Sevish Music - Blog

I fixed it!

Sevish — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:19:10 GMT

It was a fucking VST!

Ugh, hold ups

Sevish — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:06:14 GMT

(Deadline - 125 days away)

Ok so I'm held up because my sequencing software keeps dying. The process just vanishes after a few seconds of play. It seems to do it only when a big ole VST is loaded. (At least, the files without VST plugins play nicely). So I'm gonna spend tonight reinstalling all of my music software and reinstalling again to see if it makes a difference.

Bloody hope it does because I wanted to kinda finish off a track tonight. :P And it's the one track I'm working on at the moment... After this one I'll start something new. I fancy making about 10 minutes more and then releasing the album because it's getting to a good length.

With some luck and hard work, I'll be looking at some cover art in September. I'm sure it'll be a big inspiration to see what Josh pulls off, and it will likely influence the remaining little bit of the album.

More to come.

Sean

Myspace

Sevish — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:07:28 GMT

Just to note that my music is no longer available on myspace. I've cancelled my account because their website is rubbish and I'm not happy with the promotion I get from them anymore. :)

When the new album is released later this year you'll find it on last.fm and Jamendo. Two websites I find easy to support!

Sean

Recent BBC Have Your Say: How can the battle against drugs crime be won?

Sevish — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:03:03 GMT

Friends of mine will know that I have a strong opinion on drugs, like many people do. So whenever drug policy is debated I'm deeply interested. Today I read a HYS on BBC and a lot of people were making sense. But I just wanted to make comments on a few things that people have said.

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread. ... #paginator

Prohibition has failed. 100 years ago all drugs were legal and Britain had the largest empire on earth. After 100 years of draconian prohibition we are no better off. A new approach is urgently needed, legalisation is the only answer.

Frank, London

Recommended by 160 people

Ok, let's not insinuate that drug prohibition shrunk our empire. 160 people actually agreed with this point.

Has draconian prohibition been making our society worse for 100 years? I thought that the draconian-ness only started with the Misuse of Drugs Act 1970. Before then I guess it was just mildly shite. Citation needed.

"Send users and parties to Prison farms in the outer Hebrides or digging a tunnel to China. But get them away from us, our homes and families." Alan Ward, Sydney, Aust.

The trouble is, the users and parties ARE us, our homes and our families.
Drug users are our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our children, our parents, our work mates, etc.
These people have a right to screw up their own life, and legalised drugs is the best way to contain both the financial cost and the human cost.

Peter Filicietti, Bangkok, Thailand

Recommended by 102 people

Very powerful stuff. And it's true. Unless you live in some kind of weird cult, out families and friends are drug users. There's a strong "us and them" attitude amongst a lot of people and it's very dangerous. If more people did some research on drugs that didn't include the Daily Mail, maybe points like this would be easier to accept. Just a thought.

I now firmly believe that all drugs should be legalised without any restrictions. This step alone would massively cut crime and provide the state with taxes.

We have to start treating this situation with a mature reasoned outlook and understand that regardless of what the authorities do drugs will always be available.. Its ridiculous for society to keep pumping millions in to a problem that's getting worse and the only winners being the organised criminal element.

Robert, Aberdeen

Recommended by 89 people

Whoa whoa whoa, guys what the fuck are you doing?! 89 people recommended this? Yes drugs should be legalised, but if they were unrestricted, do you think it would solve problems? Kindly, let's not start selling alcohol to under 18s. The whole idea of legalisation is that we can regulate and restrict drug use. If we don't have a legal framework for drug distribution, we call that decriminalisation instead and it doesn't guarantee any taxes for the state.

At this point it's good to clear up what legalisation really means. It doesn't mean that we let drug dealers continue running their business. It means that the government provides safer and cheaper gear in competition with drug dealers. Why would we want to do this?

Well, one of the main peeves I have with drug reformists is that they forget to explain why legalisation would be beneficial. So I prefer to take this from my own angle. When you are arguing for drug legalisation it's best to lay down a few home truths from which legalisation can follow. This means that you don't have to explain it later. Here we go..

1. Prohibition is not a deterrent. Punishment is not a deterrent.
2. It is human nature to experiment with changing our state of mind, including the use of psychoactive chemicals.
3. Prohibition is expensive.

The first two points can be summed up by saying "people are going to do drugs anyway". As soon as that is understood you can offer a substitute for the punitive law we have today.

