Released April 8th, 2013.
Swollen Door:
Get it in FLAC here.
Get it in MP3 here.
Get it in WAV here.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
New release: "Swollen Door"
This latest release of mine is not folding drone. I have, for the time being, gone back to working with electronic music and this release is the product of my doing so. Those of you who are familiar with my whole discography know that there have been several areas of music which I have focused on; before working on folding drone I made quite a bit of electronic music which I referred to as "romantic bitpop", releasing 6 albums between 2008 and 2010. "Swollen Door" will feel familiar enough to those who have listened to electronic music I have made in the past but is still entirely different in my eyes. Other than just referring to it as "electronic" the best I can think of to reference this style of music is 'Dreamy IDM'. Listen and, as always, please let me know what you think. I'm not sure what's next for Sister Waize but there is certainly more folding drone to come, I am not even close to feeling finished with what I have started.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
New release: "Perennial Suicide"
Quite possibly the most refined Sister Waize release to date. The two tracks which compose this album have been in the works far longer than anything else I have ever made. This album has been made in honor of any and all attempts toward the idea of ego death. The album is not intended to be listened to all at once, especially on the first time through, one track at a time is recommended when following my own personal suggestions. Do not think of this as you do any other music, it is composed under a much different light and ought to be regarded in the eyes and ears of the listener as such. Please refer to this post for further suggestions on how to listen to folding drone music.
Released August 7th, 2012.
Perennial Suicide:
Monday, May 7, 2012
Invisible Ceder II
The second installment in my new direction with Drone Video.
Be patient and quiet your mind, simply observe without attempting to analyze. Listen to Folding Drone music, shut off the lights, don't look away and I promise this drone video will do things to your eyes and mind that you cannot find elsewhere. This drone video is meant to be watched while listening to Folding Drone music, while I believe any track will do I find "Side Time Down" and "Dark Mountain Crown" from "A Dawning of Wonder" to work especially well. The video is now paired with the track "Side Time Down".
*WARNING: THIS VIDEO INVOLVES INTENSE STROBING EFFECTS PERSONS WITH ANY DEGREE OF PHOTOSENSETIVITY SHOULD NOT WATCH*
Friday, March 30, 2012
Invisible Ceder
Be patient and quiet your mind, simply observe without attempting to analyze. Listen to Folding Drone music, shut off the lights, don't look away and I promise this drone video will do things to your eyes and mind that you cannot find elsewhere. This drone video is meant to be watched while listening to Folding Drone music, while I believe any track will do I find "Side Time Down" and "Dark Mountain Crown" from "A Dawning of Wonder" to work especially well.
*WARNING: THIS VIDEO INVOLVES INTENSE STROBING EFFECTS PERSONS WITH ANY DEGREE OF PHOTOSENSETIVITY SHOULD NOT WATCH*
Invisible Ceder from Sister Waize on Vimeo.
*WARNING: THIS VIDEO INVOLVES INTENSE STROBING EFFECTS PERSONS WITH ANY DEGREE OF PHOTOSENSETIVITY SHOULD NOT WATCH*
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
It's all about reacquainting yourself with yourself, or at least I think it is.
It's all about reacquainting yourself with yourself, or at least I think it is.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the world that exists behind closed eyelids, about the state you can go into if you simply shut off from the world and look inside, the experience which I can best think of as 'mind-space' or 'thought-space'. I am not trying to theorize or talk about any spooky nonsense here, but rather reflect on what I have personally experienced and what others have agreed with me on. What my brain interprets as an enormous 'space' that is beyond space, that is black beyond black and yet still filled with color that I don't even find with my eyes open. It is completely malleable and only limited by my own skill in directing it. I have no clue what this space is, the higher implications of what it is, or any other analytic information and I don't think anyone else does either. Although it interests me greatly I am not all that concerned with figuring any of this out–any of what I refer to as analytic information with regards to this 'mind-space'–what I am concerned with is the observation of said phenomena and what tools can help in directing it.
Such tools come by the hundreds, anything from spiritual religion, to eating healthy, to self-help literature, to meditation, to psychedelics and so on. All these practices try to control and direct both the mind, or one's process of thought, and this mind-space I am talking about with gradations of value extending from one to the other. While I do not wish to talk too much about these practices I will say that in what I have studied and experienced firsthand more often than not they focus primarily on affecting the mind while any change of the mind-space is thought of as a mere byproduct. For example, in Buddhist meditation any uprising of closed eye visuals or other psychedelic-like experiences is supposed to be disregarded, that they stand as a test to break through to Nirvana, Satori or Enlightenment. You should not pay attention to closed eye visuals in Buddhist mediation, which occur in the mind-space.
