Kid
St. Germain: Tourist
reviewed by Terrence, American Buddhist
While a Buddhist such as myself prefers to abstain
from the earthly pleasures that are so tempting to an ordinary
man, occasional situations arise when such pleasures need to be
explored, and indeed delighted in.
One such pleasure is the music of the wonderful
French musician St. Germain. Life may be suffering, but
to listen to the smooth, jazz inflected moderne sounds of St.
Germain is to attain a small version of the sartori. The dance
producer's latest album, Tourist, transcends the often brilliant
but occasionally gimmicky work of his first highly acclaimed record.
The new album mixes the beats of house, disco, and
hip-hop with the organic guitar and vocals of American blues and
jazz to produce something that is more special than it is new.
But this is the work's strength rather than its weakness. Unlike
the background music of Moby's Play, which also mined American
Black music to good effect, the Tourist tracks demand attention--
the hooks are subtle and uniquely composed, but they are hooks
that trap rather than catch your attention. Slowly you will find
yourself needing this album as if it were a sweet nugget of crystallized,
high grade marijuana-- the kind that goes so perfectly with my
hand-blown triple-bubble glass bong that a friend of mine from
the village made for me at a very reasonable price.
But I forget myself! Hello, and welcome. I am Terrence,
American Buddhist. I write these words on my shiny i-Mac from
a remote monastery in Northern Japan, where I have dedicated my
mind and soul to the pursuit of perfection. My life here is full--
of nothingness, as I prepare my ascension to the godhead. However,
as Master Liu often tells me, I have a wandering mind.
Just this past week, for example, my mind was wandering
substantially during a 6 hour meditation session in our Eastern
garden. It seemed that all I could think of were earthly delights,
especially those that have arrived in mailbox lately.
I have told you many times now that life is suffering,
and that I, as a practicing Buddhist, have no need for your gifts
of marijuana buds, seeds, and various smoking apparatus. Yet my
mail box is still deluged with such items from my many fans around
the world! While I could turn a tidy profit on your gifts by selling
them to a friend of mine in the village, instead I do the noble
thing and dispose of them discreetly when I get a chance.
But lately there have been no such opportunities.
The weeks have consisted only of my usual routine: long meditation,
breathing exercises, and hours spent studying holy books. This
weekend, however, was special. Most of the other Yogis and Masters
were attending a conference in Hokkaido, and I was to be left
alone at the Monastery for the first time. While I bowed my head
solemnly as everyone left, inside I was exploding with 1001 earthly
desires. As he passed by me, Master Liu raised my shaven head
with his hand, looked me in the eye, and said "I am proud
of you, son. You are slowly but surely learning to love the Buddha."
If only he knew what kind of Buddha I had on my
mind at that moment! In the folds of my robe I had concealed an
excellent supply of Lebanese hash, along with 5 or 6 choice hydroponic
Silver Haze buds which a friend from Holland had kindly sent me.
For a second I felt remorse, but that feeling vanished as soon
as the other monks pulled away in their SUVs.
Quickly the product appeared from the folds of my
voluminous orange robe, and I was transported into the realm of
St. Germain-- disconnected vocals, jazzy sounds and beat driven
rhythms that echoed my head as if I had been in a Western-style
late night lounge the night before. My masters may not have approved,
but I was again finding nothingness in my own way. So stoned I
could barely lift the pipe, I experienced a beat heavy bliss under
the stars, silence wrapped around me like a childhood blanket.
I was alone in the world, but the Godhead had made for me the
herb, and St. Germain had made the jazzy house beats.