Karim Fanous’ blog

I lied....

Oct 30, 2009
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...when I wrote my last entry. I was referring to something I had felt a couple of weeks before, hoping I could feel it again if I wrote about it, hoping that writing about it could bring it back to me and make it sincere. The truth is that I just didn't feel that way when I wrote it, I was too tired and worn out. I was hungry for it, greedy perhaps, but couldn't reach it. That's the way it is sometimes...

Wood And String

Oct 14, 2009
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Weeks spent in front of vibrating metal. 10 inch woofers and metal dome tweeters. Vibrations instigated by a computer and audio to digital converter. Electric current transformed into sound. Then to wood and string. So fresh, so pure and innocent. Synthesis of fingers and instrument into sound. Vibrations against my stomach and resonance through my body.

It is always such a good feeling to pick up a guitar again, to make sound with my fingers and to hear it through the air straight from the instrument, to feel it against me... I forget that music like this is a gift from nature.

MAD MASTERS EP DIGITAL RELEASE

Sep 8, 2009
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Well it is a very special week with the impending 09/09/09 Beatles Remasters

But I would like to tell you that my lovely new little piece of work is available too :)

The Mad Masters EP is available for digital download right now from:

It is also available on Itunes stores U.S., Australia/N.Z., Canada, European Union, Japan and all Amazon MP3 sites ( UK, US, Germany, France)

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The Mad Masters EP does have something in common with the Beatles Remasters - it was mastered at Abbey Road, towards the end of the period when the Beatles records were probably being remastered... now that's trivia... perhaps a blessing too...

London Loves You...

Sep 3, 2009
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You love London. London loves you. You've lived in London for a while now. London knows you. You know London. London tires you out. London is beautiful. London is impossible. London is your home. London is your love. Sometimes you hate your love. London Loves You Through The Years And The Centuries.

Educate your ear holes....

Aug 29, 2009
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This is important to know. Enlightening too. Read the articles, especially the ones on the recent Metallica record sounding better in Guitar Hero than on the release cd.

http://www.turnmeup.org/index.shtml

She Said Blew My Mind...

Aug 24, 2009
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And Your Bird Can Sing has always been my favourite, but She Said Blew My Mind. Typical. There we were during the Mad Masters mixing sessions, at the end of a long day's mixing. There we were sat behind the API desk and ProAc monitors, listening to Beatles records. Typical. Typical but transcendental : the euphoria of it, hearing that sound in that listening environment. Hearing the songs working at their deepest levels : mecahnical, structural, melodic, semantic, instrumental. Performance, recording, mixing all blending into one. Intent and purpose revealed on every level. She Said blew my mind. Time and space didn't matter anymore. And Your Bird Can Sing has always been my favourite. She Said blew my mind.

She Said : "I know what it's like to be dead. I know what it is to be sad."

About New Song Echo And Narcissus, The Inspiration And The Greek Myth

Aug 21, 2009
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This song takes its deeper inspiration from the tragic Greek myth surrounding the Nymphs 'Echo' and 'Narcissus'.

In short, Echo was a nymph, cursed by Hera (Zeus's wife) for distracting her with conversation and stories while Zeus had affairs behind Hera's Back. Her curse was to stop Echo's ability to speak freely, and only enable her to copy what others said. Narcissus was a vain hunter who treated women and their approaches with disdain and contempt dude to his vanity. Echo falls in love with him but can never tell him how she feels. After his rejection of her, Narcissus is finally cursed by Nemesis to fall in love with his own reflection. When he realises the desperation of his situation, he kills himself.

Echo was a mountain nymph, who loved the sound of her own voice. Zeus, married to Hera, was known for the many love affairs that he had behind Hera's back. Echo sometimes would distract Hera with conversation and long stories while Zeus took advantage of the situation and ravished other mountain nymphs. Hera, having discovered the situation, cursed Echo by taking away her voice, her ability to speak was limited to copying what others said (hence the modern day term used to describe certain sounds 'Echo' ).