Psychedelics, and their use for re-creational (as in re-CREATE, not recreation) purposes, are very concerned with the mind-space but the substances still allow for the mind to confuse the user. Your mind is heavily altered through taking psychedelic substances and other therapeutic plants and being under such influence can complicated any chance for self-betterment. You can have an experience with such medicines that is utterly enlightening, that can completely reconstruct, from the ground up, the entire way you look at the world... on the other hand you could just have a very weird night, one that might seem revelatory in the moment, but prove to be without use in day to day life.
Do not think I am discrediting either practice! Both examples I have given here are incredible tools for a better understanding one's own self and the world we all meet up in. Even if nothing 'tangible', that is, something felt in day to day life, comes out of meditation or the use of psychedelics they are both very much worth your time if dealt with in a mature way.
The way I make folding drone music to be primarily used, not solely used, but the use for which I find this music to be particularly worthwhile can be thought of as a blending of meditation, psychedelics, and sensory deprivation. It is to be used to stare into your own process of thinking, to shut off from the world and work to explore this mind-space in whatever way possible.
It is similar to meditation in the sense that it is basically just contemplation, it is a sitting awareness that helps to reveal something which is always there regardless of your interaction with it. It takes patience and the ability to keep still, to settle into a position and remain there for as long as it takes (e.g. as long as the track lasts, although I usually lie for a few minutes after whichever one I am listening to ends) without wondering or wanting to move or do something else. The ability to 'just be' as it is found in meditation practices helps enormously.
It is similar to psychedelia for a few different reasons, the most straightforward of which is that it is something which must be taken in; a 'track' and a 'dose' or 'tab' or 'brew' are more or less interchangeable. You are lead through the trip with the track as your guide in the same way the ayahuasca brew carries you into the DMT experience. Another point to make is that my suggestions on how to listen to folding drone music are lifted almost word for word from Terence McKenna's suggestions on how to take psychedelics. While psychedelics are more powerful tools in every way imaginable in comparison to folding drone, taking them this way helps your experience in just the same way. I have also found many different ways in which the felt effect of these two tools, namely psychedelics and folding drone, are very similar. Again I will stress here that in terms of power and intensity we are talking about two very different animals and that listening to folding drone music will not necessarily feel like taking a psychedelic. I still do, however, find the two reminiscent of each other. The best way that I can think to explain it here is with a comparison to sunlight... you walk into the sunlight and you feel the warmth of it, warmth which has its origin in our sun. You would feel this same warmth standing on the surface of our sun but due to your spatial relation to it a much different feeling would engender in you. Through listening to folding drone I have experienced intense closed eye visuals, vivid sensations of inward traveling, low to mid level revelatory personal introspection, hypnagogic-like though processes, feelings of 'one-ness', extreme stress relief, mild sensations of cosmic consciousness, relaxation on the idea of death, dissolution of the ego, and beautiful feelings of love. I have heard a few other reports from listeners that involve effects different from my own, from people far removed from myself that I do not know.
Folding drone's similarities to sensory deprivation lie mainly in the idea that whatever might happen while listening to this music is created by the listener. The music is merely a vehicle for experience, it is something to help guide you along and pull parts of your mind into plain view that could have laid dormant otherwise. The sensory deprivation chamber, or whatever other tool you use to experience the effects of the sensory deprivation phenomena (e.g. the Ganzfeld technique) does not do anything other than isolate you, it creates nothing. The music makes nothing, but it is here to help whoever is interested. It is also worth nothing, despite its obviousness, that my suggestions for listening to folding drone music are to set up a situation that cuts off the senses to the outside world for the listener; it is simply a custom version of sensory deprivation.
I apologize if parts of this turned into a rant, or if the whole thing is a rant, but I am not a writer. I am trying my best to explain something which is largely unheard of. I am aware of other artists making claims about their music similar to those I am making here, advertising their music as 'healing' or 'spiritual' or whatever other buzz-word might sell more. I disagree with every one I have come across, and I am sure many of them also disagree with me. I am very particular about how this music is to be made and plan to talk about this in more detail in the future. Thank you for reading friend.
