There are some problems at times with streaming some of these files from my blog provider. Some browsers may work with a Download File link which will download the file and allow you to play it from your local device. I also put some of these songs on YouTube. On YouTube, with the appropriate surround sound playback device, it can be a 5.1 surround sound song. Otherwise, these songs and the YouTube songs will play in stereo as well.
Click on this link to go to my Alterity music page. Here are some of my recent songs:
Distance
In my last published song, ‘Tis Better to Have Loved, I explored love and like Eros, its irreconcilable qualities. In this song, Distance, I want to bring out something very important about love. I originally wrote this song after my young son died. However, I have come to understand that love could not be, without distance. What is more in this sense of distance, according to Emmauel Levinas (the French philosopher I discussed in Quanta, Alterity, and Love, distance is not measurable. In common sense and classical science distance is finite. However, even in classical science and its math there is an exception to the finitude of distance. It is called a limit. A limit in calculus can never be reached. A limit digs down into the infinitude of real numbers. Absolute Kelvin as zero degrees can never be reached (interesting in my book it can be ‘jumped over’ in a sense without ever reaching or touching it). In quantum physics we understand why this is true. Quanta can never be still. It always has jitter. The background of the universe’s virtual energy is extremely small in localized positions, and it is perpetually active as jitter, popping in and out of existence.
Many Buddhist traditions, including Tibetan Buddhism, believe that the body and mind are permeated with a subtle, vital energy that is perpetually flowing. In Tibetan Buddhism, energy and consciousness are seen as deeply interconnected and interdependent. This perspective emphasizes the non-dual nature of reality, where energy and consciousness are not separate entities but rather different aspects of the same fundamental reality (which is quite a squirrely concept in Buddhism). And ‘consciousness’ necessarily implies concepts. Even the virtual background energy of the universe is a concept. And let’s not forget energy in science can be positive and negative. What does this have to do with love?
The erratic, illusory quality of oppositions, that we think of as love (in my previous song – discussed as Eros), exceeds even the conceptualization of oppositions. Likewise, when I write of distance, I want to bring out similar qualities concerning love. The notion of distance as finite or even infinite is yet still conceptual. Love is compelled by the other, the face of the other, which compels us, orders us as Levinas tells us. This desire can be negative or positive like the analogy of energy. In conceptual history we have also evolved the notion of neutrality. But the face of the other, the one we actually face, cannot remain neutral except perhaps in some kind of extreme pathologies. The face of the other interrupts our internal dialogs and historic conceptions. The unescapable face necessarily orders an ethos, pro and con. This distance cannot be bridged especially in terms of concept. Even in science we have the concept of infinity, of a limit. However, in this song I want to muse about a kind of distance as unbridgeable, resisting conceptualisms. This is where love interrupts us.
Love glistens though as unbridgeable meaning. Love can be harkened to, repelled from, and even neutralized as insignificant. Where love fails, ethics fail. Love has many faces, many voices, but its distance can never be bridged, conceptualized. What is more, love, the face of the other, the irrevocable command of the other, shines through as what we are driven towards, flee from, or sublate as concept, neutrality, e.g., the desire for wealth/money, etc. Love as unbridgeable distance must bring pain.
My son died at 20 years old. Nothing will ever take that pain from me which I experience every day. But also, every parent will come to know the pain of being compelled to “let your baby grow up”. The promise of every child is the heartbreak of every parent as they must grow up and leave home to find a happy and fulfilling life. The other that compels us, the love which always puts us into question, is an odd kind of distance, immeasurable, and irrevocable. Attraction, repulsion, indifference is what I think Plato writing in the Symposium muses about as Eros (mentioned in my previous song, ‘Tis Better to Have Loved). If this song can find some of these varieties of expanses in emotions it will have succeeded.
