- "peripatetic-IPA".
peripatetic
2010 - 2017
peripatetic
/perɪpəˈtetɪk/
associated with walking or traveling from place to place, especially in the context of intellectual pursuit or teaching.
My sixth septennial - a restless flight,
a nomad’s tale, through cultures bright.
In pauses brief, my music roared,
and with each chord - my peace restored.
EXPLORE: VI. peripatetic
The 6th septennial was a time of constant movement, both physically and metaphorically. I became a nomad, journeying across the old world, soaking up an array of divergent cultures, thoughts, and lifestyles. Musical expression had to take a back seat amidst my relentless travels, but during those few stints of stillness, when I did temporarily pause, a torrent of creativity manifested, venting frustrations and disappointments I faced along the way. The resulting music bears testament to these tensions: it's raw, aggressive, and confrontational - a stark contrast to the mostly calm and tranquil soundscapes of yesteryears. The culmination of this era signifies not only a transition from a happy-go-lucky life, but also an integration of the past's free-spirited essence with a new-found appreciation for structure. I retained my internal compass, but began to also appreciate the guidance of a map.
LP #3
6
tracks
4
interludes
side A
original edition
ditipu prelude
PE hommage bootleg
wanderlust reprise
side B
RATM hommage bootleg
climacteric prelude
ODB hommage bootleg
ditipu aftermath segue
triseptennial exclusive
THE INSURGENT ORCHESTRA
Following a year of profound soul-stretching and indulgence in Asia, I resettled into the unchanged rhythm of my hometown. During the first couple of years, I was busy working on various IT projects in the wake of my successful mission for GTZ in Indonesia. I was also scheduled for an impromptu mission to Rwanda, but it was unfortunately canceled just days before my departure. Having already given up my apartment in Trnovlje, I needed a new place to stay. Rajko Vrečar, an old customer who had become a friend, generously offered me his old office/apartment in the old city center, and I moved there in 2012.
As I was setting up and retooling my new bedroom studio I stumbled upon the notorious Wikileaks video of a harrowing US airstrike.. witnessing the destruction wrought by drones while soldiers conducting the operation acted as if they were engaged in a video game, rather than human lives, deeply disturbed me. I felt compelled to talk about it, and act artistically.
While the general public was largely disinterested, I encountered some engagement among local artists. Yet, when I broached the idea of a collaborative artistic commentary, it quickly became apparent that most really cared only about leveraging collaboration to secure their own limelight. "Artists, who were supposed to turn the mirrors on society instead turned them on themselves, and it became.. a selfie.". Undeterred I pressed forward on my own, diving into conceptual research...
Upon re-examining iconic dystopian visions it dawned on me that what was truly unfolding was a blend of Orwellian and Huxlean prophecies - it wasn't just "a boot stamping on a human face", it was stamping on a numbed, self-consumed individual too captivated by his own reflection to even notice the world aflame, let alone care. This bizarre new reality, where people were rushing to procure the means of their surveillance themselves, where greatest apprehension became obscurity rather than tyranny, eluded everyone's foresight. Illuminating these concerning trends became my imperative.
Freakyleaks is the inaugural piece of my artistic guise The Insurgent Orchestra, born out of frustration with the increasing casual detachment of the world around me. Initiated under the conceptual framework named "George Huxley", it was initially intended for our trio, but with Gaši out of town only “two of many” could join forces. Dule’s harmonic enhancements helped ferment this new venture into a haunting auditory tableau centered around the audio from the Wikileaks footage. My focus was to establish a sonic dichotomy: haunting ethereal strings of the tormented, juxtaposed with the cold synthetic indifference of the aggressors. Iteration after iteration honed Freakyleaks - a musical representation of conflict and conscience, my personal statement against the backdrop of a world mostly too numb to notice.
fun fact:
The outro to Freakyleaks contains a sample of Donald Trump from his show "The Apprentice". As I was playing the demo to a bunch of my friends, somebody asked "Why'd you put this dumbass in?", to which I (prophetically) replied: "This dumbass will probably be the president one day.".
In the latter years of my sixth septennial, I got lured back to Asia, magnetized by an elusive business dream. I poured my whole self into this venture and invested gargantuan efforts in attempts to lift this underfunded startup off the ground, while optimistically turning a blind eye to constant red flags raised by my partner's behavior. This short interlude replays an early morning squabble that I happened to capture, which, albeit just one of many, is archetypal of the strained and contentious atmosphere around the house we all lived in. Twelve months into this fledgling venture everything ultimately unfurled, stranding me on the enchanted beaches of The island of gods.
