Romantic Expression

I like you more than Mrs. Butterworth's.

5 Downloads of the Month (Debuting: the LINKS)

1- Bruises/ Chairlift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmyuRLFDobw

2- Pounding/ Doves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXaqZLkG3TE&feature=related

3- Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm/ Crash Test Dummies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q91_kcx3no

4- Mansard Roof/ Vampire Weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlgNFwoApec

5- Help I'm Alive/ Metric

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we_czU9sJ3g

N.B.: you can also share with me your recommended music of the month. I'm open to new music, any!

Why?

Why not?

I have never been a fan of attention seekers. I have never understood their constant need to impress others with their actions. I have always wondered at those who jump hoops to make everybody notice what they do. At an earlier point in my life, I have never understood how someone would put themselves out there and leave it for the publicity to decide. For long enough, I have believed that this is pathetic.

A part of me, knows I am wrong.

People need people, apparently. They somehow pat the insecurities in our heads and make us feel appreciated and worth our salt.

There is always pressure in putting yourself out there. The fact that you wake up in bed knowing that someone has been watching your videos/listening to your songs/reading your articles yesterday or the day before might make some people's nights sleepless. You have publicized a moment in your life, or your lifetime in a moment, and exposed it to everyone to decide whether it is good, bad or neutral, putting aside the fact that millions might not really care.

But isn't this the risk?

People need people. The positive feedback makes us joyful and the negative ones bring us down even though most of the mature entities accept them willingly.

A friend once pondered loudly; "Do you think it is wrong that I keep everything I do to myself, knowing how confident I am about them, instead of showing them to the rest of human race?"

I didn't have a steady answer. A reply that took me about a minute was "How will you know if you never try?"

My reply could have been "You shouldn't give a shit. Get it out anyway. Celebrate your achievement!". It wasn't, and I am not sure if it will ever be. I keep things to my own world, till a certain point where I feel it should be shared with at least one person, and so it goes. Keeping your little creations to yourself could be translated as selfishness to a major portion of the humanity. Meanwhile, some may think it relates to lack of confidence. Should I tell?

I am looking forward to getting some answers, someday.


"We're on our own for a while, I bet"

5 Downloads of the Month

1- Foot of The Mountain/A-Ha
2- November/ Azure Ray
3- Icecream/ Sarah McLachlan
4- Joga/ Bjork
5- Language/ Scott Matthew

"Let me pop this little thought, out before the other thought"

Bring Britpop back

I proudly say it. I had a crush on Louise Wener.



The first time I saw her face in Smash Hits magazine back in 1995 and I was dazzled. Listening to Sleeper's first LP made it even sweeter. I used to collect her pictures and notes from magazines before the internet chewed on the world. 12 years old, I was. Funny thing is, this lady almost never sang in tune live, she hardly has a vocal range, yet, I believe she owns one of the most beautiful voices I have heard. She looks like a sassy rebel, but once the camera gets her eyes, you can tell she's a shy sweetheart.

Britpop. An influence I can never deny. Mid-90s. Good times. Life was okay. I was starting to play guitar and write my own little, too naive songs. Drew inspiration from all the little things around like the lovely rivalry between Oasis and Blur. George Michael released Older and has gone all jazz while everything else was about being straight and, oh well, rock 'n' roll.

I had this double tape thingy, a collection of the hits around at that time. "Live Forever", "Charmless Man", "Spaceman", "Not so Manic Now", "King of The Kerb" and maybe even Enya's "Anywhere is" (Intensive episodes of Enya related posts will be on very soon).  These two lovely cassette tapes were almost on everywhere I went. The sound of raw anger, British accent, don't give a fuck attitude, anthems, and the inevitable teenage spirit celebration. I had that classic guitar that only had 3 strings. I've played all the songs on this double tape on it. I was dreaming of making a record, having a kick ass band and performing in front of a lifetime of people.

Britpop's death, was on hands of The Verve's Urban Hymns, and Radiohead's OK Computer. Nonetheless, two of my 10 favorite albums of all time.

1998, I met Mustafa Farid (Muzty) after rehearsing "She's Electric", and with Karim, Egoz was born. Britpop was still lingering in our heads. We still play songs like "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Song 2" in our gigs. We are thinking of playing Blur's "Girls and Boys", I have no idea how.

Life went on. I am still listening to Sleeper's songs, I still believe Louise Wener is a Goddess..

...and though nostaliga sometimes hurt, I remember Trainspotting with a smile on my face.


"But I have seen, the lines in between, too late, but yet too soon"

A Picture and A Thought

heaven = Ingrid?

Soul Cake in the Oven

The EP is happening.

5 songs are in the recording process, yet, they sound as fresh as I want them to be.

I am shouting at some point, it all depends on which ear you use for listening.

The absurd little bird kept telling secrets.

The aortic pump denied them all.

I am working much. 

I am off to sleep.


"Here's to the other side we can't see still"

5 Downloads of the Month

1- 24-25/ Kings of Convenience

2- Balulalow/ Sting

3- A Life Less Ordinary/ Ash

4- Folding Chair/ Regina Spektor

5- There are Many Ways to Die/ Morten Harket

Memoirs, next to a fridge

I have been here for a while, or at least I believe so. Should I make conclusions? Should I drive myself to places that make more sense to where I am at this very particular moment in my life? Should I respond differently to the disgusting word "3o2balak" (Trans: Hopefully it will happen to you, or something like that)?

