Music was always free. For tens of thousands of years the human race had musicians who played music for everyone. Music was art, it was never a commercial product. In the 50s it all changed. Music was enslaved when mass production of records proved a lucrative prospect. What was an expression of the heart was now the hen that laid golden eggs.

Music was like art. You could buy a copy of Rembrandt if you really wanted (and could afford it) but the original was available for everyone to admire. The excitement and fulfillment in observing the original on display is robbed from owning a copy, making the copy into a waste of money. Music is available for everyone to admire in a concert, just like on display, but the copy is worthless if you can't take part in the energy and excitement of watching the original perform his/her art.

We're deep in the process of the liberation of music, but music is still far from being free... not just of money, but also of servitude. Artists deserve more than a handsome reward for their talent and laborious efforts, but holding the art ransom isn't the way to do it. Most people want the original, and anyone who doesn't won't give anything for it anyway.

I have many possible solutions to this, and if my muse will permit it, I will elaborate. :)

Until recently I couldn't listen to Kings of Leon. I still can't, I find them (and him) to be extremely shallow musically and dull. But only until recently it used to bring up the worst memories and throw me back to some dark places. During most of last year when I went to work and the radio stations here would brainwash you with those songs (9-10 times a day, no joke). That in time imprinted those thoughts and emotions on the back of my head along with the sounds and tones of those songs.

It's obviously not Kings of Leon's fault, nor the radio stations here who do their best to play as few songs possible as many times possible. Today Kings of Leon were screaming through the radio after a long recess... I found that those ghosts have left me and the imprint has faded to an echo of the past. It was a cheerful realization that made me almost like Kings of Leon... but I went too far. I don't like them... yet. :) I just thought how both daunting and rewarding the effects of music can be.

The time has come. After countless delays I've managed to unleash a new collection upon you all, my innocent children. Introspection I named it, in memory of the year 2009, which I will forever hold in awe for the quantity and intensity of challenges it had in store for me. A new project is now present there - Question of the Stars, which is a direct derivative of the album name. I will write more on the project it self in a later post... but for now, please share your thoughts on the new find, I'm always glad to hear it.

No, this is not about astronomy or physics, nor about theories of superstrings or the big bang... well, not in an astronomical sense anyway. This is about how fragile the concept of stability can be. We all seek it, yearn for it, aspire to give and be given stability. But the truth is that as romantic as that concept is to us in a relationship or in friendship, it can never be fulfilled, even if promised with the best of intentions. Each of us is an expanding universe with big bangs that shape us from within.

Big bangs are waiting to happen everywhere, we don't have to travel 15 billion years into the past to see one (or many ;)), just listen and hear it happening with your family, friends and loved ones. Not all of them are bad, in fact I believe that the scale of good and bad is even in this case. And yet, the perpetual change is what we love to fear and fear to love. Stability is the dream we wake up from with each bang, with each pulse of expansion. The expansion doesn't come at the cost of the people you love, it's usually when you rearrange your inner galaxies to make more room for them. :)

Currently I'm working on a track I called 'Questions of the Stars' which is a result of such big bang that threw me back in time... 14 years back actually. Back when I was trying as hard as I could to imitate the greatest years of music in the history of mankind (in my opinion, anyway) - the 80s. I called it by that name because the space race has affected a lot of the art in the 70s and 80s and music is no exception. Space Age trends popped everywhere and such influences exist in my track as well. If the name is familiar to you from a phrase you heard or read somewhere, you're not mistaken. :)

Spearing ahead is great... getting new stuff, feeling all refreshed and up to date. That is until you actually try to do some work. Getting the newest gadgets and software does feel and look great, but how much can you really get done when you're looking down from your ivory tower of technology? Quite simply... not much. You rarely do any work with a simple, single, independent  tool. Most things require a selection of tools to work in some kind of collaboration and when one of them is out of sync, the entire work flow is effected.

I recently got an Axiom Pro 61 (absolutely AWESOME!) along with a Desktop Konnekt 6 (absolutely AWESOME!) to give my scrawny studio a well calculated boost, but I also made an exceptional mistake... I installed Windows 7 64bit. A dear friend assured me with absolute certainty that Ableton Live 8 not only supports 64bit, it was practically made for it, with its plugins to boot. I made sure that the new (and beautiful) hardware had the drivers to support the new operating system before installing it, but my friend's contagious confidence left my software watch asleep.

After a quick format and a flawless installation of the OS (Windows 7 is absolutely wonderful, been using it since beta and I'm very pleased) I installed the new hardware, everything seems and feels good. But then came the onslaught  of the audio software installation... Ableton doesn't naturally support 64bit, it installs as a 32bit software which is superficially ok... but none of the plugins work. It seems to have quite a few security problems with the OS (the x86 Program Files folder seems to be even less privileged). Trying to install any other plugin that uses a sample library or any other external content (even an external INI file) results in great disappointment. Only native 64bit plugins (like Absynth 5) seem to work ok with the 32bit host... weird? you have no idea.

I had a lot of ideas and plans for this new setup... all now will have to wait. Now I'm waiting for a replacement 32bit Windows 7 to arrive (was using the RC version so far)... and another long night of installations and reconfigurations... *sigh* good thing I love doing this shit. ;)

So much has been said, and even more has been done. For better or worse, we're supposed to look back and say that it was worth the trip. That's basically the winning point of every trip, to be reminisced upon with favor. When a trip fails at that point, then every bump on the road seemed to contribute to the overall disappointment instead of being just another funny story. How was the 2009 trip for you?

The treacherous labyrinth of healing is a thorny struggle. At times you wound up back where you started, reliving every little hurt and discomfort, and at other times your progress just a little farther to be caught by some bramble you overlooked. The light at the end is no less treacherous than the labyrinth itself, but at least it's where you're going and eventually, to each his own strength and endurance (and love of brambles), will get there.

After too long a wait, it's finally arrived and I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again. That's a lie, I do know. I'm leaving on Thursday and back 11 days later. Wish it was for much longer, but c'est la vie, have to get back to work and life here in Israel.

It's been a long haul. Ever since 1994 I've been doing this routine, using music as an outlet for things that cannot be said or written. It's been 15 years and with all the sources of inspiration that I've had throughout the years, the one that has graced me in the last 5 is without comparison the one that defines me best.