#Arkhaven INFOGALACTIC #Castalia House
Doesn’t it look as if we’re going to inflict a disturbing amount of REM, U2, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on our poor drive-time listeners?
And of course it’s not a morning show. I don’t do mornings. It’s a 4-7 PM show on the East Coast, 1-4 PM on the West Coast, and midnight in Europe. Subscribe to UATV and join the chat there… soon with superchats!
I’ve been working a bit on the next Soulsigma album, which is going to be entitled BYRONICS and will consist entirely of songs based on the poetry of George Gordon Byron, better known as Lord Byron. And while I’m not playing any of the album songs publicly or putting them up on UATV now, I have been playing a few of the experiments that didn’t make the cut on the Darkstream.
THE FATAL KISS is a song based on EUTHANASIA, which is one of Byron’s less-known, but more intense poems. It is mordant, obviously, but for some reason, it reminds me of Plato and The Death of Socrates, in which the philosopher wonders why anyone should fear something akin to the best night of sleep one has ever known.
Then lonely be my latest hour,
Without regret, without a groan;
For thousands Death hath ceased to lower,
And pain been transient or unknown.
“Aye but to die, and go,” alas!
Where all have gone, and all must go!
To be the nothing that I was
Ere born to life and living woe!
Count o’er the joys thine hours have seen,
Count o’er thy days from anguish free,
And know, whatever thou hast been,
‘Tis something better not to be.
Now that is a wordsmith! In any event, a UATV subscriber requested this one be added to what is now a 46-song music library available for listening and downloading to subscribers.
I’m 49 and Australian. Without any shadow of doubt, this singular Owen and Vox conversation was more intellectually charged than anything our local media had thrown up in my entire lifetime.
High praise indeed. If you haven’t resubscribed yet, this is the time to do so, unless you’re outside the USA, in which case you’ll need to wait two more weeks. My current streaming schedule:
I plan to keep to this schedule over the summer as we work to rebuild the subscriber base. And I haven’t forgotten about the Taiwan Invasion analysis; I will give everyone a heads-up before I stream that one.
On last night’s Darkstream I provided some examples of what is possible with the new Suno 4.5 system. It’s definitely an improvement, especially in terms of vocal quality and overall audio quality, and it does a much better job of sticking to the lyrics. Probably the most useful change is that the initial song limit is now 8 minutes, which means that it won’t keep cropping fully-outlined songs short and requiring an extension, although it still can’t do short extensions to simply end a song very well and the Replace Section editor appears to have its selection timing off by a few microseconds.
What impressed me most was the way it finally let me finish SIDDHARTHA in the way I wanted, as no amount of previous extensions and remasterings using 3.0, 3.5, or 4.0 succeeded in producing what I was looking to do. However, 4.5 allowed me to turn out a beautiful five-minute song that combines David Sylvian and Enigma with Herman Hesse, and it turned out so well that I intend to construct a full album around it once I finish the Byronics project this summer. But in the meantime, UATV subscribers can listen to it in higher-quality than any of the audio streaming services provide.
Speaking of UATV subscriptions, this is the right time to get on board with the new subscription-and-payment system if you haven’t started the process yet. I’ve also got the Darkstream up-to-date, and we’ll get Arkhaven Nights caught up sometime next week.
The new UATV payment system is now live for subscribers. Credit cards are no longer necessary. Instructions on the UATV stack.
The second bonus track for THE ONLY SKULL album was released today, courtesy of the Soulsigma backers. A MERCILESS NIGHT was mastered by the same audio engineer who mastered the previous 12 tracks, so the heavy guitars are even crisper now. It’s available on UATV, on all the usual music platforms, and on YouTube.
Unauthorized has been deplatformed again from a payment processor. Out of the blue and we had been very careful and cautious.
It’s a bummer but I’ve been doing this a long time. You people are the real treasure not some algorithm or some green paper with runes on them. We will find a way and it’s all a blessing.
