Video: Scorch

December 01, 2021 in sad, Series

Song-A-Day

“What we have here is a scorched earth.” Just in time for the Christmas season, Manson & Madri bring us a delightful little melody about houses and toast, and how toasty it’ll be when our houses go flapping with flames. Minimal vocals on this one, again spoken and not sung, like a haiku that forgot to count its syllables. You fill in the blanks. It’s all there if you’re looking, in among the flames. “We can’t all be chickens.”

Scorch is just one of a series of rock videos we have been posting from their collaboration, all of which can be found under the Song-A-Day link along the sidebar and you can find a selection of these songs on their album Secret Griefs here.

John Manson and Dan Madri of The Gondoliers, became involved 4 years ago in a project called Fun-A-Day. (Or FAD.) And now John and Dan are continuing this tradition under the title Song-A-Day or SAD, and over the course of the coming months, we here at Mutable will be posting them regularly for your viewing and listening pleasure. Enjoy!

M Against M

November 26, 2021 in Excerpt, Story, Series

Declan Tan

[Below is an excerpt from Declan Tan’s debut novel. As much a work of philosophy as a work of literature, it takes the reader in and out of abstract spaces, and exists somewhere in the space between 1984 and Infinite Jest. It’s a small book that packs a big punch. Enjoy!]

In this life we have everything backward. Born into death. Politeness before truth. The suicidal earth sets itself alight. And just as how death comes before life for some of us, man does not work because he has something to offer the world. Instead he is forced to work because he is told something can be offered to him. Forced to cultivate a personality beneficial to the slow suicide of the Earth. And where do we find acceptance? Always in another, always external. Rarely in these conditions could we hope to find it within. And we are taught many things out of blindness. We are told some are born for Greatness. We are told some have Greatness thrust upon them. This too is backward. Most, if not all, have idiocy thrust upon them. And then, again, som are born to it. And one day there will be no bone left to grind Some speckled wind will blow its heavy breath across our vision and over our trees and leave us all in the hollow.

Or is it not us but simply the murderous sun that has forsaken us? I lit a rotten cigarette and watched its burning ember glow, the ash over-running its edge until the small orange hum of heat was lost in the gray-black. I blink and wash my eyes with sparse tears.

The foreign body sensation.

Video: Deeply Artificial Trees

November 20, 2021 in Article, Isstillcools**t, Feature

In the Mutableye

Everyone loves Bob Ross, but AI-filtered Bob Ross becomes like a mystical message full of the swirls of animals, eyes, and bits of insect, challenging how we think of the intersection between perception and reality. In parts hilarious, absurd, and downright disgusting, this dream journal of mad anthromorphisms and salacious animal graftings can be viewed again and again and new layers revealed, new possibilities discovered.

The below video was originally shown in 2017 at “Basilisk”, Nicodim Gallery, in Los Angeles, California, USA, and is by Alexander Reben.

In the Mutableye is a segment that sometimes showcases something interesting that is happening somewhere in the world at this moment, and sometimes showcases some fad or person from the past that we here at Mutable acknowledge is still cool s**t.

Chapter 7: These Dark Days Have Come Back Again

November 16, 2021 in Podcast, Series, Weltschmerz

Welcome to Weltschmerz

In this installment of Boyer’s audio memoir, Gabe and Jill continue deeper into the unknown, from Departure, TX, to Clines Corners and Santa Fe. Questions are asked, but will they be answered? Is it true that Santa Fe was built upon a mobius strip? Is it true that R. Crumb has an identical twin also named Robert? Jill and Gabe share a moment of wonder. What else can we ask of them? For indeed it is true that these dark days have come back again.

You can find Chapters 1 - 6 here.

Paperback Book
8" x 5.25"
560 Pages
$16.00
Now Available

Buy Now

Darius Jones: Figure No. 2

November 08, 2021 in Mutablesoundofthemonth, Feature, Podcast

Mutable Sound of the Month

For this month, we have chosen the first track off Raw Demoon Alchemy by Darius Jones. Something like a Coltrane minimalism, this song features a single melodic phrase repeated by a single saxophonist for the full close to ten minutes of listening time, but each time, with a different nuance of intonation and expression. It is a track with a raw primacy, like a Raga endlessly introducing itself or if the blues-born traditions of America approached the mystical purity of certain types of Persian classical music. The repeating phrase can vary ever so slightly from one telling to the next. An altogether enchanting experience. Give it a listen below!