I hope you enjoyed the rant. I can't be bothered to give any references for my 3 points so just research the lot yourself. Here's a good start. In Morocco I believe there's a death penalty related to drugs. Is it effective? Google it. Is it really human nature to expeiment with drugs? How many people do you know who drink tea or coffee? Who drink alcohol? Smoke? Can legalisation really be cheaper than prohibition? Google that too.

Or just have fun reading the works of my favourite reform group in the kingdom, Transform Drug Policy Foundation. Their publications are very informative and concise.

For those who are looking to spread the love of legalisation, check out Transform's publication After the War on Drugs: Tools for the Debate

With love,

Sean

Being lazy

Sevish — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:22:32 GMT

Sorry guys, it's a lazy stretch. Work just makes me tired every day so I go home and escape rather than working on music. I'm still committed, so don't worry about it. Just try not to strain yourself while you wait.

With love,

Sean

Self-indulgent post about the best thing ever, and album progress

Sevish — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:36:16 GMT

My girlfriend is playing Chrono Trigger. It's definitely the best thing ever; two of my favourite things jamming together.

But before that, yesterday was the best thing ever because I worked on a choon and now the album's more than 40 minutes long. We're getting so close now and I can smell it. Smells kinda funky!

But even before that, the day before was the best thing ever because I rigged up my new speakers. The ol' Tannoys are doing me well and I can finally mix properly. You know what else? Listening to music is so pleasurable again without PC speakers! I'll be recommending some music again.

I'm back on last.fm now, scrobblin' it up.

Sean

My new reference monitors

Sevish — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:14:38 GMT

Seeing as I couldn't find a place nearby that stocks reference monitors (brutally honest speakers used for audio mixing), I just picked some out of a hat. The Tannoy Reveal 5As will do well in my little room, once I receive them tomorrow from the courier.

I'm really looking forward to it! But look, guys, I'm kinda trying to get into microtonal music because a lot of it sounds really good. I can only describe it as "colourful" - the word I usually use to describe surprising and detailed harmonies. But of course, when you've grown up with the music of the modern Western world, this music is surprising.

I found a decent album of accessable microtonal music, on good ol' Jamendo. It's Randy Winchester's "Five Hemispheres", which I love and really recommend. I left a short review for the composer and his response was thoughtful. I think I'll really have to start tinkering around with tunings to add some experimental-cred to my name. Sorry guys, that might mean I become slightly more unlistenable!

Oh yeah yanks, enjoy your fireworks today!

Sean

How did that turn out?

Sevish — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:04:17 GMT

Well, the first Penn & Teller: Bullshit this year had the naked women from last season, plus silly sound effects and costumes. I think they've messed too much with their winning formula from the earlier seasons. Oh well.

But Firefox 3 didn't disappoint. It's fast and it renders well.

Anyway, now is the time to buy some reference monitors. It's been on my to-do list for quite a while and I'm just gonna go ahead and take the plunge. This brings us ever closer to the new album, which is very almost 40 minutes long at the moment.

As I get closer to finishing it I'll put out another preview just to keep things live for anybody now waiting for a new release to follow up from Sevish EP. Of course, it's been so long that there's probably nobody left waiting! But I'll capture some new ears I'm sure. ;)

Actually guys, it will never be this kind of wait again. I have a plan for after the release of this album, which I will later go into on this blog in more depth. The whole idea is nicked off of Senn who's going to try it out aswell.

Oops, forgot to post entry earlier, was reading wikipedia page on Pee-Wee Herman.

Sean

Excitement

Sevish — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:43:58 GMT

I just realised today that June is a pretty good month.

Series 6 of Penn & Teller: Bullshit begins airing on Showtime this month. Showtime is... some American thing. I'll be watching it on winamp via bittorrent. I am a big fan of the show! I take their ideas with a grain of salt but love their outspoken delivery.

The new Firefox web browser is to be released on 17th June (next Tuesday)! It's now common knowledge that Internet Explorer is a very unsecure web browser that comes with Windows and leaves millions of computers worldwide susceptible to attacks from internet criminals. This is why Firefox, underdog to Internet Explorer (yet hugely popular in its own right), will become a valuable web browser for many new people over the coming months.