As I mentioned Distance is a song which I wrote years ago but this version has been completely re-mixed with effects, a video, and surround sound using Dolby Atmos. YouTube should try to convert the Dolby Atmos file I submitted to a 5.1 surround sound file. If your browser utilizes a 5.1 playback device it should playback in 5.1 surround sound. If you have Dolby Atmos playback capability my website has a Dolby Atmos version of Distance which supports many surround sound configurations including stereo, 3.1, 5.1.2, 5.14, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 9.14, 9.1.6. However, even if you listen in stereo phasing effects of surround sound will still come through giving the song a richer sound quality.
The link below is a YouTube stereo version.
Distance (YouTube Stereo Music Video)
The link below is a 1GB Dolby Atmos file or surround sound. It can be used with many types of equipment from stereo to 7.1.4 surround sound and many others. Dolby Atmos can decipher your audio capabilities and play this file accordingly. It can only be downloaded by anyone from my iCloud drive.
Distance (Dolby Atmos – Dolby Digital Plus)
‘Tis Better to Have Loved
The title is from the last sentence of a famous quote given in Alfred Loyd Tennyson’s In Memoriam of H.H.. The full quote reads, ’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. In this piece there are some unconventional turns, twists, juxtapositions, and transitions. Just like love the piece reflects many complex and inner caverns of human emotions. We gravitate towards and flee from love. Summarizing a quote from Plato’s Symposium in my book, Quanta, Alterity, and Love, I wrote:
Eros is “neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean between the two”. Eros is misty, not fully inhabiting binary dualisms but playing with them. Eros is something other. As such, Eros interprets and spans the yawning chasm (chaos) which divides. Eros binds together all the oppositions of history’s narratives in jest and fun. The gods do not mingle directly with humans but only through their intercourse of love, one moment awake and the same next moment asleep.
Love brings wonder, joy, and pain. Love demands commitment and wisdom and simultaneously deepens and tears emotions beyond our intensions. We can only fall from love in the retreat of apathy and bitterness. We should take heed that love is not yet mortal nor immortal. It plays between and among all our intentions. Yet, there is wisdom in all this if one inclines one ear to love’s profound wounded and transportive experiences. This piece aims for transitions embracing and jettisoning emotive oppositions. To the degree that I invoke these emotions and questions larger than us is to the degree that this song rises or falls. Tennyson truly wrote that love is worth the pain. Writing as an older person I could not image the shell I would be by emotionally retreating from love and its hard call towards wisdom.
This is my first fully orchestral piece with my new Logic Pro Mac Studio. It is 8 minutes and 14 seconds. Music should evoke a sense of wonder and spatiality which stereo cannot capture well. I would love for everyone to hear it in my surround sound studio with 14 speakers because music should transport us by enveloping our interiority and temporal/spatial habitats. In the YouTube version I tried to achieve surround sound 5.1. In practice this is hard to do. To hear 5.1 surround sound your browser will determine your default playback device. If your playback device does not support 5.1 surround sound, you will only get stereo. An even with the post-processing YouTube does, the song can still seem to end up in stereo. I have more details on my blog at https://mixermuse.com/. My website also has a Dolby Atmos version of ‘Tis Better to Have Loved which supports many surround sound configurations including stereo, 3.1, 5.1.2, 5.14, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 9.14, 9.1.6.
The link below is a YouTube stereo or surround 5.1 sound version depending on your browser’s audio device.
‘Tis Better to Have Loved (YouTube)
The link below is a stereo video (mp4). It is suited for streaming over the internet.
‘Tis Better to Have Loved (Stereo Music Video) or Download File
The link below is a 1GB Dolby Atmos file or surround sound. It can be used with many types of equipment from stereo to 7.1.4 surround sound and many others. Dolby Atmos can decipher your audio capabilities and play this file accordingly. It can only be downloaded by anyone from my iCloud drive.