Mutable Sound is pleased to present a unique musical experience every month or so by ourselves or someone we’ve been introduced to. These are from the reel-to-reels and tascams of the garages and basements of the world. If you have a track you would like us to hear, please feel free to send it on to mail@mutablesound.com along with credits and a brief description.

Mosaic of Time: Translating Myself

November 01, 2021 in Series, Mosaic of Time, Poetry, Story

Lina Ramona Vitkauskas

For the month of November, poet Lina Ramona Vitkauskas revisits the idea of time as mosaic via innate memories of languages we have always known and have yet to speak. One of the author’s last cinepoems, Keeping Up with the Huidobros, used a confrontational method of translating a translation, more specifically leveraging the homophonic (sound) to get new meaning from poems. In this latest cinepoem, “Translating Myself”, the poet applies what poet Clark Coolidge once said of writing poetry: “It had to make itself something through me.” In this spirit, the poet layers her own words to create new poems from one.

Poem:

Translating myself

This is what we hurt or hurl
or vex or transpose: the
opining horizon, leaving us.
There is a green leaf in the fire.
My flesh, you’ve made the two
of us a blind study. We’ve left
our vortex, grainy and laminated
in space, and we never reach
the summit of suns, big yolk
growths, an autumn phenomenon,
bringing us kilometers of numerical frosts.

I’ve been waiting to hear from you—
the other you—the silence is never
too long like the sleeve of my skin.
How we multiple etcetera our thoughts,
how we remain etched in this cosmic
fluid. Here the screen malfunctions.
I am a radio. I am the soundwave.

Mosaic of Time is a monthly series that each month explores another cinepoem by author and artist, Lina Ramona Vitkauskas.

The whole body of the “Mosaic of Time” section will create a broader mosaic, over time, and ideally capture time as the world progresses or regresses—plunging into global events and out again.

Featured

Video: Rebellion

October 31, 2021 in sad, Series

Song-A-Day

A low-fi spoken word piece with a simple message, in this number Manson & Madri explore the end times with their usual verve. This song captures the chaos of its message. It is a propaganda stripped of its propaganda. “The rebellion runs / long and red. We’re gonna go / out of our heads.” The world ends today.

Rebellion is just one of a series of rock videos we have been posting from their collaboration, all of which can be found under the Song-A-Day link along the sidebar and you can find a selection of these songs on their album Secret Griefs here.

John Manson and Dan Madri of The Gondoliers, became involved 4 years ago in a project called Fun-A-Day. (Or FAD.) And now John and Dan are continuing this tradition under the title Song-A-Day or SAD, and over the course of the coming months, we here at Mutable will be posting them regularly for your viewing and listening pleasure. Enjoy!

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Boston Bands in the 90's: Helium

October 16, 2021 in Series, Boston Bands in the 90s

Mary Timony, darling of the underground rock scene of Boston in the 90’s and 00’s, with her gritty and sweet songs and arthouse friends, was a captivating presence. I didn’t meet her till five years after this video was taken, at a loft in Dudley Square, but she was a secret crush of mine at the time. The music captivates—its prettiness and the deadpan of its delivery. Enjoy!

Billy Ruane was a staple of the scene at one point, and he documented endless shows throughout the 90’s and beyond. These videos came out of that.

This is Not a Review: of Wally Shawn

October 15, 2021 in Article, This is not a Review, Feature

Gabriel Boyer

It was something like the summer of 1998, and I was living in a warehouse by the Brooklyn Bridge—living illegally in a warehouse that filled with raw sewage one night—where the landlord cut the sewage access and electricity every so often—and the dry wall we’d put up didn’t reach to the ceiling eighteen feet above—and I never had electricity in my room. When I think of that summer, I always remember the time my roommate claimed that a stream of flame sporadically shot out of his upper arm while working construction earlier that day, and the time I met Wally Shawn while working at the Film Forum.

He’d come in to complain about the line. I remember how I chuckled and shrugged at his incorrigibly irritated self like a person presented with some rom com darling come to life. I couldn’t take him seriously because of the fact of him being him and all that goes along with that, but Wally Shawn should be taken seriously.

