Philly Music!
Out from Philly's vibrant underground comes music outfit 185668232. Iam S. Mick, mastermind of 185668232, asked me about a month ago to do an interview with him on my blog. We were introduced by David Saylor of EXPLODING WORLD. So I want to start by giving a shout out / thank you to David for introducing Iam and me. THANK YOU, DAVID.
At that time, I had never heard of either Iam or his music, so we started out by meeting and talking for a few hours during which time I observed him in his creative process as he worked on tracks and added new layers into his computer. After that and over the next couple weeks, I listened to his recordings at home. I went back and we did the final interview in real time at his studio this past Friday. Here it is ::::::
========================================
========================================
IDEAS
BOB: Thank you, Iam, for the interview. You might have guessed what the first question would be. People who hear or read about you for the first time will probably ask, "What's up with the number for the name? What does 185668232 mean?"
IAM: It's my slave name; my social security number! I am making sure my number is not recirculated after my body lets go of my energies AND I only want to make to make to make to make. It's self destructive. I explain further in lyric in my late 36+ track album release of "pRODUCT pLACEMENT." The 1 means independence. The 8 means Lemniscate. The double 6 is a sign of purity. The use of a second 8 requires a more diluted explanation, being nothing at all. The 2 means solidarity. The 3 is obviously the symbol for 'cubed. And the final 2 means 'squared.' Really though, my demonstration only makes me an ass, auspicious and most brave. I was born with this number, may we all ditch out numbers thrice upon a space and time.
BOB: Wow, a slave name! What do you mean by that?
IAM: Eh! We are not supposed to offer out the information for our social security numbers to anyone, though we do it every time we fill out some form. Everything we do in our professional lives is documented as a number. I was born with this number (or it was forced upon me shortly after being born) and I am now burdened to hold onto it and be sure that I am useful for society with it or else, well, there are a few options. I want to stretch the norm - THE system is not working for everyone, changes must be made. No more wage slave - no one wants to do it. The motivation needs to be something else (I'm not willing to convey THAT message in this. People will just have to read some more about 185668232).
BOB: The system is not working for everyone? In your writing and your music, you touch on different aspects of economic injustice in our society. The social security numbers help perpetuate that?
IAM: The system works for the majority, not the minority. If it worked for EVERYONE, there wouldn't be 'exceptions' taking advantage of public assistance programs. I'm saying, or trying to mono-type, as briefly as possible - what works for everyone but multisensicality. People can't connect their own dots, not even those who BELIEVE they understand are narrow by an unrolling history shadow. In my writing and music (+photography & motion picture), yes, but realize that I'm not JUST writing that which I think but rather incorporating some sort of neutral activism and when I mention 'neutrality,' I must admit that it's word play along side of these generalized POSITIVES and NEGATIVES, but yeah, you're right - we're all right, even if the objective "you" don't get what I'm saying. I'll be publishing some writing to establish a barcode for our civilizations decline and I write beyond depths cell walls to these topics. Using my social security number actually only prevents me from doing anything with money - handicapping my self, but I'll be transcending all of this when someone attempts identity theft. Stick around, I'll try not to be '302'ed again. What would one consider a poor thinker (someone without economic status who thinks)? Eh. I phrased it wrong and I don't feel like rearranging the words (feel familiar?)… One won entitlement as 'a crazy person.'
BOB: Sounds like you're saying our society equates poor thinkers with poor thinkers. … Speaking of a "crazy person", your writing also talks here and there about the definition of "sanity" as being something that's arbitrary and just made up, while it should be more relative.
IAM: That's what it sounds like, yeah, in one way. Ah, yes, now this is a topic - SANITY! If we are unable to make 'time' in our 'schedules' to understand, we declare ourselves a overcaptions such as SMART or STUPID or SANE verses inSANE and make claims that our reality is more relativity/subjectivity. What are we social for? Pact/pack animal, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, species. We must mention that which does not want to be with the group for reason or lack of rationality and functionality on some spectrum of spectrum. Esptimology! Typing everything into some stupid encyclopedia of information so we don't forget. Forget what? Art? If we are to begin healing, we must actualize that everyone is everything, therefor we are all crazy, which makes us all the same, contradicting that 'crazy' is something derogatory, making it neutral. Passive - Aggressive. Mind warp.
