Meditation Objects, Supplements, and Sequences (MOSS) Vol. II [RGMS-012]

RGMS-012

Released January 17, 2022

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Musings: Somewhere in between background noise and a symphony, in between the ocean and your open vein… an object, or new furniture of sorts – a supplement, which opens the room for the breeze to come in – a sequence, guiding you through new land. Straddling the four cardinal directions, earthly meditations, to dive deep into the waters of the unconscious, in search of the eternal flame, glowing like a scarlet lotus on the ocean’s floor, oh to breathe in the depths through consummated eucharist in harmony with the logos. Moss, the great mother, welcomes us unto it to soothe our wounds, then gently guide us back towards the path. Here we are, taking a moment to lay in its bed, amidst a journey which fractures into ten thousand directions, spiraling always towards the mandate of the heart. 

Meditation Objects, Supplements, and Sequences or MOSS, is a curated collaborative album from members of rgms consisting of tracks designed for meditation. This album was inspired in response to the seemingly rather monotonous tone of most meditation music found online today. Here, the aim is to explore a wide variety of states of being possible within the meditative posture. Herein, we have tracks, which lilt us in a gentle state of at onement, others which guide us through strange lands and circular quests, yet others still which take us to that part of ourselves we have not visited in a while, and while our initial urge may be to resist, the vibrations coax us to stay and have a look around for a little while, until we might find this once unfavorable place not at all too unbecoming.

Tracklist: 

MOSS #9: Subversion of Feedback (Aaron Stearns)

MOSS #10: Morning Walk (Chris Chraca)

MOSS #11: Säännös (Timo Pehkonen)

MOSS #12: A Cloudless Rain (Davis Connors)

MOSS #13: The Anchor Dragged Across the Sand (Noah Rosa) 

MOSS #14: A Blue Fire (Iminah Kani)

MOSS #15: Ousers (Dexter Dine)

MOSS #16: A Mercurial Liminality (Sean Kiley) 

MOSS #17: are we not on less, concrete shores? (James Layton)

MOSS #18: Dying Fly (Sampson Hollander)

MOSS #19: In the Backwoods on a Cool Summer Day (Natalie Dzbik)

MOSS #20: Streaming from a Hollow Top (Ben Kinsinger)

MOSS will be an ongoing series, which aims at exploring the breadth of meditative experiences possible within sonic environments. Volume I explored a more atomized realm produced by 8 members of rgms. This volume served as an opportunity for the artist to begin to articulate their own personal musical language of meditation. Here, with Volume II rgms strives towards developing a cohesive whole, in lieu of the individual ca. 10-12 minute experiences produced for Volume I. Volume II is a sonic journey from Human Sounds - anything man-made (machinery, bodily, cars, tools, breath, speaking ((non-communicative), etc.)) to Non-Human Sounds - anything in nature, which takes place without the influence of humans (ocean, river, birds, wind, trees, etc.) This journey then from Human Sounds to Non-Human Sounds takes place over the course of the whole album.

RGMS End of Year Retrospective: 2021

There’s something special in the end of the year, marked first by the winter solstice. Each passing year it grows more dear, with a deeper connection to the past.

Striving to understand this sentiment, even though it evades definition and explanation, I tend to think of what this season meant to our ancestors. There was a serious reverence for the season – after all, life was not guaranteed. Life was tough, and winter tougher. Death was a possibility.

RGMS 2021 End of Year Retrospective Playlist

Community strengthened in feast and spirit wasn’t simply for fun. These rituals, while religious, were deliberate and focused on survival. There was an importance of sustaining through the worst - from the passing of one year, to the rebirth of the next. A transitory period adorned in myth. This kind of survival, however, was not merely a clinging to life as we may think of the word today, for the etymology reveals it was rather a celebration of ‘supervivere’ or ‘super-life’. Thus, survival was a form of venerating not only life, but the gods and goddesses, and the prima materia, which made life possible and allowed to the potential of life beyond sheer being.

The days were soon to get longer, but winter – cold and snow – would continue for months to come. Celebration was in order, but was constrained by the bounds of this unforgiving winter…best to not venture too far away from home, especially during the brutal winter night, when one could be whisked away by the wild hunt.

Today we seem to take such past experiences for granted, yet this deep spiritual yearning persists. Old myths are co-opted by modern culture, but not acutely understood.

The myths surround us. RGMS aims to understand this modern world, the ancient past, and the synthesis of new mythology to come, asking how we may breathe new life into the experiences of being through ritual, through sound, and through the sowing of such deeper understanding. The opportunities are endless, a search for meaning lasting a lifetime – RGMS enters its second year end retrospective making sense of these unconscious artifacts. Year after year, layer after layer, we look forward to what is revealed.


RGMS presents a collection of 2021 works apart of our Year End Retrospective:

RGMS Works in 2021 - 

MUSIC RELEASES

[RGMS-008] these memories are not my own, they're borrowed from my past (-2,-1)

[RGMS-009] Music for Sine Waves II (-2,2)

[RGMS-010] Solétudes (1, 2)

[RGMS-011] Sine Wave EXP No. 1 (-2, 3)



PODCASTS

EP#1 - The Meaning Behind RGMS

EP#2 - Empiricism of Music

EP#3 - Mythology in the RGMS



RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

5. The Way of Apollo and Dionysus in the RGMS

6. Archetypes of Music

7. 'Morning Bells' Reviewed by TVC

8. Towards More Objective Translations for a Non-Synesthesiac: Light to Sound

9. Ritual Engagement with Music

OTHER POSTS

Symbolism and the Cathedral (Newsletter #1)

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