“I’ve got a time-bomb in my ass”. Character who uttered this was neither terrorist nor high grade drug smuggler, butt a friend in last night’s dream. Hopefully it’s a phrase which will make it’s way into common usage, suitable both for sign posting a sense of urgency and referring to the genetic decay we all bow to in the end. It was so funny to hear last night it woke me clean up, laughing out loud. This week then: dream machines.

So Tha Story Goes
One Brion Gysin was travelling in a bus to Marseilles, circa 1958, when he passed a long row of trees and closed his eyes against the setting sun. An overwhelming flood of intensely bright patterns in supernatural colours exploded behind his eyelids: ‘a multidimensional kaleidoscope whirling out through space’.

You Spin Me Round
From here the effects of strobing light were researched and a simple flicker machine was constructed: a slotted cardboard cylinder which turned on a gramophone at 78rpm with a light bulb inside it. Again the kaleidoscopic visions returned, and this time ot was found after extended usage, perception of the world around had increased very notably, and all conceptions of being ‘dragged or tired had dropped away’.

Repetitive Light
What seems to be happening is of course, that the constant rotation and repetition of the light source in a dream machine, promotes and regulates the production of electrical brainwaves, in particular ‘alpha waves’, through the rhythmical stimulation of the optic nerve and visual cortex. Alpha waves are associated with a state of relaxed wakefulness, of receptivity without concentration, and have a frequency of between 8 and 13 cycles per second.

DIY Zen turntables
You’ll need a record player that does 78rpm, a globe and a cardboard design which you’ll find at google.com. Bear in mind this ain’t no pokemon epilepsy triggerin type scenario, just potentially a nice way to relax, a nice party gimmick, or if u believe the mystical hype: an opening to a sea of inner visions and transcendental experience which will forever change your life and you got it all from a free street press you picked up from beside a softdrink machine.

The Wait There’s More Dept..
Oh what a dream machine is a cluster bomb. Cluster bombs are bombs that contain many smaller bomblets designed to saturate a wide area. Each bomblet contains metal shrapnel designed for maximum human casualties and equipment damage. a typical cluster bomb would weigh 500 pounds and carry 247 bomblets. Unfortunately as with all detonation devices, the fuses are not 100 percent effective. There are always bomblets left unexploded. The current US variety are bright yellow and the size of a large can off food. The current food aid packages being dropped for displaced Afghans are painted the same colour to make them easy to find. Don’t worry about the children though, the US military are dropping fliers with every bombing raid to explain the differences. And there’s music in the next paragraph.

Underwater Trumpets
Androids may dream of electric sheep, but they listen to underwater trumpets. Hopefully there were plenty of androids in attendance at a recent Rephlex Records night in London where Pierre Bastien amazed the crowd with his mechano percussive beats and underwater mini-trumpet playing. It’s no wonder London attracts so many androids, what with a recent Stockhausen festival and the extraordinary surround sound system playback of many of the early works of this pioneering composer. His show was introduced by the man himself in an unforgettable white safari suit, and followed by the padded sounds of an Aphex Twin gig where all wandered around wearing wireless headphones in silence.

ciao bunnies!

Sidebars:
www.google.com
Here you’ll find easy to replicate designs for your own dreammachine – using the keywords ‘dream machine’ , ‘brion gysin’ and ‘flicker’.

www.strangereports.com
Choose a topic from the left hand column, and answer a few questions… voila! A realistic web site is created with a great selection of fake news stories using the names of your
friends! Try it, they fall for it (for a minute) every time!

www.indymedia.org
Great reading for cluster bomb fans and others interested in multi-perspectives on the terrorism being perpratrated by both the US & its attackers.