Another mashup with Traktor Pro, “Aphex Twin – XMD 5a” and “Squarepusher – Planetarium.”

Here is my 3rd recording!

ThirdMashupFuckup-afx-squarepusher by MalleabisMusic

Definately not a “ready for da club” product, just a sample of my progression. I can’t wait to have REAL KNOBS AND SLIDERS!!! using a mouse pad to spin knobs is really annoying, but it works much better in traktor than in VDJ. I could set more hotkeys up so i’m using the mouse less, but it’s been fun getting used to the visual interface.

I’ve been getting better at adjusting the EQ’s on tracks so that it sounds much less muddy (my first 2 recordings or super muddy sounding, because there is a huge range of frequencies playing at the same time, so much that the ear can’t separate the tracks and it starts to blend into a mass of white noise.

New Experiences: Mixing! Learning to Mix using Traktor Pro.

I’ve had more free time on my hand as Winter settles in and stops most farm work. So I thought I’d learn how to DJ. My imagination tells me I could have fun traveling and mixing tracks for dancers all over the world and earn extra income while continuing my volunteer experiences. We’ll see how that works out though… for now it’s just a whole lot of fun. Rewarding too! here’s a track I made after playing with Traktor Pro for 4 hours. That was yesterday, and I’m already a little embarrassed at how bad I was “back then.” Here goes anyway! It gets fun at the end right before in ends in complete disaster!

SecondMashupFuckup by MalleabisMusic

This is a “live” recording of me mixing, not a composition that was pre-arranged, so my mistakes are recorded as well.

If you don’t care about the technical details of how I made that track, read no further!
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I’m only using Traktor Pro software on my Macbook. I’ll be getting a real midi controller soon. To make that track I took the time to setup a proper beat-grid (auto doesn’t work well) and then I set up cue points and loops. A beat grid is basically a way for the software to know exactly how many beats per minute (BPM) the track has, and where those beats are. After the software knows where the beats are it becomes simple to automatically sync tracks, and to get seamless sounding loops (the software can’t accurately make a loop “4 beats long” if it doesn’t how long a beat is.) I have 8 “cue slots” for each deck to save cues. i can then click a number (1-8) to instantly load the song starting at that point. This way I can move around in the song, playing pieces from the middle, then the end, then the beginning, or any order I want. Also, I have most of the cue points setup as a loops. This way when that part of the song starts playing, it automatically loops after a set number of beats. Once I have it looping I can concentrate on adding effects, change the number of beats (1-2-3-4, to 1-2-1-2, to 1-1-1-1, etc.) Pretty easy really, once you understand the software a little, and prepare your tracks with a good beat grid and cues.

We interrupt your scheduled programming for the fallowing message…

I have to take a little break from the Japan story. I’ve gotten bogged down with all the photos and catching up the story. I don’t want this blog to die, or my inspiration for it… so i’m gonna switch things up now by providing regular updates about… the general state of things through my eyes.

Recently I’ve been listening to the Podcast “Radio Lab” which you can check out here: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

My two favorites so far have been the one on parasites, which talks about how a british man cured his allergies and asthma by going to Africa and infecting himself with hook worms… among other awesome parasite stories- and the one called “new normal” which has one of the most moving stories i’ve ever heard about a baboon troop that turns into… pacifist hippies basically, and has stayed that way for over 20 years in the wild.

I’ve got a biochar project going now, and i’m going to be growing some rice indoors under lights this winter to test the effectiveness on biochar with different soil and nutrient combinations.

I picked up a 1970 Honda Trail 90 motorcycle last week. It’s street legal, get’s 100mpg and has a top speed of about 42 on a flat. Insurance was dirt cheap, and now i’ve got something to cruise around on. It’s also made for going off-road and has a “high/low” transmission, so I can put it in low and have 4 really short gears for climbing hills, and in high I have 4 gears for speed on the road. I’ve taken it on some pretty nasty trails, and even off trail through the woods and it’s been great! People usually get bigger and bigger bikes, but this is the smallest motorcycle i’ve ever had and it’s as much fun as my sv650 and less dangerous. I’m hoping there will be a future adventure to Canada or something with it.. maybe in spring as it’s already reeeaaallly cold.

