Mad Respect » Shamal

Massive Waves and The Brave Souls Who Surf Them

Shamal — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:03:53 +0000

Check out these crazy waves from Teahupoo. They are breathtaking to watch and even more so when you witness the courageous surfers who are riding them.

Inspirational Free Climbing Video of Alex Honnold

Shamal — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:24:31 +0000

I just saw this free climbing video of Alex Honnold on Google+ thanks to Tom Anderson’s post. It’s a 60 Minutes clip of the world’s best rock climber who ascends the most challenging climbs without any aids, such as rope or partners. Alex is the only one who has ever free-climbed Yosemite’s Half-dome which is over 2000 feet high (1/2 a mile straight up). When I think of “superhuman feats” this is what I think of as it sets a new standard for the average person. He lives on $1000/month in his mobile van so he can pursue what he loves. It’s a truly inspirational and mind-blowing video. I felt my stomach churn and blood rush just watching it as my own fear for him set in. It’s amazing to think he has conquered this fear with such grace and strength. His humbleness and character make me like him even more. Mad Respect.

Feist New Album, Metals

Shamal — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:19:28 +0000

I’m psyched to have worked on this new campaign with one of best Topspin ecosystem partners in the UK, Fanfare Media. It’s beautifully implemented by Owain Kelly.

Check it out below. Enter you email and be taken to a page where you can hear Feist’s new album in full length streams. The album releases on October 3rd.

Chasing Shadows — Dr. Sin

Shamal — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:47:26 +0000

Hung out with Jua Kali last night in from the US for some gigs in London. Jua was playing in Brick Lane and stopped by for some good catch up and a meal at one of our favorites, Busaba Eathai, on Old Street.

Jua introduced me to Chasing Shadows and some of the cooler, hard driving dub step that’s picking up steam all around the UK and Europe. I can never find out about these good tunes early enough. Now that’s a problem I’d like to see solved in the Internet era — deliver me the cutting edge sounds as soon as humanely and technically possible.

Check out Chasing Shadow’s video Dr. Sin. This is not a light weight experience and could be construed as highly political and a bit explosive in more ways than one. I dug it and will probably look to this video again on Monday morning to get my blood flowing for the work week.

Thanks to Jua Kali for turning me onto them. Check out Jua Kali’s new video, the Chillski, below:

And get the latest track off Jua Kali’s latest album, DreadBass Soundsystem:

Scroobius Pip

Shamal — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 11:45:57 +0000

Just back from a wonderful mini-holiday-end-of-summer-celebration in the Isle of Wight at Bestival. Thanks so much to Ben Turner, Sarah Bolshi, and the Sunday Best crew for putting on such an amazing production in a magical place. Bjork, Beardyman, John Grant, The Cure, Crystal Castles, Noah and the Whale were some of my highlights. The vibe and costume action were the peak of my summer fun. The Gods were shining as we were blessed with good weather. Bestival also gave me the opportunity to see Scroobius Pip throw down in the Ambient Forest. One of his older tunes with Dan Le Sac, Get Better, is a favorite. See below for a feel good song and video. It’s very inspiring.

Now compare that to Scroobius Pip’s new video, Let em Come, I just saw a few minutes ago:

Thanks to Jamie Richardson and Gareth Davis for the early heads up on that video. It will make me smile all day.

Bank Holiday Tunes

Shamal — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:54:39 +0000

I love Bank Holidays in the UK. It motivates me to stop and smell the roses and savor the beats. There’s a slew of good tunes peaking me out so might as well post them up. First off, I’m psyched to be sharing Groove Armada’s new track RJ’s Theme from their new EP Redlight Trax:

You can preorder the new EP on their site or right below on my blog. It releases September 5th.

Working with Groove Armada is an honor for me as they’re one of my favorites. There’s one Groove Armada song in particular that is a gem on my all time list of musical classics. The song is Mary, and it’s a bonus track on the Japanese import of Vertigo. I searched far and wide for it, as it was not on iTunes or Amazon. I finally found it on eBay and had it shipped over for over $40. Truth is I would have paid a lot more. It shows what a fan will go through in pursuit of music: the power of a song combined with scarce supply. Upon writing this I was still unable to find a place to buy that Japanese import online, but I did find it on YouTube! Thank God for YouTube.

Another band I’ve been waiting to see take on the world is the Scams. I’ve been working with Graham Filmer for over a year and think this band will be one to watch very soon as in right now. Check out the song Young Blood, one of my favorite. I wish I had that song when I was much younger to lose my shit to.

