Sonic Pysops: Music

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)

The story behind "Culture Of Convenience" is the story behind the CD itself. A few years ago, I traveled to the Peruvian jungles with my girlfriend to explore ancient cultures and to meet interesting people. My girlfriend and I went to see the waterfalls of Tarapoto in the San Martin Province and, while we were enjoying the beautiful jungle landscape, we wanted some photos of ourselves. I was reluctant to give our guide my modern digital camera because I didn't think he would know how to operate the complicated machine. Our guide was an older man wearing simple clothes and drove us around in a refurbished motorbike, which was the typical mode of transportation in that secluded corner of the world. Suddenly, I heard Bach's "Partita in E Minor" as a ring tone, which broke the natural sounds of the jungle, and our guide immediately answered his very modern cell phone. He was speaking kechua, an ancient indigenous language common in the Andes and Jungles regions of South America. I watched this man speaking an ancient language into his very modern cell phone in complete shock. His cell phone had more bells and whistles on it than my cell phone back in the states.

It was then that I realized just how prevalent modern technology really is. We really can't escape it. These days, it's hard to walk down the street in fairly modern town without seeing somebody with a cell phone, MP3 player, IPOD, lap top computer, or using any other instrument of modern technology. Why? Well, simply because it's convenient. Technology, in most cases equals convenience. Of course, this is going to have an effect on culture. As people become more and more isolated from person to person interrelationships, they will depend more on their instruments of technology for business, travel and companionship.

So, whether we like it or not, universally, we are becoming a culture of convenience. It will be interesting to see where this cultural shift takes us.

I tried to capture this idea in the song and album, of the same name, "Culture Of Convenience." Have I done it? You tell me.