6.30.2011 | [v] is born.

 

I invented something yesterday, or rather I stumbled upon it and have coined. It’s not that easy to get a first these days. The pace of technology goes so fast, and trends come and go. But today, with the help of my daughter Sam, and the photograph below to commemorate the event.. [v] was born. What is it? Well, it’s the emoticon for email. It did not exist until today. And you know what? Maybe it didn’t need to, but it sure was fun suddenly finding it. And of course, being the first to use it. Yes, I will be sending an [v] to everyone I know this morning. :)  What, you think I won’t use it? I love the idea of never having to spell out ‘email’ or ‘message to your inbox’ ever again in favor of… “Hey I sent you a [v] for your birthday, did you get it?” Or, “If I get one more piece of #%$@! [v] regarding the @$%#@!..” Lol. 

Will it take off? I don’t know. but as of today, Google will at least know who designed it, who coined it, and for that fun fact alone.. I’m glad I did it. :) Enjoy the video I made as well… It’s on the Youtube. Do a search for [v] = Email. Hehe. 

BTW, my [v] is Aboxmanager@gmail.com.

[v] = Email.

you can watch the video as well…

 

Please, PLEASE, SHARE!!!!   Send an [v] to someone and tell them about it.. :)

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Anything Box | Free 5.2 EP

I’ve done things like this before, of course. A few weeks back I gave away The Diary’s first album, completely Re-mastered.. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I would do it again. Here it is.. 5.2  And the track listing is this:

01. Living In Oblivion . Elektrode

02. A Moment’s Shifting

02. Carmen . Just One More Day Remix

04. Every Single Day . Unknown Mix

05. Do you Hear Me Anymore

06. All These Hours Undone . Extended

07.  Because . Longer Orchestral Mix

And the link to get it is right here: Anything Box 5.2 EP from endpop.com in case you don’t want to read any further…

But in case that you are staying with me on this post, I just want to tell you a little bit about why I did it, why today of all days and so forth. Well, The reason is two fold. For one thing, I am still working on material for Anything Box’s next release, whether it will be a single or an EP I will not say for now. I am working on Kiss Of Love 2011, and at the same time a cover of a Portishead song, Machine Gun (coming out delicious I might add). It’s a productive time, albeit slow at the start. I’ve been through some heavy stuff, but the world is moving on, and it is my duty to make people smile, even if it kills me in the process. That… That is how I roll these days. So yes, there you are, a free one. Something to keep you excited! What is coming will add to the legacy of what these 7 songs mean to me, and I am very proud to continue with my music and my art.

5.2? Well, 40 years ago to the day my family stepped off an airplane and my life in Argentina ended and my life in the United States began.  And just a year ago on this very day I played with Moenia in my other adoptive country, Peru and fell in love. Being a bit of a sentimentalist, you can see why I chose to give away a few songs today. To celebrate all of it. Free from all my hang ups, I have come to realize that life is good. Everything happens for a reason, and right now… I am feeling quite happy.

Going back to the studio…

 