So that’s it for this time. I’ve got more Japan stuff on the way. I’m going to try to start updating this blog everyday with little morsels like: youtube videos, links, and random thoughts. The travel experiences will still be the meat and potatoes, or legume and whole grains.

currently reading: “Shogun – James Clavell” and “The Witch of Portobello – Paulo Coelho”
current song in my head: “100 weight – Carlton Livingston” for some nice reggae.

After Amami… Busking in Kyushu and Escaping the Tsunami.

It was a blistering hot Thursday morning when I woke up. All of my things were wet because I was using my friend’s hand-me-down tent for storage. It wasn’t quite rain proof. In fact I wouldn’t even call it water resistant. So it didn’t fare well in the intense tropical rain the night before. My hiking pack was starting to show signs of mold growth. All my clothes were dirty. I was tired. I was hungry. I was spending too much money living at a festival. I woke up with an intense desire to be somewhere else that day, and I was going to make it happen.

After the festival all of the ferry companies (only two on the island) were booked up for a week, but one of the companies had 2 ticket cancellations. I could buy the ticket if i came into the office quickly. I immediately set off on an escape mission which involved hitchhiking to 3 different places to collect all my stuff and exchange some dollars into yen so I could pay for the ticket. After I had my ferry ticket in hand and I was waiting in the 70’s feeling sterile terminal for boarding to begin… I started to feel a little bad about all the people I was leaving behind. Some of my favorite people there didn’t even know I was leaving because I didn’t run into them that morning to say goodbye. Oh well. We are meant to be connected to some people. Some meetings are fleeting though. Ichigo ichie. “One meeting, one chance.”

^^^^^ I asked this Obaa-Chan if I could take her picture. She smiled and agreed, and then started walking out of the frame, and over rough terrain I might add, she was determined. I tried to explain to her “no, I want picture you!” but it was no use. She smiled and pointed to her banana trees in the back. They were green, so I didn’t assume she was offering them to me. haha.
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I packed into a big room on the ferry with maybe 200 other people. The floor was packed with sleeping bodies! The aisles were packed with shoes and bags! The entrance lobby was full of more bags and surfboards! Most people who came to Amami for the eclipse had to camp due to the small amount of lodging on the island, so almost everyone aboard had a giant hiking pack or some huge bungee-cord monster on wheels that they dragged around. It was packed and noisy and just… just… I went out onto the top deck. Ah, space. We were surrounded by intense darkness, but you could see some lights far on the horizon, probably fishing boats. There are beer vending machines on all ferries in Japan. There is no better place to drink than on a ferry. The tilting of the boat back and forth gives you the sensation that you’ve drank twice as much. So I sat sipping a cheap Kirin beer -staring into the darkness, processing everything that had just happened in the 2 weeks that I stayed on that little Island. And of course! Once again feeling that completely enveloping sensation of traveling to a place completely new.

When the ferry arrived in Kagoshima everything was grey. I knew rain was coming soon. I had planned on hitchhiking, but it’s pretty hard to get a ride in the rain. If the driver doesn’t accidentally hit you due to low visibility they are more likely to think you’re insane for standing in the rain than to feel sorry for you. I decided to take the train.

At this point I’ve only got a small amount of money, and I’ve been in Japan long enough to know how the train system works. This is how I met Tact! You see, Tact and I were riding a train sitting across from each other when we were unexpectedly asked for our ticket. We each had to pay $22. After paying the train guy we both looked at eachother and loudly whispered “KUSO!” which means “SHIT!” We were instantly friends. I spent the next 3 days traveling with this guy. Any time we got into sticky ticket situations Tact would use his Jedi mind trick powers to get us through. I played the part of foreigner guy who can’t speak Japanese and doesn’t know what’s going on. I spent 5 months in Japan mastering this role.

