SAL

The Underground History of Thought
“MASSAGE”
by Shoe (Massage)

It’s not a part for a laugh, but let’s laugh it out. Because nothing starts nor nothing ends, after all everything only keeps on going. Parties and people, experimental music and avant-garde music, art animations and installations, memory of time and history of the world, personal legends and legendary individual, live paintings and lightings, incontinences of urine and sequelae, brain atrophy and only atrophy, drink tickets and GrassRoots’ 8th anniversary, RAW LIFE and pathetic convenience store clerk, anarchy and working for free, acid tests and terminal tests, merrily happy guy and melancholy unhappy guy, drunk and dead drunk, insane and misunderstand, the forefront and the end. In the current like this, we can’t do anything but to love with apathy to the parades of idiots that infinitely continues on without any meanings or purpose. If you find any space in that parade, let’s shove ourselves in there without any fear. With a casual optimistic look. Even if you know or don’t know about can’t go out of that parade anymore.
The purpose is not to wholly grasp various cultural image that reiterate the outbreak in the crevice of known and unknown that still furiously collide against one another at inner and outer side of oneself, at inner and outer side of our community, at inner and outer side of this country, and at inner and outer side of this parade, but to pick up vague desire, tiny hope, and motives that have no distraction, in which they are alive at the inner side of one certain 12 inch, one piece of short film, one certain piece, or one certain night party, and discover the physical point of contact with the boundary side of perception that you are the world (Can be the argument of possibility only). To wide one’s territory as for Bit and this street that costs, basing sympathy with the other and joint ownership. And also, try to understand the territory, which is both physical and mental, held by other people, not as just some simple extent, but with emotional value. Whether it’s something pleasant or not, there’s always amazement and there’s a space for you to realistically turn yourself inside out. Your vision no doubt is like a must see movie, but not only the visualistic memories of same ages, but also please remember the level of bewilderment that responds to the core of this early 21st century. As fast as we can, let’s precisely tell each other the memories of this era’s emotions that we hold as the whole, although you might be largely influenced by each one of your earnestness. Because we are connected with so many various ways and we have achieved the speed that historically never had before (So we should avoid ourselves from the situation that it’s not fast nor slow, but just potentially connected, as much as possible). I think that you all would be having a past full of amazement. Things that will happen next might look similar to things that happen til this day, but actually it’ll be totally different things. If you find recalls of the past or deja vu in one certain moment, you’re not wrong because you’ve seen it before. We are able to inspect the one and only condition in which it has the perception of this thing called present from various angles. We can not only be aware of cultural context of some songs, some books, or some happenings and compare as well as refer to past information that hail each other in that context, but also by preserving the earnestness of your experience there, you will be covered with an anarchic air that makes you racy and you can breathe that. For example, various fragments that Toru Takahashi went through during the 30 years that Toru Takahashi spent as a DJ (such as records, his days at clubs in Yokosuka in the 70’s, a night when he shed tears when he first went to Paradise Garage and listened to one certain song, and streets of New York when he spent there as a carpenter and chattering and traffics that is included there) is included in and at the same time include the fragments that people who was coincidentally present at that time and it is a fact of transformation and continuation that each anecdote fill up every world from there.
Moreover, it is common that parts that are said is 10 times more than parts that are not said. If people who are going by in front of us are finished with what they need to say after taking there time, let’s start talking about we should not be talking. To add success to the eloquent silence that occupies greater part of this world. MASSAGE is 160 pages of those kind of vulgarity and wild and fruity history. I won’t say have one for a family, but at least have one in a lifetime.

NEW HYPE RESEARCH
Against OLD HYPE BOMB FILE #017
“Teito Re-construction Plan” & Yuichi Yokoyama “Voyage”
by Keita Fukasawa