I personally like it because with Firefox I haven't seen an advert in months. It's faster. It looks cute!! It's safer for my computer and my data. As with anything, if you play with the safe tools you won't get burned.

I believe the LHC is injecting its first beams this month. If black holes are produced, I am going to steal it and sell it on the black market.

Also I have two free yards. That's why this is a good month.

Sean

June 6th

Sevish — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:33:23 GMT

I'm into my final hours of being a teenager.

Feels bloody crazy. I don't think I want it to end.

Maybe I'll just be twenteen for a year. :P

May/June Update

Sevish — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:39:39 GMT

Hi all,

firstly, sorry for not updating. I've been a quiet man recently, hermited in my cosy room and a hunger to do my own thing for a bit. I've also been shopping quite a bit for clothes and shoes.

My girlfriend bought me this hoody from the South Korean brand Googims, which I truly love. Yes, it's girls' clothing and yes, it's banging. Have you seen guys' clothes? Too bland usually. Anyway, I know this is nothing new to those in South Korea but over here nobody's seen it.

It's my birthday on Saturday. I was glad because my family's going out until 12pm, but it turns out that nobody is free anyway. Well, one friend is, and two friends are busy until late... so fuck it, I'm gonna cancel and just do something with the one mate. Yep, it's pretty sad I know but I'll still have a good time. Maybe it'll be quiet enough for a bit of recording and that.

Which yes brings me onto music. I'm still working on it. I'm ahead of schedule, but I'm going kinda slow at the moment. I guess it's because I keep making these upbeat tracks. That's the thing, I am more into the slower, deeper stuff but I can't stop being upbeat recently. It's more difficult for me to judge how I want the structure to be when I start writing something with a fast beat. I think that after I've finished these current 2 or three tracks I'm gonna slow it all right down on a groove and finish the album that way. To you guys, I dunno, I guess it doesn't matter so much, as you'll hear the album in one piece. For me, it's a constant self-evaluation of things, and I have to keep fighting to not lose steam. :P

Maybe I should explore more depth and less beat for the next tracks. Something "deconstructive" (to use a word from a fan on Jamendo.com) will be good, just like some of the tracks I used to make.

Well all, take it easy and I'll try to post something substantial before the end of the month. LOVE YOOOUUUUUUUU

Sean

Transform: "Millions quit cannabis following reclassification"

Sevish — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:08:29 GMT

The folks working hard at Transform Drug Policy Foundation are bringing me jokes. I just read their latest blog entry. Here are the highlights:

After listening to Jacqui Smith MP talking about skunk cannabis in Parliament today millions of young people have decided to quit using cannabis and drink 3 litre bottles of white-lightning cider instead. Across the housing estates of Britain vulnerable young people, more used to the daily truant ritual of a skunk fueled psychotic axe-rampage, could be witnessed huddled around radio's hanging on Home Secretary Smith's every word. Interviewed afterwards many were of the opinion that now they faced a super-stern warning from the police for cannabis possession, instead of a mere moderately-stern warning like in the old days, the risk was simply too great. It was time to quit weed and hit the cider big time. This fear was combined with a new found insight into cannabis provided by Gordon Brown, specifically regarding the 'lethal' skunk version of the otherwise completely benign sixties flower power drug smoked by Smith and her cabinet colleagues way back when.

The general opinion around the bus shelters was that Smith and Brown, given their in-depth academic research, backgrounds in the drugs field and Phd's in epidemiology and psycho-pharmacology respectively, were far better qualified to advise today's youngsters about drug harms than those 'unqualified jokers on the thingy-wotsit committee', as one former feral youth described it. He added;

'now cannabis is class B and we all know how bad it is for you again, there's no point wasting money on education, treatment and prevention any more. That cash would be far better given to the police so they can alienate us with some futile heavy-handed enforcement like they did with my big brother. A criminal record should really help any remaining tokers get on in life'.

Sarcy!! But their message holds truth. Solving the drugs problem isn't as easy as reclassifying. Check the related link for their full post. They are spot on as always. support++

Sean

Site redesign

Sevish — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:52:06 GMT

Big news, all of my girls and all of my guys!!

I've updated the whole site... Just for you. xx

I hope it's pleasing to the eye.

