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The Very Best of (2016​​​-​​​2022) [Free Sampler]

by The Cortex Shift

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1.
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The Surface 05:08
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Medium Steve 02:57
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10.
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12.

about

Free download: place a zero in the box at check out.
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The Cortex Shift has released eight different recordings between 2016 & 2022. This 'best of' album is a selection of my personal favourite tracks from these eight releases. It reflects the evolution of our eclectic nonsense in the general realm of jazz-rock-prog instrumental whateverness.
We explore everything from jazz harmony and improvisation, to odd time signatures and polyrhythms, heavy rock & metal riffs and spacey post-rock textures.
Tracks 10-12 are ambient Kyle-only, guitar-only adventures.
Thanks so much for listening to our weird music!
Love, Kyle.

credits

released July 1, 2022

This music was made on Kaurna land and we acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.
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Composed by Kyle Opie (1,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12), Sam Morris (2) and Rohan Pullen (9).
Performed by The Cortex Shift: See individual albums for details.
Cover image photography by Steven Cook (featuring bassist Edward Bittner at our performance at Bonython Hall for the Adelaide Fringe in 2020).

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Further details about the band can be found here:
adelaidemusic.wikia.com/wiki/The_Cortex_Shift
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/TheCortexShift
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/thecortexshift/
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCrENkNtBATcdAIlD0Mg58gQ
Linktree:
linktr.ee/thecortexshift

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The following was written to accompany our most recent EP, 'Magic Bearded Chicken Subverts The System' (2022):

Having track and album titles that are playfully nonsensical and absurd has always been a part of the fun of creating instrumental music for me. Without lyrics to reference you can go one of two ways; a serious name that reflects the intention of the music, how it feels, what it might represent to you, OR you can do as I often have and treat the title as a mere means of representation that you might as well have some fun with...

Music on the whole can also often go one of two ways; acknowledge the troubles of the world and fight against them, expose them, ridicule them and inspire others to tackle these troubles, OR acknowledge the troubles of the world and have fun in spite of them, be creative and enjoy yourself, express yourself while you are privileged enough to have the means.

The title of this EP, Magic Bearded Chicken Subverts The System is a collision of all of these ideas. It represents both lines of thinking in each instance. While we have often opted for the fun and silly I have long also wanted to represent my distaste of the ills of the world in our music. I love the idea of music as activism, but that can be hard to convey through instrumental music! From inaction on the climate crisis, to the treatment of indigenous peoples, refugees, and other repressed peoples in society. The corrupt power of corporations and media under capitalist governments that perpetuate inequality and destruction. First came Eat The Rich and Steal Their Spaceships (2021) and now we have Magic Bearded Chicken Subverts The System (2022). Just fun titles for some weird instrumental music, but at heart representing the effect of widespread corruption in our world at large.

My friends at Extinction Rebellion South Australia shared this beautiful quote from Arundhati Roy that consummately encapsulates these ideas and inspired this title that fused these disparate lines of thought.

"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness - and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe.

The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling - their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability. Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing" - Arundhati Roy

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The most significant issue of our time in my eyes is the climate crisis. We are currently in the middle of the Holocene extinction, which is also known as the ‘sixth extinction’, as it is the sixth mass extinction event, after the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events, the Late Devonian extinction, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, and the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Mass extinctions are characterized by the loss of at least 75% of species within a geologically short period of time.
In the last one hundred years, figures on extinction have grown exponentially: the current rate is estimated to be around one thousand species per year.

Human activities are the triggering factor.

In a negligible amount of time we’ve devastated entire ecosystems, and altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere, and the climactic and chemical balance of the oceans.

Extinction is forever.

The list of species that have gone extinct because of Homo sapiens is immense, and requires constant updating. The loss of a species determines the definitive disappearance of a particular tile in the mosaic of life, which had evolved and adapted to a certain environment. Overall, it’s a loss for all life on Earth.

So, what can we do about this? First, we should be aware that it was fossil fuel companies that invented and pushed onto us the term ‘carbon footprint’. They want us to be feeling guilty and frantically sorting our recycling because it keeps us distracted from the real climate criminals. One of the first things to do is switch your banking and superannuation away from fossil fuel investment (while you’re still sitting on the couch). Then (still seated) visit Climate for Change and click on the ’take action’ dropdown menu. Then join Extinction Rebellion South Australia. Vote The Australian Greens. And look after the vulnerable people in your community.

Our society is fraught with greenwashing, sportswashing and more. Our governments take huge donations from fossil fuel companies and act on the whims of their lobbyists rather than the needs of the people, planet and all its living things. Microplastics are infecting us all and making us infertile. We are facing more and more bushfires, floods, ocean acidification and extreme weather events, and as they continue there will be food shortages and conflict as a consequence.

We can subvert this system. We can join the likes of Extinction Rebellion, expose corporate greed and do so for the benefit of all peoples and living things. The best part of this is that rebellion can also be fun. While we recognise the trauma of our world, we do so by making art, sharing in friendships and telling our stories. This is the mantra of the Magic Bearded Chicken.

Nature, the planet as a whole is epic and diverse. I hope that is reflected in our music in some form.

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A few great books that I have recently read that discuss these matters further are Dr Karl Kruszelnicki's Little Book of Climate Change Science, Jason Hickel's 'Less Is More' and Naomi Klein's 'This Changes Everything'.

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The Cortex Shift Adelaide, Australia

Jazz / Rock / Prog from Kaurna land, South Australia.

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