Too Much Happiness

Exothermic oxidation!

Intuitively, wood generates fire. Well, I mean, it’s not quite that easy, you need oxygen and a spark and some tinder, sure, but basically wood burns. Ancient Chinese mystics figured that out pretty quickly. So, we’re continuing up our weeklong series on Wu Xing with the element of fire.

Fire is the element of summertime, on account of fire is hot and so is summertime. The color of fire is red and the direction of fire is South, which makes sense if you’re living in the Northern hemisphere. Summertime is when things are in full bloom, and fire universally represents expansive, consuming energy. Think hot and sticky and wildin’ out, like a Busta Rhymes concert in Menlo Park on the forth of July. Fire, if you think about it, is the stickiest substance known to man. It just sticks to everything it touches. The “grain of fire,” according to wikipedia, is beans. I don’t know what to make of that.

So. What does Fire sound like? Or, rather, how is the symbolic amalgam of a variety of analogous concepts related to the element of fire related to musical patterns? Well, fire is all about a full yang, if you know what I mean. You want your yang to be as big as possible and just OUT there. Heavy energy and lots of movement, movement only slowed down by the punishing heat. The heat is a suppressing element, and just as it warps materials and creates mirages, punishing heat can create musical distortion and flatten musical movement. Think wide, flat expanses of dry grass and apricot trees, beat down by punishing waves of heat. Think torrents of manic, unfocused energy. Think of anger as a vehicle for that unfocused energy. Anger is a volcano, a spurt of petulant magma that forces itself on the world. Maybe it’ll burn up all your wood, but it’s a creative force nonetheless.

So. I’ve selected Grizzly Bear’s ‘Southern Point‘ (has the word South in it, also it represents yada yada yada.) You also get some raw energy by way of Rockin’ Ryan & the Real Goners. That energy is expressed as anger by Nine Inch Nails, Fucked Up, and King Crimson. And then you have Busta Rhymes. To me, Busta represents fire. Not just because he had a song called ‘Fire‘ or because he’s Jamaican, but because of his physical size and strength and the ferocious energy and focus at least his early music. By that I mean most everything prior to ‘Arab Money.’ I know, I can forgive him for his track with the Pussycat Dolls: Busta no doubt needed to pay some bills, cos he needed a hit real badly. But ‘Arab Money’ was straight-up racist garbage. I was not amused. Even so, if Busta Rhymes came over to my house and breathed a blast of fire from his nostrils to light a blunt, I would be only a little bit surprised.

Tomorrow: Earth. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do for that one.

Grizzly Bear – “Southern Point”
Rockin’ Ryan & the Real Goners – “Rock On the Moon”
Nine Inch Nails – “Wish”
Fucked Up – “Days of Last”
King Crimson – “Red”
Busta Rhymes – “Break Ya Neck”