Sean

News of Senn

Sevish — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:54:34 GMT

Now, if you've listened to my music, you might have also heard Senn's music. We both used to be well into last.fm and all that! I was shocked to see that he released a single today on his site. :O

Only it's under a different name, KM, which I guess represents his departure from the trancey style from Senn days. ;)

KM - Only Just Begun

As usual in our rather liberal and sexy neck of the internet woods, this is a free release. High quality VBR MP3s too, ooohhh. Thus if you so desired the two tracks could be on your audio player within a few minutes.

Oh yeah! And there's a Senn remix on there anyway! For you trance heads! I've been listening to this one for over a week as I'm VIP and I love the synth that comes in after 5 minutes. That's the bit you just wait for.

Was just letting you guys know. Now bring on the full album. :]

Sean

Print every email you get as a matter of principle

Sevish — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:27:46 GMT

PBefore printing, think about ENVIRONMENTAL responsibility

I hate when cunts send me this at the end of emails. I swear the paper industry creates more forests?! (Landsburg, Steven A. The Armchair Economist. p. 86.)

Fair enough I could be wrong in my thinking, but I don't want to hear your smegging personal problems with paper and trees any longer. Do I have to print 1,000 copies of your email out of spite?

Sean

PS. "P" the webdings character for a tree.

Summer Post #1

Sevish — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:29:31 GMT

Wow, it's warm and humid in England recently. :P Uncomfortable and I think I smell. I got into work at a record early of 8:25 this morning, as I've just taken my girlfriend up to Victoria this morning to get her coach back home following her stay at mine for the long weekend. (Yes, it makes a man very tired, but a man has Rockstar Juiced).

Regardless, I managed to do some producing while she was over! It was a treat because I haven't been in the mood to work on it for a while. Well, turns out I did bare. :S The whole thing clocks in over 36 minutes now, which is already an album's length in Spice Girls terms. The biggest improvements were in a track called Jazzadelic, which has a nu-jazz/samba/house vibe (admittedly a strange style for me) and a remix of an unreleased track o' mine Sound Houses. I'm looking forward to sharing these with everyone so I'll keep working hard until all is finished.

On a personal one, I've changed my life goals considerably and I'm hoping to get into university! I don't know what course I'd like to do yet, but I'm sure I'll find something stimulating and diverse. I want the full experience - staying in the halls and going crazy when I have free time. The album is my biggest unfinished business before I go. My lovely lovely studio PC will be left behind no doubt and any songwriting I do at uni will largely remain on paper. I guess I could practice on performing. Imagine a Sevish live. :)

Who knows if it'll all work out. I just figured I'd come here and share it out. Take it easy all and enjoy whatever season you're in.

Sean

Non-update of album love love :D

Sevish — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:26:37 GMT

You know what the cutest thing is? In the whole world? It's when your girlfriend is in your studio making music for the first time. Awwww!! I had that pleasure last night, as I have Nila over for a week. Naturally, I'm not doing any album work until I'm alone again, and I hope it doesn't set me back much.

Though tell a lie... I did work a bit on this one bangin track while I had half an hour spare yesterday afternoon. I'm finally bringing all the vocal parts together cohesively, and it sounds pretty much fluid now. It's taking a while for me because I've not had much experience at recording a vocal and mixing it well, plus that was a couple of years back.

But what would be lost if the vocal sounded a bit crusty? So what, I produced it rough and ready and that's part of my bedroom producing mentality. For a vocal booth I hung a duvet over my head and the microphone. And what? You know you'll fucking love it when you hear. :D

Over 31 minutes and counting up up up up. I haven't planned the rest of the album, so not even I know what the finished piece will sound like. What can be more exciting?

Sean

Sample Demo of the new album! Myspace myspace myspace

Sevish — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:58:35 GMT

A small demo called ko ko kurji is on my myspace page! For download, embedding, whatever. I'm just gonna let this one run free in the wild.

It's only a small demo though! What, did you think I'd give away any of the best tracks from the album? :P Nah.. you'll hear those when the whole thing's released. For now just enjoy this little treat.

I made a big update to my profile while I was there, changed my piccies, changed all my bio and my "influences" and my "sounds like" and all that mess. I can let it rot for another few months now. :)

Address has changed to http://myspace.com/sevishmusic also.

Ok ok Kirk, the myspace bumgroping ends here.

Sean

Have Your Say on Cannabis on BBC.co.uk... Today! Yay.

Sevish — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:27:49 GMT

Today's "Have Your Say" debate on bbc.co.uk/news is a classic one we always come back to. Should cannabis remain a class C drug?

