ང་འཆི་བས་འཇིགས་ནས་རི་ལ་ཕྱིན། །
ནམ་འཆི་ཆ་མེད་བསྒོམས་བསྒོམས་པས། །
འཆི་མེད་གཉུགས་མའི་བཙན་ས་ཟིན། །
ད་འཆི་བའི་འཇིགས་པ་བོར་ཏེ་ཐལ། །
in horror of death, i took to the mountains, again and again i meditated on the uncertainty of the hour of death, capturing the fortress of the deathless unending nature of mind, now all fear of death is over and done.
- milarepa
james ferraro’s vast ecosystem of symbols and signifiers lend themselves to universes that envelope over each other in a screaming barrage of sounds and sensations. whether they revolve around bodybuilding, hallucinatory rituals, and alchemy, or extraterrestrial contact and ecocide, all of them channel this feeling of entering a mirror into another dimension where opposites collapse on themselves to reveal something beyond. however, out of ferraro's entire low-fidelity output preceding the summer headrush series, the one that stands out to me the most is his release under the name of "pacific rat temple band" titled "tan kim (boa paradise)", a series of wonderful compositions featuring sequences of gamelan music and incomprehensible chantings that pull the listener into the tropical forests of the global south, populated by demi-gods and incarnations of naga kings waiting behind bushes to strike and inject one with psychotropics. released as a cassette in 2007 it is one of the prettiest endeavors in ferraro's string of tribal ambient releases that chart an indonesian brand of hindu legends and practices into the cathartic and humid destination of pitra loka (the transmigratory waiting room).
to start off, this project features perhaps one of my favourite album covers of all time, with a grinning ferraro in what appears to be an island with skeletons hanging off of the palm trees (breeze worshippers). it captures such an oddly specific vibe, like a frame i'd see hanging at an old haunted tiki bar. the liner notes on the other hand are incredibly dense, and pretty lengthy as well, containing what looks like a story or a journey. with a deeper look into the language of the liner notes, as well as the narrative nature of it that reads like a live account of a body after death, i believe this album heavily references indonesian cremation practices. indonesia has a variety of very unique burial practices, take for example the region of trunyan, a place where the dead are not cremated or buried, but rather left out in the open under bamboo tents (to secure them from vultures) and left to decay without the lingering scent of rot thanks to the fragrance of the local taru menyan trees that grow in the cemeteries. or the practice of ngaben where the body is either buried or kept within the house for weeks and sometimes months or years until the family's financial situation allows for a proper cremation ritual involving the purchase and sacrifice of a bull to provide a vehicle into the afterlife for the deceased. funerals here are seen as an occasion of joy, and as a reminder of the undying nature of the soul. even the inclusion of the word "canang" which might refer to canang sari, a daily offering of flowers to the guardian deities (dewata nawa sanga) is found exclusively in balinese hinduism, representing the holy trinity of bramha, vishnu, and shiva. even the name "pacific rat" relates to an invasive species of rats originating from one of the indonesian islands, that through various trade and shipping routes spread to places such as the philippines, brunei, and singapore.
the album opens with "life is too short hare krishna 1975", a beautiful introduction to the sounds of the album, starting from the glistening ambience of the first part to tempered down drums and tropical synths complementing the high-pitched vocal incantations. the final section of the song features some submerged synths that sound like they're oscillating inwards and out within themselves, with the drums and surface melodies from before continuing to mark their presence far in the background of the mixing. "wave club holiday" and "beach wings" both feature these serene high pitched vocals chanting over an ominous yet exotic synth loop, with the latter track cut through with some of ferraro's signature noise fuckery reminiscent of his skaters era work, fading out with ferraros de-pitched incantations. "visioned miracle" is the most entertaining listen on the tracklist with the lead melody sounding like a slowed down ringtone bop from the early nokias my parents would own, with hums and buzzes populating the mix. the slithering keys on "barbecue, 12-03-1975" are what i imagine would play when the clouds open up to strike a pin into my third eye, there's something deeply evocative here of an abduction, racing down a psychedelic highway with the ceremonial slow percussion functioning as an anchor. "his seminar miracle" is perhaps the meditative crown jewel of the entire run, with beautiful harmonium like melodies and slow vocal drones that sound like light dancing over the waves. the incredible textures and tunes found here truly bring back the experience of waking up right as the light eats into the morning before sunrise, and the temples in the distance begin playing their bhajans through the speakers being the only thing populating the airwaves along with the chirping of birds.