Best regards,
David Mekler
dmmekler17@gmail.com
I've been thinking a lot lately about the world that exists behind closed eyelids, about the state you can go into if you simply shut off from the world and look inside, the experience which I can best think of as 'mind-space' or 'thought-space'. I am not trying to theorize or talk about any spooky nonsense here, but rather reflect on what I have personally experienced and what others have agreed with me on. What my brain interprets as an enormous 'space' that is beyond space, that is black beyond black and yet still filled with color that I don't even find with my eyes open. It is completely malleable and only limited by my own skill in directing it. I have no clue what this space is, the higher implications of what it is, or any other analytic information and I don't think anyone else does either. Although it interests me greatly I am not all that concerned with figuring any of this out–any of what I refer to as analytic information with regards to this 'mind-space'–what I am concerned with is the observation of said phenomena and what tools can help in directing it.
Such tools come by the hundreds, anything from spiritual religion, to eating healthy, to self-help literature, to meditation, to psychedelics and so on. All these practices try to control and direct both the mind, or one's process of thought, and this mind-space I am talking about with gradations of value extending from one to the other. While I do not wish to talk too much about these practices I will say that in what I have studied and experienced firsthand more often than not they focus primarily on affecting the mind while any change of the mind-space is thought of as a mere byproduct. For example, in Buddhist meditation any uprising of closed eye visuals or other psychedelic-like experiences is supposed to be disregarded, that they stand as a test to break through to Nirvana, Satori or Enlightenment. You should not pay attention to closed eye visuals in Buddhist mediation, which occur in the mind-space.
Psychedelics, and their use for re-creational (as in re-CREATE, not recreation) purposes, are very concerned with the mind-space but the substances still allow for the mind to confuse the user. Your mind is heavily altered through taking psychedelic substances and other therapeutic plants and being under such influence can complicated any chance for self-betterment. You can have an experience with such medicines that is utterly enlightening, that can completely reconstruct, from the ground up, the entire way you look at the world... on the other hand you could just have a very weird night, one that might seem revelatory in the moment, but prove to be without use in day to day life.
Do not think I am discrediting either practice! Both examples I have given here are incredible tools for a better understanding one's own self and the world we all meet up in. Even if nothing 'tangible', that is, something felt in day to day life, comes out of meditation or the use of psychedelics they are both very much worth your time if dealt with in a mature way.
The way I make folding drone music to be primarily used, not solely used, but the use for which I find this music to be particularly worthwhile can be thought of as a blending of meditation, psychedelics, and sensory deprivation. It is to be used to stare into your own process of thinking, to shut off from the world and work to explore this mind-space in whatever way possible.
It is similar to meditation in the sense that it is basically just contemplation, it is a sitting awareness that helps to reveal something which is always there regardless of your interaction with it. It takes patience and the ability to keep still, to settle into a position and remain there for as long as it takes (e.g. as long as the track lasts, although I usually lie for a few minutes after whichever one I am listening to ends) without wondering or wanting to move or do something else. The ability to 'just be' as it is found in meditation practices helps enormously.
It is similar to psychedelia for a few different reasons, the most straightforward of which is that it is something which must be taken in; a 'track' and a 'dose' or 'tab' or 'brew' are more or less interchangeable. You are lead through the trip with the track as your guide in the same way the ayahuasca brew carries you into the DMT experience. Another point to make is that my suggestions on how to listen to folding drone music are lifted almost word for word from Terence McKenna's suggestions on how to take psychedelics. While psychedelics are more powerful tools in every way imaginable in comparison to folding drone, taking them this way helps your experience in just the same way. I have also found many different ways in which the felt effect of these two tools, namely psychedelics and folding drone, are very similar. Again I will stress here that in terms of power and intensity we are talking about two very different animals and that listening to folding drone music will not necessarily feel like taking a psychedelic. I still do, however, find the two reminiscent of each other. The best way that I can think to explain it here is with a comparison to sunlight... you walk into the sunlight and you feel the warmth of it, warmth which has its origin in our sun. You would feel this same warmth standing on the surface of our sun but due to your spatial relation to it a much different feeling would engender in you. Through listening to folding drone I have experienced intense closed eye visuals, vivid sensations of inward traveling, low to mid level revelatory personal introspection, hypnagogic-like though processes, feelings of 'one-ness', extreme stress relief, mild sensations of cosmic consciousness, relaxation on the idea of death, dissolution of the ego, and beautiful feelings of love. I have heard a few other reports from listeners that involve effects different from my own, from people far removed from myself that I do not know.
