Moving Film | Sad Today…

Born To Brothels  is a film on the wonderful web site, www.FreeDocumnetaries.org. I was so moved by this film that I had to stop watching it midway through. I was falling in love with these kids as I watched, and it made everything in the world seem so unfair. I have been on a sad streak lately, so this did not help, although I will say that these kids’ attitudes about life and their warmth have stayed with me for days. That being the case, I will finish watching the film, possibly tonight after this post. I just had to share this, you know?

The story is about a photographer who goes in to the Red Light district of Calcutta… Here’s the official description:

“Amidst the apparent growing prosperity of India, there is a dark underbelly of poverty, another side of the nation that is little known. This film chronicles filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman’s efforts to show the world of Calcutta’s red light district. In order to do so, they inspired a special group of children of the prostitutes of the area to photograph the most reluctant subjects. As the kids excel in their new found art, the filmmakers struggle to help them have a chance at a better life away from the miserable poverty crushes their dreams.”

This film shows how humanity thrives even in the most remote places, and how human dreams, especially those of children, should be fought for to make them reality. Keep an eye on this film. Seriously.

Half way through, I felt my soul churning with a desire to help these kids. If I were rich, I would adopt them all…

Technorati Tags: humanity,calcutta,movie,review,anything box,endpop,claude,blog

The War is not a movie. Let’s stop being entertained.

I have written this post as a not-so-gentle reminder to myself and others that the War we are fighting in Iraq is NOT entertainment. Nor should it be seen merely as fodder for right wing or left wing commentary on YouTube or Myspace or even here. The war is not a movie.

It isn’t a Fox show. It isn’t going to win a Grammy, or an Oscar for best portrayal of a marine killing innocent people in the streets of Baghdad.

The war will be an ugly mar on the face of an already scarred nation. Sometimes I find myself glued to these films because in all of my time on this earth, I have never witnessed anything so utterly visceral and real. And yet, I read comments from people who see these horrible images as a form of entertainment! It isn’t. War is a crime of humanity. A shameful thing.

These are real people dying. These are real people killing other people.
Have you learned to see this difference? Has it sunk in fully yet?

We live in a bubble, sitting here in front of a screen. We can change it when we please, pimp it up with happy colors and bands we like, make all the lists about what was the best or the worst… And post videos for and against the war and think we are doing our part. We’re not. Stopping this is doing our part.

The intent to find new solutions to this challenge is a start. But action must surely be taken to help, no? Simply staring at our screens won’t do. The screens replay what has already happened. There is much happening as we watch, as we read, as we post.

The biggest lie ever told to us was that of separation. We are not separate. We are all connected. And every time someone is killed violently, cruelly and tortured… That horror filters itself down to us…

The soul of the world must surely be crying… This is not why we are here.

– Claude

Life in the suburbs… Random Thoughts…

The rain outside is beating against my window panes, and somehow it has become a catalyst to sit and write. I wasn’t going to. I have been up all day. I’m tired. There is nothing musically happening tonight, and the work needing to be done wasn’t an inspiration. Just the rain. Falling. It made me feel special.

So with a cup of hot chocolate that my wife was kind enough to make, I will sit for a bit and enjoy these stray thoughts. I don’t want you to think I’m slipping. Although I am. I am slipping into my self.

The work continues to renew myself, my art, and my creative pursuits. There are times when I feel that life is unfair, only to realize that things happen to make me stronger. And if this is the case, I must be superman by now… But no… No X-Ray vision yet. All I have is Anything Box. Which is more than fine for me at this moment. I love it. It’s just that looking back on this year has made me realize that we did fewer shows, and that is a drag. Would have been nice to go back to Ecuador, Peru, visit Alaska, New Zealand… Somewhere. And we didn’t. I feel helpless about it.

Sometimes I feel rather alone in wanting this, which is a bit of a downer. I am at odds with myself over this all the time. And yet I remain myself. That is the little miracle of life that I must hold onto. To another person, this is nothing. To sit near a window and write is nothing. To hear the rain is nothing. To be alone within creativity is nothing. But it is. It is something.

