STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Brooklyn noise artist 185668232 released an album titled "Universalism" over the summer. My download is different than what's streaming on line, and I was told that the album contents and order of tracks are fluid. Indeed the album was released on May 30, but here's a track that was labeled July 10 but became part of the album that was released prior!
While the writing in this album is often quite personal, it can be relevant to what we all can experience, probably one of the reasons for the album's title. In this track "Build-A-Beat" we're encouraged to trust in ourselves, not to put other people down, and to build our lives step by step.
A phrase that popped out at me as I read the lyrics was "whatever you cannot stop thinking about becomes adorable run-on sentences" in the track "NoiseWar 11237 (cMa-18April2021)". Both "Build-A-Beat" and "NoiseWar" as well as some other others have run-on sentences and a true stream of consciousness style.
That made me think immediately of the novel "Deaf to the City" by Quebecois writer Marie-Claire Blais. Marie-Claire Blais was known for her stream of consciousness writing, where many of her sentences ran for pages. This was a style that she developed and used more frequently as her career advanced. I read "Deaf to the City" early on. The entire book was only a few sentences. Definitely a challenge to read. The story is about a disparate and diverse bunch of people who come to stay and live at the rundown auberge "Hôtel des Voyageurs" in Montreal.
There are definitely similarities between the writing of Blais and 185. Both Blais and 185 deal with some heavy psychological issues in their writing as well as sometimes branching off into the political, and both demonstrate a quest for justice in their writing. A stream of concsciousness style probably eases the ability to explore the psyche without the structural constraints of grammar.
But they do branch out stylistically, Blais, while showing some optimism, presents a more grim sense of present day reality, while 185, acknowledging a grim present, shows a nearly relentness optimism and positivity about the possibilities and pontentials of humankind.
Which brings us back to "Build-A-Beat", the "beat" being a metaphor for life or a construct of life. The main character in the track talks to a friend about building life step-by-step. This is "Build-A-Beat (cMa 10July2021)", the 35th track (as of today) on 185668232's album "Universalism". Lyrics are below as you listen:
and then is my voice you prefer it makes you comfortable it
makes you comfortable and I try not to text you because you
like to hear my audio power pop hyper realist this is what you I
came to see me build a beat irL wait for you on your seat every
day every way you make a little progress and if somethings in
there saying in first person you can be anything you put you
mind to see and if you make to sake and break you down
everyone will give you their crown I am not reading off of
anything this is pretty much the first take the hollow hallowed
seething you can tell the power is seeding plants will grow and
you know who is in control and it's your ego ID expression when
you trust yourself and there's someone behind you but it's only
yourself and you made it up and now you're taking it down
trying to find some experimental repression for someone to
misunderstand but this is the last sequence I made to fake a
play there's something above me.
makes you comfortable and I try not to text you because you
like to hear my audio power pop hyper realist this is what you I
came to see me build a beat irL wait for you on your seat every
day every way you make a little progress and if somethings in
there saying in first person you can be anything you put you
mind to see and if you make to sake and break you down
everyone will give you their crown I am not reading off of
anything this is pretty much the first take the hollow hallowed
seething you can tell the power is seeding plants will grow and
you know who is in control and it's your ego ID expression when
you trust yourself and there's someone behind you but it's only
yourself and you made it up and now you're taking it down
trying to find some experimental repression for someone to
misunderstand but this is the last sequence I made to fake a
play there's something above me.
185668232 doesn't have any shows coming up in the next few weeks, but here is the click to their web page, where you can learn where they're going in the future ::: 185668232 web page - audio.
Marie-Claire Blais's book, "Deaf to the City" made a splash. Here is information about the book on Goodreads ::: "Deaf to the City" by Marie-Claire Blais. Unfortunately, Marie-Claire Blais died just a few months ago. If she and 185668232 had ever met, would they have seen any area for a collaboration?
