The 3 QUESTIONs.. of SKAAAaaa a a a !!!!
SKA TREK and the Art and Science of Intergalactic Skanking
As promised in these pages, I now find a moment to transcribe the ancient text as recited eloquently in SKA TREK
Bass, the final frontier
What kind of music is this?
They call it ska
Interstellar ska!
Where are we going?
Skanking through the universe!
Will they understand us?
The universal language IS ska!
Good citizens, of Planet X, Have no fear, We come in Ska, and wish only to share our technological discoveries with you
The bass goes into the beat
The treble, goes out..
Intergalactic ska!
Ska in the nebula!
Interstellar ska!
These testimonials were scribed and recited by Paul Albert Jackson in 1997 or ‘96, we are unsure of the exact date. In any case we rehearsed it at our studio at 6th and Gilman in Berkeley and then recorded it further south in the East Bay. Rumours persist that a longer version exists, with even more dubby ska excitement, and possibly even more dialog, but we have not yet found it. I will add that playing SKA TREK on repeat is very satisfying, and by this means, the track can last as long as you want it to. All day, even. As pleasant sleep music perhaps, or space gardening.
I now enter the BCR PodCATs studio, to make a new episode including some of the above. I recently happened to listen to this episode - https://berkeley-cat-records-podcats.simplecast.com/episodes/donkeyfish-idiom-rockfish-and-limousine-lifepods, and it turns out to be one of my favorites. Each of the episodes there, and these mewsletter posts, and indeed the records I record or release, all constitute a journal, of sorts. A record of where I am and where I’ve been, creatively and otherwise. A sort of, I WAS HERE! statement, at each point where I do find time to make something, and I often learn from the process. Sometimes hearing something I made or helped make a while back (or a long while as in SKA TREK!), can be a joy and a surprise. Like, “Hey, that came out really well!” The opposite can happen too, and that’s a risk one takes. I’ve said before, you can’t make your second record ‘til you make your first one. Same is true for anything, I think. Novels, movies, blog posts. Making things is fun.
I’ll get on my SOAPBOX for a minute and say TELLING AN AI-GENERATOR THINGY TO MAKE SOMETHING FOR YOU IS NOT THE SAME AS MAKING SOMETHING!! I’m annoyed by the tsunami of AI-generated slop. I’ve also found one AI chatbot to be a useful assistant for troubleshooting code, so I don’t dismiss Ai’s general potential value at all. Let’s just don’t be lazy with it, keep our intentions in the foreground. And also remember that it eats electricity, and that heats the planet, and that’s unfortunate especially if the output is garbage, as a majority of AI-generated web content is. Did I say “content?” Oh we have a song for that, yes we do! A whole album. CONTENT by Eric Din. We, I, made that organically, one might say, recording a track at a time and then mixing it. Lots of technology behind that, miracles of technology, really, that I can have a full recording studio of the sort that used to cost millions of dollars and take up a huge amount of space, very affordably and in a corner of my literal bedroom. I still hire actual studios occasionally to record live drums or an actual band, as I did with FAVES recently, and in all cases I enjoy the processes of creating and sharing and learning from it all. What is to be learned if one becomes a passive passenger on that journey, simply telling a high-powered generator of ones and zeros to vomit up an amalgamation of other peoples’ work? I hope it’s an unfortunate, passing trend, but I am entirely unsure of where that all is going.
I’ll get off my /SOAPBOX now. I remain curious. As the kid in SKA TREK asks,
“Where are we going?”
The answer is out there. https://berkeleycatrecords.com/ska-trek-by-stiff-richards-now-streaming-throughout-the-universe/
All best,
Eric Din
Berkeley Cat Records Organic Record Gardener In Chief (ORGIC)