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Animore | EverAfter

Animorè is born! I know that it may come as a bit of a surprise to know that the new single, EverAfter , and video is not actually an Anything Box release. In this case there’s a good reason, and I’ve sent this email out for everyone to hear it from my own heart… This is about making a change, and taking a chance in altering the future. That’s what I’ve set about to do, and I will need all the support I can get from anyone who has ever been affected by the music and art of Anything Box, and The Diary. And now I need you!!! In fact, this feels very much like it felt when I wrote, Living In Oblivion. I knew that I was leaving my hometown for the west coast. Only now the hurdles are higher, the risks greater… love is worth it. As many of you may have guessed, back in May of 2010 I went to Lima, Peru to play a show with Moenia. It was the most incredible week of my life. Why? Because I fell in love with someone there who opened up my heart. We both knew that it was a crazy thing, too. I mean how do we work this? She lives in South America, and I am in southern CA!!! It seemed to me that if we worked for it, that it would happen… and so it began. And it was magic… The song says it all.. . I took three trips there, and as often happens, the months in between got worse. The more we saw each other for that short time, the more it would hurt to leave. We knew we loved each other, so we carried on. But make no mistake…. It’s a difficult thing. Skype, emails, phones… Not enough. Not for me, and not for her. And how long do we keep it up like this? Something had to happen. At first, I was at least happy to see that my slumbering creativity was coming out of a deep sleep. I posted lyrics and songs have been flowing out of me (especially in the last few weeks) from day one… I loved being in Lima… Loved it. And one morning I had a dream vision while really lost in Neverville ( a very real place). I felt such desolation, and in that moment… It all became clear. I have to make dreams happen. I can do this. And only someone as surrealist as me, thevcrazy artist that I am can pull it off. Let me put the truth out there, I said… Let me take these new songs and make them truly new… So here is the truth… She lives in Peru. I live in California. The distance is incredible. There are debts, changes in career. Risks. And the relationship hangs in the balance. Can a few of my songs and my art change our destiny? Only if I make it so. With your help to spread the story, I say…. YES!!!!! Have a great New Year!!! I will keep you posted… :)Claude S. / Animorè

Tags: animore, anythingbox, endpop, anything box, claude s., music, new wave

music will find a way…

I may not have had the greatest success in the history of music, and while I am very proud of all that Anything Box has achieved in my life… It never changed my life in the ways that people expect. Anything Box as awesome as it is, cannot part the red sea, enlighten my soul and offer me endless happiness in this life… Music, even when it finds its way out of me and into your hearts, is still only an expression of a life…

Now love, pain, and every second that I’ve been alive on this little blue world? That has changed me, formed me. I guess in retrospect, Anything Box is the observer of this, and Claude S. the reporter…

Today it feels dark, the darkest that it has been in a long time, and it comes on the heals of my greatest of joys… So how does one reconcile these things? I don’t know. A good friend of mine lost her husband a few days back, so what I am facing is petty and pales in comparison. But pain is pain. No one is immune from it…

All I can offer up is a quote from a guy I sat next to on a plane last year…

There is no price high enough for one’s love or dignity…

At least I can hold my head up and say I have both.

ever after (I Saw The Sun)

I saw the sun, or was it your eyes
Filling me, with their countenance of light…
Motionless, they just became the warmth
Settled within me ever after…

I felt the wind, or was it your skin
Brushing me, shook me to my very core
I have to say, oh what a feeling
Coming over me ever after…

I stole a kiss, the taste was perfect
Our lips collide, sends me through the stratosphere
Above the stars, beyond my woven dreams
Where I’m flying through the ever after

All the things I used to be
seem so meaningless and somehow
thoughts that cross the deep blue seas
float right back in my I love you (s)
As it stands and as it were,
I will love you till the end,
maybe past it, I don’t know
all I know is I want you with me…

© 2010 | Claude S. | Anything Box

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TAGS: Anything Box, Abox, Goodbye July, Music, New Wave, Animas Mundi, Claude S., The Diary, Say No To Real ID Act, No Verichip Inside, YouTube, MySpace, endpop.com, CdBaby.com/from/katsama, iTunes, Love, Surrealism, Art, musica popular, pop del futuro, indie synthpop, futurepop, synthpop, separate, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, PetShop Boys, Bkork, Erasure, Indie 103, David Bowie, John Lennon, Beatles, Joy Division, New Order, NWO, Beck, Kraftwerk, Human League, Daft Punk, Ladytron, Pink Floyd, Kinks, Beastie Boys, Elektrodelica, Universe, Hope, Worth, Recovered, Future Past EP, The Effects of Stereo TV, Peace, Oblivion, Politics, New Music, Carmen en Castellano, Surrealismo, Arte, Cultura, Musica Electronica, Temas Buenos, Si.TV, Canciones, Meloncholy Pop, Mas

everafter

I wrote a song that was inspired by a series of strange unrelated events, and it brought back to mind the way I came to write Carmen. I’ve been writing on and off for a while now, but the songs have seemed half inspired, so I get angry and toss them. Others I wrote to commemorate recent events and although I thought they were good, I just did not feel like recording them…

So I ask myself, ‘Self? What is going on?’ and my answer is that I am far away. I want to write, but somehow I have distanced myself from the act itself, or perhaps I have come to that dreaded writer’s curse: I’ve nothing to say. Could it be? No, I don’t think so. But sometimes what we say is not what we mean, and thus this is the feeling I’ve come to regard as the ‘non-me’.

