DEAD CAN DANCE

[piotraz]

26.10.2022 Filharmonia Bałtycka

[ŚWIAT BEZ KOŃCA]

To ciekawe ze w ciagu 5 miesiecy 2 razy nas odwiedza. Bilety mam od dwoch lat... moze w koncu 5 maja sie uda.

[trup]

Nowy termin! Trzeba odwiedzić Filharmonię Bałtycką.

[ŚWIAT BEZ KOŃCA]

Przeciez brudasy I hipstery nie sluchaly nigdy Dead Can Dance to skad mogly wiedziec.

Rzadko kiedy w historii trafiają się zdania tak nieprawdziwe

[ŚWIAT BEZ KOŃCA]

WIELU WIE, ŻE VARG SŁUCHAŁ DEAD CAN DANCE W DRODZE BY ZABIĆ EURONYMOUSA. MAŁO KTO WIE, ŻE DEAD CAN DANCE GRAŁO NA ŻYWO W JEGO SAMOCHODZIE. WCZORAJ ZNOWU WYSTĄPILI RAZEM NA SCENIE.

[Sgt. Barnes]

Trasa i koncert w Polsce odwołane. Oświadczenie na ich stronie.

[ŚWIAT BEZ KOŃCA]

...miała być kolejna?

[Sgt. Barnes]

...miała być kolejna?

To chyba ta wcześniejsza, przełożona.

[ŚWIAT BEZ KOŃCA]

...miała być kolejna?

To chyba ta wcześniejsza, przełożona.

Ale ja na niej byłem w Łodzi. To nie byli oni?

[trup]

To było Stare Dobre Małżeństwo.
Też byłem.

[Sgt. Barnes]

Ależ ta płyta to jest kosa, nic, a nic się nie zestarzała, zachodzę w głowę jak tak młodzi ludzie (Lisa 26, Brendan dwa lata starszy) mogli mieć taką wrażliwość i muzyczną wyobraźnię, to się po prostu nie mieści w głowie
A Dawn of the Iconoclast to dla mnie...oczyma wyobraźni widzę Anioła Śmierci zwiastującego koniec świata...
Ciary...

[Sgt. Barnes]

Tu odrzut z tej niezwykłej płyty:

[Sgt. Barnes]

Sympatyczny wywiad, i ta stylowa czapeczka Lisy Brendan pokazuje, że ma jednak fajne poczucie humoru
I jest trochę o metalu...

[tommek]

[Sgt. Barnes]

Our Day Will Come” jest dedykowany wspólnym aspiracjom narodowym narodów irlandzkiego i palestyńskiego. Tytuł piosenki jest bezpośrednim odniesieniem i tłumaczeniem tradycyjnego irlandzkiego republikańskiego hasła „Tiocfaidh ár lá”. To slogan, który oddaje aspiracje Irlandczyków i ich wspólną wizję zjednoczonej Irlandii wolnej od zagranicznych rządów kolonialnych. W obliczu przerażającego, trwającego ludobójstwa w Palestynie solidarność między naszymi narodami nigdy nie była silniejsza.

Równocześnie z premierą singla zespół ogłosił zmianę strategii wydawniczej. Nowa muzyka nie będzie trafiać na platformy streamingowe. Utwory będą publikowane wyłącznie za pośrednictwem własnej wytwórni Holy Tongue oraz serwisu Bandcamp. Jak podkreślili muzycy:

Postanowiliśmy przestać wspierać platformy streamingowe, które nadal wykorzystują artystów i promują muzykę generowaną przez sztuczną inteligencję.

Zespół zapowiedział także, że „Our Day Will Come” to pierwszy z serii singli, które będą ukazywać się co miesiąc.

[Sgt. Barnes]

Coś się za bardzo Brendan nie wysila w tych nowych kawałkach. Gdzie jest Lisa?!

[trup]

Bliżej tym utworom do solowego tworzywa Brendana. Nie jest to jego najlepszy czas, ale duch ciągle jest. Brak Lisy też mnie martwi. Nie ma co dywagować i snuć teorie... Mam nadzieję, że utwory z Diwą pojawią się później.

[Żwirek i Muchomorek]

Był jakiś czas temu (w zeszłym roku) duży wywiad z Brendanem na youtube, z którego wynikało, że Lisa dała sobie siana z DCD z powodu, jeśli dobrze pamiętam, konfliktów artystycznych, a Brendan zamierzał doprowadzić kolejny album, zatytułowany "Apollo", do publikacji pod swoim solowym szyldem. Cała koncepcja musiała się jednak w międzyczasie chyba zmienić, ale czy te singlowe kawałki to jest Apollo czy coś innego, to nie wiem.

[WAROL_KOJTYLA]

Postanowiliśmy przestać wspierać platformy streamingowe, które nadal wykorzystują artystów i promują muzykę generowaną przez sztuczną inteligencję.

Kotynuując myśl, pan Brendan postanowił przestać wspierać ilustratorów, bo po co płacić grafikowi za projekt okładki skoro samemu można ją wygenerować w 5 sekund w chatgpt

[trup]

Postanowiliśmy przestać wspierać platformy streamingowe, które nadal wykorzystują artystów i promują muzykę generowaną przez sztuczną inteligencję.