I had a look at the readers' recommended responses and found that my own stance of legalisation, regulation, and safe distribution through the government (like alcohol) were well represented. I mean, damn, the top bajillion best comments were saying the same thing!

See for yourself.

One quote from a reader made so much sense.

Perhaps the question should be: Should Gordon Brown remain a Class C politician?

Sean

Thank deity for anbesol

Sevish — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:53:41 GMT

This week I've been suffering from a couple of mouth ulcers on the bed under my tongue, following a couple of bad nights of sleep on the weekend. Luckily I can still eat foods I like because anbesol soothes the pain a bit. I love the first hit, it makes your gum go a little numb. :D

I love the stuff, it's so useful, I actually bum it.

Been working on the album extra hard recently. This week I've come up with a few minutes new material and I'm feeling like I'm winning. Started a new track and all, which I want to keep as a short vignette. What I mean by vignette, is that it's a short recording which expresses an idea. Almost fading in and then fading out, like a vignette you'd find in an art gallery. Some people hate them because they're seen as "filler" tracks sometimes. Personally I've always wanted to make a whole album of them. Maybe get together with a few other producers I know and like, and have a mix of them, one idea after the other...

Happy I'm still labouring? Awwww, I love it really!

Oh, and I'm learning Lojban! I'll chat about that later!

Sean

zo'e

Sevish — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:03:41 GMT

This weekend I met up with a couple of different mates. Helped one friend tidy his room, which took most of the day and more than 6 bin liners. Then met up with kebaby on Sunday, got noodles from China Town in London and sat in that park on Leicester Sq playing Amen Andrews and reading Moebius. Lots of bolding there.

When I got home I was lucky enough to catch JAKAZiD on msn and we had a chat for the first time in ages. He got me all inspired and revitalised to keep going on my album, and I can't wait to get home from work tonight to do more. If I could finish one of my current WIP tracks within a week or two it would do a lot for me and I could move on to new ideas.

I'm quite thankful, so get on his myspace:
jkz

Some old man today in Somerfield was walking by muttering to himself "it's gotten worse now they've changed it", referring to the new queue system they put in. What's it with these old dears and complaining over every trivial change to their lives? These people should be given some change to really fscking moan about, and a few ideas come to mind. Of course, I don't really want to tell you because they are spiteful and tormenting. :P

Gotta go!

Sean

Review of Sumvision Ice 1000 MP4 Player

Sevish — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:07:45 GMT

I broke my last mp3 player, so I went hunting for a new one. I know the marvel and love of Chinese electronics, so that day I ordered the Sumvision Ice 1000 4GB (from eBuyer, about �45). The next day it arrived.

My first impressions were that this little machine was sleek, robust, and a little heavier than my last portable media player, the Sumvision YumiPRO 4GB. But maybe that's because it sports a 2.4'' TFT touch display and all! Although I had trouble navigating the menu, I soon realised I had the screen lock turned on. :) The included stylus works a good deal better than a finger.

This pmp supports mp3, wma, and wav files, and receives FM radio. 4GB of internal flash memory gives you space for a few handfuls of albums, and a micro SD slot at the bottom of the device allows you to extend this as long as you don't lose your micro SD card.

The controls are quick and responsive, the unit doesn't waste its time loading its next mp3 file, it steams ahead so that you're not left waiting. Sound quality is as you would expect from a device like this � clean sounding but obviously not top-end sound. But who cares? You're only going to put lossy mp3s on it and listen to them on a noisy bus. Navigating the menu is obviously very intuitive, being a touch screen, but there's the obvious trade-off of not being able operate the player without looking at what you're doing. The pmp's lock switch prevents you from accidentally hitting buttons for those times when you carry it in your pocket - a feature you should demand on most portable media players.

The Ice 1000 puts its fair screen size to good use and will play videos, games and lets you view JPG files and flat text files. Video playback seems smooth, and seems to prefer that you convert your own video files to AVI format before putting them on the device which is a bitch. Software comes with the Ice 1000 that will convert many file formats to a 320x240 AVI. Sounds works too (which for some reason I couldn't get working on the YumiPRO).

Two games are included and they look pretty but aren't worth playing � 4 little buttons in a column along the side give you very unintuitive UDLR control of your player. If it weren't for the controls the shooting game would be bare addictive.

