On - The Next Evolution Of Hominin After SAPIENS

We are Homo Sapiens, and we are the last of our kind.

We might very well be the final iteration of Hominin species.
We are certainly the only surviving species in the genus Homo.
We are most likely the last surviving species in the entire genus.

Which must suggest, surely that as an evolutionary pathway, big brain/bipedalism is not particularly successful. All of the other Hominin species have gone extinct, and now we are extincting ourselves... Arguably, not that good. 

The period with the most hominid species alive at the same time was around 300,000 to 200,000 years ago, when at least nine different human species coexisted, including Homo Sapiens, Homo Neanderthalensis, and Denisovans, among others. The map of human diversity was much more complex than the single species (that's us - Homo Sapiens) that exists today, though the exact number, timescales and overlap of species is still a subject of scientific study and debate. What is however, undeniable is that they are all gone.

The most recent period when multiple hominid species coexisted was the Late Pleistocene, around 100,000 to 40,000 years ago, a time when Homo Sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans inhabited parts of Eurasia, with evidence of interbreeding among them - we still carry some of their DNA in our genome today - mmm ancestral DNA... We're all descended from a bunch of monkey-shaggers. - The power of our ancestry lives within us! Yeh, that ain't gonna save you.

Around 50,000 to 67,000 years ago, a few even smaller hominins like the Indonesian Homo Floresiensis and the recently proposed Homo Luzonensis of the Philippines - it's really not very easy to distinguish between what is and what isn't an actual different species - also lived concurrently with other human species. So as recently as 40,000 years ago, there may have been as many as five different hominid species all coexisting concurrently. That's not that long ago, archeologically speaking.

When we finally extinct ourselves, Nature will literally have to go back to the Great Apes, and begin again... Yus!! Planet Of The Apes was real!  Unless we extinct all of them on our way out the door...

Even if we can survive our own self-inflicted socio-pathological implosion, we have absolutely no defence against one really good solid asteroid or solar flare. Zero. None. 

Has all of this happened before? Yup. Many, many, many times long before we got here with our bipedalism and big heads... Maybe not to our entire genus, specifically - yet. But we definitely ain't the first, and we won't be the last full genus to go extinct. Evidence for the prosecution your honour? I give you the dinosaurs m'lud.

Will it happen again? Yup. We are just the latest in a continuing evolutionary process that will go on for another 5 to 10 billion years, and then the sun will torch everything here.

What will replace us in the evolutionary continuum? Dunno. But I bet they look back at us and think "What a dumb bunch of .... !"

Goodbye Earth.
Goodbye Homo.
Thanks for the ride.

Dang, we didn't even make it quarter of the way round the galaxy....

Cheers y'all,

Los Dave

On - Being Difficult

It started as such a simple idea - and not really an original one either. I just wanted to try it for myself and see where it goes. I love a bit of minimalism, and this idea is common to composers like Steve Reich, Terry Riley, John Cage, Brian Eno and so on and so on. It's also a bit "math rock" if you're that way inclined, but it's definitely minimalism defined.

Take the first 5 prime numbers; 1, 3, 5, 7 & 11.
Give each part a musical note - so sequence 1 is one note - say C;

Sequence 3 has three notes - so for example, a short arpeggio like C major = C, E, G,
Sequence 5 has five notes - such as C, E, G, C, E, 
Sequence 7 has seven notes - so sticking with our C major scheme - C, E, G, C, E, G, C
etc.

Yeah? You get the idea. These are just simple examples to explain the concept. In reality, each of the prime sequences would be in a different key, or octave up/down or something more interesting. This is just a basic compositional structure. The actual allocation of notes to numbers in the sequence needs more consideration than I'm giving it here, I've just simplified so I can explain the concept.

Now we build a grid sequence - we can skip 1, 'cos that's just going to repeat the same note every note - and no one wants to listen to that, it's just boring. (*One note is not an 'arpeggio' - discuss...)