Kotynuując myśl, pan Brendan postanowił przestać wspierać ilustratorów, bo po co płacić grafikowi za projekt okładki skoro samemu można ją wygenerować w 5 sekund w chatgpt

Brendan to dokładnie wyjaśnił. Nie żaden chat i nie w 5 sekund. I nie przestał wspierać. A więc nic się nie zgadza.
Co do platform streamingowych to elegancka decyzja i ruch. Bandcamp, bdb platforma dotychczas. Też uważam, że większość to pasożyty, a Bandcamp ma do tej pory bdb zasady.

THE PROCESS : AND WHY AI IS A VALID CREATIVE TOOL

My first serious profession before performing and writing music was as a photoengraver for a daily newspaper in Auckland, New Zealand. My work involved taking an existing photograph and then converting it onto an acid etched metal plate that could then be used to print that photograph. When we signed to 4AD Records I was thrilled to see that 23 Envelope had a PMT (Photo Mechanical Transfer) machine similar to the one that I had used at the Auckland Star newspaper. Vaughan Oliver, the designer in chief at 23 Envelope, generously allowed me full use of this machine so that I could create the unique typography, band logo and design for the front cover of our debut album. The image of the mask from Papua New Guinea was something that I had previously kept for a number of years for a possible future record sleeve and that day had finally arrived with the release of our eponymous album.

My personal ethos with regard to record sleeve design has remained more or less unchanged over the years. It is simply that the images should always try to convey a visual symbolic bridge for the musical content and lyrics. It therefore follows that the images meaning cannot be fully appreciated until one has actually listened to the music and understood the lyrics. They are in effect symbiotically conjoined artforms after all within the medium of music production. With respect to the debut album cover I wanted to link the artwork directly to the conceptual meaning of the name ‘Dead Can Dance’ as this would serve to be the foundation for all future releases.

The act of transformation is central to the human creative process and often involves the transmutation of objects and materials from states of perceived in-animacy into re-animated artworks. Consider for example the wood from a tree that has been crafted into a ritual ceremonial mask, the skin from an animal stretched across a wooden drum or the femur bone of a human crafted into a flute like musical instrument. These materials all previously existed in a separate natural state and then underwent a transformative death before being crafted into new creations by the artist, alchemist or shaman. The observation of these universal creative processes led me to adopt the name of Dead Can Dance for my own personal work. A poetic rendering if you will, symbolising the transformative process, a renewed life from dormancy and an affirmation of the eternal life-force beating at the very heart of all matter - the atomic dance of atoms.

For our next release ‘In the Garden of the Arcane Delights’ I was unable to find a pre-existing suitable image that could convey the esoteric symbolism of the lyrics so I decided to put pen to paper once again but this time to make an illustration that would best convey the vision that I had in mind. Unfortunately this time Vaughan Oliver was far less generous and took it upon himself to try and block the use of this artwork for our next scheduled release. Citing that this artwork was inferior and not in keeping with the 4AD/23 Envelope design ethos. A meeting was subsequently called to discuss the issue whereupon I informed them that if we could not use my original artwork then we would have no choice but to leave 4AD. Our own individual identity was far more important to us than allowing us to become yet another design opportunity for 23 Envelope. 4AD subsequently backed down and eventually agreed to the use of this artwork.

For ‘Spleen and Ideal’ Vaughan made a point of trying to steer us toward choosing an image from a selection of photographer’s portfolios that were in his possession. One image immediately caught my eye. A photograph by Colin Gray of a semi demolished factory with a statuesque red cloaked figure holding a broken star. It looked very cold war iconographically but none the less perfectly conveyed the symbolism of Baudelaire’s vision of conflicting forces, ‘spleen et ideal’ - despite mankinds best efforts we can never seem to be able to achieve the ideal that is constantly being undermined by our collective selfishness and moral decay.

Once again under the spell of Fin de Siecle French symbolist and decadent art and literature, the album ‘Within the Realm of a Dying Sun’ was born. I had visited Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris on numerous occasions and came across a book titled ‘Funeraires’ dedicated to European tombs and grave sculptures. Amongst the photographs was one taken of the Raspail family tomb by Bernard Oudin. It captured perfectly the mood of a mourning figure in the fading light of a setting sun. The draped figure also perhaps serving as a gatekeeper to an imagined afterlife or otherworld. I also stood my ground and resisted efforts to include our name and title on the cover as I felt that it would disturb the meditational stillness of the image and would somehow dilute its power.

For the next release ’The Serpent’s Egg’ I once again collaborated with Vaughan Oliver, but this time providing the cover image of a satellite aerial photograph of a tributary of the Amazon. This album was more or less a collection of works, the majority of which had been recorded in our small council flat on the Isle of Dogs. We were in effect in transition as we had managed to persuade 4AD to give us the remaining recording budget to invest in our own personal studio. There were no over arching musical themes as such so this cover is probably the most abstract of all our cover designs in relation to the music. The title ‘The Serpent’s Egg’ was borrowed from Ingmar Bergman’s movie of the same name.
T
he cover image for ‘Aion’ was once again found in an artbook in my possession. A detail from the Hieronymous Bosch painting ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’. The image of a man and woman suspended in a transparent womb like bubble struck a chord. To use this image was to simultaneously infer that this represented both myself and Lisa transported back in time to an epoch that in turn had inspired the music for this album. An epoch that spanned from the Troubador period right up to the late Renaissance. The painting was in the possession of the Prado in Madrid, together with many other Bosch paintings, so it was just a small matter of obtaining just written permission to use.

