6forty project

At that instant either his foot slipped or the brick gave way beneath his heel. He heard himself loose a yell of alarm, which panicked the birds lining the sill. They were up and off, their wing beats ironic applause, as he flailed on the wall. His panicked gaze went first to his feet, then to the yard below.

No, not the yard; that had disappeared. It was the carpet he saw. It had been entirely unrolled, and it filled the yard from wall to wall.

What happened next occupied mere seconds, but either his mind was lightening fast, or the moments played truant, for it seemed he had all the time he needed…

Time to appreciate the startling intricacy of the design laid out beneath him: an awesome proliferation of exquisitely executed detail. Age had bled brightness from the colors of the weave, mellowing vermilion to rose, and cobalt to chalky blue, and here and there the carpet had become threadbare, but from where Cal teetered the effect was still overwhelming.

Every inch of the carpet was worked with motifs. Even the border brimmed with designs, each subtly different from its neighbor. The effect was not overbusy; every detail was clear to Cal’s feasting eyes. In one place a dozen motifs congregated as if banded together; in another, they stood apart like rival siblings. Some kept their station along the border; others spilled into the main field, as if eager to join the teeming throng there.

In the field itself, ribbons of color described arabesques across a background of sultry browns and greens, forms that were pure abstraction – bright jottings from some wild man’s diary – jostling with stylized flora and fauna. But this complexity paled beside the centerpiece of the carpet: a giant medallion, its colors as various as a summer garden, into which a hundred subtle geometries had been cunningly woven, so that the eye could reach each pattern as flower or theorem, order or turmoil, and find each choice echoed somewhere in the grand design.

Weaveworld, ©1987 by Clive Barker, Poseidon Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Please support the bands – buy their merchandise and go to their shows. Click on each band name for more info. All of the songs on 640.072 were either offered as free downloads, or were purchased legitimately. 6forty project does not support illegal file sharing.

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Ef – 401-Lwa    [00:00]
The Evpatoria Report – Optimal Region Selector    [06:49]
The Beauty The World Makes Us Hope For – Matter piles up, knowledge is passed on, curiosity leads to many feats    [16:07]
Kafka – Spheres    [25:00]
1099 – The Grand Design    [36:03]
Locomotora – It Seems Intended More To Cause Stumbling    [48:30]
Mirrors – In Spite Of    [58:18]
A Shelter In The Desert – Frustration, Rage, Freedom    [64:37]
Withyouathome – You Are Never Alone Here    [74:45]
Fargo – Köln    [81:21]
Shy, Low – Presence    [92:40]
Leech – Endymion    [104:47]

640.072 playlist.pdf

It was as tall as the canopy, twenty-five feet or more, its long, bone-white head brushing the branches, sand-petals spiraling down.

Though it still howled, it lacked a mouth, or indeed any features on its face but eyes, which it had in terrifying numbers, twin rows of lidless, lashless slits that ran down each side of its head. There were perhaps a hundred eyes in all, but staring an age at it would not have revealed their true number, for the thing, despite its solidity, defied fixing. Were those wheels that moved at its heart, tied with lines of liquid fire to a hundred other geometries which informed the air it occupied? Did innumerable wings beat at its perimeters, and light burn in its bowels, as though it had swallowed stars?

Nothing was certain. In one breath, it seemed to be enclosed in a matrix of darting light, like scaffolding struck by lightning; in the next, the pattern became flame confetti, which swarmed at its extremities before it was snatched away. One moment, ether; the next, juggernaut.

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the wail it was unleashing died away.

< Weaveworld, ©1987 by Clive Barker, Poseidon Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc >

Please support the bands by buying their records and going to their shows. Click on each band name for more info.

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Minot – The Means Relativize The Ends    [00:00]
Pet Slimmers Of The Year – Everything I Have Ever Done Has Led Me To This Point    [07:12]
Intervals – Tapestry    [17:28]
Zaius – Hyperion    [22:47]
Rest – Descent With Modification    [26:58]
Water On Mercury – My Amphigory    [31:54]
The Land With Metal Beasts – Eye Twitch Satellite    [36:18]
Oak – ER, 2am    [39:31]
Ves – Mouthful Of Wisdom    [49:51]
TotorRo – Tonton Alain Michel    [57:23]
Vasquez – Tiger Shark    [62:53]
Detta – Ants    [65:51]
Tortuganónima – Dan Cob    [72:05]
Deviante – Atlantis    [77:57]

640.071 playlist.pdf

‘This last then I will say to you, thrall Morgoth,’ said Húrin, ‘and it comes not from the lore of the Eldar, but is put into my heart in this hour. You are not the Lord of Men, and shall not be, though all Arda and Menel fall in your dominion. Beyond the Circles of the World you shall not pursue those who refuse you.’