Representing the world, the incredible metropolis : the great Tokyo region. For us who live there, the term “urban planning” somehow changed it’s meaning to build gigantic commercial institutions that the real estates package some franchise shops into. Moreover, they built resident buildings at the perimeter of skyscrapers with impeccable green belt zones arranged and call them “NEW!” It sounds good when they are called the lowest limit of inflation and recreation and the healthy Makunouchi Bento that is arranged with splendid status, but the inside are like the Kabaya’s snack with novelties, “Big One Gum.” The ostensible “relaxation,” “spatial time,” and “natural environment” is only a small appendage. The actual situation is nothing different from expectation; plastic building that has smooth surface layer.
Anyway, the situation of exposing the selfish troubles to everywhere in demarcated land by the fancy façade, in which they ignore the historical context and partnership of the region, is still unchanged. It surely is a wreckage-accumulated city of ceaseless scrap and build.
“Teito Re-construction Plan” is the one that sharply illustrates these sides of Tokyo. There are numerous amounts of infinite corridor like landscape that is covered with inhumane steel-ness, in which they could be illustrated at that famous “Theory of Japan Island Remodeling” if it still continued. But, this is what you call, “constructing for the second time” and there’s no more frontier feeling of “urban construction” that undertake the construction for the first one. You can sense at the depth of the harsh graphic intensity that once the great number of steels and artificial stones are stacked up, from now on, it will not achieve “construction” unless those bricks are thoroughly mixed up.
I don’t like that. I, who was born in this era that considers science, want to fulfill the desire of conquer with having new urban construction! and construct virgin land!! For this kind of direction, the suggested thing is the genius Yuichi Yokoyama’s new work, “Voyage” . Bloomed under the futuristic steelness and urban constructioness of “New Engineering” , next will be the train that runs without stopping. It is non-expressive sculptured group that is illustrated and a groove feeling that is somewhat like Kraftwerk. After arrived within this, what will be at the next point--
The Last scene. The sense of liberation that shockingly comes. Certainly touching... But if we substitute to an irony that goes, there need this much amount of energy in order to carry out the constructional desire that modern man have, the imprinting under capitalism is really horrifying. Artificial hill or start on a voyage. Well, which would you choose?
(Yuichi Yokoyama’s “Voyage” is a Western book by Editions Matiere. It is available at Nadiff, On Sundays, and Niji Gallery in Japan.)

News-29
“*can not present”
by NIK (PROGRESSIVE FOrM)

txt.Archives
“DOTMOV 2005 ‘Collision’ Max Hattler”
by Jiro Ohashi

It is a fact that the digital movies made by individual become short movies, however they are far from the frame of technology. The performance environment of visual software is indicating the present situation of digital movies. “The lowest performance environment” is totally useless. They manage to start performing with “recommended performance environment,” that has certain amounts of spec. At the time of VJ movement in 95, there had technological naiveness but as a point of harmonization with sound, it was a decent one. While you can find many works that lack the balance between sound and visual at the degree of completion, Max Hattler’s 2 min. 30 sec. work, “Collision” drew my attention. I appraise for his will of dare to not aim for the already existing music clip imitation, but to aim clearly for independent visual work. The creation of visual that is performed in this political work, resembles closely to the NHK’s great music clip program, “Minna no Uta,” more than to convey a direct message. However it resembles closely to Japan’s traditional sound and visual installation, “Hanabi,” the shattering scene of that country’s national flag induces many different things. Considering at this image’s inducing ability, this work is protuberant.

Memoirs of THE ALBUM (3 of 3)by Kurando Furuya

THE POTATOby Hiroshi Iguchi

Isn't itby SHiURA

Tearful Monster Party by Soon , Yuichi Akata

Δ

The Underground History of Thought
“Memory of the Time”
by Shoe (Massage)

