notable releases for the week of june 23 - 29 2009

the mars volta - octahedron

always seemed like an interesting band, i never liked it thatmuc, but they're popular, so they're bound to have alot of buys, so i might as well familiarize myself with it, i think. plus its notable, the critics like it.

the roots - how i got over
regina spektor - far

michael jackson has died

the guy was someone i remember from my childhood. there are two videos in particular, the black or white video and the red leather something that came out years later. that and a girl i knew who would always do beat it dances at weddings for fun. she was real good at it, she'd learned all the steps. michael jackson struck me as an infinately positive guy. im sorry he suffered so much in public. i read alot about his fear of people and i can understand how perhaps his public persona was something that really haunted him. the surgeries, the accusations of molestation. these things probably helped destroy the man. and there was nobody standing by to stop him. he was a child perenially and it hurt him. but these things did not stop him from making grand contributions to music. bands like Fall Out Boy cite a guy like Mjackson as an influence. that's a beatlesesque scope.

the death comes on the heels of a two year series of concerts regarded as his farewell tour. its a shame all these people were hoping to catch a glimpse of the legend and instead had their excitement squashed cruelly as he died before their eyes. i heard comparisons that really made me think of mjackson as an interesting guy. there's something abotut him livingin a castle like place called neverland and commanding such fame and recognizability, the benevolent messages of his songs and the wow-factor of his dances. there was something there, and mass media really trumpted his story to all that could hear. one of the most recognizable names ad faces of our day, and to hear ofhis loss is a loss that many will feel. teh world has lost a beloved musician. and though there are many who would piss on legacy, a larger amount of folk would resist fight back and hold the flame high in memory of a man who made so much happen in his lifetime.

we will all die one day, i hope when i do my obits are not filled with commentary of how i was a dickwad. perhaps i could be loved and such. but i really think it would be a daunting fucking task to get anywhere close to how loved michael jackson was. just look around, look at all of the unhappy people, this is a pain felt by many, as the world really does mourn together over its shared star. a man who danced the globe, who shone his songs into the hearts of many people, regardless of ethnicity and the like. taking advantage of the global television network he galvanized the youth of the world in his heyday and even those of us who half missed his train still were rocked by it. the man was impossible to ignore, be itby way of television, loving fans, criticism, uproar over his personal life. the guy was a fucking beacon to alot of fucking people. he fuckign shone down and lit the way for im sure plenty of droves of folks on the edge, perhaps got folks into dance, got folks into singing, he created a shining path and point by which he could go and do something amazing, and in the end, he died doing what he loved, dancing. this is a guy who died in battle, his pursuit earning him accolade and in the end taking his life and he will perhaps live in valhalla-esque glory for going down in flames. in his empassioned time on this planet much eath was shook in his stead.

looking forward, there will be no replacing michael jackson, for he was a unique character, emulated, insulted, but perhaps never again lived quite the same way again. a character, especially not within our lifetimes. no, michael jacksons story is likely one thats repeated so uncommonly as to be something most of us wont live to see twice. like a world war or ice age, rare humans too are a thing of wonder and obscurity. fame is a powerful thing, and perona twisted by media and transformed through a music video can be a powerful thing.

So, I was thinking about this whole like get 10 people together to contribute something to a song, or to be given parts for a song, and what came to my mind was like how this performace would happen on stage in front of a crowd. and, something that I think would add a little something more to it is basically this. Like, there would be an empty stage, just a little bit of light, mostly focussed on the one person on the stage. That one person would start off playing guitar, no vocals, only guitar. Then, you hear a voice, but see noone. And, a person that is singing walks out beside the guitar player. Then, you hear another, and another, and so on. Then, another guitar player walks out, and sits right beside the other guitar player. Then, you hear a beatboxer, who walks out too. Another kid walks out with another instrument and begins playing along with everyone else. And maybe a nother guitar would join, or even a bass. The people singing would be walking around with each other, enjoying everything, and maybe even dancing, smiles....well, really any kind of movement, just full of excitement and energy.

new young continues to rock my world

so i've started doing these journals over at lastfm. it lets me like, do these top ten as far as albums i'd say lsiten to fuckers, and so for the past three days today included ive been posting my playlist of the day. its kinda neat. and its nice how like there's some coding involved and the words actually link to the playlists & album cover page on lastfm of the corresponding album.