Tact was a really cool guy. My Japanese was good enough, but mostly, his English was good enough that we could have pretty detailed conversation. He’s an artist/illustrator who works in Japan. He was traveling with no tent or sleeping bag. Inside his really small backpack he only had some clothes, fish tins, a small camp stove, and a ton of Sea Shells from Amami! haha. I respect people who travel with so little.

^^^^^ Tact sleeping on the train next to my beefy pack.
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We stayed in Kyushu for one night; in Oita city. We weren’t really sleepy, so I suggested we look for a place to go busking. Busking is playing music on the streets (in hopes) of attention or (usually) money- CD sales or donations or food or alcohol or anything, and of course for the joy of it! -sometimes only for the joy of it. I played my flute for some extra money. Tact tried to sell some of the t-shirts he designed and had screen printed. First I wanted to make a sign saying “okokoro kudasai,” [like "heart please" or "mind/attention please", an old phrase] but Tact said “nagesen kudasai,” ["money please" but also a very old phrase, so he said it would be funny. but it is still very direct for Japanese] would be better. I made $20, tact made $0. I met some really nice people that night too. It was my first night busking. It would not be my last!

The next day was grey and rainy again. The rain constantly fluctuated it’s intensity. Usually just a steady drip, but sometimes a fierce downpour. Apparently we were crossing the path of a Tsunami that caused some landslides in western Kyushu. Anyway… it was nothing dramatic like that for me. It just meant seeing many flooded lots, yards and gardens (but no houses) outside of the windows and having to bear riding in a train going… unbearably slow. I’m not sure of the reasons, but sometimes for an hour at a time we would slow to what felt like 10mph, and in between we would only speed up to 20 or so. At one point the train stopped and told us we had to board buses to get to the next 3 stations, and continue by train from the 3rd station. And then it was all gone.

To be continued… つづく
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I’m staying busy in Oregon! It’s been pretty warm the past 3 weeks, in the mid 90’s. I’ve been camping out every night. I helped a friend work on his strawbale/COB cottage project the other day. I only did carpentry, no mud work, but it was nice to see the house in this stage. I could still see almost every beam in the house and how the house was put together. I have lots of time to relax, practice my flute and read. Working the soil in the garden is very meditative also. I’ve been working long, relaxing hours.

Mata Ne!

Okay okay. I’m back in Amerikuuuhh. Amami Oshima!

So I made it back! I actually came back! I’m surprised too. I’m now in Oregon working with a cool guy to get his farm started. Working in the garden, working on new gardens, and working on various construction and destruction projects. I’ll get to that later though… let me try to retrace my steps.

So… Amami Oshima. What a ridiculously hot and beautiful place that was! I was able to volunteer at the total solar eclipse festival there. That meant working for a week getting every thing set up in the blazing heat. We had more break time than work time, usually. People who worked under trees for shade slowly moved their work in orbit around the trees as the sun arced through the sky. From 12-3 all was silent. everyone clung to the shade, tried to sleep, or at least rest, and prayed that the ocean breeze find them.
We Hung out under the shade of palm trees. From Spain, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Russia, France, Turkey, Australia, South America, South Japan, North Japan… some people from just the other side of the island. It was a good wave of energy we were riding together. Many of us found ourselves randomly drawn to this place on an impulse. With not much time to plan we found our selves riding a ferry or an airplane. With that feeling of suspension every nerve in your body experiences the sensation of travel. Suddenly you’re going somewhere far away. Somewhere separated by enough time and space to be perhaps, vastly different.