Using the JPG viewer, images come out crisply but larger ones will take ages to load. It's a shame about that, but it gets there in the end. The Ice 1000's main menu is a clear, minimalist design and looks quality in the dark. The other menus are similarly themed, giving the interface a cohesive feel. As of writing there's no way to personalise the look of the interface, and there's no guarantee that firmware will bring this functionality to the table. Personally I'd like to see a picture of my girlfriend when I go to play choons.

Transferring files requires the usual USB cable. Just drag the files over to the Ice 1000, while it recharges from the USB power. Charge life is fairly good in my experience as nonstop use on the way to Bristol didn't even eat through half the battery. But sometimes the bugger will keep disconnecting itself when plugged into the computer. This is a pain when you're trying to manage your files or hell, when you're just trying to concentrate on everything else. Each time it reconnects you get that "how should I use this device?" kinda screen on Window$ XP. This problem doesn't usually happen (gladly) but it puzzles me as to why I still get it.

Engadget says Sumvision Ice 1000 tries to be an iPod touch, fails miserably. What makes me laugh is the amount of people who asked if my new toy was an LG. Not an iPhone.

My verdict is: this 'miserable failure' gives you a lot of bang for your sterling, and it's a joy to use! Sumvision is a company I'll be looking out for in the future � hopefully they'll stun yet again next year with another sub-�50 pmp with high-end features. Until then I'm making the most of my Ice 1000. �D

Sean

Is UN drug policy effective? Hello? Hello?!

Sevish — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:11:07 GMT

The following video is a dialogue between UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa and ENCOD representative Frederick Polak, from the Netherlands. This is a current event and it affects us in the UN, so please watch it.

I'm just spreading this video love, but a lot more information can be found from Transform's blog entry on the event.

Thanks to Transform Drug Policy Foundation for their amazing efforts as an NGO for the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna and their continuing journalism, which is always spot on, every single time. I'm looking forward to more coverage from them.

And let's hope for an effective, not an ideological, drugs policy to come in the future.

Sean

Back to reality, back to producing

Sevish — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:11:21 GMT

Whew, I'm over the Netherlands now. I've spoken to all mi buddies so I know where everyone is and I don't miss them badly now. I'm waiting for the photos to come in and to meet up with everybody again, hopefully without spending so much money this time. Oh god, I haven't even seen my bank balance yet!

And forgive me for bumming Amsterdam in the most touristy way. :P That is what I am. I hope nobody minds me going to their city to have a laff, as I'm happy for tourists to do so in my home city (which they relentlessly do)!

We haven't heard anything from the woman who owned our apartment though, so I guess we cleaned up enough.

But I've had a few days to settle back, and it's been good. I came back from lunch yesterday to see that my preamp had been delivered and was left on my desk. I tried it out yesterday and it seems a good piece of kit. I've been getting a good signal from my mic and the noise is low considering the acoustics of my room. I'll be using the duvet trick to fix that up a bit! Ahhhh, you must check that duvet trick guys.

I'm hoping to record tomorrow as everybody'll be out of the house for a few hours. I guess that means tonight I'll come home from work and prepare everything for the morning. :)

Wish me luck!

Sean

I AMsterdam: what a banging, inspiring journey!

Sevish — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:29:58 GMT

I'm folding up sheets of paper and packing them into envelopes at work today. It's a cold and humdrum Wednesday in London today. Only last Friday, I met up with my best friends early in the morning at the check-in Gatwick airport, obviously we were all bare excited about going to Amsterdam. Sam got lost, Jason stole a sandwich. Then we got on a plane. The plane is so quick, it climbs into the air then comes straight back down to land!

Planes... a train... trams... and we got to our apartment for the first time. Now, Jace, Mike and I had all seen the apartment before - Mike's cousin Graham stayed there on our first visit to Amsterdam last June. It was bigger than I remember, an absolute cotch. Naturally we messed the place up badly, bare ash ground into the tablecloth, cartons of Chocomel, rubbish and roach and rizla, dirty dishes and cups. All the classic signs of consumption.

But yeah man... chocomel is a banging drink. I was on that the first time I went to Holland, but this time I got everybody else on it too. We marvelled at how it was sold in small cartons, big cartons, cans, bottles, and many others now forgotten (though even at McDonalds on the last day, Jace still found another form of chocomel container... just a testament to the versatility of Chocomel).

