“We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.” – George Orwell, 1984
I created a new track affectionately titled “Revillusion”, cheggitout:
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Be the Change You Wish to See
1984 has been one of my favorites for quite a few years. Fortunately it was not a book I was made to read in school (no matter how good a book might have been, I always hated being forced to read anything…go figure), instead I discovered it on my own in a period of my life when I was very wary of authority and looking for some revolutionary inspiration.
When I got a few chapters into 1984 I was incredibly excited. I felt this book would be my manifesto for revolution, a how-to for political subversion and political change. Not that I’ve ever been a “let’s violently overthrow the oppressive regime” kind of guy but I am definitely a “there’s something seriously fucked up here, let’s take a deeper look” kind of guy.
What a shock not so many pages later. Winston was a real spineless pseudo-hero and suffice it to say, the end of the book royally pissed me off. Why hadn’t anything changed? Why did evil prevail? Where was the justice?
What I’ve come to realize over the years is that the only truly successful revolution has to be a personal one. When we seek to change everything/everyone around us without changing ourselves, we immediately put the responsibility for our own well-being in someone else’s hands. When we can only see the external flaws of our own leaders (or friends or parents for that matter) and not our own, we forfeit one of the most powerful weapons we have – our own ability to change. This is not to say that revolution isn’t sometimes necessary or that some regimes/system don’t need to be overthrown, I am simply saying that we are destined to repeat the same mistakes if we don’t first change ourselves. The word “revolution” itself has a cyclical connotation – when you revolve 360 degrees you’re right back where you started. We have it upsidedown – don’t look outside yourself to change the world, look inside and evolve first, the world will follow.
This idea was the primary inspiration for the sample in this song “I could give it to you, but whatchu gonna do with it?” I think too often people focus on what they think is wrong with the world rather than what they would do differently. If I gave you the keys to the castle tomorrow, you were supreme ruler of the world with the power to call all the shots, what would you do that would so drastically change humanity in a positive way? The real truth is, no matter what laws you impose, no matter how many weapons you destroy, no matter how you re-allocate resources, your “perfect” changes are dependent on ALL the individuals in the system behaving how YOU want them to. You cannot force everyone to color inside the lines. Making a law so “Everyone makes the same amount of money” or “Everyone is now officially equal” is just as good as saying “Everyone has to be really nice to each other” – you cannot force people to be what they aren’t, change has to come from within.
So next time I find myself thinking how shitty things around me are, I’ll think about how I might change something I’M doing to make it better.
Gandhi’s “Be the change you wish to see in the world” never made so much sense.
The Making of a Slumper
This has been one of my absolute favorite tracks to make. Although I still think it needs plenty of work to be an epic dancefloor slumper, it arose very organically and came from a simple seed. The “upsidedown” lyric you hear looping throughout the song was the first inspiration for the track. Originally I had no idea where it would go, I just liked the sound of the sample.
As I kept exploring my sound library I found the haunting yet beautiful female chanting voice and loved how the 2 samples sounded together. From there I added the dub-esque drums and Bassnectar wannabe wobble I love so much. With this simple palette I just moved down my file list (1000’s of titles long by now) and I ended up randomly stumbling upon the “revolution” lyric.
This is when I experienced what I like to call the “Cheshire Cat grin moment” – when this non-cohesive meld of sonic ideas suddenly finds its glue and an actual concept is born, giving way to a smile of Alice-in-Wonderland-like proportions.
Preview 1984 online here
Buy 1984 at Amazon
Tags: 1984, George Orwell, politics, responsibility, revillusion, revolution
