king crimson - indiscipline

in the early 1980’s king crimson became necessary again and so reappeared with the english drummer bill bruford scattering jazz-tinged polyrhythms that provided at one-and-the-same-time an anchor and a point of release for the intricate gamelan and flamethrower guitar work of american guitarist adrian belew and english guitarist robert fripp. the whole framed by tony levin’s masterful solid bass and chapman stick lines.

their first album - ”discipline” wrestles with the intricacies of life drifting as it does between neurosis and intimacy. there is a considered quality to fripp’s guitar playing that posits a sense of discipline as if each note has a purpose beyond its being an expression of sound. belew’s work veers towards the imprecise and chaotic but also describes a face of the purposefully creative self in its apparent abandon. the music and lyrics together create points of release and containment that perfectly mirror the dilemma of the human condition.

one of the more powerful songs on the album is entitled ”indiscipline” . . . its lyrics read as testament to the powerlessness one experiences when driven by a compulsion that is so obviously irrational and so easily controlled and yet . . . . somehow, it has a life of its own . . . .

i do remember one thing.
it took hours and hours but..
by the time i was done with it,
i was so involved, i didnt know what to think.
i carried it around with me for days and days..
playing little games
like not looking at it for a whole day
and then.. .looking at it.
to see if i still liked it.
i did.

i repeat myself when under stress.
i repeat myself when under stress.
i repeat myself when under stress.
i repeat myself when under stress.
i repeat..
the more i look at it,
the more i like it.
i do think its good.
the fact is..
no matter how closely i study it,
no matter how i take it apart,
no matter how i break it down,
it remains consistant.
i wish you were here to see it.

i like it.

here is “indiscipline” as it was recorded for the album . . .

and here is a version with a different sort of presence and power - indiscipline as recorded live in concert with a stunning opening interplay between bruford and levin . . .


which strangely and fortuitously got me to thinking about the writing of francisca aguirre. in her collection of poems entitled ”ithaca’s circle”, spanish poet francisca aguirre wrote the following words entitled “the object”:

one day i went looking for it. and it was not there anymore
i looked for it, to no avail, in places
where i knew i could find it.
and it was not there.
i thought it had not left:
i thought someone had taken it.
and i spent much time asking around.
nobody answered. nobody.
and one day i realized it was here once more.
they had brought it back again.
although, while it was absent,
it had changed somewhat;
it was as i remembered, but also different.
i wondered to whom it belonged.
while i had it, i thought it was mine.
now,
somebody was surely wondering
as i once had.
somebody was looking uselessly,
complaining about a theft that was similar to my theft.
it would take us a long time to understand
that no one would give us the answer.

and it seems to me as if there is a parallel or at least a fractal resemblance between "indiscipline" and "the object". the occasionally necessary pursuit of the unnecessary.