Neighbourhood Cosmology

     The research team of acoustic anthropologist AgentMX7 and visual ethnographer MYSTERYFORMS are commissioned off to the flood-drenched foothills of Del Monte, to conduct a series of studies on the indigenous communities co-habitating within the little-known post-colonial township of Neu Berg, as part of the ICS Cross-Cultural Immersion Invitational program (C2I2) to promote and cultivate awareness and empathy among tribes and nations of the far eastern subtropics.

     Phase I of this study centers around neo-tribal ritual and worship, as manifest in their music and art; their rhythms and tonalities, their visions and symbology.  This is no mere dance music, MX7 reports, this is consecrated ceremonial music played in their regular Sunday worship; played across gymnasiums and town plazas, blasting through military-grade soundsystems;  elders and children-alike partaking in this hallowed commune.

    ...This body of work, including painting, video, dance and sound design, is an exploration into parallel cultures and new realities; a home-made, ghetto cosmology based on and stemming from an intimate and personal spirituality. 

     Ancient truths are spoken in a new symbolic language of ritual, pattern, repetition, symmetry and geometry. Steeped in devotional vibrancy and dynamic self-surrender, theirs is a religion of chromatic self-cultivation that culminates in a frenzied fervour for the Divine and an uncleavable oneness with the Universe.

     Recently premiered at the East Richmond Cultural Centre as part of the annual Asiatic Heritage Exposition Fair, we now present the acoustic module of this important study -in its entirety- for public broadcast, to be followed by a comprehensive exhibition of our visual research in the weeks ahead.  All proceeds will go towards the perpetuation of the C2I2 program, as well as funding for a return trip home for MX7 and MYSTERYFORMS.

...in honour and invocation of the One who soon cometh...

A Patient Transit

 

     MYSTERYSEVEN, in conjunction with ICS, officially inaugurates the public broadcast and civic archiving of their fourth micro-album catalogue release, A Patient Transit.

     Since the last information dispatch, ICS issues a tactical maneouver by instating a surprise third element to the new MX7 and M.L. Navajo team : J. Monteiro Jr, lead chair of the ICS Youth Promotion Board.  "This trio combination is designed to incorporate and effectively test the ICS principle of sound introspection within the context of everyday living," ICS' Noveloso explains,

     "Taking MYSTERYSEVEN and ICS research studies out of the relatively controlled academic intellectual environment is a necessary step in its development; entailing an awareness and embracing of  our present living conditions as a more complete field of growth and study.  We feel the MX7-Navajo-Monteiro combination will facilitate this move towards a broader,  more integrated understanding."

     "In many respects this undertaking is a return to Square One," MX7 comments, "It is having to re-evaluate and re-learn all our previous findings in a new context; in a new light.  A Patient Transit is all about that;  this is our initial attempt:  hits, misses, stumbles and hiccups, all inclusive."

 

addendum : MYSTERYSEVEN has established a cooperative with the ICS Arts Crafts and Livelihood Program for Cultivated Living with the aim of gathering resources and funds to build a self-sufficient and self-sustaining operation.  In addition to establishing several buko juice stands in campus, the program will be setting up all current and subsequent MYSTERYSEVEN releases for digital dissemination online.  Obtain your digital facsimile of A Patient Transit here.  Thank you for your kind support.

Sitting Silently At Your Door

     MX7 returns from an extended tour of duty in the subtropics and is promptly directed by MYSTERYSEVEN to set up a new satellite workshop outside university grounds.  Furtively tucked away in an undisclosed marshland sector of South East Richmond, AQUABOOGIE studios is initiated.

     Along with establishing the new workspace, MX7 experiments with a new instrument signal routing configuration, coupled with the prerequisite internal circuit flow re-calibration to complete the overhaul process; all this as MX7 silently awaits and prepares for the next MYSTERYSEVEN project directive.

     And yet it is during this crucial interim that Sitting Silently At Your Door is made manifest.  What begins as a small series of test signals and tone equations, unknowingly synthesizes into a collection that is to be the second MX7 micro-album and third MYSTERYSEVEN official release.

     "Sitting Silently is about the In-Between, the Neutral Space, the Unmoving Field that upholds all," MX7 confides.  "It is about the Interval, the Meanwhile, the Gestation, and the quiet trust and discipline required to sustain oneself during this uncertain yet essential, fundamental period of development."  Listen up, this is the Nowhere Now Here Sound.

Sitting Silently At Your Door by MYSTERYSEVEN

ResetMechanism test results

     In the late 70's Professor W. E. Collins of PBS, a pioneering specialist in Pacemakers, approached the fledgling  MYSTERYSEVEN with a collaboration proposal: the challenge was to design what is essentially an Automated Self-Correction Device which will be made freely available and distributed to the public through local clinics and health care centres.

     At a press conference Prof. Collins expounds,  "Generally humans have a built-in mechanism that alerts us of physical imbalances, errors and potential danger. The alarm once triggered, sets off a series of automatic adjustments and commands necessary to correct the imbalance and consequently avert bodily harm."

     "Take, for example, touching a hot stove: the hand senses the sudden jump in temperature caused by intense heat, then sends an alert signal to the central nervous system, which in turn signals a command to immediately pull the hand away from the heat source; a burn is thus prevented, equilibrium is restored."

     "The same auto correction system, however, does not seem to exist when it comes to the metaphysical and spiritual aspects of our being; or if it does exist, then we seem to have lost all awareness or control of such an integral faculty.  It is our intention, therefore, to aid this deficiency by designing and fabricating an internal reset mechanism that can be self administered to restore internal equanimity instantaneously."

     A prototype model has since been built and is currently in beta testing.  Its usage has been limited to a select control group and a few experimental case studies, yielding promising results. Widespread distribution remains on hold, awaiting the final approval from the Regional Healthcare Assembly. Presented here is the complete recorded study of the Reset Mechanism in its 2nd edition, made publicly available for non-commercial research and reference study.

ResetMechanism by MYSTERYSEVEN

VIGILANCE ALERT!

     In 1982 MYSTERYSEVEN acquires their first educational instrument for their electrosonic studies program, the more commercially economical little brother of "the Prophet", the beloved Sequential Circuits Pro-One.

     Being made available to a wider public at a substantially more affordable price, the Pro One is quickly adopted by MYSTERYSEVEN as their primary tool for experimentation.

     Vigilance Alert! signifies MYSTERYSEVEN's initial breakthrough in the field of synthesized music architecture.  Continued experiments and testing with the Pro-One's basic and rather limited on-board sequencer has nevertheless yielded this rich, complex, yet satisfyingly RAW inter-locking pattern of tones and textures.

     In a quickly hand-written log book entry dated at the time of this initial discovery, the emphatic words "WAKE YO ASS UP!!!" tellingly sums up the overall feel and function of this wonderful piece.

     The controversy that ensued due to its seemingly unfinished and incomplete nature was immediately squashed when the piece was played in full splendour at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Planetarium; no further questions.

VigilanceAlert! by MYSTERYSEVEN