Creativity is what made all of this planet happen, what the oceans and the fauna surrounding them express every day. Creativity is the beauty of the universe as she smiles down on me and sparkles with the life of other worlds. Whether imagined or real is irrelevant to me. What matters is the feeling it produces within me. To create is a gift I was given, and damn if I will ever let anything stop it from flowing out of me. Not going to happen.

Life in the suburbs is ok on some level. Random thoughts on a rainy night. I am going to dream about the creation of universes tonight. At least, it is a dream I did have once, and I would very much like to see this again.

– Claude

Ableton Live Wins…

And so the adventure begins. Setting up the new studio has taken me more than a few weeks, and it has been a challenge to get things as I want them to be. I am committed to the computer as my muse for art of course, but I am still in love with the way hardware worked. So the dilemma was devising a new path for my work habits. I usually use Cubase SX as my main sequencer, which I love dearly for mixing, but I generally hate using the computer to compose music.

 

The Diary for example, was done using Sony Acid as my arrangement tool. Later I exported the tracks into Cubase for vocals and mixdown. This was a decent method, but the quality of the tracks was questionable at times, and I don’t like to stretch the timing of my tracks. So Acid is out of the picture, except as a scat tool for fixing timing issues.

 

I love Reason, and with version 4 I have found some new sounds to create. My universal palette is expanding, no pun intended. I love Thor, and the more I use Reason, the more I am enamoured of its obvious simplicity, but I hate what they’ve done to the sequencer. It is now harder to do things in many ways, and this was a bummer. Again though, I used it in the past as an idea pad. I did Carmen Revisited in Reason 3 and exported my tracks into Cubase for vocals and mixing. I love mixing in Cubase. That isn’t going to change.

 

Then I discovered Ableton Live. Paul was actually the first of our clan to embrace the program fully, and I was on the fence about it. I was simply not into it. I wasn’t feeling the interface; it looked so alien to me. But recently, I gave it another shot and now I believe I am hooked! I used it more as an arrangement tool, as I had done before with Acid, and like my trusty Kaos Pad I learned to do new things with this tool. So today I went and put myself in learn mode and dug deep. I watched the tutorials for three hours. I found some amazing treasures within this application. Firstly, I can write very fast on it, and that is more important of a feature than everything else. For me, it’s all about how well a program translates what is in my brain. It’s a complicated issue. I’m crazy.

 

So now I’m going to detail my new working method. The first step is always the ideas, and in the past this would always start with my MPC. I would record odd sequences 4 to 8 bars long. I would build upon these and later edit away for a few days to arrange the song. This is the grunt work I hate about hardware. Editing away time. Boring! I would do it of course, keeping my goal to record vocals and mix in the back of my mind (the fun stuff). With my new setup I can almost approximate the MPC with my modules and synths on the computer using Reason and Cubase as my ‘idea machines’. That is, I record the same 4-8 bars for parts and add, add, and add until I am out of ideas. This is the writing process being fun, because no work is really performed; only writing, programming and layering of sounds. When I’m through, I export the files as audio files. I export the main parts as a stereo rough track to Cubase and once again add my parts using VST instruments to augment my mix. So far so good, right?

 

Now enter Live. The grunt work is now here, but becomes a real time performing of the song as I feel it. I fire off the tracks in what ever order I like, and Live is recording my real-time playing as an arrangement! No more cutting and pasting! Yeah!!! So when I’m done, I have a song that is almost 80% ready for vocals, and finished tracks. An amazing tool, one that I am sure to abuse in some fashion. As I said before, I am crazy. And speaking of crazy, the effects are amazing all on their own in this program. In my tests I found myself really enjoying the idea of real time automation of delays and verbs. So now it is time for some fun…  

Lost Angeles Burning…

The fires continue to rage, and it all seems so far away to me because of my lack of TV watching. Ever since I got rid of cable, I have missed out on the news of the world. Sometimes I wonder if I am missing something more. I could always log on to CNN…

The ashes and the temperature are reminders though, and as I cleaned out the studio on Sunday and we drove to Irvine, the winds out of control! They were so fierce that twice I almost hit a few trees on the road, and barely swerved out of the way as the wind pushed me onto another lane on the freeway. Pretty scary stuff. Mother nature is getting pissed off at us. I’m sorry, Gaia.