Laurie Anderson wrote in her poem dedicated to Walter Benjamin that, “History is an angel who’s blown back towards the future.” Angels who try to go back to the past in order to restore the broken things and storm of history that blows at him/her. Both of them deny each other under their earnest desire and as for its by-product, time is produced. It is not an outcome of something, nor something included in some kind of a plan. It is a tactless form of praying. A tactless form here is from the meaning in refusing the reception made by the silence. Restoration is an act of reciting about reminiscence to revive that to the present and by venturing to jot down about acquiescence it will be left in the future. What is written behind at revived past and future will bring along subjunctive that make two sides with it. There reveals the room for restoration. Frame is a way to construct the beauty at momentary. Bull shit, is the thing I want to say.
In another prose, I hear Anderson whisper, “The never ending world / don’t forget about me.” Minding the sound that is formed with mainly rhythm from what Anderson herself calls, “mental voice.” Mental voice… Let’s imagine how the world is filled with tacit words. (Let us). The city today is running with the fuel of those tacit words. The wind pressure of sighs is plenty enough to maintain the revolving of the prophetic dreams. Angels will never have to hum the “F” word nor sing, “Why don’t they all die.” He/She will only tell, “Just continue.” Keep on destroying and don’t end the despair. History is a possibility of room for restoration. Innocent hope that is cultivating a pure culture under consideration (whether or not it’s done unconsciously or without malice) will not be able to endure the violence of this world’s mechanism. We must not trust the velocity that is not clear in its origin. Feeling got from body that there’s no salvation (mental is body. And the reciprocal too is pliant) and hope that is produced by its action (anti-action) will fulfill the space for restoration at history. The power that is trying to restore is nothing but a pray against the present. This is because the angels who’s trying to restore is constantly getting blown back to the future by the gale, and if they shall repetitively collide against the present, the life we’re living in right now shall be the one and only thing that they can restore. Would the next upcoming angels wish to restore this right moment?
And right this moment too, will the electrical current that runs in our nervous system drive the city. Those clouds and that huge water that vibrates heavily are our feelings, emotions. It differs from expressionless bits that increase inside the soup of binary system (no relationship, but purely talking only about forms/shapes, it seems as though 0 is open and 1 is closed) and it is consecutive disparities that pressure and rhythm are momentary transmitted with alter and has no stage of conversion caused by the feelings. Memory is a flow of time that became electronic through sense organs. As being the imitation of electrical mechanism of body (that is of mental), Anderson employs technology. Like the “Handphone Table,” in which is made for people to listen to people’s depression position with their own ears. You can hear the sounds of violin played by Anderson when your elbows are put on the hollows, which is made in the shorter sides of a rectangular table, and the palms of your hands are put on your ears. Young man and woman who seem to be not familiar with one another, stooping their backs in each of their sides, taking the position of depression they listened to the “Handphone.” But soon after, almost in the same moment, they opened up their eyes, put their face up and they each departed to the next exhibit, just as though they woke up from the same dream at the same time. The leap from body (center) from technology (fringe) will return to body willy-nilly. That is centripetal force generated by rotation. That is a help-wanted ad generated on opening the shop. Who will come and visit?
Further more, Anderson recites in the book called, “Words in Reverse,” which goes like this.
“It’s like the feeling of when most people are driving. I am in my body just like that.”
Keeping the distance from interior that is totally covered by exterior, maybe because crash is assumed as destructive, and depending on the grip of will, to make the turn of auto-navigation and choices due to hackneyed expression and custom, we are driving with always imaging about a bit ahead of time on the driveway of the 2005th year, where it once was (wasn’t) at far in the vanishing point.
Well, where are we, who took several years to get here from the closest station, heading? The answer to that is of course the other side of the everlasting vanishing point that is converged with many parallel lines. Even the storm of history can’t catch up to our imagination. That’s the only wilderness where the angels can rest their wings from coercion against restoration. This is not a metaphor. We are not living in a summary. At last, is the place we live in.

NEW HYPE RESEARCH
Against OLD HYPE BOMB FILE #016
“20th Century Design History”
by Keita Fukasawa

There is a word in Japanese called, “kyoukasho dori no (like in the manner of textbooks).” Mostly, where it gives an excellent meaning in situations of some action, such as encountered a suspicious ship while cruising → send radio message to the headquarters → get an order → give a fire warning shot and then destroy, is the as planned. Totally orthodox. Prosaic. Apathy. Worthless. In other words, when some degree of creativity or plan is demanded, it’ll lack interest when just done in some fixed way.
Why is it a schema that goes, “textbooks” = not interesting? For one thing it’s the usual government-manufacture, the attitude of trying to avoid “mistakes” of ideological bias and prejudices, unnoticeably became authority under restricted peace-at-any-price principle. Which means the will for “solving the problem” when making a good thing allergically be replaced to “avoiding the problem.” Therefore, inorganic linger that is unconsidered will be massively produced.
This can be said in the world of design. Work that is filled with negative-ness of instead of solving the problem and just avoiding the problem will never become a splendid one. The contemporary automobiles that have wholly same style can be indicated that the whole society is extremely going to this kind of direction and also it can be suggested that we are in the situation that the function of the inhouse designer is instructed as “avoid” instead of “solve.”
When spoken about “design” books, in which on top of that was like “textbook”, there were a lot of phrased or structured ones that were like stiff-dead by sticking in a ruler into a dipper. As been expected of this genre to be conscious in rashly impartiality, teacher is solidified. Concentrating in some kind of a plan, it was assuming an aspect of something oddly not design-like. In contrast, chronologically constructed index and the abundance of visuals in this “20th Century Design History,” such as front page design by Takaya Goto, is absolutely clear. In addition, there is certainly products and architectures, but there will be a wide range of genres, from 1900’s illustration of a beauty to Godard’s films, Sex Pistols’ jacket, and “Akira” of Katsuhiro Otomo, that is picked up by one’s own point of view with a good tempo. Direct interpretations that make periods’ characteristics to stand out are smartly done.
It is recommended especially to all flunked students of design who’s attempting to be cool with hobbies that is incited with “man’s” phrases and so on. Will it be a “textbook” for the design new era.