‘Into the Labyrinth’ signalled the beginning of a fruitful period of collaboration with Chris Biggs of v23 that included ’Toward the Within’, ’Spiritchaser’ and more recently my solo album ’Songs of Disenchantment’. When Chris showed me the photograph that we would eventually use for the cover it struck me as the perfect invitation to explore the contents. For me the image has two fold meaning; The childs hands grasping the adult hand, leading them through the darkness of the labyrinth and also the lines of the adult hand, symbolic of life’s maze like journey. Upon my very first meeting with Lisa she had read my palm so this had extra significance for the two of us. I also commisioned the Irish designer Ken Kavanagh to design the images for each individual song for the inner cover. Unfortunately many years later the cover photographer Touhami Ennadre reneged on his initial fee and agreement deciding to take us to a judiciary court in Paris. He tried to sue us for the ridiculous figure of one million euro and predictably lost but the court as a compromise ordered us to suspend all future use of his photograph. Greed unfortunately often leads to blindness.

For ‘Anastasis’ I used a photograph by an amateur Hungarian photographer named Zsolt Zsigmond that I had discovered on Pinterest, an excellent resource for images. Since a long period of time had elapsed since our previous release this album was in effect a rebirth for us. Hence the meaning of Anastasis - a renewal, resurrection, a raising up or standing again. The sunflowers are symbolic of this regenerative process and despite the fact that these plants are in a transitional phase their seeds will continue to generate life for years to come…. a naturally occuring resurrection.

‘Dionysus’ presented a wonderful opportunity to explore the rich visual tapestry of this enigmatic force of nature. I happened to have in my possession the Huichol mask which I had originally purchased at an arts and crafts market in Mexico City. The mask depicts peyote hallucinogenic mushrooms which are traditionally consumed in order to communicate with the god’s. This mind expanding union is represented by the exploding star symbol on the masks forehead. A perfect universal reference to Dionysus in his ‘liberator of minds’ form. For the design I took detailed photographs of the mask and then on the expanded special vinyl edition included sourced images that would illustrate each musical movement from Acts 1 & 2.

‘Our Day Will Come’ - this is the first in a series of songs to be released monthly throughout the coming year. For the entire series I will be using Midjourney and GIMP for both image creation and graphic layout respectively. I think some people are under the misguided impression that I am against all AI technology. On the contrary I am 100% behind any tools that can help manifest our creative imagination in a positive way. What I especially like about this technology is the ability to craft something that is uniquely nuanced to one’s personal vision and imagination. In my minds eye I saw a dystopian scene of thousands of graves stretching toward the distant horizon. A re-imagined Gaza as it currently exists with tens of thousands of dead innocent victims entombed beneath the rubble. Through the centre a solitary road leads toward the distant horizon, symbolic of the journey that must be taken. Sadly for many that road symbolizes the narrow way, the route of migration away from the stolen land once called home. Ironically in most cases the immediate result of an enforced and violent ‘Exodus’. Is the sun setting or is the sun rising on this scene? I will let you decide, but for me it is an eternal dawn that brings hope for a better world and justice for the future. Hopefully it will be a mutually shared ‘Right of Return’.

I do not normally feel the need to have to explain why I use the images I do, preferring to leave that up to the music afficionados amongst you to evaluate. But because of the furore and unfair criticism levelled at my artwork for ’Our Day Will Come’ I felt it necessary to respond and explain my process to the uninitiated. What I find most irritating is when people have obviously made zero effort to understand the nature of the work beyond a superficial perusal with the eyeballs. I understand and know from experience that many people seem to have a blind spot when it comes to the appreciation of lyrics and consequently will never make the connection between word and image. That is sadly their loss. Some people even went to the trouble of using application scanners to confirm that the image was 99% AI generated, implying that the remaining 1% was achieved by just merely pressing a button. It’s plainly obvious that these ‘art’ critics have no idea what AI tools are capable of producing under the creative guidance of a real human being. These tools should be viewed as a means to an end and not as an end to a means. Without true human participation it becomes merely a disposable generic menu driven medium.

I will just finish my post by stating that the use of AI that I had previously referred to as damaging to our profession (and in hindsight probably should have elaborated upon in more depth) is the kind of AI use that impersonates human beings in the form of fake bands that are purely designed to generate revenue streams. With the advent of ‘deep fake’ artists and ‘mood music’ playlists, a musicians real worth to society is once again being undermined by streaming platforms and I am almost certain that in the near future we will find ourselves being further marginalised by the unethical misuse of this technology. The future looks positively dystopian.

Brendan Perry, Epidavros 2026