Playback (technique)

Playback is a magical technique developed by William S. Burroughs, primarily as a way of placing curses on people or places.[1] Burroughs was a part of the chaos magic movement,[1][2][3][4] and this technique – along with others such as the cut-up – were further developed and commented on by later chaos magicians such as Genesis P-Orridge, Phil Hine and Dave Lee.[5][6] Burroughs used the technique to wage magical war against various locations, including the Moka Coffee Bar[5] and the London Scientology HQ.[1]

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The Technique

The technique consists of using a portable tape recorder to record audio of the target location, then revisiting the location over a number of days and playing back the audio at low or subliminal levels.[7][5] Burroughs described the effect as "recording the target’s own base shittiness, and then playing it back to him at subliminal levels."[7]

I have frequently observed that this simple operation making recordings and taking pictures of some location you wish to discommode or destroy, then playing recordings back and taking more pictures - will result in accidents, fires, removals, especially the last. The target moves...[8]

Elaborating, Cabell McLean has stated that "the effect is subtle but profound, cumulative with time, and tends to multiply or magnify the negative aspects of the target far beyond the target’s ability to control".[7] Burroughs himself discussed his use of the playback technique to lay a curse of the Moka Coffee Bar:

Here is a sample operation carried out against the Moka Bar at 29 Frith Street, London, W1, beginning on August 3, 1972. Reverse Thursday. Reason for operation was outrageous and unprovoked discourtesy and poisonous cheesecake. Now to close in on the Moka Bar. Record. Take pictures. Stand around outside. Let them see me. They are seething around in there... Playback would come later with more pictures... Playback was carried out a number of times with more pictures. Their business fell off. They kept shorter and shorter hours. October 30, 1972, the Moka Bar closed. The location was taken over by the Queen's Snack Bar.[8]

Burroughs enhanced the basic technique over time, splicing "trouble noises" into the recordings – "recordings of alarm bells, breaking glass, fire engines, as well as sound effects of explosions, machineguns, and riots recorded from TV" – and combining it with the technique of cutting out the image of the intended target from photographs, to literally remove the target from existence.[1]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. Stevens, Matthew Levi. The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs
  2. Grauerholz, James interviewed 25 June 2010 by Steve Foland. Taking the broooooaaaaad view of things: A Conversation with James Grauerholz on William S. Burroughs and Magick, Online at http://pop-damage.com/?p=5393 Archived 11 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. Douglas Grant, Magick and Photography, Ashe Journal of Experimental Spirituality, Vol.2 Issue 3, 2003.
  4. William S. Burroughs Addresses The Magickal Pact of the Illuminates of Thanateros. Transcript published in Kaos Magic Journal No.1, 1994.
  5. P-Orridge, Genesis. Magick Squares and Future Beats
  6. Lee, Dave. Cut Up and Collage in Magic
  7. McLean, Cabell. Playback: My Personal Experience of Chaos Magic with William S. Burroughs, Sr
  8. Burroughs, William S. Playback From Eden to Watergate

Sources
  • Burroughs, William S. (1973). "Playback From Eden to Watergate". In Odier, Daniel (ed.). The Job: Interviews with William S. Burroughs. Penguin UK. ISBN 9780141903583.
  • Lee, Dave (1989). "Cut Up and Collage in Magic". Chaotopia!. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  • McLean, Cabell (2003). "Playback: My Personal Experience of Chaos Magic with William S. Burroughs, Sr". Ashé Journal of Experimental Spirituality, #2.3. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  • P-Orridge, Genesis (2003). "Magick Squares and Future Beats". In Metzger, Richard (ed.). Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 9780971394278.
  • P-Orridge, Genesis Breyer (2010). THEE PSYCHICK BIBLE: Thee Apocryphal Scriptures ov Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Thee Third Mind ov Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth. Feral House. ISBN 9781932595949.
  • Stevens, Matthew Levi. (2014). The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs. Mandrake of Oxford. ISBN 978-1906958640.
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