And although it can feel demoralizing, to spend all year inching our way back from the last fire. All while we watch what is restricted. The poison, the lies. But in time we will look back at the blessing it is and have a deep laugh at what was revealed. Thanks for sticking with us. Onward to the good the true and the beautiful.
If you still needed proof that what we’re doing matters, the fact that Unauthorized has been deplatformed again for absolutely nothing at all should suffice to demonstrate that we are. Of course, there wasn’t even an accusation of anything specific, just an airy assertion of some metaphorical “violation of policy” that neither refers to a specific policy nor points out any actual violation.
And to add inept insult to injury, the button to request a review of the unjustified action did nothing but lead to a dead link.
There is no need for demoralization nor will any despair be entertained for even one second. This is not a surprise, we’ve been through this before, and we already have multiple alternatives that have been in the works for as long as three years, including some unusual ones that may surprise you a little. UATV will continue to operate uninterrupted and unchanged, the creators will continue to stream, more new videos, music, and audiobooks will continue to be uploaded, and we will come through this stronger than before, as we always do.
Conflict is in the air we breath. Conflict is the water through which we swim. It is conflict that makes us who and what we are.
We will keep you posted. For fastest and most regular updates, get a free subscription to the UATV substack.
The Ride Never Ends.
Nothing dramatic, actually. But tonight’s Darkstream will be a listening party for the new SOULSIGMA album release, so if you are interested, please stop by. And if you’re not interested, then please don’t because we will not be discussing JD Vance, Russia, the release of the Epstein Files, or anything even remotely related to current events.
Groove is in the heart. Beat is in the feet. Rhyme is in the head. Soul is in the spirit.
But bass is in the blood.
As you may or may not be aware, George Gordon Byron is one of my favorite poets. And his “Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed From a Skull” is my favorite poem that wasn’t written by a particular friend of mine, Dante, or A.A. Milne. And while it’s not well known, but I am actually a published poet, as I wrote a poem that was published in Bucknell University’s poetry journal when I was studying there.
Of course, as always seems to be the case, the combination of my talents with my iconoclasm not only caused the poem to be accepted for publication, but also caused half the staff to quit in protest after it was published. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…
In any event, I put the Byronic poem to restrained nu-metal, took the liberty of changing the two instances of “quaff” to drank/drink since it just didn’t work, put together a chorus that fit the context, used the final verse as a pseudo-chorus, and threw on a lyrical outro. The poem is well worth reading, and if you want to hear the musical version, you can hear The Only Skull on UATV. When I put the album out in the spring, this will definitely be on it.
Start not—nor deem my spirit fled:
In me behold the only skull
From which unlike a living head,
Whatever flows is never dull.
I lived, I loved, I drank like thee;
I died, let earth my bones resign:
Fill up thou canst not injure me;
The worm hath fouler lips than thine.
Why not? Life is rapid sped.
Why not? Nothing’s left unsaid.
Why not? Will you rest instead?
Why not come and revel with the dead!
Better to hold the sparkling grape
Than nurse the earthworm’s slimy brood,
And circle in the goblet’s shape
The drink of gods than reptile’s food.
Where once my wit, perchance, hath shown,
In aid of others’ let me shine;
And when, alas! our brains are gone,
What nobler substitute than wine?
Why not? Life is rapid sped.
Why not? Nothing’s left unsaid.
Why not? Will you rest instead?
Why not come and revel with the dead!
Drink while thou canst; another race,
When thou and thine like me are sped,
May rescue thee from earth’s embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.
Why not—since through life’s little day
Our heads such sad effects produce?
Redeemed from worms and wasting clay,
This chance is theirs to be of use.
Drink while thou canst; another race,
When thou and thine like me are sped,
May rescue thee from earth’s embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.
Now rhyme and revel,
Rhyme and revel,
Why—not rhyme and revel?
Rhyme and revel with the dead!