Absinthe: A Documentary

 

Sometimes, life surprises you in simple ways. While slogging through the mire of contemporary B-movie drivel and innumerable Hollywood cast-offs, I just stumbled upon this great little documentary about the ritual, history, and culture surrounding Absinthe, one of the most notorious hallucinogenic libations ever concocted by human hands. 

In addition to revealing a great deal of information on the subject, complete with interviews from contemporary absinthe makers in France, artists, and authors, the film contains a soundtrack featuring music by Thurston Moore, Matt Valentine, and Sun City Girls among others. 

If you've got time check it out! You can stream it directly from Netflix. Check the website and view the trailer above for more info.

Last days at Swim Cafe

Just a reminder to anyone who hasn't had a chance to stop by and check out my show at Swim Cafe, please do as I'll be taking it down this coming Wednesday! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the work!

Also, my friend Cheri Charlton will be showing her work at Swim, with an artist reception happening this Friday at 6PM. Check it out.

Swim Cafe

johnnydeckermiller.zxq.net

"Smoke Oracles: Scrying the Divine" A Book of Automatic Paintings

 

Johnny Decker Miller “Smoke Oracles: Scrying the Divine”

A Book of Automatic Paintings

Hand made by the artist in a limited signed edition of 50 copies bound in artist grade paper stock

-    $6.00   -

“…Beyond the dark clouds and rolling mists at his feet, a vision of the celestial city, far off, it may be, but radiant with unearthly splendour, bathed in the light of dreams.”

-James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion

The images that are found in the pages of this small book were created utilizing the immediacy of the automatic drawing technique. Each of the ten images contained herein were put to paper in one session with no preconceived notion as to the overall outcome of the final image. In essence, they're a candid outpouring of the subconscious mind, having only been directed by the idea of the ancient shamanic practice of smoke divination.

Cast your fortune, what prophesies lie hidden within the curls and billows of the smoke? Your unconscious mind may surprise you with the revelations it perceives …

....

I'm so happy to announce the completion of a chapbook of my automatic paintings! The book contains reproductions of ten original ink paintings. I'll be selling copies of the book at my artist reception for my show "Le Mystere Lycanthropique" at Swim cafe tomorrow from 6-8 PM, where the original paintings will also be shown. They'll be selling at the white hot price of $6, signed and individually numbered by myself in a handmade edition of 50 copies. I'm also hoping to get it sold on consignment at three great Chicago bookstores: Quimby's in Wicker park, The Occult Bookstore in Noble Square, and the very cool Alchemy Arts up in Edgewater, so keep an eye out if you miss picking one up at the show!

"Le Mystere Lycanthropique" New Works at Swim Cafe this Friday 5/11!

Statement of intent:

"Art is an outgrowth of the shamanic practices of our ancestors. The series of thoughts and actions one uses to arrive at visual or conceptual conclusions is known today as the “creative process”. This method is actually nothing more than the evolution of a deep-seated and mystic craft used to conjure and portend thoughts and images.

At times, it becomes necessary for the shaman to gain access to the spirit world, whether it be through deep, transcendental meditation, hypnagogic premonition, or psychedelic hallucination. Twentieth century occultist Kenneth Grant theorized the idea of bestial mysticism and he felt that some of the world’s greatest sorcerers, writers, and artists knew this type of shamanic transformation well. French poet and mystic Arthur Rimbaud stated that one “…makes himself into a seer by a long, tremendous and reasoned derangement of the senses." Artists often enter a trance state wherein long stretches of time pass by unnoticed and they become “lost” in their work. This transformative period of atavism is at the heart of Le Mystère Lycanthropique, wherein the basest primal instincts surge forth to conjure thought and image that might otherwise be unattainable. 

My new work hopes to capture, visually, the artists’ bestial and shamanic journey through creativity and divination. The idea of the artist as shaman is nothing new, but in today’s world of technological and social disconnect, I feel that many have attempted to demystify the artistic practice. A faltering sense of wonder about the workings of the cosmos and a loss of identity with our spiritual progenitors is perhaps one of the greatest casualties of the digital age."

-Johnny Decker Miller 2012

Aquarius Records dusts off and reviews my album "Your Shining Path"

Amazing! After many years of sitting shelved in a box (unloved...sniffle) alongside CD's and tapes from my now defunct label, Bickering Bray, one of my personal favorite recorded solo efforts finds it's way into the hands of the fine folks at one of thee best record stores in the U.S. (if not the world), Aquarius Records in San Francisco.

