The great decline

I’m not sure what to say anymore. Any time I try to explain, I just fall short. It’s like I need to invent a new language to express this confusion.

Because words just aren’t cutting it anymore.

Nothing is.

And then, every so often, like a gift from the universe, a piece of music comes along that completely sums up everything you are thinking.

And often the music has no words.

It’s the feeling it gives.

It says it all without saying anything.

And then you realise that music is the universal language, and you are not alone.

There are others out there who share your confusement.

I recently came across a series of albums by an artist known as ‘The Caretaker’.

It’s a series of six albums, using tape loops of old dancehall music that gradually gets more-and-more surreal as the albums progress.

Titled ‘Everywhere at the End of Time’, it portrays someone who is gradually losing their mind, with each album representing different stages of their decline.

It’s almost seven hours long.

It starts off pleasant enough, but bit-by-bit, it loses its grip on reality, and by the end of the final album, it’s just white noise and static.

Hard to find this rarity on vinyl without a heavy price tag attached, but I recently managed to acquire a copy of the complete set.

It kind of reminded me of a copy of the Beatles’ ‘White Album’ that I also own.

It’s a version that was made by artist, Ruthford Chang, who is an avid collector of white albums.

He has hundreds, if not thousands, of copies of this album, which puts to shame my mere 36 copies (and counting).

He even opened a high-end art gallery in New York displaying all of them.

On this particular record he made, he plays 100 copies of the album simultaneously.

Again, this starts off pleasant enough, but with each copy being somewhat unique – some of them are warped, some of them skip, some of them are different pressings from around the world and contain different length gaps between the songs etc – it gradually becomes more-and-more disjointed.

By the end of the album, it’s like you are stuck inside a nightmare.

I recall sneaking this album on at a party once.

Of course nobody batted an eyelid at the start, and thought they were listening to the ‘White Album’.

But as the record continued to play, the atmosphere at the party slowly became more and more surreal and nobody quite knew why.

They forgot what they were listening to.

It got eerie as the background music seeped into the subconscious, and influenced the entire mood of the room.

You should try it some time at your next gathering.

Or sneak it onto the playlist at the next birthday party.

Put the needle on, and then just sit back and watch as the dream slowly morphs to a nightmare.

Crack open a beer and be content with the vibe you have just created.

Now everybody feels exactly like you do.

Complete confusion.