Thanks for showing interest in our latest album Codetalkers. It has been a long haul getting here and we've suffered many setbacks along the way, but the album is now finished, now here and is available for anyone to download for free. Anyone who wishes to contribute to the cost of this album can make a Paypal donation to systemstheory@yahoo.com but we stress that no one is under any obligation to do so. The link for PayPal is found further down the page.
As with the last album Soundtracks for Imaginary Movies, this album is a classic example of that over-used descriptor a collision of styles; a merging of disparate and incongruent ideas and textures, where the old bumps into the new, the electronic collides with the organic, and the programmed has a chance encounter with the downright spontaneous. Some of the album was recorded using computers. Some using tape. Some was played on digital musical instruments, some played on digital copies of old instruments, some on acoustic instruments and some on old analogue instruments. Nothing is ever excluded by us for reasons of style or conformity. Our essential principle is this: if the sound fits then it fits. Buried deep within this album is the sound of a Victorian tenement stair being struck with a length of wood and recorded from sixty feet above. Elsewhere there are the sounds of an electric violin, a Mellotron, a disembodied flute, pots and pans being struck with wooden sticks, a cat idly playing with a lead, the squall of tortured mechanical devices crunching gears and cogs through their last moments, the voices of the wind and rain, and the rich assortment of toys and machinery that we pick and choose to use in our palette. If the last album was a series of musical accompaniments to films that didn't yet exist, then this collection is a collage of those things you'd rather not see but are perhaps happy to dream about from a safer distance; giant lizards, car crashes, warfare, rushing trains, dying red suns and trigonometry.
It's been a long labour of love and near-obsession getting this music to you. The music was recorded in Edinburgh and Los Angeles between 2002 and 2006, some of it sounding very old indeed to our ears. During this time we have been through many strange times, not least of which was a downturn in Greg's health. This problem has been dealt with and our friend and colleague is fully back with us again. It is to his and his wife Diane's long and happy future together that Steven and Mike dedicate this album.
Here is a link to the (769Mb) ISO file and the associated Cue sheet and CDT file that are be used to burn the CD. Download all files to the same folder and then burn the CD. (We recommend IMGBURN but you may have your own personal favourite program for the job, such as NERO).
If you are using an Apple Mac then we suggest you use Firestarter FX which seems to do the trick. (Note that burning the file straight in OSX will NOT work due to bugs with OSX and the use of CUE Sheets) Perhaps we should add that not all CD writing software seems to honour all the features we have embedded into the CUE sheet. In keeping withour collective love of the vinyl format - and as per the previous album - Codetalkers is arranged into three 'sides' of music to mimic that format. There is also supposed to be a fourteen second delay between tracks 3 and 4 and between tracks 6 and 7 to emulate the turning over of each side of the album. If your software doesn't include these delays then perhaps you'd like to enter it manually, assuming you want it.
Here are the image files that contains the artwork for the main cover, the CD tray and the CD label. We also have a version of the CD label that is available for full-face printing either directly to the CD or to a suitable label.
For those of you with only limited bandwidth or perhaps a nervous disposition about downloading this much data without knowing what it is, a 'concentrate' version of the album is available here, which contains edited highlights from the entire album. Also, under the title of each track beneath there is a link allowing you to listen to a preview. The 'start' button on the left will stream the music to you via Last FM. The band link will take you to our last FM web page and the track link will take to to the Last FM player page for that track .
Thanks for listening. Any comments are welcomed on our guest book.
love to all
Systems Theory
March 2008
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Credits
Systems Theory is Greg Amov, Steven Davies-Morris and Mike Dickson. They composed, arranged, recorded and produced all tracks, played all instruments (other than where noted), and are responsible for all samples and MIDI programming, sounds and vocal effects.
Guests:
Cyndee Lee Rule played electric violin on tracks 1 and 8 and also acted as our closest confidante during the whole process. We are in her debt.
Paul Beecham played bass guitar on track 4
Dun Strummin played acoustic guitar on tracks 1 and 4
Antonia Naylor Ostler provided vocals and laughter on track 2
Cosworth The Cat was responsible for some odd electric piano cable pops that ran through the echoplex on track 9.
The front cover was created by Paul Whitehead
The rear cover photograph was taken by Trevor Davies-Morris
Track Listing
SIDE ONE
Systems Theory – No Deli In Delhi
"When I first saw (it) coming towards me I did not believe it could have been possible within my heart to have witnessed such a beautiful thing, but then later I cried out to my mother and brothers that it was approaching us...and it was at that moment when I saw HER in all her finery that I knew I had become a man. Periya Kommamman! Periya Kommamman! Come back at me and teach me the lesson of living! Periya Kommamman! Periya Kommamman! So much to lend heart to! So much to give! So much to give! Sri Krishna! Sri Krishna! Lift up my sword and bear me away!" -- Narayama Pandit Paramesvara (Lam. XXI Song A) © 1678.
2. Riverrun (Harmelodythm) [6:37]
Systems Theory – Riverrun
"riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."
"O tell me all about Anna Livia! I want to hear all about Anna Livia. Well, you know Anna Livia?"
