Riff Magick

My musical philosophy has evolved over the years. I used to strictly abide to King Buzzo's notion that domination is pretty much ensured through amplification. Although I love the Melvins, and King Buzzo's dictum "domination through amplification," I no longer see it as a prerequisite to making great music. For me, amplitude and cacophony take a back seat to melodic interplay and rhythmic structure.

Here are some terse ideas concerning music, hooks, riffs, magick, and bodhisattvic idealism:

1) The riff is a veil. The riff hides the true intent of the performer, a musician who is either extremely aware or only dimly aware of the intent.

2) The veil is a riff. The veil adorns a riff in such a way that it partakes in its nature, much like a coastline partakes in the nature of an ocean when it caresses it. It must be said that the veil is tantamount to the personality-mask of the performer, the trickster-sage who lurks behind the flesh.

3) The interconnection between the veil and the riff is what gives music its magical flavor.

4) By sewing reason and intuition together--the warp and weft of the musical imagination--the performer invokes the power of an electric/eclectic matrix of possibilities. This power is sacred. It has the potential to either kill or heal.

5) The intent is the thread that holds it all together. By refining the intent through contemplation and visionary journeys, the performer is able to use the riff as a catalytic force. The performer is able to transcend. The riff is able to enchant. The music is able to captivate.

6) Part of the magick arises in the performer when the performer is able to tap into what Johannes Kepler called the harmonia mundi, the harmony of the world. Another part of the magick arises when the performer takes the world's abundant harmonies and turns them into "what did not exist before". This process, although quite apparent and obvious on the surface, is for the most part mysterious.

7) Sigils--symbols of sacred significance--can be transubstantiated into powerful riffs when the musical imagination is eclipsed by a higher celestial body. At higher levels of awareness, the symbol and the sound are actually inseparable and indomitable. From the perspective of a higher dimensional manifold, the symbol sounds while the sound is symbolized at the same instant.

8) Riffs are to be enjoyed by everyone. This is why we must not use them to hurt or insult anyone. Neither do we create riffs for self-aggrandizing purposes. We create riffs for transformative purposes only. The same goes for the intent.

9) May every being enjoy the magic of all our riffs!

10) May all beings be released from endless suffering via the power of pure riffmatic sound!