We had been in Amsterdam only a couple of hours or less when we got into our first coffeeshop. It's an important part of the holiday, smoking. As this was Sam's first trip we showed him a quite nice place, Dampkring, and we all picked up. It's quite surreal when you enter Dam and see your first coffeeshop. On the left, people are sipping drinks and smoking spliffs, on the right people are smelling all different cro at the counter. Something that is usually seen in England as on-the-down-low is now something lively, open and accepted. And profitable. I just kinda wonder why the right to smoke whatever I want isn't permitted back in my own country. Nevertheless, the smoking continues.

I tried Dampkring's mako haze, a brilliant first little smoke of the trip. It's the kind of cro that stands out when everybody's got a zoot each. A fine flavour, quite musky.
The Cheese, this cro seems to be bare popular in Amsterdam at the moment. It sold out a couple of times and people were talking about it. When Jace and I smelt it we could tell it was very similar to the cheese we get back home (which is very rare, btw!) and was probably the same stuff. I bought cheese and later I got Grey Area's Big Buddha Cheese, which was very similar also.
Grey Area just has the most chronicy cro, though! Silver bubble and chocolope are both there, big buddha cheese, grey haze and more pengs.
Softland now have a "only smoke our shit" policy, where you can't bring your own smoke into the shop. Ah well.
Dolphin's, Barney's Lounge, the Dampkring shops, Rookies, Spirit, Kashimir Lounge are all banging.

Aside from all that coffeeshop-pilgrimage, we got up to other jokes stuff. We spent more time walking the red light district this time than last. It's another surreal thing, when you head into that area and see a working, legal prostitution system. And it's so casual! (Makes me think, I can't wait for these old men UK politicians to die so the new generation can start running the country). Anyway, as everybody knows and has heard, the girls there are mostly amazing. I saw one or two who I would rag out, but of course I can't do that! Too much in love with my Nila. That didn't stop me looking through every window we could find though, whether ugly or gorgeous, old, young, or bulge.

One thing that made us all laugh: I said "there's more to us boys than just blazing" and a voice from somewhere says "like munch".

It turned out to be Jason. :) He so reminded me of a bear on holiday! A teddy bear! I think it was his coat and his cheeks got a teeny bit chubby and the cro made him grin. Sam kept zoning out because he was too lean. Michael wanted to do more than blaze but we just blazed because it's cheaper than Banana Bar.

Now for a downer... You really get used to the city after 5 days. When we were getting ready to go I was feeling regret to be leaving behind such a great place. I knew that I had smoked me last zoot in Amsterdam with the boys, I knew that I'd had my last chocomel, that we'd seen the last prostitute, chatted to the last local, and all. And knowing that when I get home, it's back to the same old. I felt connected when I was with my mates constantly catching jokes and always thinking of the next thing to do. I guess in that instance, I simply got used to the holiday mood, but I also got too used to Amsterdam and how friendly it seems. Most of all, I was sad that returning to England would effectively remove some of my favourite rights again, and that all of us friends would be going back to our own houses after 5 days together. I miss them and hope they miss me too. And hope they had a good time.

I'll leave it at almost that. I hope I can return to Amsterdam and have a fat blaze with my friends after July (I think) when Holland goes on an indoor smoking ban. Yeah, they're targeting coffee shops too, but some shops might be able to survive and get around the ban in other ways. We'll wait to see what happens. Until then, I can try to focus my attention on music, after a day or so of rest.

Thanks blog, I really needed to chat about my time out there.

Sean

Blog comments disabled

Sevish — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:28:26 GMT

Safe,

I'm really sorry to all who frequents here, but I've had to disable the comments due to a large amount of spam that I can't keep up with. It's a bloody shame because I really enjoy reading the hundreds of comments that come in!

With any luck, a new plugin or version of SimplePHPblog will come out some time and solve the problem so that I can let this bloggy turn back into the buzzing beehive of chit chat that it once was. Until then, you can contact me as usual in the usual ways. :)

Hoping to post again soon!

Sevvy

Quick update for you patient peoples

Sevish — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:44:49 GMT

The album is half complete! Well, that doesn't including the mixing or mastering. I need to get some reference monitors in to get started on the mixing.

Can any of my small sample of readers (beautiful, wonderful, and astonishingly intelligent) recommend a pair near-field mons?