also ive been listening hardcore to new young pony club alot. its still my current favorite and im grinding it down into my brain. because? it's awesome and it seems to be my mood right now. i was reading through music reviews and i realized i dont really agree with most of whats said. why? maybebecause im way more of a connesieur of music than i am film or tv or anything else? i can sit there and discern all sorts of nuances and get general big-picture feelings of this stuff that generally makes you feel real cool whilst listening to. i mean this musics vibe is really what i need. just complete feel-good-ness let-it-go and be free-ness that im digging. its that liberated twang that im down with and need perhaps right now. but im enjoying casting it all off and letting loose.

i guess perhaps this kind of music might only work if you have something to cast off... if everythings peachy there's no need for this music. and you can see in the chicks eyes that she's got some dark shit going on at home or in her mind. but this stuff kinda casts it all off and lets you be a raging machine of music and flash fleshed out with thebeats and spoken word and sound of these guys digged tracks. its real nice and a great sound for RIGHT NOW. its todays fix and my current need and it kinda cuonterpoints my current situation well. music is kinda like a what if: what if you let loose whilst you were going through some heavy shit? and this is sort of the result, like if you go nuts and let yourself really get into some shit this's probably the tune you'd wanna run after. i guess its that which appeals to me most, the decisive beats, nothing all jittery and the like, its defiant and strong and there's not a hell of alot that really leaves you wondering where the fuck did they get this sorta shit from. its real defined and clear and you underestand very well the beat and its very easy to bob your head to. its real strong and the like, some people say its calm or perhaps even droll, but i'd say they're only happy with mania. this is sort of my blissful state and im enjoying it whilst it lasts hah. daily listenings though seem to be in order and im definately enjoying this shit.

new young pony club reviews, disappointing, and motivating

so i've read through metacritic. and yeah... not that great, we're looking at scores of average or worse. why? because the album just doesn't seem to strike many people as something thats realy all that good. surprisingly pitchfork actually rated this 80, so it kinda makes you stand back and think wow, there's something there. maybe they're not all bad. pitchfork tends to give good albums bad reviews, and then seems to praise the weird, inlistenable, and otherwise obscure over all else.

however, when they give NYPC a good review, and its the exception, then im surprised. i've had this record on repeat for a good long while. i guess the thing is when you're talking about a good album maybe its better to talk about it using its name. so this one is called Fantastic Playroom (2007) which is a work by New Young Pony Club (NYPC) (est. 2004). but yeah, reading through the reviews and wiki's about NYPC i see the name LCD soundsystem, and it makes sense. after all thats a band i used to have on repeat in my dingy E. Frambes apartment in Columbus-Ohio-Usa. back then, surrounded by booze, drugs, music & women, in the underbelly of the indie capital of ohio's lumbering beast of destructo-creative music, i had these guys pumping through my ear drums at all hours, and it makes sense that someone could've been similarly inspired by such music and decided a band was in order. and then such a band would then appeal to my senses and sensibilities.

but i think to myself how i would love to have my own dance-punk post-punk whatever-the-fuck this is. i like it. i like NYPC and i would love my own NYPC. it just so happens that im currently in the market for my fifth band. sixth if you count solo stuff, but i dont. i only count ensembles. so this would be my ffith ensembles. and i guess i should figure out where the pitchfork-listeners gather, for thats where ill find my own stuff.

updated the myspace, and a new resolution

i went by the myspace and updated the bio, also did the same over on lastfm for my own page (for the curious, search sandeep sehbi on last.fm's artist search). and while doing this i kidna made something up for myself. i decided that it was high time i tried to make daily postings about my music. im mean if im trying to do this whole music thing for real im going to need to reat it like i do the other things that've proven to be things that've really stuck with me as things i'd want to keep up to date with blogwise and the like. if im to really build a real following i need ot have something worthwhile to follow. so i think im going to need to do a daily check in on my myspace and perhaps even deviant art as well as any other extensions of artistic expression to keep things in balance.