Ferry to the Mountain Tropics.
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Ferry friends. I wouldn’t have gone to the festival if I hadn’t met these kids.
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Constructing main stage!
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And later, dancing under the main stage.
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I really love Takoyaki. Grilled octopus balls! Served on a shrimp cracker with mayonnaise. I ate so many of these! The owner started giving me freebies and I helped him translate his signs into english for like 8 balls. Some of you may not know, but that’s a lot of octopus ball. I need that recipe.
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My friend Diana eating Takoyaki in Amami. Photo by Goto Mah
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The Moon’s shadow is doing it’s thing.
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Moon eats Sun.
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I could write so much more about this island experience… but for now, I’m going to move on. I some nice videos I shot here, so I’ll be sure to cover it later.

Amami Oshima, Japan – Total Solar Eclipse Festival.

Riding the ferry to Okinawa I met some people going to volunteer at a Total solar eclipse party. I decided I would get off the boat early and go with them! I’ll be camping on the beach helping set up the event for the next 3ish weeks. This is a short and sweet post… the amazing details surrounding how I got here and the story of how it all happened will have to wait for now. Mata ne!

Inden Farm! Seed bombs and Masanobu Fukuoka dreams. (wwoof Japan)

I’m now staying with the Inden Family- Tatsu and his wife Kanchi and their 1 year old son, Sota. Actually, they are not a wwoof host yet. They are friend’s of my last host family. Next year they plan on hosting wwoofer’s and I’m helping build a loft so wwoof’ers will have a place to sleep. The Inden farm consists of 2 tanbo’s (rice fields) and many hatake (vegetable gardens) spread out around their home. Everything is organic. Tatsu-san is studying permaculture and the methods of Masanobu Fukuoka.

Recently We planted a TON of soy beans around his 2 tanbo. The soy beans have (at least, surely i’ve over looked MANY) 4 functions I’m aware of. They prevent the aze (tanbo walls) from eroding and falling into the water channels, they provide food, they attract different insects than the rice (so biodiversity will increase around the tanbo, and hopefully no single type of insect will be able to reproduce and eat the crops in large numbers, frogs in the tanbo help with this also), and last but not least they will be improving the soil around the tanbo which is currently really rockey and well… shitty. All beans are legumes which fix nitrogen in the soil and over time the roots will help loosen the soil.

A few days ago I helped Yagi-san, a friend of Tatsu’s, plant a rice feild. He’s growing rice without water…errr without flooding the field. Rice fields are usually full of 5-10 centemeters of water. Most people (including most Japanese) think this is the only way to grow rice. The rice doesn’t need the water, and perhaps (according to the opinion of Fukuoka-san) doesn’t even prefer the water! The main reason the fields are flooded is to prevent other plants/weeds from growing and “competeing” with the rice. When rice is grown without water other plants are able to grow in the field. This improves biodiversity, balance, and reduces the need to use pesticides. Using this technique combined with planting white clover as a “cover crop” (cover crop = living mulch, clover is also a legume, so nitrogen is fixed in the soil as an added benefit) Masanobu Fukuoka achieved rice harvests equal to the highest harvests in Japan using modern agricultural methods.

Here is a video of Masanobu Fukuoka making “seed balls” which is a seeding technique he invented (or at least rediscovered.):

Using these seed balls you can seed plants simply by making the balls, then throwing them around the field. The seeds are then protected from birds, and as soon as the first good rain comes the clay balls “melt” into the soil and the seeds can grow. In america I’ve heard these called “seed bombs” and I’ve hear stories of people saving up tons of marijuana or hemp seeds, making a huge batch of seed bombs, and then driving down the street while tossing them out the window. Haha! I’ve also heard of “gurrila gardeners” using the seed bomb method to grow edible plants in parks and unused public (and sometimes private) land, that is going to waste by just sitting vacant. People are starving (or spending too much) while there is unused land everywhere! Bomb your blocks people! Bomb the parks! Bomb any piece of ugly grass you can find! (but try to be respectful!)

Here are some recent photos:

Chasing monkey’s out of the garden! Tatsu says he’s ok with sharing some food with monkeys because long ago the Japanese people planted almost only cypress trees for lumber and altered the biodiversity of the forests… eliminating many food sources for the monkeys.