in the credits for the album (according to discogs), we have charles berlitz (written here as a pseudonym for spencer clark, who has denied having a connection to the project), chippi, james ferraro, r.b. ocean beach, and tan sailor. charles berlitz was a linguist who wrote quite extensively on the bermuda triangle and lost cultures and civilizations, although nothing that directly pertains to indonesia and indonesian pre-history. his inclusion here feels like a signifier of pseudo-scholarly mystical world building that traces a lot of the imagery and headspace found on ferraro's more supernatural tribal ambient works. the heavy atmosphere of tropical occultism, with multiple references to indonesian-hindu practices, the repeating refrains of "hare krishna", among others in the liner notes for the album, which are by far the most incomprehensible in the skaters' vast discography distinguish this from much of his other tribal ambient output. ferraro ends his multi-paragraph text with a simple translation that serves as a sort of key to all that has been said, "skeleton follow your road".
life is too short barbecue, 12-03-1975
hare krishna 1975
wave club holiday his seminar miracle
beach wings 
juice of pacific tacos
visioned miracle
with very curious choices of patois-esque writing, repetitions, and the inclusion of hindu imagery and terms, the album's concept and atmosphere are a standout in his discography, more akin to a combination of some of his skaters era work like 'grown purple gowns' and 'dispersed royalty ornaments', and the new age sensibilities of a release like 'edward flex presents: do you believe in hawaii?'. an elaborate and intense stream of consciousness from ferraro that pulls in pacific exotica, krishna worship, and death, building a roadside exhibit of a cadaver out of glossolalia.
मनोबुद्ध्यहङ्कार चित्तानि नाहं
न च श्रोत्रजिह्वे न च घ्राणनेत्रे ।
न च व्योम भूमिर्न तेजो न वायुः
चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥१॥
neither am i the mind, nor the intelligence or ego,
neither am i the organs of hearing, nor that of tasting, smelling or seeing,
neither am i the sky, nor the earth, neither the fire nor the air,
i am the ever pure blissful consciousness; i am shiva, i am shiva, the ever pure blissful consciousness.
- adi shankaracharya
falling half-asleep to the album feels like lying down amongst the skeletons and looking up at the clear starry night above the island, melting into the ground while tripping on psychedelics, till all that remains of one's self perception is a bodiless onlooker to the beauty of the universe, while songs from a levitating temple echo through the mountains from afar. the album's sparse use of dense soundscapes, opting instead for almost naked sounding drums, vocals, and keys that inoculate the listener with a sense of direct witnessing and levity that surpasses even the most glorious and dense ambient excursions in sound from ferraro's vast discography. the real magic of the album however is fully unleashed upon a closer reading of the liner notes here, a real effort to get through due to the random grammar choices on display, however taking the assumption that a lot of those parts are ferraro simulating patois through what he has written (the many inclusions of common patois words like dem, tikki, etc. carried even further through almost inventive words that borrow the rhythm of patois), i've made a modest attempt at deciphering them through this lens, and will discuss them in phases. the reason for doing so is because i believe it to be a journey through the phases of ngaben, from the cleansing of the dead body to the final dissolution of the material body, followed by the ascension of the still conscious soul that narrates what it witnesses throughout.
[reworked words highlighted in purple]
STAGE 1
the opening involves the summoning and grounding of the departed soul into the procession, "island skeleton, do go to the temple quickly, my deep spirit's splitting into waves of the universe". the one eternal source of all things (bramhan) is often described as an ocean of consciousness, with each wave an expression of individuality, with the ego manifest as the wave (atman), not realizing it's part of the ocean, with death here as the falling of the wave back into the water, for the wave is nothing but the ocean moving. "dripping skeleton, get to joy melting skeleton. follow your road, the temple bell decorates the path leading there. up there, cool in green. make them do. a liquid ocean pit". in celebration, and not in sorrow in accordance with the ethos of the ceremony,
the body in ngaben goes through various stages, from the cleansing of the body, the transportation of the body to the cremation site, and the final collection and spreading of ashes into the ocean to be reunited with the earth, all accompanied by ritual gamelan music, divine chanting, and prayer bells guiding the journey."the temple bell decorates the path leading there. up there, cool in green. make them do, a liquid ocean pit. concentration of water cages, reach your hollowed top your way. snake consciousness in statue venom. egg of the mother is the miracle of hope". the bell illuminates the road, makes it beautiful , and so the journey of the soul begins as it prepares for its exit through the hollowed top which i believe refers to the sahasrara chakra (brahmarandhra which is the exit point of the soul), the spiritual aperture through which the kundalini (coiled snake) reaches with its divine energy, and if released with enough force breaks the cosmic egg atop the crown of ones head putting them in a state of permanent meditation. "skeleton follow your bell. let my ocean transport. the road inward, in the dress of the planet".