News-29
“*can not present”
by NIK (PROGRESSIVE FOrM)

txt.Archives
“Disk Package Design: Preface”
by Jiro Ohashi

There’s a proverb that goes, “When you lend a CD to people, it’ll never return.” I think this is a fact. You need an attitude like, “When you’re going to lend a CD, think it as you’re giving it away.” It’s a recommendation spirit of “please listen to it because it’s really good!” However, unless the borrower is a girl friend or a boy friend, for the CD that costs two, three thousand yen but purchased, it’s difficult to come to that state of mind. For any months and years, with a deep attachment, the lenders will never forget about it, but in contrast to that, the borrowers relatively forget. Or just simply forget to return it and stays that way. Well, it depends on the human relationships with the other.
Sometime before, when I had lent a CD, I gave the package without the disk, in which it was still inside my player. And now I have the CD without its package. And vice versa, I carelessly had lent on the spot only the disk and it’s been missing since then. What’s that feeling you get when encountered to this one-half-missing situation? It’s the satisfaction of having the data in HDD or it’s the gratification of having the package as a thing, or maybe both.
The spread of Internet have changed “something” from foundation. This “something” was said to be mainly information and distribution. It’s been long said that “CD have lost its sales power,” but this is only about the sales of compact disks and it should have nothing to do with consumption on music itself.
For example, it’s been said that the expenses used for the substance and the pet bottle for 2-liter tea and mineral water are less than 1/5 of its retailing price. When profits are put aside, it’ll mean that most of the costs will be split for distribution and advertisement expenses. The cost and energy spent to move the object of that volume, that weight, that retail price of 200 yen (less than 1/10 of CD’s selling price) is something serious. Is music water or tea? is a question I shall put aside for now…
And like pet bottles used as cat water on alleys, like CD-R’s that failed to be burnt used against crows, as media to record various data, the present 12cm optical disks are overflowing in our life and are deeply contributing in our daily scenery.
The usage of optical disk DVD that is put into market like the CD is a medium to bring in movies to homes (big Hollywood movies are put on sale with several thousand yen in a few months after screening). This became the main visual media placing for VHS tapes. These disks will be used also as a medium to supply software to PCs that spread almost all over the homes with the spread of Internet. Presently, optical disks, such as CD and DVD, are excessively casual and popular.
I am guessing that something had broke down.
As an old school kind of understanding, one of the “successes” for the graphic designers was to work on record jacket. This recognition is deeply rooted since the analog record days and this still haven’t changed after the present casual stance of compact disk had emerged. Designing the jackets is somewhat special.
On the other hand, the spreading of music distribution through Internet is gradually changing the CD, as the star of graphic designing, itself. You can confirm the sign of Manierisme in any turning point of a history, and when you come to think of it, that splendid unique jacket that met its golden age at the end of the 90s is, so to speak, the Baroque era. The paper jacket phenomenon (relapsed thing that faithfully reproduced in a miniature way with amazing attachment to the original=analog jacket) after the millennium is also a sign of Traditionalism. This shall continue on for a while.
The theme of this book is the designs that dispute over 12cm optical disks. As a 3D solid package that gained a new coordinate called the height from the former 2D plane (analog disks) era, as a media that sensitively hail to times, and as a scene that is the most well known and radically gets experimented on graphic designs, disk package is extremely stimulating. This is also a “present progressive form” report that is composed of interviews on people who’s active in that front line after recorded (archived) its excellent outcome.

Memoirs of THE ALBUM (3 of 3)by Kurando Furuya

THE POTATOby Hiroshi Iguchi

Isn't itby SHiURA

Δ