It's been nearly 4 years since this album of drones, guitar ragas, and meditations was recorded at home after months of backpacking through Europe (with my lovely wife) and thinking about the vast world I had explored and the places I had to, however sadly, leave untrodden. A lot had happened in my life on and after that once-in-a-lifetime trip. I wanted to pour every ounce of creative energy and mystic soul I had into some recorded music to reflect on the life-affirming effect that world travel and molding one's global consciousness can have. It's taken this long, but here it is for all to hear! A reminder of the friends we met along the way, and the sights, sounds, art, food, and images that still burn like summer fires in my mind.

Thanks so much to Andee and all the staff at Aquarius Records for getting this to the public for me! Also, mucho praise and good vibes to Jim Lechocki for dropping this off for Andee to hear two years ago while visiting San Fran! Wouldn't have happened without ya!

 Please read the review below, and if you're interested, pick up a copy of the record from Aquarius or get in touch with me! If you'd like to hear some samples, simply check out the Aquarius website and search for Johnny Miller. Enjoy!

"It's a sad story, but it continues to happen, someone sends us an amazing record, one what will no doubt blow our minds, one that we won't be able to help but want to share with all of you, one that begs to be reviewed and hyped to high heaven, but then that single amazing record, somehow slips through the cracks, ends up in a box, in a closet, on the floor, in a pile, and sadly, sometimes disappears forever, but thankfully, like it this case, miraculously makes its way back from the great beyond.
We were going through piles of cd-r's, from boxes that had been piling up, and we came across this mysterious disc, adorned with a strange bearded mystic, painted with a third eye, a triangle superimposed over his face, that photo affixed to a cool looking digipak, surrounded by a mandala of some sort, lots of pyramid imagery, a Japanese style obi, and some strings with bells attached. We threw it on, and BLAM, totally mesmerizing tripped out raga like trance, the opening track alone, the 17 minute title track we ended up playing over and over. Andee loved it so much he played it on his radio show, after which he seemingly randomly emailed a friend of his, to ask if he knew anything about said record. To which that friend responded "I SENT YOU THAT RECORD. TWO YEARS AGO!!!"
After enduring a bit of well deserved mockery, it was time to get down to business, and track some of these down for the store, and for YOU. Johnny Miller was a new name to us, but he played in a Chicago psych-kraut combo called Sadhu Sadhu, who we have yet to review on the list, but from whose ranks recent aQ Record Of The Weekers the Great Society Mind Destroyers were born. Miller though doesn't traffic in the same sort of blown out psychedelic heaviness as TGSMD, no all that shamanistic imagery was our first clue, but Miller is more about serious blissed out raga-drone, looped cyclical mesmer, heady ur-drone shimmer, and abstract free folk drift. The aforementioned title track is one of the greatest things we've ever heard, laying down a thick, slowly undulating sheet of high end shimmer, sounding like a dreamier more soft focus Sunroof!, underneath which, Miller lays down a mesmerizing latticework of melodies and rhythms, playful and looped, circular and cyclical, it adds a subtle bit of propulsion, to the otherwise seemingly weightless drift, he also adds soft swoops of backwards guitar, it's really utterly divine, and we say it a lot, but this is the sort of song that should probably go on forever, and we like to think does, somewhere.
But the cool thing about Miller's record is precisely that it does NOT just do that, instead, it's surprisingly varied, layering tinkling thumb piano melodies over wheezing harmoniums, wreathing simple steel string strum in clouds of simpler percussion and softly swirling tape hiss, unfurling spare, dreamlike Appalachian folk, bare and unadorned, simple and beautifully hushed, and unleashing some churning heavily distorted riffage beneath a glimmering sky of hypnotic looped electronics and buzzing synths, sounding like a fantastic hybrid of Zomes and Amps For Christ. The other epic here, a gorgeous 12 minute sprawl, does return to the sound of the opener, but adds some gorgeous crooned chantlike vocals, the result like some ancient spiritual ritual revved up and modernized, a buzz drenched blissed out mountain top raga.
LIMITED TO JUST 50 COPIES!! Each one in a hand numbered cardstock digipak, hand painted, silkscreened and stamped, with a Japanese style obi, a folded full color origami like insert, and a little string with bells hanging from the spine!"

Johnny Decker Miller "Le Mystere Lycanthropique"

Many, many gracious thanks to Jenny Greene, who curates over at Swim Cafe, for helping me to set up this event. Please stop by and say hey! There will be wine and snacks served. In addition to all the new work, I'll be selling copies of my new book of automatic paintings entitled, "Smoke Oracles: Scrying the Divine". Come check it out!

The Scrying Stone of AOS

The actual stone that Austin Osman Spare used for his intense divination practice. This amazing piece is on display at The Museum of Witchcraft located in Boscastle, Cornwall, UK. Amongst the museums varied collection of relics, documents, human & animal remains, and paraphernalia, is Aleister Crowley's ritual chalice, and a bizarre taxidermied Baphomet! Weird and cool! More info on the museum here. I'd love to go someday.