The Inden’s house and all of Tatsu’s drums, including a Tabla! (awesome indian drum, maybe the hardest drum to play)

This is one of the Inden Tanbos. The rice is much smaller than in his neighbor’s fields because it’s planted later and harvested later (Novemberish.) The cold temperatures at the end of a late growing season is important for the rice; it’s flavor becomes sweeter and nutrients are increased. The agricultual (non-natural) method of growing is timed purely to take advantage of maximum sunlight so that the rice is ready to harvest sooner and faster. This makes sense when you’re trying to make lots of money, but not when you want the highest quality food for your family.

Old style hand powered rice separator. Uses air to separate heavy and light particles. After the rice has the hulls removed the hulls still need to be separated from the grain. The heavier rice falls straight through the machine, the lighter hulls are blown out of the stream and come out of the 2nd shoot. This process of removing hulls and separating has to be done a couple times.

And some photos from the last week at the Asanomi Bakery:

A little forest crab on my wrist.

My first stone work experience! We’re cementing between the rocks to make a steady and beautiful base for the posts around the house. This was pretty fun, like playing rock tetris. Tetris is a really cool game the more I think about it. It trains the brain to fit patterns together. I wonder if cave men played such games with one guy throwing rocks from a cliff faster and faster and the other one trying to direct them into a wall.

Corn growing nicely in a garden full of “weeds.” ah weeds, hahaha. Fighting weeds is like arguing on the internet… or so the saying goes.

More pics of my Inden adventure’s later!

How charcoal will save the world!

I feel like some hidden energy has been pushing me towards making charcoal. The more I read about charcoal the more amazing it is. About 3 years ago I was working as a blacksmith’s apprintice. During that time I was blacksmithing with fossil fuel coal. Fossil fuel coal is non-renewable, full of carcinogens, and smells really nasty. I began looking for an alternative. I found that you can easily make charcoal from wood. It works just as well, doesn’t smell horrible, and does not release all the nasty byproducts that coal releases. And if you live near a forest you have a nearly unlimited supply.

2 yeasr later I was wwoof’ing at a farm in Oregon that had a huge library with books and magazines about sustainable living. I read in the magazine Permaculture Activist about “Terra Preta” which is a super fertile rich black soil in the Amazon basin. Scientists discovered that this super fertile soil was actually MAN MADE (err man helped). The secret ingredient in this soil is, you guessed it, charcoal. This soil has been used by farmers in the Amazon for over  2000 years old and it’s still full of nutrients. According to the wikipedia page, the charcoal is a habitat for types of fungus and other microbial life. These fungi and other microbes assist plants in taking nutrients from the soil as well as producing more nutrients and fixing the nutrients where they are so that rain doesn’t push nutrients deep into the soil out of reach from the root’s of plants.

On top of creating awesome soil, there is another benefit to putting charcoal into the ground. Putting carbon (charcoal = carbon) into the ground is a process called “Carbon Sequestration.” This process is basically the opposite of burning fossil fules, and is a potential way to reverse Global Climate Change. When we put gas into our cars we’re removing carbon from the earth and releasing it into the atmosphere as a green house gas (CO2.) When we put charcoal into the ground the process goes like this: Plants absorb CO2 from the air and turn it into biomass, we make charcoal which burns off the non-carbon parts of the biomass and leaves behind pure carbon (C), and then this is returned to the soil. Bada bing!

So today I was doing more research on charcoal being used for a soil amendment (google “Biochar”) and a stumbled upon this instructables page: http://www.instructables.com/id/Aluminum-Can-Saltwater-and-Charcoal-Battery/

Holy crap! So now i’ve found yet another amazing use for charcoal. Acording to that page – “An electric vehicle with aluminium-charcoal batteries could have potentially ten to fifteen times the range of lead-acid batteries with a far smaller total weightt.”