‘Beyond the Circles of the World I will not pursue them,’ said Morgoth. ‘For beyond the Circles of the World there is nothing. But within them they shall not escape me, until they enter into Nothing.’

‘You lie,’ said Húrin.

‘You shall see and you shall confess that I do not lie,’ said Morgoth. And taking Húrin back to Angband he set him in a chair of stone upon a high place of Thangorodrim, from which he could see afar the land of Hithlum in the west and the lands of Beleriand in the south. There he was bound by the power of Morgoth; and Morgoth standing beside him cursed him again and set his power upon him, so that he could not move from that place, not die, until Morgoth should release him.

‘Sit now there,’ said Morgoth, ‘and look out upon the lands where evil and despair shall come upon those whom you have delivered to me. For you have dared to mock me, and have questioned the power of Melkor, Master of the fates of Arda. Therefore with my eyes you shall see, and with my ears you shall hear, and nothing shall be hidden from you.’ *

Please support the bands by buying their records and going to their shows. Click on each band name for more info.

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Hualun – Beseiged City    [00:00]
Immovable Objects
– From Courage To Liberty   [05:45]
– From Liberty To Abundance   [13:05]
– From Abundance To Selfishness   [15:00]
Architecture Of The Universe – Scoprirsi Rosso   [17:05]
Ana Never – Half Way   [25:45]
Deck B – six Twenty   [30:31]
Coma Cloud – Dagu   [36:32]
Loraine – Jonathan Lou (1912)   [41:17]
Echotide – 3mwy (Of Hope)   [45:09]
The Sky Is – Cosmos   [50:45]
Barrows – Lost In The Woods   [55:31]
Low – Pissing   [61:45]
We Are Lockhart – Livre   [68:01]
Sleep Lady – I Wanted To Be A Penguin Forever   [72:22]
Lander Configurations – Nostalgic   [77:58]

640.069 playlist.pdf

* The Children of Húrin, J.R.R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien (ed.), published 17 April 2007, by HarperCollins in the UK and Canada, and by Houghton Mifflin in the US

I recollect that, when a stripling, my first exploit in squirrel-shooting was in a grove of tall walnut-trees that shades one side of the valley. I had wandered into it at noontime, when all nature is peculiarly quiet, and was startled by the roar of my own gun, as it broke the Sabbath stillness around and was prolonged and reverberated by the angry echoes. If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley.

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a High German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs; are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole ninefold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols.

Please support the bands by buying their records and going to their shows. Click on each band name for more info.

6forty on twitter     ::     6forty on facebook     ::     mike@6forty.com

Sweek – A Dead Sleeping Forest   [00:00]
Giranice – Banako Zen   [10:06]
Frank Booth – How To Breathe Fire   [19:15]
Amp – Souvenir   [26:40]
Marriages – Ten Tiny Fingers   [34:00]
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Mountains Made Of Steam   [39:30]
Red Room Cinema – White Arrows   [48:46]
Canyons of Static – Drift   [57:48]
Appellative – Keys   [65:03]
The Nest Itself – From Peaks To Pittance   [70:07]
Ontario Plates – Gonzo   [73:30]
This Will Destroy You – I Believe In Your Victory   [78:25]

640.068 playlist.pdf

Washington Irving, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”  Published in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, 1820 [public domain]

Outer Banks, North Carolina. August 2012

Early mornings on the deck, looking out over the beach and water, with the sunrise on the horizon, and fine tunes in my ears – such a nice way to start each day. This set of music was compiled to remind me of those lovely days. I hope you enjoy 640.066 as much as I do. Thank you for listening!

Please support the bands by buying their merchandise and going to their shows. Click on each band name for more info.

6forty on twitter   ::   6forty on facebook   ::   mike@6forty.com

Pg.lost – Spirits Stampede    [00:00]
Administration Shock Him – II    [06:32]
Powder! Go Away – the Universe Is A Huge Black Square    [14:00]
Katerwaul – February    [19:40]
Lights At Sea – Bateau    [25:51]
Joy Wants Eternity – Dark Heart Of The King    [30:17]
Caspian – Halls Of The Summer    [37:44]
Soup – Leaving The Harbour    [42:56]
The Polar Dream – Last Day, Last Breath    [47:28]
Watered – Monochrome Nights    [53:00]
Awoke – Nova    [61:50]
I Spell It Nature – The Wind At My Back    [67:37
Near Light – In Darkness, You Were My Light    [75:00]

640.066 cover phot0 by Maria Kegg.

640.066 playlist.pdf