Folding drone's similarities to sensory deprivation lie mainly in the idea that whatever might happen while listening to this music is created by the listener. The music is merely a vehicle for experience, it is something to help guide you along and pull parts of your mind into plain view that could have laid dormant otherwise. The sensory deprivation chamber, or whatever other tool you use to experience the effects of the sensory deprivation phenomena (e.g. the Ganzfeld technique) does not do anything other than isolate you, it creates nothing. The music makes nothing, but it is here to help whoever is interested. It is also worth nothing, despite its obviousness, that my suggestions for listening to folding drone music are to set up a situation that cuts off the senses to the outside world for the listener; it is simply a custom version of sensory deprivation.
I apologize if parts of this turned into a rant, or if the whole thing is a rant, but I am not a writer. I am trying my best to explain something which is largely unheard of. I am aware of other artists making claims about their music similar to those I am making here, advertising their music as 'healing' or 'spiritual' or whatever other buzz-word might sell more. I disagree with every one I have come across, and I am sure many of them also disagree with me. I am very particular about how this music is to be made and plan to talk about this in more detail in the future. Thank you for reading friend.
Best regards,
David Mekler
dmmekler17@gmail.com
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
An important change to the Sister Waize catalog.
As anyone who know's about this project has most likely already been informed to there have been a total of 3 episodes thus far in my approach to the exploration of sound and music. Originally, under the name of Sister Waize, I started making rhythmic harsh noise, I then moved from this stage into what I termed 'romantic bitpop' for quite a while and then about a year and a half ago, finally moved into what I consider to be the most mature personal approach to music I have come across yet, namely 'folding drone'.
Up until now, including my recent release of "A Dawning of Wonder", there have been a total of 9 albums representative of the term 'folding drone', yet as the result of much deliberation I have decided to remove three albums from such suggestion. The albums are:
"Pyrrhic Mind"
"Creatures in the Trees Will Guide Me Through the Darkness"
and
"OIS:DNG"
My reasoning behind this change is simply that these albums do not fully embrace what folding drone is. Although they were produced technically in more or less the same way as the remaining 'folding drone' albums they lack a certain drive which separates them from the rest of the group. The albums can still be found on the Sister Waize blog in the main post.
As usual any questions can always be forwarded to my e-mail at 'dmmekler17@gmail.com'.
Up until now, including my recent release of "A Dawning of Wonder", there have been a total of 9 albums representative of the term 'folding drone', yet as the result of much deliberation I have decided to remove three albums from such suggestion. The albums are:
"Pyrrhic Mind"
"Creatures in the Trees Will Guide Me Through the Darkness"
and
"OIS:DNG"
My reasoning behind this change is simply that these albums do not fully embrace what folding drone is. Although they were produced technically in more or less the same way as the remaining 'folding drone' albums they lack a certain drive which separates them from the rest of the group. The albums can still be found on the Sister Waize blog in the main post.
As usual any questions can always be forwarded to my e-mail at 'dmmekler17@gmail.com'.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
New Release: "A Dawning of Wonder"
This release stands as my latest work with folding drone music and the exploration of meditation and introspection through music and sound since the three part album "The Realignment Series", released earlier this year. The album is not intended to be listened to all at once, especially on the first time through, one track at a time is recommended when following my own personal suggestions. I find the first and third tracks of the album to be very powerful with regard to the certain variety of affects I strive to engender in the listener of my music, possibly even more so than "The Realignment Series". Do not think of this as you do any other music, it is composed under a much different light and ought to be regarded in the eyes and ears of the listener as such. Please refer to this post for further suggestions on how to listen to folding drone music.
Released December 3rd, 2011.
A Dawning of Wonder:
Released December 3rd, 2011.
A Dawning of Wonder:
Get it in FLAC here.
Get it in WAV and MP3 here.
Samples:
01 - Side Time Down (sample) by Sister Waize
02 - A Tome For The Boneless (sample) by Sister Waize
03 - Dark Mountain Crown (sample) by Sister Waize
More posts will be coming soon to give a clearer picture of myself, my music and how I feel it can help others.