Is there chocolate?

My favorite place in the house after my room, is the kitchen. I did most of my studying there, by the fire from the stove, that once, aged 11, caught my hair and turned it into white ashes while I was sleeping by it. But let's not drift away from the subject.

The window from the kitchen sees my childhood friend "M" and his crazy family with weird names. Given the above, me being in the kitchen a lot caused me quite some trouble. Many thought I used to stay there in order to stare at "M"'s sisters when they used to go out in the balcony. I did not. Really.

I think both of his sisters are married now, whilst "M", is currently living in Alexandria. And since I am talking about him, a rush of memories comes back to life in my head. Me, him and a few others were that crazy gang from the age of 11 to 13 . We used to meet up on his building's rooftop to watch people's lives through windows and balconies. (Lives, women taking off clothes or whatever..)

I look back at myself and try to recognize this kid. No recollection whatsoever.

Winter is almost here. The oven looks tempting..

A Picture and A Thought

the beast?

She Hasn't Given Up Talking

She talked about how the world is too small
She talked about how her hands were too big
She talked about how her best friend has changed
She talked about how her fling loved her new shoes
She talked about how the speakers in my room were creeping her out
She talked about how many magazines I should get rid of
She talked about how my hair has a personality of its own
She talked about how much I've lost weight in the past few days
She talked about how stupid my mind was
She talked about how big my heart is


She asked me to take anger management classes
She talked about how my cough scared her to death
She asked me to sing her "Say Goodbye"
She talked about how much she cried the first time she's heard it from me
She talked about how I should smile more
She talked about how she should drink less


She started talking about how bad it was when I abandoned her
I said my first word...

5 Downloads of the Month

Alright here's a monthly section in my blog where I advice with a few songs that I personally think are worth listening to:

1- Song Beneath the Song/ Maria Taylor

2- Little Bird/ Imogen Heap

3- New Romantic/ Laura Marling

4- Killing in the Name Of/ Rage Against The Machine

5- Ray Gun/ The Bird & The Bee

To The Night - pt.1

I'm in no position to complain to you

I'm in no position to inform you

about everything that I have been

and everything I am now.

I'm in no position to keep rambling on

about how times could be sweet and tough

I'm in no position to shape my melancholy to you

You are dim enough.
 

True. I can catch no horizon

in your never ending black

and your life, I never chose

For your strength, I lack.

Yet, I'm in no position to lose hope in you

for times, nothing else was there

I speak to you, about it all

and for your dark humor, I prepare.
 

My silence, you understand

and for else, you do not care

I'm in no position to give up on you

I do not dare.

Highway Miracle

No humans at any sight, far or near.




Food was present.




From dusk till dawn, and from dawn till the first lines of morning.




If I could compliment the sky, a million years would not be adequate.




And with the sounds of Schubert, Verdi, Azure Ray and Enya ...



... my dream was complete.

A Picture and A Thought

truth?

A Decision

I have finally decided, to release an EP.

Tried and true, it will mainly make up the last year of my life. A few words to say, they will be. They're simply songs, with no restrictions or else. I'm pretty sure it's not going to be Madonna's Ray of Light, but it sure will be Hany Mustafa's There's a Hole in The Wall But The Mouse Won't Get Away.

Don't analyze much, you're not going to get anywhere, pretty close to where I am.

But nowhere is a fine place, really..

Stay Down

A track off the EgoZ debut album, thrown on the table to everybody. You should see the smile on our faces.

Not sure if anybody gets what this song is talking about. Much to my amusement. But this song has been written in an awful time, where it felt right.

Can be listened to here:
http://www.myspace.com/theegoz

With The Band - The Ramadan Edition

Here comes Ramadan. No one's eating or drinking for quite a while in the day.



No concerts of any kind. Not much rehearsals, absolutely nothing. It is the best thing for our sake at this very moment. The recording process is becoming stressful, and I personally think that's just what we've needed. We're lazy asses. Every single one of us..

Most of the close people/fans to the band are wondering how an Egoz album would sound like. And I think this is the one common thing we have in the band. On some level, we all know how this album will sound like. But there's leaning towards a million sounds in each one's head. We would like to capture, take us before the fans, by surprise.

Apparently, it will somehow lean towards a melancholic atmosphere. A factor I/we have never known how to escape. I will not say I am not satisfied. For I am. If this is who we are then this is who we are.

From the view ahead from here, it's a very colored one. It includes colors I don't know yet. The ones I am mostly colourblind to. If you're a songwriter, you will know what it is to face the truth when you come out of the speakers to your ears, rather than play your song yourself.

It's a quite a short time, but a long way from here. A gigantic part of me does not care about anything but the landing of this album. Even if people had to listen to it only once, it will matter..

Seriousness ..

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby. The true nature of the latter has for millennia been a central concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical enquiry. Many religions maintain a belief in either some kind of afterlife or rebirth. The effect of physical death on any possible mind or soul remains for many an open question. Within the scientific community, death is frequently associated with a belief in materialism and the complete ending of mind or consciousness. Yet despite the common notion that this is a scientific viewpoint, consciousness itself has yet to be fully understood in science and psychology, and any view about the existence or non-existence of consciousness after death remains a speculative belief.

*Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Demand

Manager: "Finish this offer"

Hany: "Sure. But it's due date is 19/8 and today is the 4th. Can it wait till tomorrow?"

Manager: "No"