in other news, i was going in my music room the other day and i printed off a bunch of pictures of bands that i listen to on my last.fm playlist and taped them onto the walls with anita. anita mentioned how it was neat as she never really thought of faces when she listened to tracks, and i agreed. i think its a good excersize to see faces so that you can really respect them for what they're doing. just by viewing the products of men and not the people themselves, i think you kinda skip the point of some of this. yes its product, but there is a source, and just like understanding how games are made which kinda gives you a deeper sense of respect and wonder regarding these things, in the same way it does the same thing for your favorite tune and all that. so anyhow to create a better atmosphere for anyone playing music i stuck those pictures on there.

on myspace, the songs that stand out to me the most are those that were done with the slow beat method i messed about with a couple of days ago. those seem to stand out as the most listenable and pleasing tracks of the bunch, and to me that a good sign. i think perhaps that warrents more time spent to try and pull out some more tracks using that style, because it seems to be a winner for me. allowing there to be space between every note, and every word, i think it gives a sense of calmness and stuff to the song, because if the song has gaps and spaces it gives you a bit of a rest and lets it be managable to listen to. otherwise if the notes are endless and there are no spaces it just isnt very easy to sit down and lsiten to. also the volume of the notes is much less because the intensity is much much less. at the same time the songs are still potent without going full blast because they instead charm you with the more quieter softer slower style that is essentially the hallmark of the experiment.

there's a band i've been listening to alot, new young pony club, whose album fantasic playroom was released in 2007. its only really come up on my radar recently as i was checking out a tv commercial and their track was being played. i then youtubed it, and after picked up the album, and its pretty nice. its all i want to listen to right now, which is pretty cool. pretty impressive when that happens, when a band maanges to get ahold of you so much that youd ont really care about anything else. its got the lasting power too because for me not only is it poppy and good but its also chilled out which is exactly the way i like my music. its not all tense and perceptably conservative which is something i really hate, given my background, having lived in a conservative town, with a conservative family, but yeah, im enjoying it.

then there's this whole talk about a fifth band for me. im not sure what i want my band to be. id like to perform and i was looking at my favorite bands and i read how 200+ shows in a year was something that they wouldnt shy from. i guess i would like my next band to be willing to tour with me alot. and i definately want my band to be hot. i want my sound to rock. and i want my members to be cool. i can't play music with retards. and i can't play crappy music. so i want my stuff to sound cool. and i want my people to be cool. i mean if i could have a band that was like new young pony club i'd be happy. i think id love to have my own new young pony club. but i need people. and i need instruments. i need shows, and i need music. i need lyrics and i need a crowd. and i need a town that doesnt suck.

lastfm user stations

so i was like, looking through my friends list on lastfm, people who i picked up off my neighbor list, and i noticed you can actually stream their library. im like... damn hah. its like musical horizons opening up before me. its fuckin awesome.

day 2 of the month of listened-music

so yeah. thinking about my music. and how like, ive been like striving for this whole... chilled out, drawn out vibe and yet... pop is all about the eccentricities of people. i thikn when you get way too focused in your view you kinda miss the cake. like lately ive been thinknig about how people become nerdy about shit and exploit it out to the point where you arent even enjoying it the way its meant to be. like... being nerdy about the bible. or then being nerdy or overly focused upon my words, mining new meanings out of old ones. like the race-police who seem to be reading into films so in depth that they seem to just be seeking for something that agrees with their point of view, far from objective, its just obsessive, and seems terrible. but that seems to be like the sort of way people like their music out here in the midwest. like obsessively so.

my own music career is a sham

so lets um it up. i've never played a show that paid. i'm 23 years old. i've never released a real record. i've never been in a stable band. outside of a school environment.

slow down songs for better result

so ive been lately experimenting with my old favorite songs of my own creation and changing around the speed and stuff. essentiallys lowing shit down way much and then filling in the gaps that're then created by the spaces between notes and the result is pretty cool like it feels like you're going way in depth on what you're doing and its certainly something that gets the hopes up. i mean really - its been a long time since ive made any new discoveries with music, and now that the whole situation with anitas kinda fading into memory, im starting to get back into the groove and all that. aka relaxing and watching tv, getting myself thinking about the things i enjoy thinking about, like music, wiki searches, gaming, tv, all that. but yeah slowing down icelandic greenery yielded the best result in my opinion. then there's the whole situation with the song "end of the world" which i felt like was already slowed down to the rate that i'm slowing my others down like "youre in myhead" "interlaced" "lonely subway people" "youre too good to me" and others. its nice to have some proper progress in these older songs, because in a way its like building what ive got into something better, instead of just experimenting on a new song with any new ideas, instead taking them to the older more old fashioned songs and then modernizing them. i mean with songs like "vivek was a good boy" are so personal & / or strong that basically they strike a chord with me. i mean for whatever reason i really feel like these are things im really down with. another thing though, i've been thinking, in relation to the whole writing music down & / thinking about how to slow songs down i've had to pinpoint the exact location of many different parts rhythmically which's been difficult but challenging and i feel like im just learning a new aspect to the music ive played for ages.