-David Mekler (dmmekler17@gmail.com)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
A quote. #2
"We can never understand a composition in its full concrete effectiveness for all possibilities of environment. We are aware only of an abstraction. For this abstraction the change or addition of factors may be indifferent. There is always a nemesis hanging over the equivalence, or consistency, of different things. As we enlarge self-evidence the abstraction shrinks, and our understanding penetrates towards the concrete fact. Thus, sooner or later, growth in knowledge leads to the evidence of antagonism involved in difference."
-Alfred North Whitehead (Modes of Thought p.60)
-Alfred North Whitehead (Modes of Thought p.60)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
A quote.
"Again, listen without prejudice, without interposing any conclusions, either your own or those of another; listen to understand and not merely to refute or accept. You ask how you can put an end to thought. Now, are you, the thinker, an entity separate from your thoughts? Are you not your own thoughts? Thought may place the thinker at a very high level and give a name to him, separate him from itself; yet the thinker is still within the process of thought, is he not? There is only thought and thought creates the thinker; thought gives form to the thinker as a permanent, separate entity. Thought sees itself to be impermanent, in constant flux, so it breeds the thinker as a permanent entity apart and dissimilar from itself. Then the thinker operates on thought; the thinker says, 'I must put an end to thought.' But there is only the process of thinking, there is no thinker apart from thought. The experiencing of this truth is vital, it is not a mere repetition of phrases. There are only thoughts, and not a thinker who thinks thoughts."
-Jiddu Krishnamurti (Commentaries on Living, Second Series p.27)
-Jiddu Krishnamurti (Commentaries on Living, Second Series p.27)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
The second review for "The Realignment Series"
If you consider yourself to be part of the online Psychedelic community you ought to know of Dr. Schluss and his Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities. If not, I would like to be the first person to tell you that you are doing something terribly wrong. This guy is the man, to put it simply. I wouldn't want to try and talk about it here so you'd better just go to his blog and find out for yourself. Psychedelic diamonds in the rough galore!
With all this praise it goes without saying that I was honored to find myself a part of his blog when he told me of a review he posted for my music. But when he told me he had done so again for "The Realignment Series" I was quite literally floored! Not just once, but twice has he put forth a grand amount of effort to try and spread the word of the work I do with Sister Waize.
Check out what he has to say:
Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities
Thanks again, Dr. Schluss, for all that you've done for both my own work and the psychedelic community at large.
With all this praise it goes without saying that I was honored to find myself a part of his blog when he told me of a review he posted for my music. But when he told me he had done so again for "The Realignment Series" I was quite literally floored! Not just once, but twice has he put forth a grand amount of effort to try and spread the word of the work I do with Sister Waize.
Check out what he has to say:
Dr. Schluss' Garage Of Psychedelic Obscurities
Thanks again, Dr. Schluss, for all that you've done for both my own work and the psychedelic community at large.
The first review for "The Realignment Series"
This first ever review for my recently released three-part album, "The Realignment Series" (found here) comes from Peter van Cooten who runs a rather impressive blog based around ambient music. Spend a short five minutes looking over his blog, aptly named ambientblog.net, and you can easily tell that this man cares about ambient music... and more importantly, he knows what he is talking about. Please do not get confused into thinking that I am saying this simply because he was kind enough to post my music and say nice things about it, my opinion of his work for and interest in the community was formed before I had ever even contacted him. Seriously, take a look at his blog, I'm sure you will agree.
Anyways, here's a link to the review, I'm still blushing from some what he has said:
AMBIENTBLOG
Thanks again Peter!
Anyways, here's a link to the review, I'm still blushing from some what he has said:
AMBIENTBLOG
Thanks again Peter!
Friday, April 8, 2011
New Release: "The Realignment Series: Part I, II and III"
The Realignment Series:
This release is, thus far, the sum of my most concentrated efforts with regards to work done with folding drone music. On a first listen I would not suggest listening to the entire series all at once, one or two tracks at a time are recommended. Please refer to my earlier post for further suggestions on how to listen to this music.
This release is, thus far, the sum of my most concentrated efforts with regards to work done with folding drone music. On a first listen I would not suggest listening to the entire series all at once, one or two tracks at a time are recommended. Please refer to my earlier post for further suggestions on how to listen to this music.