The non-me will write about everything not related to me, for fear that such things might be too close for comfort. And they are! So much has happened in my life in a span of a year and a half that it is staggering to say the least. So after a bit of non-writing writing, i gave myself a break and let it all go….

And then, just as I was thinking about nothing at at all on the freeway on the way home from Minneapolis this weekend… It just came… A real song, something to be recorded. I say recorded because it is the first that makes me feel that there is more, even if it is simple, even if it tells the world something personal. I had forgotten the feeling… So now?

I have to follow it and see where it leads… :)

But for now, it has made me feel all the emotions that have been building up. So after a really good cup of coffee, I will go and work on it…

Minneapolis Show 2010

And so another weekend show ends. It was, I will admit, a rough one. For starters, this show in Minnesota began as an idea way back in June. I was in Lima, Peru at the time. Admittedly, my mind was not on shows but on the mysteries and beautiful nature of being in love, so at first my thoughts were not on it per say. However, eventually as an artist your mind will invariably switch to the craft, to the fans and your obligations. Who can escape them? So in reality, being in artist in this case has nothing to do with it. It is simply part of being human… Working, loving, creating, accepting… So it went…

So yeah, back in June this offer to play in Minneapolis came through. It was not by any means what we usually do, but it was a chance to see a new city, and it was a risk as well. Are we played there? does anyone know Anything Box in Minneapolis? So many questions. I decided to ask Dania and Paul about it and we all agreed: A new city means inroads to further the Abox road. So we agreed to do it. Then I forgot all about it.

The city proved itself to be everything I could ever want in a city, and thus Minneapolis has become one of my favorite cities. It has individualism to the 9th degree, which explains both Information society and Prince quite nicely now. I understand. It has a culture, something that I have been missing in California as of late. Don’t get me wrong, I love California for what it has, but it definitely needs the kindness and warmth I experienced in Minneapolis…

As for the show, it was a strange mix of elation and pain. I set about playing the entire Peace album, and that is just what we did. The order was changed, otherwise ‘Oblivion’ would get played way too early in the set. However this was not without difficulties, as we would soon discover. The album is almost half moody songs and club tracks. so we could have done all slow songs leading up to the finale, but that would be obvious. I opted for little sets, where 2 slower songs led into the faster ones. How wrong was I? well, how do you go from ‘When We Lie’ to ‘all these Hours’? We did it, and it seemed odd, but we rolled with it. After all, no matter what, we were going to do the whole album.

My favorite was ‘Lady In Waiting’, one because it was the first time we did it in its original form, and second because we had done some technical work to save it in the morning hours after breakfast. We almost had to scratch the version, but in the end it all worked out really well…

On the way home from the airport, I suddenly got an idea for a song and wrote it down… Inspired. I loved Minneapolis. Seriously, I could live there…

Claude

Anything Box in Minneapolis | The Connection

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever met Paul Robb of Information Society, but our lives have always crossed paths throughout my career (and theirs). For one, I have a friend named Christopher Anton who I met in California (we did a few gigs together) who later became INSOC’s singer for a time. That was on the album Synthesizer.  For another, while Paul Robb had left INSOC, we toured with them throughout the USA, mostly doing shows at Six Flags. Paul also did a remix of Living In Oblivion while we were on Jarrett Records. And all this time we’ve never met! And if I did, I might not have been sober…

But the story actually goes farther back. Back in the day, 1989 I believe it was, we were seen at a small club in Northern New Jersey by band members of Stacey Q. One of those guys, a keyboard player by the name of Michael Eckhart, would engineer our first album a year later (Peace). 