So :
      Step.|1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20  21 22 23  24 .....
Sq 3  =  |1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3,  1,  2,  |3, 1,  2,  3,  1,  2,   3,  1,  2,  3,   1, |2,  3, ....
Sq 5  =  |1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4,  5,  1,  |2, 3,  4,  5,  1,  2,   3,  4,  5,  1,   2, |3,  4, ....
Sq 7  =  |1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1, 2,  3,  4,  |5, 6,  7,  1,  2,  3,   4,  5,  6,  7,   1, |2,  3, ....
Sq 11 = |1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 1, 2,  3,  4,  5,  6,   7,  8,  9, 10, 11, 1,  2, ....

 

Very quickly the sequences start to moveout of line with each other, then we start to look for resonance where two or more values from different prime sequences coincide. In the example above, all four sequences begin in unison. Three drops out first, then five, then seven. We can calculate the number of steps between each of the sequences until they resonate again.

Sequence 3 and 5 resonate again after 
3 x 5 = 15 steps have completed   

    Step 16 is the start of the resonance.

Sequence 3 and 7 resonate again after 
3 x 7 = 21 steps are complete 

    Step 22 is the start of the resonance.

Three, five and seven will resonate together after 

3 x 5 x 7 = 105 steps are completed 

    Step 106 is the start of the resonance

So:    Seq 1 x Seq 2 (x Seq 3 x Seq 4) + 1 = Res step

All 4 sequences resonate together again after 3 x 5 x 7 x 11 + 1 steps are completed = 1,155 steps.

So I drew up a grid by hand and started to colour code the harmonic resonances according to whichever sequence(s) were resonating.... My grid is just under 8 metres long.... Here are some photos of bits of it. It looks like a DNA sequence, part of a genome. Yes I could  have done it in Excel or on a spreadsheet, but where's the fun in that? 'Cos that's a really important part of all this for me. Yup, I'm 're-inventing the wheel'. And yeh, sure there are probably multiple downloadable, pre-programmed versions of this sequence/composition on Reddit forums or whatever for every imaginable modern and vintage sequencer and yes it really would be much easier and quicker to just go get one of those.

But, I like the minds-ercise. I like the brainy-trainy-ness. I'm not a mathematician or a musician. I love thinking about stuff like this. How will it sound? Dunno yet. But the plan is to turn this  ^^^^ sequence/plan into a hand-made artists book and include a recording somehow, somewhere - maybe a tape, maybe a download - I dunno. I guess I'll let you know - eventually. 

Meanwhile, if you reckon you can find a recording by someone whose already done this, well done. Good for you. By all means ping me over a copy.

Cheers all,

Los Dave

On - Making Noise - LOS DAVE ON BANDCAMP

'A Fart In A Hurricane' or 'Pissing Into The Wind'

I haven't always made music. Some would argue that I still don't. Don't listen to them though, make your own mind up. Have a listen - https://losdave.bandcamp.com/music - I'm not saying they're wrong - it could all very well be crap, but so what. 

Like quite a lot of kids, I started to learn about music when I was little. I still remember a music lesson in junior school when the teacher put on Emerson Lake and Palmers' 'Pictures At An Exhibition' (prog!). I had (a few) recorder lessons, and even graduated up to a clarinet (with my mum's encouragement). I always loved listening to the music on the radio, and eventually started to buy records and tapes of my own - (ELO - Mr Blue Sky). I loved to drag the speakers off the shelf and lay down with them either side of my head in lieu of headphones. I still love my headphones. The viscerality of getting the music right into my brain case. 

I got to know some kids who played in a metal band at school, and still remember the first time I went to watch them rehearse in a small backroom in a church in St. Albans, or Watford or somewhere. After I left the sixth form, me and my mate 'Sweeney' would go over to the Headstone in Harrow, a metal club in an old church hall, and spend the night with our heads in the bass bins...

When I was earning enough to afford tickets, I started going to live gigs. Must have been around 1979 - 80. Local bands, mostly rock/metal around the Watford/Rickmansworth/St. Albans areas. Clientelle were top favourite. One of the earliest 'big' gigs I went to was Angel Witch at Rickmansworth with Clientelle and a couple of other bands in support. I still have albums and tapes that I bought at those gigs. The first big venue gig I went to was Supertramp at Earls Court in 1983. We were waaaaaaaay at the back. The band were tiny... 