"Crashing came from afar, like the massed roar of a hundred armies. Except this was no ordered battalion or marching sequence of troops. This was anguish. This was torture. This was the sound of the primal fear of the dark and the unknown and of something too terrible to look upon because your most basic and fundamental terrors would just eat you alive from within your ribs. And it was coming at you fast, in the dull light of dusk under the yawing orange haze cast by the dropping pitch of the sun in an autumnal sky. The ground moved. The trees barked and split. The lights died as it brushed through the upper leaves and stood towering above you, eclipsing the skies like a mountain on legs. The noise of that army returned, this time more horrifying than ever because what lived in your imagination before was not equal to the sight of the creature before you, at which point all instinct and bravery lost you as you knew your life was being telescoped down into minutes if not seconds.
It saw you and thought of you as prey.
You saw it and thought of God and forgiveness" (Howarth)
SIDE TWO
Systems Theory – Car Crash Messiah
"XXXXX's spirit struck me a completely different to what I would have imagined. Rather shocked, I said to XXXXXX that XXXXX had a tendency to swear an lot and would delight in using bad language. XXXXXX told me that away from the limelight XXXXX was quite a colourful character and indeed did swear a lot when they met. In the comfort of XXXXXX's consultation room she could let off steam as much as she liked.
XXXXX said how she loved the boys but I was surprised when she said she loved XXXXXXX. She was of course in love with XXXX but she wanted it to be known that she had never hated or not loved XXXXXXX. He was a man she wanted to love but from the start XXXXXXX had stood in the way.
And finally we asked her about the claims that there had been a conspiracy to kill her. Having heard that XXX had once bugged XXXXXX's rooms I was expecting dark tales of intrigue. XXXXX was emphatic in saying that, as far as she was aware, there was no conspiracy to kill her.
What happened was a tragic accident but it is good to be aware that XXXXX and XXXX are safe and well in the afterlife. I hope that XX XXXXX and others who grieve for the couple may one day come to understand that there was no place for them in this world but that there is a place for them in the next. The power of love found a way for them to be together but it was not for us to share; it was them alone."
5. SohCahToa (The Lost Tail-Wagging Dog) [6:43]
Systems Theory – Sohcahtoa
"Perspective is a rational demonstration by which experience confirms that every object sends its image to the eye by a pyramid of lines; and bodies of equal size will result in a pyramid of larger or smaller size, according to the difference in their distance, one from the other. By a pyramid of lines I mean those which start from the surface and edges of bodies, and, converging from a distance meet in a single point. A point is said to be that which [having no dimensions] cannot be divided, and this point placed in the eye receives all the points of the cone." (LDV Notebook 34 verse 49)
"Therefore, definitively: GOD IS THE TANGENTIAL POINT BETWEEN ZERO AND INFINITY" (Alfred Jarry)
6. Memory of Ur (Parts 1 and 2) [12:13]
Systems Theory – Memory Of Ur
"When we looked up and saw them coming in I did not feel saved or happy or any stripe of relief come over me. [My property] was about to be destroyed in the coming battle, my [friends] and family to be killed, my lands burned and my life's possessions stolen by those who came to save us, in name. Is that a price to pay, one worthy of great anguish and acceptance? I say it is not. Which way we turn....we find others willing to take our land from us, either by sword or by defence. The only way they can be told apart from one another is by the smile on their faces as they confront you and tell you of their victory and the price they are going to exact from you for doing so. And we must be happy for that lot for it is all we left to give. How can we feel any friendship for those who come to kill us and steal from us with a smile on their faces and speaking the words of freedom through the lips of slavery?" -- Jarir e Tabari (rep. Cabbalus Faw ta Jedda) (c) 875 AD.
The site of the oldest known western civilization. Birthplace of mathematics and astronomy as they have been passed down to us. Recently it was bombed, bludgeoned and battered in a phony war over WMDs that weren't, its museums plundered for their priceless treasures. There's a lesson about civilized behavior in there somewhere. We don't appear to be learnin' too good.
SIDE THREE
Systems Theory – Codetalker
"We have written this letter entirely on our own initiative. We do not know who or what is responsible for our difficulties, and most emphatically we do not want to be taken as criticising Commander Travis who has all along done his utmost to help us in every possible way. But if we are to do our job as well as it could and should be done it is absolutely vital that our wants, small as they are, should be promptly attended to. We have felt that we should be failing in our duty if we did not draw your attention to the facts and to the effects which they are having and must continue to have on our work, unless immediate action is taken."
"Action this day: Make sure they have all they want on extreme priority and report to me that this has been done."
8. Berlin Night Express [6:40]
Systems Theory – Berlin Night Express
For the EuroSpy who doesn't like to fly there's only one high-speed getaway plan worth considering. If Agatha Christie were writing today surely she'd have to put Poirot on the night express to Berlin, little grey cells on overload firing in time to the chugga-chugga pulse of the rocket-train. He'd better watch out though, 'cos James Bond and Miss World are shagging like rabbits in the next sleeper.
Systems Theory – Red Sun Fading
"When the Santa Ana-driven fires came it was all a bit of a lark at first. Exciting and dangerous, but still just someone else's nightmare. But the lack of rain for over a year had set us up everywhere in SoCal for all kinds of trouble. And when the fires burned fiercely towards where I lived it ceased being something on the telly that was trouble elsewhere. Late in the day as I drove up the highway over the crest where the road falls away into my valley, I was met by endless clouds of smoke, a red sky, and an almost biblical-apocalyptic red sun. Amazing. To be see once in wonder, and hopefully never again."
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(c) 2008, Systems Theory