– Claude

Computer Love | Technology Haters Beware

I have begun to collect new sounds. Mostly what I like to do before every album is delete all my sounds from the previous, cry about it, restore a few of them and off I go. I love making art with my computer. I feel it is a friendship based on hate. Why hate?  I defend the computer as a tool for the creation of music and finding new sounds because it always evokes the Kraftwerk phrase, “I program my own computer, beam myself into the future…” And to me, nothing does that more than creating art on the computer.

For some, the computer typifies all that is wrong with electronic music or art. Well, we don’t agree. I feel that the computer found new avenues for exploration of the future of art in of itself. To me it cannot become Future Pop without it. I love analog synthesis, don’t get me wrong. I love the physical aspect of the creation of sounds, but digital manipulation of reality is lots of fun too. I love creating sounds out of simple everyday objects. They give up their secrets of sound under the mouse. And it allows me to leave the confines of the studio to get them. Records, CDs, FM Radio, drum machines, my little Casio and my home built theremins all get played, tagged, sampled, manipulated and retooled into new forms. This is musical surrealism. No this is not a pipe. It was a pipe. It is now a woosh!

I just finished building my new computer. It is modest, but will do very nicely. It’s a 3 gig  P4 with 3 gigs of ram, 4 HDs, and bunch of other cool goodies. I got my new 22″ LCD, which I have been wanting for quite a while now. This is how I love to create. I know Macs are cool and all that, but there is something about building this thing, this totally frankenstein computer that appeals to my creative side. It shouldn’t. I agree. In fact, why I enjoy the configuration of these things is beyond the scope of this post, but I love doing it in some sick sort of way. So it is done… What a speed demon!

So now I have to clear out the junk from the studio before we head out to South America again. I left quite a mess in there. I am refining the process, because I think it’s time to record again. Life is pushing me to it, and that’s all right by me. By the way, as of this writing, the old studio computer has become this one. So my internet access just got a little better. Not a crash since. This baby is pretty good, has been for years. I’m happy with my compoopers.

Coolio.

AnythingBox: FanTapesAndTimeTravel.com

Well, the URL has changed, to ease the search process and to solidify the name. So I bought the domain yesterday. So what was once http://www.thediary-separate/pod is now the much more telling www.FanTapesAndTimeTravel.com

So instead of typing that really long name :) I have just bookmarked it. What happened to my one word titles? I may need to go back to that yet!

I was thinking about Peru today. I have to sort through my footage, but there are not enough hours in the day. Time to write soon, too. I feel it.

– Claude S.

Random Interview From Lima | Anything Box

This was emailed to me, but I don’t know its source. Was very nice. I remember this interview. They called me at the house before we left for Peru, and it was fun meeting this reporter. I keep thinking about Lima because fate sealed us to it. I guess this feeling will stay with me for a while…

“Resulta curioso saber ahora que Machu Picchu es una de las siete nuevas maravillas del mundo que el Perú ha estado siempre presente en los sitios más inesperados del mundo.

Conversando con Claude S., uno de los integrantes de Anything Box, banda clásica del pop electrónico que nos visitará la próxima semana para hacer una presentación en la discoteca Vocé de Lince, resulta que no sólo sabe de Machu Picchu –como muchos millones que conocieron por primera vez el nombre de la ciudadela hace unas semanas- sino que sabe sobre las líneas de Nazca y hasta de Marcahuasi.

Y no sólo eso: sabe de la comida peruana. “Me gusta mucho el arroz peruano”, dice. Suponemos que se refiere a nuestro tradicional y sempiterno arroz aderezado con ajos y acertamos. “Sí ése es. Me gusta mucho. Lo he comido aquí en California pero me imagino que probarlo en Lima debe ser maravilloso porque de allí viene, no?”, responde.

Inevitablemente hay que preguntar sobre el arroz, ya que se recuerde ningún artista del exterior nos habló al respecto. “Es una historia antigua. Resulta que cuando era chico mi mamá tenía un pequeño restaurante en New Jersey donde vendía empanadas. Pero resulta que una de las trabajadoras era una señora muy buena que hacía el arroz peruano y un guiso con papas y carne de res deliciosos. No me acuerdo el nombre del guiso…”

“¿No será el Lomo Saltado?”, interrumpimos.