When I was eighteen I worked at Sellotape. The guys there took  me under their wings and my education began. Real ale and prog rock. Fairport, Led Zep, King Crimson, Crosby Stills, Jethro Tull, Yes... All added in to the mix of metal, punk and post-punk I was already attached to. At the start of the '90's I got a job in a record store in Hendon. I stayed with the same company when I moved to Portsmouth for Uni and Bristol as a post-grad. I was with MVC until '99/2000-ish. Almost 10 years working in that environment had a profound effect on my listening education and musical taste. Jazz, hip-hop, ambient, world music, classical, new age... Anything except the 'main stream'... 

I've had a few significant gig-buddies. More, I think, than actual relationships... Sweeney, Stainer, Ben, Andy, Gav and Eddie... Wherever they are, whatever they're doing today, I hope they're all still well and happy. I still have nearly all of the tickets from the '90's/2000's until venues stopped doing physical tickets - which is shameful and they really ought to bring them back in some form. 

I am also extremely blessed to have spent a very significant proportion of my life surrounded by proficient, legitimate, educated, talented, creative musicians. They have all been incredibly open, encouraging, facilitating, and generous. They've also put up with my bullshittery for many years, which is not insignificant, and for which I will always be grateful. With their enablement and encouragement, I've found myself on a few stages performing in front of audiences. I'm gotta mention Rusty, who's put me in front of more people... And we have done some very cool things... The man is a legend. Dude.

I have also been lucky enough to live through the most significant technical developments in the performance, recording and reproduction of sound. The seventies, eighties and nineties gave us access to the totality of aural cultures that exist on the Earth. We got portable, then digital equipment, software, the means of playing, recording, producing, publishing and distributing at home, in your bedroom. And equally unlucky to see all of that poisoned by capitalism, greed and deteriorating ethics. Oi, BOSS pedals - fuck 'subscribing' to a pedal on your fx rig! BUT, I've still got a guitar and an amp and a smartphone I can record on, so bollocks to them. 

Everyone's an artist... Except they ain't. Not really. Just because you got a camera in your smartphone, don't make you a photographer, and just 'cos you passed your test, don't make you a talented driver. I'm not an audiophile. In the same way that I'm not a musician. In both aspects, I consider myself "aspirational", pretentious, a dilletante maybe, a dabbler... I do however, as an artist and self-publishing creative guy, I do have a significant obsession with music. 

I gave up driving over fifteen years ago, essentially 'cos I'm shit at it. 

I was told a decade ago by an NHS mental health counsellor that I should give up chasing a career in art, grow up and get a proper job. I was also told by a GP that taking up a sport would help with my mental health problems, despite commuting a hundred miles a week by bike.

I ain't giving up my music. I don't care how fucking shit it is. 

3 Is A Magic Number - Bird Mobile - Langstone Junior School - 2016

Commission for Langstone Junior School by Portsmouth City Council.

Wanted to do something beyond just a static line of birds along a corridor.

Dynamic movement, character, living, educational, multi-layered,


The theme here is 3 and multiples of three. The mobile is based on three sets of three arms across three levels, three birds on each level with three bonus 'loose' birds flying around the corridor. The lengths of the arms on each level are prime numbers - the differences between the prime numbers being multiples of three. I made birds in three different sizes to populate the mobile, which hangs under a glass roof of three colours...

This is the confluence of art, maths, engineering and natural history, combined with recycled materials to produce a site specific installation for grown ups and children to enjoy.

There are more photos somewhere. I'll upload them when I find them. ;)

On - Being Naughty

I’ve occasionally wanted to deliberately be ‘naughty’ for at least as long as I can remember and probably longer. I clearly have phases when the ‘rebellious’ spirit rises up and needs to be expressed. I guess it goes with being emotionally twelve years old all my life. What do I mean by ‘being naughty’? We’re not talking seriously criminal here – I’m not a murderer – we’re talking; maybe drawing penises on public walls, swearing like a trooper, nicking stuff from work or skips, being in places I shouldn’t be - Protesting openly about stuff I believe in... ‘Being Punk’! 