this eurovision thing seems a bit exclusive

so im reading up on this eurovision thing, my old english school friend emma had added their page to her site and it showed up in my news feed, i was curious so i clicked the link and watched some video of a submission, it left me with still looming questions so i googled it and came to a moscow eurovision 2009 site. admittedly i dont have the full scoop yet on this program, but its meant to have been going on for 53 years, some sort of a television show.

anyhow... how fucking racist and exclusive can you fucking be? i mean seriously... eurovision? come on... hah. so we're trying to like define people by their geographic location? that like... entire parts of the world don't matter?... uh... what the fuck? where's india and africa, north south america... hell even australia... no its just this exclusive european thing. what the fuck is that about. i mean seriously, think about 50's wives, imean all teh shit that went down in that decade is a fuckload more conservative than i care to entertain. not all old things are good, and this thing seems so fucking exclusive and almost praising the goodness of european-ness over all else. why bother building a european identity you know? why try and enshrine all that is european over all else. why is it that good of an idea. to me this smacks of nazi-ist ideals and shit, aryan brotherhood style, like this is the shit that only the white girls and boys put together, and noone else. why? because they're eurpoean which is paramount to the gods and entitlement abounds. its absolutely rediculous.

to me i'd like to see people from all parts of the world trying to compete together in a worldwide battlefield. lets end this whole european monopoly on the entertainment industry. lets bring about more equality and involvement from all parties in the planet. there's musical artists worldwide, and they aren't garnering any attention. to me this is a shame and a travesty. an artist with brown skin in a non-european country has just as much legitimacy as a white-skinned artist in a european country. but this doesn't seem to spark any controversy which to me just seems absolutely rediculous. i don't understand how these people can't like, overcome their own issues and just make this shit open to the world. we're a more global society today, let those countries world-wide participate. it's just a hypocracy, an indian-anscestored british born kid could participate, but an indian-born indian-anscestored kid could not. i mean what the fuck. does that dirt bestow upon them sacred status? are they now more legitimate @ the like than the other? i don't know. but this seems to led to that belief.

this eurovision contest is just exactly what's wrong with the recording & music industry today. white & black dominated, with alternative media for the blacks. the rest? well they're not invited to the party. and inthis case, it seems the tradition continues, even to this day, in 2009. who would have thought that these racial issues would be so pervasive but whilst these people seem so tied to their own views and values of euro over all there will continue to be problems. open the contest up, make it world wide, allow teams to participate whose origin lies beyond the european division. and then also, how can they even begin to call russia european hah. its really not. but yeah. lets get china, japan, phillipenes, all these countries, they deserve a chance to compete. i see this as the olympics of music, yet not every country is invited. to me its a shame that this exclusionist policy pervades into present day. to me it's something that should have been rid of with colonialism and no blacks allowed signs. yet it still lingers, and in my mind casts a dark shadow upon al lthat is european, tainted now with this emerging sense of exclusivety and perhaps even hatred for those who don't lie within the boundaries of whatis considered to be theirs.