Un grito de júbilo casi nos deja sordos. “¡Sí, sí! ¡Lomo Saltado! Hace años que no lo como. Cuando llegue a Lima será lo primero que pida. Voy a morir de la emoción. Qué rico”, dice Claude cuya boca debía estar haciendo agua en ese momento. Algo inevitable si se habla de comida peruana pues.

Tras comentar sobre la música y lo quiere comer, sugerencias más, le hablamos del pisco. “Eso sí que no lo conozco pero ya con los antecedentes del arroz y el Lomo, no me puedo imaginar cómo es pero adivino que debe ser delicioso”, piensa en voz alta. Le contamos del Pisco Sour. “Será otra de las cosas que probaré”, retruca añadiendo que tiene la idea que se convertirá en asiduo visitante de nuestro país.

Anything Box se hizo conocido, gracias a las canciones “Every single day” y “Where is love and happines”. Pero gracias a “Living in Oblivión”, que empieza a sonar a principios de los 90, es que consiguen el reconocimiento mundial. Esta canción es definida por muchos como “una pequeña maravilla techno, nostálgica, romántica y bailable”.

“Sin embargo no hay que pensar que lo que hacemos es música disco. Es más bien New Wave aparte que nuestras letras son más serias y que habla de las cosas que le ocurren a las personas. Lo que hacemos es algo de punk, también disco y un poco de todo”, dice el simpático Claude.”

Lunes, 13 de Agosto de 2007

Anything Box | Peru Concert| Review

Alucinate es la única palabra como puedo describir el concierto donde sintentizadores, emociones y recuerdos se mezclaron para dar un resultado que excecidió mis expectativas galopantemente. Puedo decir que es el mejor concierto que he asistido este año por la carga emotiva, la vibra y la inyección de vida que explotaron en cada momento del concierto. Todo fue muy bien guiados por el cantante Claude S. y Dania M. quienes demostraron frescura, jovialidad, poniéndole ganas, finalmente haciendo que cada asistente se compenetre con sus melodías electrónico-románticas.

Podría decir que unas 700 simpatizantes asistieron ala discoteca Voce en Lince, pese a todo el tema del terremoto. En verdad era muy raro por la mezcla de emociones el haber vivido el terremoto, tener la alegría que estamos sanos/vivos contra la tristeza de la muerte en el sur, o tener la duda de que pueda pasar un nuevo sismo en ese momento y te pueda caer algo del escenario o las luces encima. Era un poco chocante.

Pero todo empezó en la oscuridad del escenario y las 3 sombras se movieron (eran los originales Anything Box ), ellos con lentes oscuros, sintetizadores, cajas de ritmo y de pronto, los sonidos comenzaron a pulular en el ambiente. Era “Just one day” y crecía la noche. La gente estaba mas soprendida inicialmente mirándolos con la boca abierta y otros más concentrados en sus camaras fotográficas pero poco a poco todo se consolidaba. Vinieron luego temas como “answer me”, “life is fun” y luego Claude nos mostró una pizca de su última producción “Future Past” ya en el mercado, su deliciosa “CLEAN” cantando a acapella y haciendo que todos repitamos el coro. (que buen tipo. no saben lo bien que me cayó):

“You and me together again. You and me together as friends”
“You and me together again. You and me together as friends”

Luego “soul on fire” fue cantada tal cual está en el disco Peace por Paul Rijnders. Más de 15 años escuchando el CD, fué alucinante ver todo esto en escena y cantarlo, la emoción apretaba mi garganta. Después hubo una performance lúgubre-cósmica con “All these days undone” interpretada por Dania M. aparentando ser una muñeca rota en escena en un background de luces rojas que hacia la silueta de una figura tétrica con su estrafalaria indumentaria pero transmitiendo claramente lo que nos cuenta la letra de la canción.