The answer is probably no, so I'll have to look around online and in audio mags, and in audio shops (if I can find a decent one nearby) until I come across something. I'd love to spend less than �200 altogether, but I'll mayyyybe spend under �300 just to make sure I'm getting nice equipment. :P

Notes for self...
Active pair
Balanced 1/4" inputs

Sean

Changes happening behind the scenes

Sevish — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:47:23 GMT

Last night was a night of mucho mucho inspiration. In fact, I couldn't sleep much because I'm very excited. I've been bang on music for the past 27 hours and when I get home I'll be doing more. Yes, the album. :P

Because of all this I changed my plan for the album. Yes, it's still gonna come out this year if I have to drag myself over hot coals to do it, but I've chosen to remove a song from the album which has cost me over 5 minutes of material I worked very hard on. As it turned out, that track didn't fit the rest of the album, but the album sounds much more inline and wonderful without it. That song, my friends, is Watching the Moon, a piece I really like, which signalled my change into a new, more soulful style. No, it hasn't been released, but I'd still like you guys to hear it some time. I will keep you updated about that.

Why did I decide to do this? Last night in beautiful, sweet fucking sexy inspiration I started a new beat. Sharing this with whoever was on MSN & IRC at the time, I was told by Kirk that my work is a lot more "consistent" now. I forgot whether he meant that as in 'quality' or 'style', but it got your dear author thinking that Watching the Moon doesn't fit, and never has done.

I hope that the exclusion of one of my artist-defining pieces of music from the album will make it a better, more coherent mix of songs.

I'm really working as quickly as possible, and surpassing the deadlines I've set myself along the way. Thanks for listening, loveli loveli people. Oh yeah, happy Valentine's Day to all! (Those of you who don't support Valentine's Day; happy Thursday)

Sean

I'm back from the West country

Sevish — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:36:08 GMT

Been away to see my girlfriend on her 18th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUN (again!!). Everybody, wish happy birthday now! One had a lovely time, and even a day of shopping in Bath (just a train ride away) and ate Chinese take-away twice. Can't get enough of the stuff. But yeah, Bath had quite a cool atmosphere where the shops were.

But I'm back and quite inspired and ready to get working on tracks again. There's lots to do, so I'd be well advised not to waste time watching reruns of Penn & Teller: Bullshit and Red Dwarf tonight. TV is currently my biggest time waster when it's night time and I just want to clear my mind.

You know though, my mate Novoue isn't as distracted; remixing (what I plan to be) the final track of mi album. Hopefully he'll come up with something good which I can use as a bonus track. His little demo is currently just under 7 minutes long! Plenty of material to get your teeth into when I finally release the bugger. To any other mates reading this, especially Kirk, there's a spot on there for you too!

Also fancied a change with the colours of the blog but it's only a quick change. I expect to go a bit more mentalist with changing the site design closer to the release of the new project, as ya do. The current site has looked a bit too unjazzy for quite a while. Unjazzy. Hmm.

Sean

New kit arrived: AKG C1000S microphone

Sevish — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:41:14 GMT

Dolphin Music, you are bloody quick... I received my new mic from them today, so naturally one is ecstatic. :)

You see, I've used this model from AKG a lot before and I'm confident in what sound it produces. It'll be a lovely addition to my kit! This opens up new possibilities for the upcoming album, firstly, some vocals I'd like to record for a new track, quite political in nature. And of course, any other time I need to make a recording, it's there waiting. :)

I've actually had one of those oldskool melodicas waiting around for me to jam on it for a couple of years!

But, the acoustics are awful in my room. Small space, hard walls. I was reading an article about making a portable microphone booth to deaden the room sound, this was using a box and some foam to hold the microphone. Obviously, this is much better for me than to build a booth to hold the whole performer as well. :P A cheapy, DIY solution, but one which I think should work nicely. I'm still not sure about which material I should use for the insulation. Polystyrene was suggested (cheap and easy to fit) but I'm not sure of its acoustic qualities. It might be an idea just to shell out on 4 tiles of acoustic foam and fit it into a box.

In any case, you can tell that tonight I'll be playing with mi new toy! I'll try to make sure that the next little "experiment" I post to the blog contains something recorded. ;)

Loads to look forward to as always.

Sean (Album 27mins 43secs so far)