Requiem for Reality Checks

I sit, waiting for it come; slowly take over me, engulf me a like a dark shadow.

I wait for it to consume me, use me, finish me.

In the back play war drums, begging it to come forward, challenging it to come forth and prove itself. I am the sacrificial lamb, goat, virgin - the fuel to the fire.

It's making its way, slowly but steadily, like a drunk man getting over his intoxication but at the same time being directed by it.

It flows in every vein in my body. I am it and it is I. The music continues playing. All around me everyone cheers and lets on. They celebrate the loss of the dear, damned, dead. I wish that would be literal but no, death is so damn figurative you can spend your entire life at its seams and still not know what's going on.

Every man and woman was once a child and the day this beast enters us is the day we become these men and women, develop non-human traits that are truer to our core than our own natural ways.

They say you die a bit each time you smile.

Let the music play, let the music guide you through.

Celebrate. Dance. Die.

Welcome to life as we know it.

Music

I'm listening to a track called "Bandeya" by Faiza and Khawer, and their sound and use of the many instruments can only increasingly impress me.

But I wonder how they will sound live...

And that is in essence the topic that's been revolving in the convolutions of my mind's intricate (and boring) thought process.

Most of my words are sparked by this interview I saw on IM last night. A prominent musician presented his hypothesis on why the Pakistani music scene is so messed up - and half-expecting it to be bullshit, I ended up agreeing with him. His postulate was quite simply this:

Musicians outside of Pakistan start from playing in their local pubs or clubs and develop their sound. After developing their sound they move on to playing at gigs and concerts and then go to studios. That's because you can get any sound you want in the studio.

However Pakistani musicians go to the studio first and then straight to gigs - half of which consist of them lip-sync-ing. There is no pub/club level at all. Musicians don't concentrate on developing their sound. As a result they end up with another sound live and another sound in the studio. This is unfair on the listeners and really constricting for the musician to evolve.

I agree with this hypothesis all the way. Take your major music bands and artists - they either sound horrible live or use playback. Some bands may sound good live - but is that the sound that they had on their recordings?

Add to that the current aspiration of every guitarist/bassist/drummer/obscure band member - to set up a studio of his/her own. To be really honest, this is having the same effect as the in-house (literally) schools that popped up around in cities like Karachi. The result - sub-standard education being imparted on naive students, who translated that education in to an even more sub-standard practical practice (being no fault of their own). Applying this occurrence to the studios that are coming up in every street (particularly around the Tariq Road area in Karachi) - you will have lots of studios but sub-standard quality. Each studio will produce the same sound. Now, as a Pakistani band that believes in the "studio first-gig later" philosophy, you really don't want that do you?

In either scenario, you do realize that this has to stop. Let there be fewer studios and greater sound. As an amateur recording enthusiast, I have read many books on music production and there is an actual theory involving specific sounds that have been created by major cities. There is the "New York" sound, the "LA" Sound and the "London" sound. I'm not going to dwell on what they are, but you get the picture. Individual uniqueness in sound leads to a development in sound collectively.

I don't mean to whine about sound, or preach something that I don't practice. I am in a band myself, and we have yet to record anything even though we've been playing for more than a year (collectively). Our firm belief in sounding as good as live as on the album has made things a little difficult, which involves getting expensive equipment, rigorous jamming and a regimen that could parallel the military barracks schedule! My point is that if you sound consistently good, regardless on what platform you perform, the crowd will love you. The crowd doesn't want a super quality album and shitty performances. I'm sure they can learn to live with mediocre sound and mediocre performance. However, live performance can involve certain finesse that cannot be reproduced at a studio. But that's a different issue altogether.

Summing it all up - be creative about your sound, man! It's all about consistency and of course originality.

Exodus

Everyday I think to myself that I will not try and poke my nose in other people's business. I don't, ever. But then I think that I should, atleast I'll get to talk to someone that way.

It's really interesting, watching them though. People think no one sees them, but everyone sees everyone. The matter of whether anyone cares is something else. So then we can think that everyone should be careful of what they do. Some people are like that, they're actions are guised by something that they want everyone else to see.

I know people like that. It's sad to see them act like this. They're such nice lovable people but when they put themselves behind this wall of closed doors marked with "no entry" all over and then put a cover saying "come in", I really feel disappointed.

No matter. Tomorrow always brings change

Welcome to Delerium

Spin. Turn. Spin. Turn.

Now hop!

What? You can't?

Come now, you know you want to...give in to the inner urge to turn.

Ok fine. Don't.

Spin?

Turn?

This isn't fun anymore.

*sigh*

Delerium's no fun when you only have your psyche to play with. I'm going to bed.