Narcissus was an exceptionally beautiful and vain youth, hunter and son of blue Nymph Liriope, known for his cold and harsh rejection of any girl who loved him. Echo fell hopelessly in love with Narcissus but could never tell him how she truly felt, because of the curse and her inability to speak freely. Nemesis cursed Narcissus to fall in love with his reflection which he came across one day in a pool of water. Narcissus, eventually realising that it was himself that he saw and fell in love with ended up beating his own life out of himself in desperation.

"One day when Narcissus was out hunting stags, Echo stealthily followed the handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted "Who's there?", Echo answered "Who's there?" And so it went, until finally Echo showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth. He pulled away from the nymph and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens, pining away for the love she never knew, until only her voice remained.

Nemesis heard this prayer and sent Narcissus his punishment. He came across a deep pool in a forest, from which he took a drink. As he did, he saw his reflection for the first time in his life and fell in love with the beautiful boy he was looking at, not realizing it was himself. Eventually, after pining away for a while, he realized that the image he saw in the pool was a reflection of himself. Realizing that he could not act upon this love, he tore at his dress and beat at his body, his life force draining out of him. As he died, the bodyless Echo came upon him and felt sorrow and pity. His soul was sent to "the darkest hell" and the narcissus flower grew where he died. It is said that Narcissus still keeps gazing on his image in the waters of the river Styx . "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_(mythology)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(mythology)

Echo And Narcissus is streaming for a few more days at myspace.com/karimfanous

Credits:

"Echo And Narcissus" is track 3 on the forthcoming Mad Masters EP .

Written by Karim Fanous

Voices, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keys, Programming: Karim Fanous

Instruments recorded and programmed by Karim Fanous .

Vocals recorded (and trickery added) by Thomas Juth at Kensaltown.

Mixed by Thomas Juth in the API suite at Kensaltown.

About New Song "Lament For Jackie"...

Aug 18, 2009
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"Evil hides in pretty places.

Evil hides in honest faces."

The best thing to do with this one is listen.... Lyrics and story : read here

Time delay processing problems...

Aug 18, 2009
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My causal relationships are misaligned in the temporal dimension at the moment. It's strange. Somebody fix it please..

Mad Masters is here...

Aug 7, 2009
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"Don't talk about that ; I am glad to have left it behind me and escaped from a fierce and frenzied master"

'When your desires lose their intensity and relax, you get a release... from a lot of mad masters'

- The Republic

"I've got to keep moving... there's a hellhound on my trail"

- Robert Johnson

As part of the run up to the release of the Mad Masters EP, each song will be playing in full for a week over the next five weeks on myspace.... The first track : Mad Masters is up right now and will remain until Monday when it's time for track two...

Listen to it now: http://www.myspace.com/karimfanous

Mad Masters was recorded by Steve Honest and Karim Fanous in various locations and mixed by Thomas Juth in the API suite at Kensaltown. Many thanks to Steve Honest, Eliza Wren Payne, Jamie Barclay and Thomas Juth for their special contributions.

Credits :

Written by Karim Fanous

Produced and Arranged by Karim Fanous

Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Percussion : Karim

Vocal : Eliza Wren Payne

Lap Steel : Steve Honest

Programming, 808 and additional arrangement : Jamie Barclay

Mixed by : Thomas Juth

There was serious voodoo involved in making this track... when I was at Jamie's studio and we were working on the arrangement, that low keyboard drone that you hear from the beginning literally started playing by itself out of nowhere on exactly the right note and exactly the right sound. We were discussing something else when it happened. It freaked us out, but sounded so right. Hope you can feel it...

Karim Fanous said:
.........to stop time? ...to stop time......... to ,,,,stop.i would like to hear that read more
on Time....
MEK said:
i was with an irish musician the other day. he said something quite poignant. he genuinely believes music has the... read more
on Time....
blackmanos said:

[this is good]
read more
on And now, for a holiday... although a little dance with the Queen comes first.
MEK said:
finally so mellow. whisky, wine and wonderful cheese. you needed paris. i need paris. read more
on it all fell apart, and then there was paris
MEK said:
hey congrats on the new releases; will take a look & listen... happy new year anon read more
on And now, for a holiday... although a little dance with the Queen comes first.