He is not just the Sicilian in the Princess Bride. He is not just Woody Allen’s foible in Annie Hall. My Dinner with Andre only scratches the surface of what he is capable of. Uncle Vanya does not do the many talents of Wally Shawn justice, brilliant piece of theater though it may be. These are valid and interesting faces of Mr. Shawn, but the point is that he has more than even these myriad faces, and the more you look for them, the deeper they go.

On Porn

October 01, 2021 in Article, Feature

Walker Zupp

[Disclaimer: As much as I detest genre, this is a piece of creative non-fiction, where the names are not real, but the entities are. Most of them.]

My first exposure to porn was aged 15. I viewed the exploits of a rubber-donged superman called OG Mudbone whose witticisms were matched only by the 14-inch prosthetic he adorned for each naked and mostly hilarious adventure. Soon after, I discovered genuinely large penises and genuinely large breasts.

I have always disliked watching porn where there is no laughter. Given that the majority of porn has little to no laughter, this poses something of a problem, and directs me to several regulars. Jack Napier—out of work since a near-fatal motorbike crash—is always laughing. His affability is infectious, and he comes across as highly professional. Another admirable regular is Gianna Michaels: a Hooter’s waitress-turned-porn-star, whose brassy giggle I find more alluring than her sizeable cleavage and prodigious sex drive. These people are the exceptions.

Video: Mist

September 30, 2021 in sad, Series

Song-A-Day

A new ballad from the minds of Manson & Madri. Manson croons over simple piano about Mist and the ephemeral nature of things in general. Like something between Jacques Brel and Daniel Johnston, but in the best possible sense, this tune has a deceptively simple message, but its a message we will never clearly hear.

Mist is just one of a series of rock videos we have been posting from their collaboration, all of which can be found under the Song-A-Day link along the sidebar and you can find a selection of these songs on their album Secret Griefs here.

John Manson and Dan Madri of The Gondoliers, became involved 4 years ago in a project called Fun-A-Day. (Or FAD.) And now John and Dan are continuing this tradition under the title Song-A-Day or SAD, and over the course of the coming months, we here at Mutable will be posting them regularly for your viewing and listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Slow Media Manifesto

September 21, 2021 in Manifesto of the Month, Feature

Zachary Katz

The pitch of life has reached such a frenzy that it seems impossible to react with anything more than astonishment.

Whereas once thoughts were formed over a lifetime in contact with family, friends, community, and the earth, now thoughts form, disseminate, multiply, and vanish with the speed of attention.

Ignorance is cured through experience, isolation through empathy, the sense of being lost through connection.

The slow media movement is an attempt to create connection through human presence, by the creation of objects by hand, and by the dissemination of objects by hand.

Physical space is limited, finite, arduous, and lasting. Objects in our space connect us to the persons who made them, and the places they were made. Connect us to each other and to ourselves.

Each object formed by human hands is intrinsically unique and serves as a vector for story, as a means of maintaining human presence across time and space.

We urge you to create unique objects of lasting permanence, to distribute unique objects of lasting permanence, and to share unique objects of lasting permanence.

This is the slow media manifesto.

Read. Comment. React.

The manifesto as a literary art form is often forgotten, but we here at Mutable have had the audacious notion of collecting these remarkable objects for our Manifesto of the Month series.

This month’s manifesto was expressly written for Mutable. More is to come. We are just beginning to explore the possibilities and potentialities presented by Mr. Z Katz

Different Directions

August 22, 2021 in Product

Gabriel Boyer

This collection of Boyer’s songs is a spirited romp through the rubble of a deteriorating relationship and the memories that cloud vision. Most of it recorded live in a small house in Maine by a 6-piece ensemble of Mutable alumni, Different Directions is a spontaneous yet thoughtful musical interpretation of Boyer’s writing. The songs are unmistakably his, yet flow peacefully through popular motifs, and leave you feeling nostalgic, nostalgic for heartache perhaps. It is a semi-precious mess of sound and emotion distilled down to its purest essence and stirred into a soothing bath of melody and charm.