I’m also psyched to see Sub Swara’s live set with their new visual set-up. Killer!

More awesome tunes from Sub Swara here — some of my favorites tracks of theirs too. Lucky us!

And to leave you with a smile or rather a big hearty laugh, I give you a legendary get down session in the fields of England. Big Chill Raver, I salute you.

Mississippi Hate Murder

Shamal — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:47:10 +0000

There’s no question about it. The awful attack earlier this month by a Mississippi group of teens on an innocent black man was absolutely, positively a Hate Crime. Watch the video below, and there should be no doubt. Then why on Earth would CNN put a question mark after the title term Hate Crime in their video? I just don’t get it. It’s unequivocally a Hate Crime, which frankly should be spelled out in all caps. I had just written a post about another racist incident in India a few days ago, and I mentioned how that episode didn’t move me to anger because it was rather harmless in the grand scheme of things. This one, however, moves me through intense anger through to deep sadness as I struggle to come to terms with how this behavior can still exist in this world. As most people do, I like to wax poetic on how information technology is bringing us all together and inspiring us to love one another, but the truth is we have a long way to go when middle-class teenagers are murdering people based on the color of their skin.

Gawking Diplomacy and Internet Commenting

Shamal — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:58:09 +0000

My friend Anand Subramanian shared this Gawker article on the gaffe of an American diplomat calling the Tamil people “dirty and dark” as a joke. I’m from Sri Lanka, not too far from my fellow South Asians (note: there’s a significant Tamil population in Sri Lanka as well) so I’m close to the target group that was insulted. I racked myself pretty hard to feel the indignity of it all and to rage against my oppressors, but I didn’t. There have been times, of course, that I have felt the bigoted spears of nescient assholes. I guess the lack of impact may be due to the source of the article (Gawker) and the funny vitriol in its sensationalist delivery style. I found it more entertaining than anything. I also felt pity for my fellow humans on both sides of the spectrum. It’s a reminder how some have been treated unjustly because of skin color, and how some can be persecuted so intensely for what are ultimately innocuous remarks in the grand scheme of things. Yes, those remarks were unbelievably ignorant, another case for pity, but we have more important issues to unify ourselves on than focus on superficial divisive distractions like this.

This is all an interesting interlude, but what really motivates me to write a blog post are the comments in the article. One of my favorite effects of the Internet is the running dialogue after the initial article. So much insight, humor, and passion is displayed. For the most part, the phenomenon of “Comments” in web posts helps to progress our society rather than retard it. With the good and the bad, comes the ugly of course, but I find our collective wisdom and humor more enlightening in general. In their way, people’s comments in posts across the Internet give me faith in humanity. This article in particular is a good example. I learned quite a lot about skin color in the comments section. I also cracked up. Rock on Internet commenters.

Tigers that Talked

Shamal — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:25:38 +0000

It’s happened again. I’ve fallen for another band. This time the sound of Tigers that Talked have moved me to write another post. I discovered them circuitously through Topspin. Then I found out Richard Jones is managing them and got even more excited about their future.

Their tunes have taken me for some nice rides in all kind of settings. There’s a soft intensity about their grooves and a dramatic feel in their rises. They have a crisp and soothing blend of rock and folk with songs suited for an arena of 50,000 or a neighborhood coffeeshop.

I guess my vague descriptions of their sound aren’t really convincing you. No matter, check out their Artificial Clouds video for a small idea on what they’re about.

Here are the rest of the tracks from their debut album, The Merchant, in full length streams.

They have a great deal on Merchant for £3 or $4.50 until November 29th. I’m looking forward to seeing them live soon. Check them out and let me know what you think. Here’s another video of 23 Fears. Fresh indeed.

John Butler Trio. One Way Road.

Shamal — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:59:14 +0000

Every now then a song takes me hard and fast. Here’s the video of One Way Road by the John Butler Trio. I really dig the intention and spirit of this song, not to mention it’s got a great rhythm and guitar. I love the lyrics too, so I’ve put another video of the song with the lyrics below.

With Lyrics…

I went to Paris with Michael Schneider a few weeks ago and met with Delphine and Emmanuel from Because Music. Delphine gave us heaps of music that I’ve been listening to a lot. One artist, John Butler Trio, and his song One Way Road have really captivated me as of late. There will be more posts to come as I get compelled to share more nuggets of goodness from this pile of newly acquired tunes.