Journal – Trance Blackman

Here you’ll find my philosophical meanderings in the form of articles, essays, and occasional poetry. My interests and curiosities are broad, but the central focus remains the pursuit of what is authentic, real, and true.

Lux et veritas

Journal Entries / arts (20 Posts)

Showing posts tagged “arts”. Clear filter

Rudiments: The Basics of Happiness

05 March 2023 (rev. 14 February 2024) ~ 3 minute read

As you may know, I am a recording artist who has been writing, composing, and producing my own original music since I was about 16. Today, I am… older. I have a backlog of unfinished projects, albums, and random ideas. I’ve made notes for some cool music videos. There is ample evidence on several hard drives that ideas and inspirations were never in short supply, but the ridiculous amount of time that began to elapse between releasing products and creations into the world has increased significantly. I’m sure many other creators out there can relate.

Native Songs

09 March 2020 (rev. 28 December 2021) ~ 7 minute read

This is about Canada’s treatment of its indigenous peoples over the past century and more. It’s not an easy topic to discuss, and I believe that most of us are ignorant as to just how terrible it was.

Elements of Desire

04 February 2020 (rev. 25 February 2024) ~ 6 minute read

When I was young, maybe about 12 years old, I had a dream of performing my music in front of a sea of people. It was just me under a spotlight, holding a guitar, with a microphone on a stand in front of me. I’m not sure what song I was about to sing, but it felt good to be there.

A Greater Story

25 April 2019 (rev. 29 July 2020) ~ 2 minute read

When you finally come to grips with the idea that much of Western (or modern, capitalist/consumerist) society exists within a low-level mental cloud of illusory belief systems, you will realize that there is a lot that you need to unlearn, in an effort to reframe your world as you know it.

Life is Music

12 January 2019 (rev. 29 February 2020) ~ 2 minute read

7 years ago today, I was working with my longtime friend Mark Greenhalgh, a fellow music producer and lifelong percussionist, on the Fleshwound album. We were trying to hammer out live drum tracks, to replace my originally programmed ones.

How to Take Some Decent Photos

09 December 2018 (rev. 18 February 2020) ~ 2 minute read

Since about 2007, I have snapped about 1000-5000 photos per year. When I was working on photo or video projects, that number would probably multiply by 10. In contrast, for this past year, I’ve only had my phone for photography, so I am much more selective.