Lyrics written by Gabriel Boyer
Music written by Gabriel Boyer and Malcolm Felder

Performed by
Gabriel Boyer: Piano, Lead Vocals
Ben Bradford: Cornet, Percussion
Malcolm Felder: Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Jon Madden: Upright and Acoustic Bass
Kevin Micka: Electric Guitar, Backing Vocals
Adam Scotto: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals

Engineered by Kevin Micka
Produced by Kevin Micka and Malcolm Felder
Mastered by Scott Craggs
Photos by Gabriel Boyer and Ben Bradford

Different Directions by Gabriel Boyer, released 22 February 2021 1. It's Alright Merry 2. Break in the Line 3. Different Directions 4. Hiding Out 5. Parent's Disease 6. Diplomat 7. Theme 8. Now and Here 9. Home 10. Insomnia 11.

1. It's Alright Merry
2. Break in the Line
3. Different Directions
4. Hiding Out
5. Parents Disease
6. Diplomat
7. Directions Theme
8. Now and Here
9. Home
10. Insomnia
11. World of Angels

Digital album available to stream or download now!

Listen

Interview with Joshua Hiram Banks

August 16, 2021 in Article, Interview, Feature, Press

[This week we thought we’d share an interview with Hanoi DIY producer and punk aficionado, Josh Banks.]

Mutable: Could you give us some background on your time in SE Asia? Where have you lived? What are some events you’ve been involved in?

JB: I’ve lived all over South East Asia since moving here from China in 2009. Most of my time was spent in Thailand, but I have had the chance to travel and live in several different countries. I’ve spent a lot of time in Bangkok but also lived in the Deep South of Thailand, Vientiane, Laos and also Yangon, Myanmar.

Basically I’ve been involved in teaching English to make a living and got involved with different groups over time to write, promote and also later started to put together my own shows here in Hanoi. My main hobby became traveling for gigs around South East Asia in around 2015. I’d spent a lot of time in Bangkok. While living in Vientiane Laos I would head over to Thailand and fly down to Bangkok for shows. Later, I ended moving to Bangkok and getting more involved in the scene. Even after moving to Vietnam, I still spent a lot of time heading over to Bangkok to check out the shows happening, yet Vietnam, especially Hanoi, had more opportunities for me to put on my own shows. Here I was able to use my connections and past knowledge to put on gigs. My last show was the most successful, at a small underground venue called the Hidden Club which was a hot spot for the scene. The name of the event was “Return of Hanoi Punk Rock.” The headlining band was “Cut Lon”, a thrash metal group whose members all wear Pikachu outfits. They have gained quite a following in the underground music scene here in SEA.

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Video: Temptation

August 08, 2021 in sad, Series

Song-A-Day

This delightful little number from Misters Manson and Madri present us with the dangers of longing for the unattainable. The song seems not only to warn against our desires but to go further. The rousing rumination of its logic eventually comes to a place a little like peace. “All that you don’t have. That’s what makes it real.”

Temptation is just one of a series of rock videos we have been posting from their collaboration, all of which can be found under the Song-A-Day link along the sidebar and you can find a selection of these songs on their album Secret Griefs here.

John Manson and Dan Madri of The Gondoliers, became involved 4 years ago in a project called Fun-A-Day. (Or FAD.) And now John and Dan are continuing this tradition under the title Song-A-Day or SAD, and over the course of the coming months, we here at Mutable will be posting them regularly for your viewing and listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Impaled on the Horn of Texas

August 01, 2021 in Podcast, Series, Weltschmerz

Welcome to Weltschmerz

In this installment of Boyer’s audio memoir, Gabe and Jill head into Texas where the strangeness continues and the van’s having none of it. Jill’s rash is continuing to be a nuisance and the Metaphysical VW Repair Shop is a locus for time travel. Over drinks ghosts, dreams, and pet sex are discussed. Later, Jill and Gabe continue on into West Texas, but nothing is resolved.

You can find Chapters 1 - 5 here.

Paperback Book
8" x 5.25"
560 Pages
$16.00
Now Available

Buy Now

The Stuckist Manifesto

July 26, 2021 in Manifesto of the Month, Feature

Billy Childish & Charles Thomson

[Billy Childish epitomizes an ideal of ours over at Mutable, multi-faceted, multi-talented, the forever amateur who refuses to cave to the trends of the day, an anachronism that is also somehow the future. Apparently, the Stuckist movement evolved from an incident between Childish and his ex Tracey Emin (who made her name by installing her bed in the Tate, which went on to be shortlisted for the Turner Prize in ‘99) apparently shouted at Childish that his art was, “Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!”]

