January – Monthly Report

I decided to use the blog function of my artists’ website for monthly activities report. This is not a vague attempt at yearly resolution or a will to communicate. It is self-serving and probably unconsciously a way to gain validation, as the digital void requires. It will often be written in English, and when I feel like it in French, but if it happens it will be for France, not Quebec. I just want to make it clear right away.

This is, I believe, a way to keep track of what is completed or in the way of being completed. Time really is starting to move very fast and the past 3-4 years are a formless mass of data and mood swings. Everything I do revolves around my work and solidifying a zone where I can be free to focus at will, (beside personal human factors which are non-negotiable) so leisure is few and far between. I’m trying to slow down time a little. Keep a trace.  Since this website is mine and the data regularly backed up, it doesn’t risk getting lost on Facebook or whatever else.

Cioran Records

I’m writing this right now with heavy tinnitus in the right ear and hope it’s not permanent. A new label, Cioran Records, approached me to be part of their compilation. The name, while conspicuous in its intentions, resonates with the fact I’ve spent most of 2017 reading the philosopher’s work (and I’m not done yet, taking a break). The initial list of artists is quite impressive and I really wanted to be part of it. A new Un regard froid track has been recorded for the occasion, titled “Le vide parasite les murs. Les murs dévorent le vide”. It should be out in the coming weeks. While having my gear set up in the garage, I decided to go ahead and record the new Un regard froid album. The lyrics, track list, concept and structure are planned since 2017 so it’s going on nicely. I’m still working with the same old shitty gear I’m carrying for the past 7-8 years but there’s two new addition: a steel drum and new mic. It will be called “Palinodie (Anticinéma)” and is a further departure from the original sound initiated by Devoir.Génétique.Violence.Hiérarchie. Three tracks on seven are recorded as of today. It’s a lot more rhythm-based, focused on the vocals. I decided to not record every layers at once and to really fine-tune every texture. As no opportunity of playing live are offered and as I don’t intend to look for any, I have no qualms for operating this way.

Another musical project is also moving on to the next level in February. This is a collaborative effort with a very talented and passionate friend of mine. I don’t want to say more than this but it’s extremely invigorating and a good channel for our hate.

The time invested in those sonic endeavors means less time on the video side of my work. I have posted recently about my current film project, Drug Porn. Having worked incalculable hours on this up to now, a break was needed to let the material simmer. I spend a lot of my free time and lunch breaks testing and learning new techniques to be applied to this film, especially script-based databending. There’s a lot to be exploited with this and the end results is really hitting dead center what I was looking for. Some test results are available on my Instagram.

There’s also a completed film script I want to shoot in 2019 I’m revisiting. Also begun writing another one… Considering the idea of renting a huge industrial warehouse for a year and shoot both films in one flight. Financial means to make these kinds of insane projects will be available again next year and I keep wetdreaming of totally chaotic and infernal film sets. I’ve been working mostly with found footage and abstract visuals since 2013-2014 and I miss the warzone.

I sent my last short film, CODE-><-VIRUS Interactive Omni-Augmented Family Encyclopedia For Transhumanist Adaptability to a few film festivals. Right now this distribution process is more an embedded reflex than a career move… I doubt it will lead to any public exposure, but who knows? So much shit gets acclaimed as being the best thing to ever grace humanity, why not my work?

Consumption-wise, I was completely in awe by Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials by Reza Negarestani. I can’t believe I didn’t read this sooner. Discovered the academic work of Patrick Keilty about online pornography. His “Carnal Indexing” essay is mandatory. I was one of the lucky few to get my hands on New Juche The Spider’s House, absolutely brilliant of course. I started playing Evil Within 2 and really enjoys it this far. Film-wise, I highly recommend Lucky and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I managed to get my hands on a subbed and watchable copy of Kamikaze 1989 and loved Fassbinder performance, the cyberpunk kitsch aesthetic and Edgar Roese music. Listening a lot to the new Portal (Ion), Koufar (My Name Is My Name), Utarm (Crawling Altars), Grunt (Castrate the Illusionist)John Maus (Screen Memories) and Cryptae self-titled. Also listening back to Takako Minekawa, Sulphuric Night, Shima33, Karasyozoku, Alessandro Cortini, lots of stuff on Records of the Flesh God. Note to self: search for more sci-fi/horror black/death metal and noise.

So that’s about it for January.

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