Like, for instance, I really enjoy swearing. If you’ve spent any time with me you’ll know I use it like punctuation or breathing points. I try to be sensitive to these things, and there I are people that I love and respect who really do not like swearing. So I will swear and cuss openly and freely when I’m around people who have indicated that they don’t mind, and I will ‘behave’ myself when I’m not. I know we all do that. But we don’t though, do we? There are some of us who just don’t give a shit. When was the first time you ever swore in front of your Mum and Dad, or your Nan? I have only one memory of my Nan dropping an F-bomb…

I like to imagine that I’m actually a somewhat sensitive soul and quite deeply repressed, so I’ve mostly lacked the courage to be ‘naughty’ in public. I over-think things a lot! I constantly talk and shame myself out of doing things that other people would just wade into. My inner emotional rebel really is very heavily repressed. The angry twelve year old that lives in my head is sometimes really angry and potentially incredibly damaging. He has from time to time got out and fucked things up royally. So the repression and self-censorship has grown over the years. My chosen method of suicide in the past has been suffocation… the visceral, physical expression or manifestation of the psychological warfare with myself. **NB - I am currently good thanks, don’t panic. I’ve been in a relatively good, stable place mentally since at least 2018**

Of course I’ve been ‘naughty’ from time to time. I’ve been out on late night graff and paste-up missions, pinched stuff I’ve found or needed here and there, got into places I shouldn't have been, that sort of thing and such. I gave out hand-drawn, illustrated, erect penis stickers at a Christmas PCM night – I seriously agonised over that. The artists book that they belong to “Mr Dick Stickers’ Book Of Sticky Dicks” will (probably) remain forever a work in progress, (I’ve got hundreds of dick stickers in a drawer here) – or performing ‘Burning Down The Oasis’ at Southsea Castle, and painting it as a ‘protest piece’ at Upfest in 2023, but I’ve always found it extremely difficult emotionally. And I know I am or can be horrifically unforgiving, passive-aggressive and judgmental – an absolute wanker – people have told me so…

In my head, the lessons of my childhood live strong. Any sort of “Showing off in public” is ‘very bad’. ‘Self-promotion’ or being “prideful”, these things are also shameful. If your work is good enough, it will stand on its own merits. I know my two sisters feel the same to an extent – and we’re all three of us highly creative, expressive, repressed individuals. 

So. WCIDWWIG - What Can I Do With What I’ve Got? 

Where has this path lead me to? What is my enlightenment? I over-analyse everything. Everything. I self-censor to the point of being stifled and unproductive – and yet I am incessantly creative. I express myself in riddles and metaphors – clouds of ‘meaning’ that say everything and nothing. Bury everything beneath a storm of words. Keep my feelings to myself. Suffocate my creativity with guilt and shame. Definitely don’t let it out in public. Be ashamed and doubt the veracity of my feelings. (The current state of the backroom canvas is again, a physical manifestation of all of this – and it’s fucking magnificent! See photos!)

What's my strategy to counter all of this? Fierce Independence and as far as I can, self-reliance. Constantly question and refine my beliefs about everything. Make work for myself, which makes me happy. Try not to judge. 

On my back room wall there lives, for a few years, a 3 metre canvas. It covers one complete wall. Over the years, I've painted it, and repainted it, and painted over it, and repainted over it many, many times. It's purpose is to be a completely free arena for whatever is in my head at the time. When an idea is done, it gets documented and painted over - wiped clean. It's had a drum machine and laser harps built into it, (not there now). It's a 3 metre non-permanent, sketchbook; a go-to for immediate throwing up of ideas and experiments. It's had collages, drawings, paintings, landscapes, portraits  - every kind of art work on its surface. If I just need to get in and work out some emotional angst or just burn off some energy, it's there. It's job is to be on standby. 

It is iterative, constantly moving, constantly changing, but continuous. It's about process. It embodies so much of the way my head and my art works. It's transitive, open, free, enabling, non-precious, living. 

And if you’ve made it this far – thanks for listening, thanks for being there, have a great day and go and do something positive for a complete stranger. I will love you for that.

Thanks, all the best,

Los Dave