racism in music, look on the stages, check teh channels, and tell me how often you will find a brown skinned performer on stage doing something to entertain someone. it's hardly done, and to me just doesn't seem really like at all what it should be like. to me, it's just utter insanity that just doesn't really belong on stage. we need some representation minority is a word i feel has no meaning and i think that every type of person should be invited, whilst none encouraged moer than others, and let the interest dictate how many of each type are represented. because we all know skin race & belief geographic origin and lineage have nothing to do with ability to sing. for those reasons every type of man should be allowed and extended an invite & woman as well, it should not be limited to how these people look, but instead how they sound. and perhaps if sex appeal is important, people of the world display that sex appeal in their own way, its part of what makes each culture unique is they al do it a bit differently, but it all tends to translate quite harmoniously, so if you want some hot pop star type then youll find that in any country of the world, because we're more or less manufactured to be hot in the ways they seem to prize on these stages. physical beauty, toned muscles, these are all thigns that are the result of maintenance on a high level of quality and standard, otherwis ewe all have the right parts and the potential to develop our muscles and the like to be oogled and all that. these are things that we have given to us as being human beings, we're all capable of it, those that do try to make themselves look a certani way then make themselves elegible for the whole rat race, and they can come from potentially any country with potentially any skin color and facial makeup. thats the beauty of it. as some people might say. the assemblage of facial parts upon ones visage is somehting that has a multitude of possibility and even the shared capacity to attract amaze and captivate. this is not a european trait, because there are no european traits. european doesnt exist. we only have people. for this reason i hate exclusionist types such as this whereas the participants are screened on country of origin and / or residence and then allowed to pass if fitting the criterium of the correct socio-political affliliation and origin. to me this is a terrible sign that the politics seem to be governing the artistic expression.

i would hope that in coming years people wake up to the toxic nature of this television show and either amend it or disqualify it from viewership.

band number five.

so - well... band number five. im not sure exactly what people i want in this thing, what genre, what name, or anything. but anitas assuring me ill find more like minded people in a new bigger town and stuff. well that'll be pretty cool if it does end up being that way. butyeah genre no idea. maybe rock or rap, who knows, maybe some free flowing indie artsy thing. maybe like, some disco dance shit. i dont know. but whatever it is, we'll see.

my fifth band and other stuff

so im looking at my fifth band.

quick history:

first band

name: spinoza
lasted: a couple weeks
reason for breakup: shitty band leader

second band

name: snowden's silent canvas
lasted: two periods, first lasting under a month, second dragging on four or five more months
reason for breakup: drummer lost interest, me & the other guy fell out over a girl

third band

name: blackburn (now called the blackburn collective for lastfm purposes)
lasted: on and off about six or so months
reason for breakup: initially due to drug use & unpredictability & unreliability of other guy, then after reformation death of the other guy due to OD

fourth band

name: the welsh assembly
lasted: on and off about six months
reason for breakup: personality clash between members, constant fighting & other conflicts

so those're the bands. before that i had a few different other musical capacities

name: qegs lessons
lasted: approx 2 years (tenure @ school)
reason for ending: moved

name: heathfield choir
lasted: perhaps 2+ years (tenure @ school)
reason for ending: moved

name: qegs choir
lasted: approx 2 years (tenure @ school)
reason for ending: moved

name: chicago paletine gurudwara
lasted: approx 2 years (time spent in locale)
reason for ending: moved

name: fairbrook band
lasted: approx 2 yrs (tenure @ school)
reason for ending: lower to middle school transition

name: ankeney band
lasted: approx 1 yr (tenure @ school)
reason for ending: moved schools

name: MVS band
lasted: approx 5 yrs
reason for ending: highschool to college transition

name: dayton gurudwara
lasted: approx from '95 - '03
reason for ending: highschool to college transition

so yeah, on top of all this, i took lessons @ music go round, and 2 other spots, for guitar mainly. but yeah.

im looking to get involved with what'll be my fifth band. im still interested in music, right now im kinda starting to focus more on the keyboard, ive spent years on the guitar & before that trombone & before that voice, so this'll be a nice change of pace & role for me. besides that, i'm not sure what i want. but this'll be interesting. i'm definately looking forward to trying to play with some new folks.

i need to write a hell of alot more about music

so i've been writing shitloads about various subjects but it seems like music has been majorly neglected. well when i was growing up i didn't get much attention for my music, more or less scorned by my parents, and really just misunderstood. my addicton & passion for the craft went more or less unsupported and after a run of about three different bands i just collapsed my efforts and moved back home. recently 3 years after i ran into my fourth band and we did a great deal of stuff. so it was good, but there were problems, and it didn't quite work as well as it could've. but yeah that's the thing about all this. there just isn't much that any of us could really do. but yeah i mean i have a mind ofr the stuff. i can think up beats and keyboard riffs and all that. but the stage's always been unkind. this year and last ive been doing countless open mics and even had a single paid show. thats kinda something anita's to blame for hah. she's kinda like, well connected, and also free in the sense that she can go out and book a show, and i can't. so i guess for that im in debt and awe.

