The soundwerk entitled, “Type Writer & Blue Tomorrows Yesterday,” by Thee Uncondemning Monk (UM), is part of a daily hygienic practice of soundwerk. We call these soundwerks because what Thee UM is interested in is not making music, per se, but rather the manipulation of sound as such. As such we have no commitment to any musical style, genera, form, etc., and are always experimenting with whatever comes our way. It is a hygienic practice, as such, because it at once is a practice aimed at clearing the mind (which is body, which is soul, all are one) of accumulated debris. We see this practice of soundwerking as a daily practice not unlike that of brushing one’s teeth. That is we hope to see soundwerkings done by everybody, which everybody, especially today with our increased access to the tools that make such endeavors possible, in this so-called digital age or our present state of technology via personal computers, are afforded. We are also inspired by David Lynch’s commitment to using digital instead of film, for very similar reasons. There is a great interview with Lynch on this subject included in the extended edition of his latest work, Inland Empires. Indeed, the title of the song is a reference to that film, in which they are making (a remake, of an unfinished) film, entitled, “Blue Tomorrows”. We work layer by layer, one take, off the cuff, each time, and each and every layer. As such, we started this track with a drum layer which, to us, sounded like a type writer, hence the first part of the title of our present soundwerk. We continued on adding layers, each done in one take, off the top of our head (off the cuff), which has a total of four layers; including the 1st drum track we worked from. Each layer changes the work, and as such, as we get into the work itself, it becomes a matter of acting and reacting to the work until we feel its full, complete, finished. We have been doing this long before we found out that David Lynch works in a very similar manner with his films, this process of once you have the idea, for us an initial track, that that work flows in this acting/reacting sort of way, until one calls it, ‘done.’ We hope our little exposé has illuminated you as to what we are striving for with our work. You can find out more about Thee UM, as project, buy visiting our blog site:
theeuncondemningmonk.blogspot.com