The second phase of Insurgent Orchestra's creative output manifested in a year following my abrupt departure from "The House of Tujuh" [Ho7] venture, when I sought solace in creating new music. Despite Bali's serenity my new sketches bore a belligerent character reflective of my inner state. Directionless initially, the growing fervor in my experimentation led me back to the rhythms that sparked my teen years - the enduring respect for Public Enemy resulted in the first coherent new piece, a reinterpretation of their anthem Fight the Power. Although it marked an unusual departure from my previous work, I reveled in its creation, fueling me to delve deeper, reimagining more of their works.. With the crafting of Shut 'em down I elucidated this fresh sonic path, establishing the foundation of a new emerging project: Hommage bootlegs - a tribute to the artists of my formative years. I aimed to delve deeper into "remixing", but having always been partial to holistic reshaping, one that transcends mere tinkering around the edges, I completely cast aside the original blueprints. I imagined having Chuck D and Flavor Flav right there in my improvised "kos-kosan studio", while I constructed a new sonic world for their voices.
This interlude juxtaposes the original draft from which Freakyleaks evolved w/ an ambiance from my wanderlust years, when I was constantly traveling, hanging around airports and getting on planes on an almost weekly basis. As the original concept for "The tactics of terror" was aimed more narrowly at the political/business side of the troubling trends, its draft includes a "musical hint" - it incorporates the iconic bassline from For the love of money, made famous by Donald Trump's show "The Apprentice".
After tackling sonorities of Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, and Cypress Hill, I found myself wanting to diversify and step out of the hip-hop genre. I dipped into experimenting with tracks from Soundgarden and Prince, yet struggled to fold them into the sound I had crafted through earlier bootlegs and wanted to maintain for this project. Search for a suitable source took quite a while, with several lukewarm candidates along the way I wasn't completely thrilled about, however, when I stumbled upon the acapella from Rage Against the Machine I instantly felt it was the right choice - it had been a staple track during my younger years, so the chance to reinterpret it in my own style was too exciting to pass.
fun fact:
The acapella I found and used was the "PG" version, that omits the f word. I hated that, but since I couldn't find the uncensored version, I decided to weave in audio from a YT video of Zach screaming it in a megaphone at a rally, which became a seamless intro and outro of this track.
The final bootleg of the series marks a departure from its predecessors, its creation stemming not from the chaos and turbulence that had previously fueled my creative outbursts, but from a sense of liberation and joy that washed over me as I finally emerged from a long period of uncertainty. It was a time when my path ahead finally became clear, and all that remained was to set forth on an exciting new career promising stability, while whispering adventures anew.
Crafted during my last couple of months in Bali in 2017, this piece symbolizes a turning point, and is a jubilant tribute to finding a way forward amidst bleak adversity. I was finally able to "shimmy" my worries off, and felt utterly extatic.. I was "off on a natural charge, bon-voyage!", as in the immortal words of Ol' Dirty Bastard himself.
fun fact:
I made a video for it by reworking footage of the original. It was available on YouTube for a while, and garnered a substantial amount of views, until Warner Bros claimed copyright infringement and had it taken down. There was a hilarious comment on it, saying: "omg. he turned ODB into a dance sensation. I'm horrified, but can't stop dancing!".
A flashback to the night my Ho7 venture in Bali came to an abrupt end.. I was out celebrating a deal we made w/ a renowned international outfit that secured further survival of our struggling startup. My joyful disposition gave way to utter disbelief when I returned to the house we lived in, and found I am unable to unlock the gate.. it was midnight, the house was dark, seemingly vacant, and my "partners" wouldn't answer their phones. With all my possessions trapped in the house, and mere change in my pocket, I sought help from a local friend, who asked me to meet her at a beach in Seminyak. I rushed over and as I stood on the shoreline, the gentle clink of gamelan bells from a nearby temple mixed with the crashing of the waves, creating a strangely surreal and eerie atmosphere, underlined by the unsettling uncertainty of not knowing where I'd sleep that night, nor what the immediate future holds.. having invested literally everything in this venture, I didn't even have the means to return home. I was stranded, marooned on the shores of The island of gods.
[ marooned and The island of gods are so tightly integrated that they can't be effectively separated ]
The island of gods can be considered an outlier, since it only came to life during the production of Triseptennial, albeit originating from a chord progression I devised just a few weeks after the Ho7 incident. In creating it I aimed to capture the nauseating inner strife I was experiencing, deliberately steering clear of establishing a tonal center, to convey my sense of disorientation following the ordeal. While this peculiar harmonic sequence stood well on its own, I wasn't in a favorable state of mind to elucidate it in an arrangement at the time, so it ended up in my digital scrapheap. As I was reviewing and picking pieces for Triseptennial I rediscovered it, loved its unusual tensions, and felt it embodies a very significant inflection point that warrants inclusion. Initially, I only wanted to include it as a short interlude, but as I was looking for a suitable sound, I realized it "needs" an orchestra to properly carry it. Then, as always, my typical creative scope-creep took hold, and I ended up developing a full track, molding it into a form it feels like it was predestined to take.
Many thanks to all who made The Insurgent Orchestra possible through their support during periods of tumult, in particular my tolerant landlords Rajko Vrečar and Nyoman Sutrawan, Peter Planinšek, Uroš Lesjak, David Raček, Nenad Logar, Violeta and Senna Gobec, Dewinda Yudhiarti, Mišel Steharnik, Saša and Aneta Nestorović, Florijan Klovar, Anže Čater, Oto Kac.