but besides all that, yeah im just chillin, @ home, trying to figure out what exactly i wanna do about my life and crap. music keeps coming up. when i was a kid it was trombine piano recorder and singing and violin, as it was older school band and stuff, then jazz, then just open mics and my band after band after band, then a lengthy solo period, and then another band, and yeah its been interseting. ive bought and sold many guitars and stuff, probably because of like i guess you could say my conservative upbringing like i was never really encouraged to make a career out of my music. like ive always had that feeling that everyone i knew utterly hated all my music i never really felt as supported as i really needed to feel with the music. i dont know why but yeah ive never had someone go wow thats brilliant to me. thats what i really neeed enthusiastic art-fans that'd possibly fall in love with what i do. i mean that's my thing, im an unolved bastard, probably hard to love or like, or at least that was my old persona, i mean i dont know where i fit today, its hard to say, i mean im busy overcoming barriers and things, and its interesting. but yeah im not sure really whats there to do but yeah we're taking it step by step and such.

but yeah im just sitting here and its disappointing sure there's a huge disappointment when i think on my own music, four failed bands now, with maybe 3 shows to date as a sum total from all four. many open mics, recordings, but little else. and that kills. but yeah thats kinda all we've got. i made a push to go through my archives, nowadays i label shit real well and it makes things easy to kinda go over and stuff. helps me see where im going and where ive come from and stuff. helps shit out immensely. but yeah.

getting involved with someone else is a major pain and risk especially when you dont know what ot expect and tend to be suspicious from past experiences. but ive come to find anita has alot of that stuff just with general life, me i have it with music. so its interesting to confront these things like this. but yeah. its like irritating something thats really inflamatory. weirdness...

but yeah, Spinoza, Snowden's Silent Canvas, The Blackburn Collective, The Welsh Assembly, Deganwy's Lost Son, ... fairbrook band, ankeney band, mvs jazz ensemble... QEGS choir... Heathfield choir...

music is addicting and here's how

so. you're wonder wtf no music is not addicting! its great and enhances my life ien very way. well... you might be wrong. music is a twitch-happy thing, just like the internet, commercial-ridden television, and other things that are designed to abuse interest into your head, like school teachers, police lights, car horns, and other such obstrusive things. absolutely rediculous shit hah. but yeah music basically tries to appeal to like your need to hold onto the handrails. people who feel perhaps... a need to keep themselves standing for their lack of perhaps faith in their ability to balance. it's a crutch, an aid, soemthing to make you better since youre worse than you need to be and its something that just needs to be seen moreso as a drug than something else. people sitting on the tube with headphones in, or other such things, it's just a constant fix they need, they're weened onto it, with drugs youre constantly bounced from knee-jerk moment to knee-jerk moment. and this is essentially music. you will essentially be on high alret for hours or days whilst listening to overstimulating music. we've kinda like overemphasized this whole thing in society where like people sit and force themselves to intake millions of tracks of garbage and its like... why...

last.fm's been a huge help, helping me track just how much i listen to, in correspondance to those who listen to similar things (my "neighbors") and this essentialy gives me a decent sense of where i fit in the grand scheme of things on last.fm. there are those who have tunes blasting literally 24 hours a day. then those who perhaps get a few minutes a month in. but yeah, this is not a good situation. these are twich happy folk weened onto such a vicegrip as this, the same that love loud music & drugs, it's just another way to completely smash your head in. and that's shocking, exilerating, destructive, and killer. you'll grind your ear drums in until there's nothing left. similarly with the drugs your body takes its toll over time as your organs fail skin discolors and you eventually drop into a mental abyss of problems commonly diagnosed as bi-polar, depression, even schizophrenia, and other such things.

my fifth band

so anita and i've begun talking about what will be my fifth band. it seems inevitable, im still recording & composing, and my writing skill has only improved in recent months, so it seems like ill probably be seeking for a new round of people to fill the seats in my yet to be named fifth band.

the thing is, if we go out to boston, then things might be neat .like the people we come across, that might be cool, to see like how many people we can find, and see how like, how the people we come across might fit into the mix. seein g if we cant find players of the right type and all that. but yeah. should be cool.