BOB: Just a couple more things that stood out in my mind regarding your comments on our economic life. You talk about a person's not being able to reach their full potential due to the inequalities among various schools or educational systems. Any thoughts about what to do about this, either in terms of people who have already experienced this, or for it not to happen in the future?
IAM: Precisely - reach for the stars; the sky is the limit! Well, morality and ethics must first become instinctual (human NATURE, eh). I just-ifably think too much. We all need to be thinking equally. How do we begin to think more or less similarly than an other? Globalization is being sure that no matter where you go, the experience will be EXACTLY the same. Now, which language do we use? How about "poeticalogic?" In it's full incantation, once the movement ceases to exist (poeticalogic), it will be understood by everyone, using every language, every symbol - one unified language with additions and coding that EVERYONE would have access too as well has having training on doing so. Learning would become motivation - the struggle would be to experience EVERY type of life and it would probably be UNHIP to own anything while attractiveness would be a handicap. Current-sea!
BOB: "UNHIP" to own anything? Sounds very communal!"
IAM: Let's say that everything was accessible ALL the time and that vintage anything could simply be cloned (teleportation, at this time would have existed and is then RETRO). As I said, it will take lots of hard work, but fuck it, right? One life. Fuck it! Really though, thinking cannot come without understanding and we are BARELY thinking - like you hinted towards: we cannot reach zenith and balance there if we are unable to think and we cannot think being slaves and we are slaves to what WE created. What is humanities drive? Aimlessness, that's cool, I'd still be cool and I'm forcing some pretty prickled ideas through your mind pores. Nothingness is what I know most about. What do we want? NOTHING! When do we want it? NOW!
BOB: But we're not yet at that point where we can say we need nothing. We need things for our day-to-day existence. In addition to education, there's food. Your song "Underscore" mentions curing hunger. This is a problem that more and more people in our society are facing. How does society deal with this so that it won't be an issue any more?
IAM: It's the fashion of nothingness, rail thin humans, eating healthy, which requires less in NET WEIGHT and requires less effort than creating some artificial supplement. Society is looking forward to the downfall of society. Everyone hates it and anyone who enjoys society is probably playing all types of wicked 'jokes' on us all at their own bored expense. We have assembly lines of people who make our essentials right on up to our 'toys' & 'tools.' The jobs are issued to people to give them JOBS. We could absolutely automate all of our machines. We don't expect too much now except for better health, which can be provided by people who like health. Everyone's interested in the human body to some degree. The internet exists. Is anyone excited to have the internet attached to their minds? Hacker Sacker? The more we subject our selves to, whether it be through art (buffer zone) or experience first hand, we must always be making our selves better. More distant but caring for the total of someone else's being. Don't worry, it won't be any different than how everything is going. Stay calm - it's already happened. Next move.
photo by Norman Plechner
photo by Norman Plechner
STYLES AND INSTRUMENTS
BOB: In
thinking about the music of 185668232, do you perceive it as belonging to or gravitating towards any particular genre? Or is it pan-genre?
IAM: Thanks for bringing this back into some sort of perspective. 185668232 is brOKen. What does garage rock mean? What does metal mean? The connotation might assume that my music might then be something like 'wood.' Hip-hop & punk blend? Diluted, I make sound scapes I'd like to be part of called NOISE-POP.
BOB: Sounds like you partially reject genre breakdowns or classifications. Does that relate just to the music you're producing yourself, or do you see that breakdown as being restricting for all musicians?
IAM: I don't reject genre breakdowns/classifications, but rather, support their slicing and dicing. We obviously don't know enough about what we are doing, while we have star names that we can't even see with our bare eyes. We need to continue creating new titles for items that have various uses. 185668232 is NOT does not directly support nor negate any existing idea, but rather, shreds it and tests it against particles from the ancients. For all documenters, we try to understand who would understand our 'work.' Having a title is so we can force our ideas down other peoples throats, using words and ideas. I don't like language too much and I refuse to constrict my poetreeseedlings. I will always explain my self, vainly. Playing dumb or SAYING one is playing dumb. Practice makes practice. Music is a convoluted word.
BOB: In light of that, would you say that there is a "music underground" in Philly, and, if so, are you a part of it? Or, without being sliced and diced at all, is music in Philly just one broad collective grouping?