Part I
(click)
01 - Insoudolace (sample) by Sister Waize
02 - No Mar (sample) by Sister Waize
03 - I Place My Hands Across Your Chest (sample) by Sister Waize
Part II
(click)
01 - Goaj Tohtanoe (samples) by Sister Waize
02 - Obsessed With A Future Dream (samples) by Sister Waize
Part III
(click)
01 - Never Ending Rock by Sister Waize
02 - Two Deserts Twin Visions by Sister Waize
Get it in FLAC here: I, II, and III.
Get it in WAV here: I, II, and III.
Get it in MP3 here: I, II, and III.
I can also supply this and all other folding drone music in any format necessary. As always any requests, questions, comments, et cetera can be forwarded to 'dmmekler17@gmail.com'.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Suggested Instructions For Listening to Folding Drone Music
Before you read this please keep in mind that it is all based on simple suggestion, I do not mean to dictate how people ought to listen to my music but at the same time I am confident in this process as it is what I use most of the time.
I make music with a very strict intention to act as a tool or catalyst for intense meditation and introspection. I can say this with certainty since my main drive to create this music has been for my own personal use, and through using it I have experienced such things which I have replicated hundreds of times. Over time many others who have listened under a proper setting have also reported experiencing various effects. Effects akin to those of brainwave meditation, sensory deprivation, psychedelia, and meditation. Examples of such felt effects are sensations of inward travelling and body separation, inner eye hallucinations, and illuminations of thought, to name a few. These are a few suggestions on how to listen to the music to achieve such effects, these suggestions are also exactly how I, myself listen to the music:
1. Listen at night, before going to sleep. Make sure you are not too tired though because it will be very easy for you to simply fall asleep.
2. Be in total darkness, pitch black.
3. Lay in your bed, on your back and make yourself as comfortable as possible. Lay for a minute or two until you've settled into your bed before you start the track.
4. Make sure there will be no interruptions that will take you away from the track before it ends, the whole thing must be listened to in one sitting without interruption. This incredibly important, you cannot stop and pick back up, it has to be a continuous effort from start to finish.
5. Only use decent headphones/good headphones. Do not use earbuds by any means, you will just be wasting your time. Sennheiser is my personal brand of choice, you can easily get a great pair of headphones from them for less than $50.
6. While listening try your best to keep your eyes closed and body still as much as possible. It's very difficult to avoid fidgeting for 20 minutes or so, but less is always better. You are trying to explore your mind and imagination through sound, being reminded of your body will only take you out of such concentration.
7. Keep your mind on the sound and simply ride it out. Letting your mind wander is perfectly fine, but avoid getting hung up on anything specific for too long. Just try and let go. Before starting the track contemplate what sound is, what the experience of sound is. Enjoy sound simply for what it is rather than adding specific judgement.
8. If you can, stare at the back of your eyelids while you listen and focus on the colors. This is where the inner eye hallucinations can usually come from, don't stress it too much though, keep most of your attention on the sound.
9. Most songs I've made which are applicable to what is being talked about here are shorter than a television show... usually 18-25 minutes. Keep this in mind before listening. Understand how long the track is exactly so that you know ahead of time. I say this so that you won't start to think about when it will be over while the song is in progress. I promise you, it will end eventually. They are as long as I feel they need to be, and as short as possible.
Although I find the idea of meditation through music to be a very serious matter, don't treat the experience as such. This isn't like religious meditation where you have to be extremely disciplined and devoted and serious... only a little bit. Have patience, listen to these suggestions and commit yourself to the music and I whole-heartedly believe that you will get something out of it.
Just a couple extra side notes:
- These suggestions are sort of a beginners guide, after following them (if you so choose, which is entirely up to you) feel free to move on and experiment with what else the music can do for you. I've found that there are plenty of applications, such as putting a repeating set of albums on quietly while sleeping.
- I do not mean to say by anything written here that my music is the only way, it is simply all that I know with relation to my own personal thoughts on meditation through music.
- Questions, comments, critiques, conversations, et cetera can be sent to me at: dmmekler17@gmail.com I'd love to hear from anyone that has been kind enough to take the time to listen to my music.