The club was small, and we were pretty loud. Back then, we still had this metal percussion ‘thing’ we affectionately called The Ice Cream Machine (because that’s what it sounded like when you carried  the damned thing). Our percussionist was pretty loud, and our beats were rough around the edges. Anyone who remembers us at that stage will recall how ‘industrious’ we were… 

And on the night in question, we met Michael and Stacey’s band after a really good but clangorous set. They invited us to see Stacey Q, which was cool because it was free, but truthfully it was Information Society that we wanted to see, and they were opening. We had a great time that night, and relationships were sealed between us and Mike. This singular event was the one that caused me to move to California. In all honesty, once we saw Stacey Q perform, we were smitten (we also made friends with The Jetts that night), but it was Information society that got us to go to the concert at Roseland.

This September on the 11th, Anything Box will play Minneapolis (check our myspace and FaceBook for updates), and quite possibly, I will meet Paul Robb in person.

Gound Zero
15 4th Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413-2219
(612) 378-5113

6:30pm doors, 7pm show (done at 10pm) All ages. $15 adv. $20 door at Brown Paper Tickets…

TAGS: Anything Box, Abox, Goodbye July, Music, New Wave, Animas Mundi, Claude S., The Diary, Say No To Real ID Act, No Verichip Inside, YouTube, MySpace, endpop.com, CdBaby.com/from/katsama, iTunes, Love, Surrealism, Art, musica popular, pop del futuro, indie synthpop, futurepop, synthpop, separate, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, PetShop Boys, Bkork, Erasure, Indie 103, David Bowie, John Lennon, Beatles, Joy Division, New Order, NWO, Beck, Kraftwerk, Human League, Daft Punk, Ladytron, Pink Floyd, Kinks, Beastie Boys, Elektrodelica, Universe, Hope, Worth, Recovered, Future Past EP, The Effects of Stereo TV, Peace, Oblivion, Politics, New Music, Carmen en Castellano, Surrealismo, Arte, Cultura, Musica Electronica, Temas Buenos, Si.TV, Canciones, Meloncholy Pop, INSOC, Minneapolis, MN, Twin Cities…

Point Zero

haven’t you heard?
everything dies,
no one can tell me this and be sure…
but there’s a truth,
in it for you,
if you just walk these roads in my eyes…

Turn off the telephone,
leave your screen behind,
step out into this night and be loved…

these are hard times,
and who needs time?
when there is so much more to be seen…
take a sunbeam, get up and scream,
tell yourself now it’s time to be free…

Turn off the telephone,
leave your screen behind,
give in to what is only inside…

so higher, so lighter… now.

((( C ))) 1st draft / 5/7/2010

 

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miraflores

Birds that fly but they’re standing still,
kissing statues underneath the moon,
I am sailing…
Walking through a mall near the cliffs I found,
staring at the gliders as they reach the ground…
I’m boundless…
Taking pictures with some friends I know,
stealing all the moments of an afterglow…
that’s silence…
Sing yourself into another world,
no one sees and no one knows…
its secrets…
Hear the flow coming though my veins,
calling a cab just to feel this pain…
Is this over?

Are you happy, miraflores…
Are you happy, miraflores…

Dancing in in the darkness that sets us free,
living in a dream not reality,
We’re crazy…
Walking from the club at 6am,
filling up the sun from the light within,
We’re glowing…
Stumbling on a corner to make a call,
love is such a sword dipped in alcohol…
We’re laughing…
Shutting out the light in my little room,
sleeping at your side all the birds in tune…
time is frozen…

Are you happy, miraflores…
Are you happy, miraflores…
Are you happy, miraflores…
Are you happy, miraflores…

((( C )))

First draft / 05-06-2010… 2nd draft 5/7

All done… Now to record…

 

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