BETWEEN THE GROOVE: EPISODE 24
“…I’ve been a, a fool for you
Way down, deep down in my soul, oh
I’ve been a fool for you
Well I know it’s something, oh, what makes me blue…
Otis Redding – A Fool For You.
Fuckup: Right then, listeners, welcome back! We’re diving into Chapter Twenty-Four. Kicks off with the mighty Otis Redding, “A Fool For You.” Let’s see what foolishness TRB are up to now, send in the clowns, send in, the clowns. Hal!
Hal: Well, it starts with Plush taking on the mentor role again. He’s analyzing Max and Percy like characters in a movie, trying to probe their weaknesses to design exercises to help them improve. Very methodical!
Fuckup: And the exercises! Finger tapping drills, scratching different body parts while beatboxing – carefully avoiding the ballsack, mind you! – and even cleaning dishes to build muscle, speed, and precision! Plus, it gets the chores done! Win-win, as he says! Genius! Give the man a coaching award!
Hal: He even suggests common DJs could benefit from better cleaning skills and squeezing tennis balls for stamina! But then he gets deeper, saying that unifying strength, dexterity, taste, and aesthetics in turntablism ultimately comes down to “straight-up old school song selection skill.” Taste is paramount – choosing the right sample for the right song for the right crowd.
Fuckup: Ah, the art of selection! It’s not just about the flashy techniques then?
Hal: Exactly. He says the signs of a truly good DJ musician include playing the pauses, sensing the bigger picture, feeling what comes next, being comfortable, even mapping time and predicting the future from milliseconds to hours! It elevates DJing to this intuitive, almost precognitive art form.
Fuckup: So the challenge for TRB, as he sees it, is like any good band: make music that’s recognizable and original, tight and funky, technically skilled and spiritually uplifting. Their goal? Music and sounds to “educate and delight.”
Hal: It’s a really articulate section laying out Plush’s pedagogical methods and his philosophy of what makes truly great turntablism – a blend of rigorous practice (even cleaning!), deep musical taste, intuition, and the ability to manipulate time and emotion, all aimed at educating and delighting. Sets a high bar for the crew!
Fuckup: Okay, Hal, Chapter Twenty-Four continues. The user wants us to get deep into the method here – Konnakol, core Tribetable stuff. Lay it on us!
Hal: Right, so Plush is really breaking down the practical application now. First, he suggests building a physical Konnakol pyramid! Print and cut out triangles corresponding to the 12 TTOTT characters (maybe linked to Zodiac houses?), glue ’em together… creating a 3D model for practicing scratch rhythms, drumming, even poetry composition. Linking the conceptual framework to a hands-on tool.
Fuckup: A pyramid for scratch practice! Mental! What else?
Hal: Then he gives us another suit breakdown for his Tribetable Tarot – this time the Cups Suite, linked to Headphones, Chalice, Speaker. Like he did with Wands before, he maps the Thoth Tarot keywords (Ace to Ten) onto his own system:
- Ace (Root of Powers of Water): Seems foundational.
- Two (Love): Headphone Socket (the point of connection!).
- Three (Abundance): Digital Audio Archive On-Line (infinite resources!).
- Four (Luxury): Gold, Diamond Encrusted Phones, Platinum Deluxe (pure bling!).
- Five (Disappointment): Faulty Cable – Skipping needle (technical failure!).
- Six (Pleasure): Music To The Ears (simple enjoyment!).
- Seven (Debauch): Earphone Implants (invasive tech?).
- Eight (Indolence): iPod, pure listening, no creation (passive consumption!).
- Nine (Happiness): Feedback Cycle (idea -> performance -> feedback loop!).
- Ten (Satiety): Stereo Headphone Balance (perfect harmony/completion!).
Fuckup: Love it! Indolence is just listening to an iPod! Happiness is a feedback loop! It’s translating those sometimes abstract Tarot concepts into concrete experiences or technologies within their world.
Hal: Exactly. Then he outlines a narrative generation method: break down the beat, pick 12 characters (from the Tarot/TTOTT?), invent 12 more, design conversations based on rhythm (60 bpm metronome!), and boom – “novel viral narrative.”
Fuckup: So the rhythm generates the story structure! Now, what about the Konnakol itself?
