this is the sum total of the completed rabit is wolf studio experiments, which wound through a number of paths on their way to the project's eventual collapse. while there would be further acoustic demos recorded with sean, i ultimately decided to abandon their folky underpinnings and finish all further tracks as electronic, instrumental recordings. a tour ep of the final recordings exists as inri059.

the recording was initially sequenced as a demo in mid may, 2002 but i foolishly deleted the files (i was running low on hard drive space) only to find out that the burn was corrupt and that the result was skipping. i did eventually recompile an ep of material, but it was in a different order and made no attempt to mix the tracks together. in reconstructing the demo, i've decided to recreate the original sequencing. the only difference between this collection and the initial collection is that the last track now includes sean's vocals, whereas it was initially an (eventually rendered incomplete) instrumental recording.

i need to be clear that the decision in sequencing the material this way is unilateral on my behalf. during this period, sean had made it clear that he was not satisfied with the more experimental and electronic tendencies underlying some of the tracks; specifically, he wasn't happy with the first or last tracks on this disc, as he felt they did not represent his vision for the project. on the other hand, i was less interested in purely acoustic music and more interested in electronic music. i was envisioning the project as having a split personality between an acoustic live presentation and an electronic studio presentation. sean argued this would be disorienting; it's less that i disagreed with him and more that i thought that was a good idea. this divergence in vision is one of the factors leading to the project's dissolution.

while i feel this recording stands up on it's own, i've also taken the time over the second half of 2014 to reclaim some of the tracks as my own instrumental works. only tracks two and four exist uniquely as rabit is wolf collaborations; the other four tracks have been resequenced as completed instrumentals in my main recording sequence. please open the track pages for more information.

written and recorded in late 2001 and early 2002. initially sequenced in may, 2002. released in slightly different forms from 2002-2014. resequenced to mimic the original sequencing on november 8, 2014. except to sequence the record, these files have not been altered since 2002. disc finalized as lp013 on nov 3, 2017. as always, please use headphones.

this release also includes a printable jewel case insert and will also eventually include a comprehensive package of journal entries from all phases of production (2002, 2014, 2017). 

credits

released June 20, 2002

j - guitars (electric, acoustic, classical), effects, bass, synthesizers, digital piano, electric air reed organ, flute, drum programming, drum manipulations, vocal manipulations, loops, sequencing, sampling, digital wave editing, production, cover art.
sean - vocals, lyrics, harmonica (1), ring modulator (6).

greg - drum performance sample source (5,6)
jon - guitar performance (2) 

 

 

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.

so, what's my ideal unit?

1) i want it to be within walking distance from the tunnel. that's my singular concern regarding location. it can be in any direction, just not much further than i am now. so, that rules out anything east of walker road and anything west of huron church - and anything south of tecumseh. they're going to eventually build a bridge, but who knows when, and it's only valuable to me if i can bicycle over, at which point the city will open right up. if they don't allow bicycle access over the bridge, i'm going to need to continue using the tunnel, anyways, so it won't matter. we'll see if it even gets built. but, i'm going to start caring less in the next 5-10 years, too.

2) there should be a rule saying that you can't enter the building unless you're over 30.

3) no pets. and, the building should be pro-active in trapping strays.

4) no smoking inside or around the building. a designated smoking area should exist at the very distant end of the property.

5) no religious people allowed in the building. not even to visit.

6) i'd like to be on the third or fourth floor, facing away from the road.

7) 550+ square feet. 

8) 650 all inclusive or 600 + hydro.

i'll be explicit if you didn't follow me: in a conflict between southern plantation owners that want to carry on the institution of slavery and keep the profits for themselves and northern bankers and industrialists that want to enter that market and generate new revenue streams for themselves, there isn't a lesser evil.

that is the real lie here: not that the south wasn't operating primarily to save slavery, but that the north had any meaningful interest in dismantling it. what the north actually wanted was a seat at the table - at the head of the table. 

setting up a debate over whether the southern succession was about slavery or states' rights is a false dichotomy, as slavery, in a nineteenth century historical context, is an example of states' rights. succession can be largely about slavery and still be fundamentally about states' rights.

nor is it necessary for the north to be opposed to slavery - it wasn't - for succession to have been about slavery. the bankers in the north may have wanted a larger share of the profit.

generally, academics don't seek to find singular causes for complex events, they look towards multiple factors and narratives. so, why is there such vehement reaction to anybody that dares to extrapolate on the idea that there were other causes of the civil war than slavery, when the same people will take complex and subtle views as to the cause of, say, the revolutionary war, or the world wars of the twentieth century? the reason is that it became connected to a kind of founder myth during reconstruction. the elite tried to build a national identity around abolition and they wanted the civil war to be a triumph of good over evil that was won by good god-fearing christian soldiers. any questioning of this myth become convoluted with a kind of treason, and suspicion of sympathies with future rebellions.

slavery certainly had a lot to do with the civil war and anybody arguing otherwise is being daft. but it was merely a component of deeper class and cultural divisions and competitive pressures.

these debates don't bother me. but, i don't react well to being silenced or being told to adhere to a narrow or monolithic view of history at the exclusion of verifiable facts and evidence.