“if the kundalini rises with enough force, the cosmic egg will break right after sahasrara begins opening. then, the ambrosia nectar from the cosmic egg is released, which pours over the body from the top-down, activating the seventy-two thousand nadis of the body of light”
- neven paar (serpent rising: the kundalini compendium)
STAGE 2
"the skeletal is the ornament of the bells blowing in the breeze" is a very beautiful inversion where the decaying body is what adorns the gongs and decorations of the procession, rendering the spiritual register even more audible. "crown of the ancient temple smoke trail of life breezes through my krishna. in the breeze of worship, hare krishna, cleanse your avenue". in the bhagavd gita, krishna describes many of his divine manifestations, of which one is the wind as a purifier, although ngaben revolves around shiva, ferraro summons the image of govinda in this journey of the afterlife. "the cycle temple of snake worship / a field of flowers are krishnas hand / the skeleton is krishnas curse / so come along / i am a snake / to which the bell calls for / i will greet you in humid cycles", with the declaration of the body as the trapping of the soul in matter, the snake announces itself, arriving at the call of the bells and conversing with the spirit, inviting it to follow it through and out the flesh, assuring us of their reunion in another life as the wheel of reincarnation turns and turns. "objects in space are the bell" could refer to the concept of nada brahma, the universe as sound where all objects are vibration manifest, everything is a bell that is yet to be struck. "temple of blood floats the eternal mind of space ,of worshipping the snake, the door awaits an invitation from you" reading this as the body being the temple of blood, held in and floating across the sea of consciousness, body as host within the endless mind/witnessing, and through snake worship we enter the door that anticipates our arrival (liberation).
"skeleton drips on the floor of the temple in dance he calls the snake. both in trance / skeleton follow your road. / island circle dot of forehead, energy of light."
STAGE 3
"the skeleton follows the bell. the mountain of flute / do go tell them i’ve seen a temple in hell, krishna has visited my door. the master changes the shape of krishna". the instrument of krishna, and the mountain upon which he plays (mount meru which is said to be the axis of the world, the center of the universe) draws everything towards it towards ultimate truth. krishna then visits in one of his many forms to greet us, as he sees even the divine within naraka (the netherworld). "purple surf of the hypnotized dog / by you / as the palm trees shiver in your sun" the alert and guiding force is now itself under the trance of the ceremony, as the purple surf (purple is the color of the sahasrara, the surf as the wave of energy emanating from the crown) consumes and envelops the body, the surrounding world shivers and reacts to the passage of the soul. "the skeleton hypnotizes the road / a transformed snake inhabiting its cold temple. / the joy taken way. the possessed are decorated in steam. / island smoke. memory temple." the kundalini now coiled within the vacated body, the snake's final residence before the fire release both it and the flesh, while incense fills every crevice of the space, coating every curve and corner, our vessel of memories holding on shall soon be released.
STAGE 4
"dripping skeleton transform us into one door / beneath stairs the fountain. / chu chu go chu chu go ! the sorcery of consuming island water, and of the hell that births the seventh snake / the temple turns back into flowers". the burning skeleton now accelerating towards the ultimate reunion through ash, the snake escapes and burst through the sahasrara, the exit of vital energy, and so as the cinders of the towering temple that harbors my body, along with my charred organs fall down to the ground, my skeleton unmakes itself into the fertile yolk for the cycle to grease itself with and spin yet again. "my brain is still inside. my body is the universe of consciousness. my temple is with me in my chest / the box of incense decorates the road passed" observing it's own cremation, it's seat of awareness, and reaffirming it's embodiment of the eternal consciousness (यथा पिण्डे तथा ब्रह्माण्डे), the undying witness here knows of the divinity seated within. "the vehicle becomes heard but not seen through the fire/ my man my my man / the skeleton dances through the fire, the memory ball seats the temple source. now go walk, follow gong. green liquid membrane of the snake. man-snake temple holds my dream / skeleton follow your road". the crackling of the now perished body echoes through the air, bones and cartilage turning and twisting around in the flames, the corpse has finished its participation. the ashes are collected and placed within a hollow coconut, which after 12 days are set into the ocean draped in white cloth, the final destination of the ceremony. "the bell rings, heard through the fire. the mind transports the consciousness there". "lava of skeletonia drips equally in procession to visit the door of the mind. temple of breeze worship. go take the beach wings of carry-carry skeleton who worships the breeze. by the bell follow your road / ah ah the way hi ho x 3"
there is a deep neutrality and auspicious silence when witnessing such rituals, and especially of the ashes and bones that are left behind, noting a personal experience with one of my grandparent's own funeral rites, the bones collected from the burning of the pyre were then put in a pond at his ancestral temple in the south of karnataka, which upon recent visit still exhibited multiple submerged bones from the skulls and pelvises of everyone who was brought there before.
"skeleton follow your road" with the added context of a cremation ceremony carries the weight of a prayer, a command, akin to milarepa's meditation on death and mortality, one done so earnestly that it had freed him from illusion. the fire, the snake, the bells, the ocean, all in service of this one instruction of surrender and acceptance. joyous gamelan tunes, elegiac humming, and submerged drums. a rewarding listen that is an easy recommendation to anyone wanting to dip their toes into his pre 'far side virtual' body of work. ferraro's hypnagogic adventures into sparkling noise addled exotica here holds our hand through the burning pyre and greets us with some of his best lo-fi era material put to tape.
translation - "Skeleton follow your road”
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