Nothing ever goes away, really
It only ever changes shape.
Innumerable masks and shades peeling
off your only lover's face.
We grieve and overcome the late
weeping, stranded in an elder age
but everything has been exchanged
sealing the gone in all that still remains...
We have traded blood and even if you die
no flood can wash away the sky.
In the cold and mud we're left asking why
but love will only answer, "I AM"
We lean on battered hearts and faint
weakened, wounded for the want of taste
but nothing ever leaves or stays, here
cuz Heaven permeates all space...
"Living Ships"
New Small Studio Collaboration with Tourmaline Todd
12"x16" – studio – oil and acrylic paints on canvas
Buy a print of "Living Ships"
Really getting into more collaboration paintings this year (check my Instagram for more on that) – this one, my homie Tourmaline Todd let me take home and finish. I really like the opportunity to catch the pass and bring it home across those last few yards, to use an awkward football metaphor for art...the markers lend themselves quite well to finishing and detail work.
This piece is one of several in a new "best of" collaborations section in my store.
Mural in Progress
Not much to say about this one except I'm having a blast working on something bigger! This painting is on the curved ceiling of a friend's camper here in Austin – about seven feet wide or so.
I've taken little clips of time-lapse video on my phone using Lapse It Pro for Android and a magnetic-footed Joby Gorillapod, which I'll be sharing soon. That's a gift you can expect to keep on giving – expect 1080p time-lapse videos to be a thing, now. :)
Upcoming Events
All that hard work's finally beginning to pay off – the quality of festivals inviting me to join them this year is amazing, and I now curate not one but TWO monthly gigs in Austin (Loopers' Night and Paint Jam) that are each unique and excellent in their own right.
Highlights: I'm presenting on technoshamanism and teaching an interactive live looping workshop at this year's Moogfest in Durham, North Carolina. And I'm playing music at Boom Festival's Chillout Gardens in Portugal this August! Hot damn, folks – if you'll be at either of these, hit me up...
I'd love to know where YOU think I should be this year – check out my calendar and let me know if you think anything is missing!