Stuckism is the quest for authenticity. By removing the mask of cleverness and admitting where we are, the Stuckist allows him/herself uncensored expression.
Painting is the medium of self-discovery. It engages the person fully with a process of action, emotion, thought and vision, revealing all of these with intimate and unforgiving breadth and detail.

Boston Bands in the 90's: Neptune

July 16, 2021 in Series, Boston Bands in the 90s

When we came across this amazing early footage of Mutable favorites Neptune playing the Middle East in March of ‘97, we simply had to post it for your listening pleasure. What a time it was! For those of you not in the know, all the instruments the band’s playing here were all built from scratch using scrap metal soldered together by lead singer Jason Sanford. I believe the body of that guitar you are seeing Jason playing in this clip is actually cut from a fridge door.

Billy Ruane was a staple of the scene at one point, and he documented endless shows throughout the 90’s and beyond. These videos came out of that.

Hesheraunt: Palm Sunday

July 13, 2021 in Mutablesoundofthemonth, Feature, Podcast

Mutable Sound of the Month

This month, we have chosen an album that evolved from the minds of E-Kronk and Sifu Tweety, an album that is somewhere between a kind of minimalist techno and the meanderings of Bitches Brew. The tracks are long and unfocused, but with moments of sonic brilliance that can captivate the listener. It is an album that evolved from the aesthetics of the hacker houses of the 90’s and the idealistic early days of Burning Man. This is an album I like to play while I work, not because it helps me concentrate, but because it can on occasion arrest my attention. Give it a listen below!

Mutable Sound is pleased to present a unique musical experience every month or so by ourselves or someone we’ve been introduced to. These are from the reel-to-reels and tascams of the garages and basements of the world. If you have a track you would like us to hear, please feel free to send it on to mail@mutablesound.com along with credits and a brief description.

Screen Shot 2021-06-30 at 12.14.14 PM.png

Video: Dream

July 03, 2021 in sad, Series

Song-A-Day

The on-going dream of this nightmare is the topic of our most recent musical addition from the minds of John Manson and Dan Madri. “When the knives come out, we’ll only know how to dream.” Indeed.

Dream is just one of a series of rock videos we have been posting from their collaboration, all of which can be found under the Song-A-Day link along the sidebar and you can find a selection of these songs on their album Secret Griefs here.

John Manson and Dan Madri of The Gondoliers, became involved 4 years ago in a project called Fun-A-Day. (Or FAD.) And now John and Dan are continuing this tradition under the title Song-A-Day or SAD, and over the course of the coming months, we here at Mutable will be posting them regularly for your viewing and listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Declan Tan

In the Mutableye is a segment that sometimes showcases something interesting that is happening somewhere in the world at this moment, and sometimes showcases some fad or person from the past that we here at Mutable acknowledge is still cool s**t.

Paperback Book8" x 5.25"560 Pages$16.00Now Available

Mosaic of Time is a monthly series that each month explores another cinepoem by author and artist, Lina Ramona Vitkauskas.

The whole body of the “Mosaic of Time” section will create a broader mosaic, over time, and ideally capture time as the world progresses or regresses—plunging into global events and out again.

Billy Ruane was a staple of the scene at one point, and he documented endless shows throughout the 90’s and beyond. These videos came out of that.

Zachary Katz

The manifesto as a literary art form is often forgotten, but we here at Mutable have had the audacious notion of collecting these remarkable objects for our Manifesto of the Month series.

This month’s manifesto was expressly written for Mutable. More is to come. We are just beginning to explore the possibilities and potentialities presented by Mr. Z Katz

1. It's Alright Merry 2. Break in the Line 3. Different Directions 4. Hiding Out 5. Parents Disease 6. Diplomat 7. Directions Theme 8. Now and Here9. Home10. Insomnia 11. World of Angels

Digital album available to stream or download now!

Paperback Book8" x 5.25"560 Pages$16.00Now Available

Billy Childish & Charles Thomson

Billy Ruane was a staple of the scene at one point, and he documented endless shows throughout the 90’s and beyond. These videos came out of that.

Paperback Book
8" x 5.25"
560 Pages
$16.00
Now Available

1. It's Alright Merry
2. Break in the Line
3. Different Directions
4. Hiding Out
5. Parents Disease
6. Diplomat
7. Directions Theme
8. Now and Here
9. Home
10. Insomnia
11. World of Angels

Paperback Book
8" x 5.25"
560 Pages
$16.00
Now Available