IAM: You're getting a little too deep for me, maybe I don't, let's see… I believe in a music underground in NE Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, yes. And even my neighbors are part of it and their neighbors and on and on and off. Philadelphia music is broken up into circuits, per-say. For some reason we're all trying to get bar-codes and be part of THE RADAR. It's like this everywhere. The thing that is always exciting when being around musicians is that you feel like you're part of something. Philadelphia is thriving with venues, but we don't like to call them that or support the idea of a venue without THAT permit. Fuck that thing. New words. We could use more bands trying to help everyone out. Our little city has never stopped producing incredible art. This city struggles hard to do everything and where there's struggle, there will DEFINITELY be a.r.t.
BOB: As you were just typing your previous comment, I'm sitting here in your studio and am looking at what appears to be at least a zillion instruments. How many instruments do you play?
IAM: ::phew:: There are not enough instruments on the planet. It's strange that people are so strict to learn one instrument and to get really 'good' at it, like guitar, bass drums. In the basement sound lab of Comly Haus (4029 Comly Street, Philadelphia, PA 19135), I play the mbira (finger plucking African instrument), cello, sample machines, Casio synthesizer, ukulele, melodica, lyricisize my exers, harp, several guitar types, glockenspiel, accordion and several instruments that I've created and some that are not here right now. I like to circuit bend, that's always been cool and always will be.
BOB: What was the first instrument that you learned? How and when did you first become interested in music?
IAM: The year was 1997 when I was forced to play an instrument for elementary school. I wanted to play the cello, but the instructor told me I was a boy and I should play the drums. My step-father wanted me to take lessons, got me a drum set that I still use and have modified. I went to lessons once a week and frustrated Mike Klova or Clova because I wouldn't practice the lesson he'd instructed me. I went through concert bands, ensembles as in orchestra pits for plays, drum line in marching band, jazz band, always playing along with music on monster sized headphones and blowing out my parents speakers and some more pretty plucked up stuff that I admit in my other documentations. Then I began drumming for independent friends, starting bands where I was always the drummer and one day I realized that I had a LOT to say and that guitar sucked so I picked up the guitar anyway and then put it down for ukulele. Every other instrument has been self taught, but isn't sitting and studying ALSO manual learning?
BOB: Very impressive. Of those instruments, do you have a first love?
IAM: Sample machines & voice! (Easea peas.)
photo by Norman Plechner
BAND, VENUE, AND RECORDING
BOB: Last week I saw 185668232 do an interesting show right here in your studio. Does the band have a regular lineup of members, or is it more free flowing or rotating?
IAM: It's both free flowing and regimented. SOVA OCI, who is lead by Saiye Gambone has been working with me for about 3 years off and on. There have been other regulars. Everyone helps out a little bit but it's mainly me. I'd like an orchestra of friends. People move.
BOB: How long has your effort existed as a band with other members under the 185668232 umbrella?
IAM: I wrote my first "song" called PRETTY HUE on guitar in 2004.
BOB: I liked the show that you people did last week. And I was amazed how smoothly the operation went as a venue. How long have you been operating Comly Haus Basement Sound Laboratory as an even-though-we-don't-like-to-call-it-a-venue-or-maybe-we-sometimes-do?
IAM: This place has been a place of music making and friendship since before we all began living here, as in when the landlords were living here. Their music project is called ESPERS. Look them up too. We've only been doing this since I moved in in September 2011, so not that long. Normally I like to have little performances in unsuspecting areas for bands, but bands are always wanting something more traditional. Anywhere I go, I'll be putting on shows for myself, friends and strangers. Remember, this isn't a venue.
BOB: Are you actively seeking out other bands and musicians to play at Comly Haus, even though it's not a venue?
IAM: Always. It's a work in progress and should not be judged from the perspective while being part of it. Anyone who reads this should find people who've been here. There's stories for everything. The Big Nothing.
BOB: And what about recording? I sat in on your "Stage 3" creative process when you were putting successive layers into a track a couple weeks ago. Do you want to do recording for other artists?
IAM: Recording and redeleting are my favorite forms of music making. Some like to perform, some like to improvise but I like to make a little pattern and sometimes force away ANY pattern. I help other artists, yes, but they help me more. Each time I sit down with an other, I seem to learn a new way to do something. I'm spending lots of money on my portable studio and I'm willing to help some people along the way.
BOB: It seems that a lot of your current work will be culminating in the album "21st Century American Entertainment". Tell everybody about that.