It also says: “They have one of the highest energy densities of all batteries, but they are not widely used because of previous problems with cost, shelf-life, start-up time and byproduct removal, which have restricted their use to mainly military applications.” Which to me sounds like it would be a problem to produce these on a large scale in a factory setting, but it sounds PERFECT for small scale production and home use (for those so inclined.)

Since I’ve been traveling in Japan I’ve learned that bamboo makes charcoal of the smae quality as wood. To me this is super important. Bamboo grows and spreads at an insane rate. It’s method of photosynthesis is actually more effecient than trees at turning sunlight and CO2 into biomass, and because it spreads so quickly (and at times uncontrolably) if one wants to grow a bamboo forest all one has to do is plant a single bamboo shoot, pop open a beer and sit back for a few years. A bamboo forest can actually be seen as a single plant. All of it’s roots are connected and nutrients are shared freely. A new bamboo shoot grows from a few centimeters to 2-3 meters literally overnight. I’ve seen this with my own eyes. It can do this because the surrounding mature bamboo is pumping energy into it’s roots.

So yeah… I love bamboo and I love “Biochar.”

-Mata Ne!

Staying busy at the farm. Malleabis photos for ya!

Back in Japan.

I am alive and well. The communist threat from the north has past. I safely crossed the red zone of Swine flu (ham zone?) in Japan (Osaka stores sold out of masks a few weeks ago) and I’m now safe in Gujo Hachiman again.

I thought I was going to Hokkaido in a couple weeks… but that maybe changing to Okinawa. It’s great to not have rigid plans sometimes. I do like to have some general directions in mind though. I find the more I’m meeting really good people the more options I have of going to work and stay with friend’s of friends (and go in knowing that i’ll be staying with cool spiritually minded people.) So I may ditch the official wwoofing for a bit and see where this string of connections takes me. It’s taking me into situations where I have to push myself to understand more Japanese. No english translators around makes me have to intently concentrate on a person. Some how, magically, I tend to understanf the jist of things. I understand a word here, a word there. I understand the topic we’re discusing, and my imagination fills in the rest. Though, if my mind wanders and I’m not present I can become completely lost and confused in the blink of an almond shaped eye. Sometimes the Japanese I’m speaking to also feel this connection.. maybe they’re able to understand me when I’m explaining some large concept, and I only used 3 wisely chosen words, and a couple hand gestures. These people comment that we’re using heart to heart communication. That people don’t really need words (although it’s difficult to understand jokes from the heart (or maybe I’m only laughing on the inside))… Whatever kind of freaky japanese, english, heart, brain, mouth, ear, hands conversation is happening… it usually works! (It always eventually works, but an hour long conversation about the proper way to open a jar of peanut butter is daunting, especially when you’re hungry for peanut butter!)

Anyway, here’s some photos and videos from South Korea!

-This is actually in Shimonoseki, Japan (from here a ferry to S. Korea is $70 one-way.) Across the straight is Kyushu, the southern main island of Japan.

-A temple in Shimonoseki, Japan. (I’m getting to Korea, just hold on!)

-Lanterns hung up near a Buddhist temple in Busan, South Korea.

-Underground shopping area (and a cafe with internet I used to look up how to speak Korean) in Busan. There were lots of really huge underground shopping streets. Usually the junkey knock-off stuff was down here, but there were spaces with hand-made art mixed in as well. I guess it’s hard to make money selling art, so the artists are forced underground with the junk men and con artists… an unfortunate association that seems plague (or free?) artists everywhere.

-Large… bell house? in a big park in Busan. Lovely colors.

VIDEOS!

-Making hemp gyoza (pot stickers) at Asa nomi bakery.

-Me fucking around on a Cambodian instrument at a museum in Busan. At the beginning on this video I say “you’re welcome” to a Korea guy who had just thanked me for helping him learn to play the didgeridoo.

-Me trying to play didgeridoo and the bells together. sounds pretty shite. You should fast forward to the 2:30 mark to hear me playing a didge solo!

Goodnight! [oyasumi nasi!] See you later! [mata ne!]