-David
I make music with a very strict intention to act as a tool or catalyst for intense meditation and introspection. I can say this with certainty since my main drive to create this music has been for my own personal use, and through using it I have experienced such things which I have replicated hundreds of times. Over time many others who have listened under a proper setting have also reported experiencing various effects. Effects akin to those of brainwave meditation, sensory deprivation, psychedelia, and meditation. Examples of such felt effects are sensations of inward travelling and body separation, inner eye hallucinations, and illuminations of thought, to name a few. These are a few suggestions on how to listen to the music to achieve such effects, these suggestions are also exactly how I, myself listen to the music:
1. Listen at night, before going to sleep. Make sure you are not too tired though because it will be very easy for you to simply fall asleep.
2. Be in total darkness, pitch black.
3. Lay in your bed, on your back and make yourself as comfortable as possible. Lay for a minute or two until you've settled into your bed before you start the track.
4. Make sure there will be no interruptions that will take you away from the track before it ends, the whole thing must be listened to in one sitting without interruption. This incredibly important, you cannot stop and pick back up, it has to be a continuous effort from start to finish.
5. Only use decent headphones/good headphones. Do not use earbuds by any means, you will just be wasting your time. Sennheiser is my personal brand of choice, you can easily get a great pair of headphones from them for less than $50.
6. While listening try your best to keep your eyes closed and body still as much as possible. It's very difficult to avoid fidgeting for 20 minutes or so, but less is always better. You are trying to explore your mind and imagination through sound, being reminded of your body will only take you out of such concentration.
7. Keep your mind on the sound and simply ride it out. Letting your mind wander is perfectly fine, but avoid getting hung up on anything specific for too long. Just try and let go. Before starting the track contemplate what sound is, what the experience of sound is. Enjoy sound simply for what it is rather than adding specific judgement.
8. If you can, stare at the back of your eyelids while you listen and focus on the colors. This is where the inner eye hallucinations can usually come from, don't stress it too much though, keep most of your attention on the sound.
9. Most songs I've made which are applicable to what is being talked about here are shorter than a television show... usually 18-25 minutes. Keep this in mind before listening. Understand how long the track is exactly so that you know ahead of time. I say this so that you won't start to think about when it will be over while the song is in progress. I promise you, it will end eventually. They are as long as I feel they need to be, and as short as possible.
Although I find the idea of meditation through music to be a very serious matter, don't treat the experience as such. This isn't like religious meditation where you have to be extremely disciplined and devoted and serious... only a little bit. Have patience, listen to these suggestions and commit yourself to the music and I whole-heartedly believe that you will get something out of it.
Just a couple extra side notes:
- These suggestions are sort of a beginners guide, after following them (if you so choose, which is entirely up to you) feel free to move on and experiment with what else the music can do for you. I've found that there are plenty of applications, such as putting a repeating set of albums on quietly while sleeping.
- I do not mean to say by anything written here that my music is the only way, it is simply all that I know with relation to my own personal thoughts on meditation through music.
- Questions, comments, critiques, conversations, et cetera can be sent to me at: dmmekler17@gmail.com I'd love to hear from anyone that has been kind enough to take the time to listen to my music.
-David
Friday, May 21, 2010
Discography
Quality downloads of everything I have created can be found by clicking the links below (pictures are links). Albums are listed in order of their release:
NEWEST
FOLDING DRONE
A Dawning of Wonder:
Get it in FLAC here.
Get it in WAV and MP3 here.
The Realignment Series:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Get it in FLAC here: I, II, and III.
Get it in WAV here: I, II, and III.
Get it in MP3 here: I, II, and III.
Torn Stone Fall:
Get it in FLAC here.
Get it in WAV here.
Get it in MP3 here.
Subvocal Stirpiculture:
Get it in FLAC here.
Get it in WAV here.
Get it in MP3 here.
MISCELLANEOUS AMBIENT
(DISCONTINUED FOLDING DRONE)
OIS:DNG:
Also get it in FLAC here:
1 2 3 4 5
Creatures in the Trees Will Guide Me Through the Darkness:
Also get it in FLAC here:
1 2 3
Pyrrhic Mind:
PROGRESSIVE ROMANTIC BITPOP
My Army of Stars Will Get Me There:
Pear Shaped Heart:
b-Relative:
Ceteris Paribus:
Faux Awe:
Upcoming:
NOISE
Ennui:
Penguin Anatomy:
Tell Me That You're Human:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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