We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

about

Life Might be Smarter Than You Think


So, I’m looking at a piece of junk mail I got the other day from AAA, encouraging me to reactivate my expired membership, and then something caught my eye from the bottom of the page. Two normal words juxtaposed as to form a sentence, but instead of a period at the end of it, there was a “™” indicating a trademark, but the message it conveyed just blew me away as the single most blasphemous, arrogant, irresponsible and stupid thing I ever read in my life. In fact, it so perfectly concentrated all those qualities in such purity, so concisely, that the profundity of it stunned me. This is what it said:

Outsmart Life™

If this ever sounds like a good idea to you, I suggest you take a good hard look at your life and what you are trying to accomplish, because you just might be completely nuts.

Personally, I take great comfort in the knowledge that life is far wiser than I, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore and appreciate as much of her as I can, but I dare not presume that I know better than she. After all, she’s been here at least 500 million years, eternity maybe, while I am, let’s just say, “considerably younger.” She’s been everything that ever was, and will be, and done everything that’s ever been done, or will happen. My life on the other hand, has had a much narrower focus. No, I wouldn’t dream of trying to “Outsmart Life™,” and the one thing I have complete trust in, is that life knows what she is doing.

Drone music reminds us of the awesome power and infinite wisdom of life. That’s probably why there’s so little drone music in Western Culture. My drone music always begins with the didgeridoo, and it always feels like a prayer. By itself, the didgeridoo sounds very earthy, pure and spiritual. When I add the voices of some of my homemade instruments from the Orchestra of the Unwanted, the sound takes on a darker dimension.

I think my instruments reflect the trauma of being forged in the violence of consumer capitalism, and outliving their usefulness. They all sound as though they might be better at something else, but they add a certain Gothic, sci-fi quality that, I think, reflects the spirit of our age. I plan to release an album of drone music in the near future. Here’s a piece I recorded recently that might be on it.

credits

from Pluto, track released April 9, 2021

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

John Hardin/Tin Can Luminary image

John Hardin/Tin Can Luminary San Francisco, California

John Hardin lives Off-Grid deep in the forest in Northern California where he produces original music in a solar powered studio. He makes many of his own instruments from recycled materials and found objects. He seeks to transcend civilization through music, so he rejects musical traditions born of civilized culture and instead cultivates wild, feral, and untamed musical impulses. ... more

shows

contact / help

Contact John Hardin/Tin Can Luminary

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like John Hardin/Tin Can Luminary, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring interviews with LA music scene pillar Kamasi Washington, and new London-based duo Mrcy.

listen now