IAM: Jeeze! This album is taking for EVER to complete. Perfection is a disease, I'm nearly positive. Well, I'm nearly always burdening my friends with complaining about how awful some things are when they're SUPPOSED to be SIMPLE, SAFE and SATISFYINGly fun tasks. 21st C.A.E., I thought would be a funny title for total mockery on our tribulations, here as "1st World" problems, as we like to express. One reason so many people are dependent on the 'SYSTEM' is because they've never expanded their entertainment input controls [developed their imaginations]. People become so bored. Our 'nature/nurture' stems from Nomadic hunter/gathering, as a whole in a hole. America is simply becoming a body of services. If we can learn to enjoy our struggle, find beauty in that which doesn't follow our intentions, we mind as well find some entertainment in it - 185668232 is timed (as opposed to timeless). One day we will be free from our numbers again and the 21st Century will have come to pass and our borders will shift with our elliptical rotation about the Solar syntax. Boring people get bored.
photo by Angelica Prestigiacomo
OCCUPY PHILADELPHIA
BOB: In terms of dealing with "1st World" problems, rumor has it that you participated in "Occupy Philadelphia".
IAM: I was interviewed by a local television station woman while I was holding up a sign that said 'INTERVIEW INTELLECTUALS (stay calm)." I doubt it got on the air, but they've gotta have all those clips they don't use stored up for in case someone needs some material or something like that. I had gotten down there too late. Everyone had already broken all the laws. I had wanted to organize everyone to link together and stay quiet. It was the middle of that evening, so no businesses would have been blocked. They'd gotten too loud and lost control of that situation. I later saw a few of those kids in court when I was dealing with something entirely different. I had a tie on and dress pants. They didn't try at all. I envied them and hated my self for a little while. I've done other types of activism, but some I'd prefer to twist into poetry so I can't be stamped with something illegal. Get your message together and be prepared to be questioned and if you're not questioned, you're probably being misunderstood or else, no one cares. Eh!
BOB: Thanks, Iam, for doing the interview and for sharing your views, your stories, and your music.
IAM: Phuck, Robert, this is probably more my pleasure. Equality is. I'd like to thank David Saylor of EXPLODING WORLD for putting us in contact. Merry every day!
========================================
========================================
One of Iam's songs that seems to pack in a lot of the topics we were talking about above is "Underscore", which is playing right here on my blog page.
Underscore
"minxie minxie minxie mooh, i will ___________ a _____________ for you.
this one goes out to my microphone
nEMO will work for you to buypass time. it may not hinder hueoid kind. underscored thoughts that keep me up, will hold me/you down for what, iAM's worth, you will drop - iT.
whatever jobs they think we want to sustain what we've got now to go to school to get THAT job. no, grey matter neutralized as brains will one dei be outsane, the sKY tRACKS on eARTH have got thisSssSSSSSSssh.
it may be war that we blame on the poor versions of what we HAVE to be - smarter? so you want to be pure and i want to cure hunger! so you want to be lonely though you want to be free, the master race - slaves to technology - A.i. multiverses inside organicells matter. soundscapes subdivide in mediocrity's high to low fi by depthside for scifi. two dimensional capital sleeping outside dehydrated gets me oh whoa over.
i never claimed to think i know, we forget my feelings flow. next level minds glow DREAMESQUE. i focus in on broken rests - the phantom silence testing closed captioned screens in father countries.
underscore syncronized by timelessness, a big banged baby static hypothesis. language dry-circuit bent my finest kiss on hallowed grounds by YOUR muse Miss Lyss lost iT.
each layer locked in key to me."
"Sound allows me to close my eyes and drift off into dreamesque while still having attachment to this sticky here & now. Your school will get me off the streets and into studios with a piece of paper rather than a yoga matt as my bed. Money isn't evil beyond these people & I want to make a difference, starting with working in a studio making money, then helping others to break through, like I would be doing & then to finally work ever more tirelessly upon the sounds that float through my friends and I." Iam S. Mick in music notes for "Sweat Dust" on Soundcloud.
===============================================================
I want to thank Angelica Prestigiacomo and Norman Plechner for giving me permission to use their photos in this writeup.
"Underscore" music and lyrics © William S. Mick. All rights reserved.
© 2012 Robert Seabury. All rights reserved.