Hal: He gives a proper lesson! Starts with the basic beat: TA. Divide it in half (twice as fast): TA KA. Divide into three (waltz time): TA KI DA. Divide into four: TA KA DI MI. Then he shows how you build up longer subdivisions by combining these – five beats (TA-KA TA-KI-TA), six (TA KA DI MI TA-KA), seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, right up to twelve (TA KA DI MI TA KA DI MI TA KA DI MI), all within the space of that original TA beat!
Fuckup: Blimey, that’s intricate! So you learn these syllables and you can basically construct any rhythm imaginable?
Hal: Pretty much! He says you combine these root syllables and stem patterns however you like – “permutations are not restricted,” build “custom beat patterns and beat puzzles to infinity.” It’s the mathematical engine behind the rhythmic complexity they’re aiming for in their music, scratching, beatboxing, maybe even the structure of the narrative itself.
Fuckup: This section really demystifies the method! Build a pyramid, map the Tarot onto your headphones, pick some characters, learn your Konnakol… anyone can make a novel viral narrative! Easy! (Not.)
Fuckup: Okay, Hal, let’s land this plane for Chapter Twenty-Four! What’s the final payload?
Hal: Right, so Jake and Joe have apparently had a revelation after reading Plush’s papers – “We were living in a simulation called twin-town”! Ten trillion volts shocking! Confirmation of the mirror world/simulation theme.
Fuckup: Joe even met Plush in a dream, connecting past coincidences, contacted by the “dream mob” because he watched Inception backwards on acid! Standard entry requirement for the dream mob, I guess?
Hal: It highlights the mystery of why all these characters (Jake, Joe, Percy, Max) were in Amsterdam but never met before – compares it to 9/11! Joe gets freaked out by it all. Max, meanwhile, is struggling to see the big picture, finding politics meaningless without context, and quotes Korzybski again: “words are not the things,” “no object in absolute isolation.”
Fuckup: While Max is quoting General Semantics, Plush gets a text from Dr Briq, loses all focus, starts regretting stuff about Sally and his career… Tries to get back into the creative flow with Percy but feels it’s getting hopeless. The pressure’s getting to him.
Hal: Then we cut back to Joe, seemingly still in that VR/printer-cube experience from way back? He’s balancing on wonky platforms, crowds cheering below, helicopters circling… feels like a hero’s welcome!
Fuckup: But then… bullet time hits! Ghost world time! He realizes the crowd isn’t cheering; they’re calling for his bloody execution! He’s being chased, abused… Everything slows down…
Hal: He turns to look at a figure hanging from a helicopter… and it’s just some bloke in a mantis costume clinging to the underside… doing a stunt for charity! What?!
Fuckup: (Laughing) A man in a mantis suit doing a charity stunt?! After all the paranoia, the persecution, the bullet time… it ends with that?! That’s the ultimate anti-climax! Or maybe the ultimate punchline? Is the simulation glitching into absurdity? Is it mocking Joe’s paranoia? Brilliant!
Hal: Chapter Twenty-Four Summary: The chapter opened like a tin of peaches with Plush outlining his DJ training philosophy and TRB’s goals (educate/delight, technical/funky). He then detailed the Konnakol rhythm system and reviewed the Cups suit of the Tribetable Tarot. This final section revealed Jake and Joe’s realization they live in a simulation (“twin-town”), with Joe connecting past events via a dream influenced by Inception/acid. Max wrestled with the big picture, quoting Korzybski on non-identity/interconnectedness. Plush was momentarily derailed by a text from Briq, feeling hopeless. The chapter climaxed with Joe’s extended VR sequence, shifting dramatically from perceived celebration to persecution, before ending with the utterly bizarre and anti-climactic reveal of a man in a mantis costume performing a charity stunt, leaving the nature of the experience deeply ambiguous.
Fuckup: From DJ training via cleaning dishes to revelations about simulation theory ending in a charity mantis stunt…s a masterclass in mixing the profound, the practical, the paranoid, and the completely absurd! Fly shit bruh. Finally, the Mantis!
Hal: Mine too! A perfect cliffhanger of confusion and dark humour. That wraps Chapter Twenty-Four! What on Earth, or in heaven happens next?!
DEEP SCRATCH 