‘Tis Better to Have Loved (Dolby Atmos – Dolby Digital Plus)
Star Gazing Dust Shards
I recently added strings to this song. This was originally a guitar piece but I added orchestration. It should stream ok but if not you can download it from the “*Notes (pdf file)” on the Alterity page. It is dedicated to all lost loves and the wisdom opportunities rising from the pain, the shards, that awaits all earnest seekers.
Lost Light Star Bright
I especially like Lost Light Star Bright simply as it is. It reflects my love for my lost son. Personally, I think it is beautiful. This mp3 song should stream without needing to download.
Once Upon a Night Ray
The redux version is an all-new mix with more surround sound effects, surround sound optimization for stereo listening, and new audio parts. Here it is on YouTube.
Once Upon a Night Ray Redux (YouTube)
The link below is a 124MB, MP4 movie. It is suited for streaming over the internet.
Once Upon a Night Ray Redux (Stereo Movie) or Download File
The link below is a 206MB WAV file. It has much better audio quality. Depending on the speed of your current internet session it may be better to download this and run it from your audio device.
Once Upon a Night Ray Redux (Audio Only) or Download File
The link below is a 14.4MB MP3 file which is audio only but well suited for streaming over the internet.
Once Upon a Night Ray Redux (Stereo Audio)
Depending on the connection, this 1.82GB movie below can take 5 minutes or longer to download. The link will take you to an iCloud file. Hover the mouse over the highlighted file and click on the three dots at the end. You can click on “Download a copy” or if you have an Apple account you can add the file to your iCloud drive. Once the file is downloaded you can play it with many apps and devices that support movies. Double clicking on the downloaded file should start the song on your default player or device. Atmos will determine if you only have a stereo player or many surround sound configurations including Stereo, 3.1, 5.1.2, 5.14, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 9.14, 9.1.6 and play in the mode that best accommodates your device.
Once Upon a Night Ray Redux (Music Video – Dolby Atmos Surround Sound)
Internigma
The link below is a .mp4 movie. It is suited for streaming over the internet.
Internigma (Stereo Movie) or Download File
This link below is a .wav file. It has much better audio quality. Depending on the speed of your current internet session it may be better to download this and run it from your audio device.
Internigma (Audio) or Download File
This link below is a .mp3 file which is audio only but well suited for streaming over the internet.
Clicking on the MOV movie below will start a download of the movie. This is a 413MB file and can take a couple minutes to download. After the download is complete go to the download folder. Now you can click on the file and your default player will play it. This will play on many movie apps but is tailored to Apple products.
Download Only: Clicking on the enhanced ec3 124MB file below will stream audio only using Atmos surround sound. This is a common file format but may not work on a few devices. The link below will take you to an iCloud file. Hover the mouse over the highlighted file and click on the three dots at the end. You can click on “Download a copy” or if you have an Apple account you can add the file to your iCloud drive. Double clicking on the downloaded file should start the song on your default player or device. Atmos will determine if you only have a stereo player or many surround sound configurations including Stereo, 3.1, 5.1.2, 5.14, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 9.14, 9.1.6 and play in the mode that best accommodates your device.
Internigma (Dolby Atmos Audio)
Download Only: Depending on the connection this 3.37GB movie can take 5 minutes or longer to download. The link will take you to an iCloud file. Hover the mouse over the highlighted file and click on the three dots at the end. You can click on “Download a copy” or if you have an Apple account you can add the file to your iCloud drive. Once the file is downloaded you can play it with many apps and devices that support movies. Double clicking on the downloaded file should start the song on your default player or device. Atmos will determine if you only have a stereo player or many surround sound configurations including Stereo, 3.1, 5.1.2, 5.14, 7.1.2, 7.1.4, 9.14, 9.1.6 and play in the mode that best accommodates your device.
Internigma (Download Only-3.37GB Dolby Atmos Movie)
Click on the link below to go to my Alpine Tales music page…
Click on the link below to go to some of my older released singles and music pages…
Click on the link below to go to my scratch music page…