Luego vinieron la encantadora canción “kiss of love” donde se llegó a un grado de excitación bárbaro en todo el concierto, la gente cantando con emoción cada pedazo de letra y ni que decir luego de “Living in obliviion”, “Jubilation”, se armó el escándalo, el alboroto en el concierto, ya ni habian fuerzas para cantar más. Finalment Claude pidió una canción al pùblico y “when we lie” fué la elegida y se llegó a lo entusiasmo exponencial del público ya para cerrar y calmar a la enfervorizada audiencia A. Box se despidió con la delicada pieza “Carmen” en versión en español que nos dió exactamente en el centro del corazón.

Me quedé un poco triste por que no tocaron “Decades” particularmente una de sus mejores canciones del disco worth pero bueno el balance final fué que desbordo largamente las expecativas, un evento de primera organizado perfectamente por el Yakana rock Bar. excelente sincronización de luces, sonido espectacular, movieron las fechas en los tiempos exactos. Se les agradece infinitamente.

Anything Box demostró mucho respeto ante los hechos sucedidos en el terremoto en Perú y dedico la canción ” Where is love and happiness ?” a todas las personas que han quedado sin esperanza en el sur. Los Anything box realmente se notaron muy buena gentes, te hacian que sentir que era muy fácil acercarse a ellos, se buscaban al público, y la respuesta de la audiencia fué al instante, la empatía fué enorme, aparte que se percibian muy humildes y honestos y generaban la confianza como si fueran nuestros amigos desde hace mucho tiempo y creo que si lo fueron.

Victor P.

Original Post:

http://www.blumerang.com/2007/08/anything-box-lima-per-alucinante.html

The Claude List | Music | Art | Bands

Yeah it’s a list, and I’m in the mood, can’t help it! I was just thinking about how I discovered these artists without the benefit of MTV or mainstream Radio or Television. My ‘musica nueva’ came about mostly from friends. Only the number one position is accurate. The rest vary per mood. So this is my list…

Claude | Favorite Artists | Music | Art

The Beatles - Where would I be without this band? Number one…
The Kinks - Ray Davies is a punk rocker. Stop it.
The Who - My Generation still speaks to me. But the kids are alright.
Pink Floyd - The strange melodies and mood mystify me to this day.
Kraftwerk - Computer World changed me. Guitars faded away to bleeps.
Bob Marley - Who knew Politics could make you happy and angry? Genius.
Nirvana - I got into them late. Makes me a grunge poser. Oh well.
Flaming Lips - The last great experimental band in the USA.
White Stripes - Well, say what you will. I love Jack and Meg.
The Strokes - I like these guys. NYC rocks.
Ladytron - Posh, stylish, and yet edible as Dali would say.
New Order - Love at first listen. Still together in my mind. Technique!!!
Joy Division - “Weeping synthesizers” a friend said. He was right. Sigh.
Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward and Black Celebration. Forever.
Erasure - I Say I Say… and Chorus. Vince, Andy, my stereo.
Cetu Javu - So Strange and Situations. Among my favorite songs.
David Bowie - His chameleon ways are amazing. Want to listen now.
The Chameleons UK - Strange Days is the goth masterpiece. I Swear.
Carlos Gardel - Tango was always in the background. Now it haunts me.
Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty. This is my favorite. Amazing live.
Front 242 - I actually love the first album. IDM before IDM.
Radiohead - Next to Sgt. Pepper you will find OK Computer. Influential.
Bjork - The videos. I watch them over and over. Sonic excellence.
Sex Pistols - What? Yeah go on, drop dead!
Buzzcocks - My favorite punk band in the world. Ever fallen in love?
The Ramones - I never saw them play. A regret. Love them!!!
Anything Box - I am biased of course. I love my band.
The Diary - My alter ego, and for purely egocentric reasons, I love it.
Goodbye July - No music is better than personal music. I know him!
The Lamented - Fuck the Producers. Yeah. YEAH!!!

And suddenly, I switch to art…

Salvador Dali - He’s in there somewhere. Mastication comes to mind.
Max Ernst - His paintings are haunted. And grand.
Giorgio Di Chirico - I have walked in those landscapes. I know.
Klee - When I feel childlike, I turn to him. I smile.
Miro’ - His paintings move as you watch them. And you are stilled.

There are surely others I’ve forgotten at this moment in time, but as you can see I have a somewhat diverse pallet of taste. But is it good taste? I don’t care.

- Claude S. / Anything Box