Sean Armstrong

Lord only knows why I have such an identity issue when it comes to my adventures in house music.  I still listen to it. I still crave it. I still buy it on vinyl. I still mix it. I continue to produce it even in the face of my other lusts for trip-hop and downtempo.

I was dinking around on the ‘net tonight and somehow ended up checking out Pezzner’s new track on Beatport (“What I Have Done”), and then ended up back at Beatportal.com Interview that went with his new album earlier this year.

I was glad to have read the following question and answer (amongst others in the interview, but this really put some pep in my step).

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Q: What’s it like making house music in Seattle, a city not really known for its club scene?

Pezzner: I love Seattle. Not just for the fact that it’s my home and all my friends are here but the city is full of life. We’re surrounded by trees and lakes and there’s a huge art scene. I feel at home on days like today where I can look outside to grey clouds, which to me means a perfect excuse to stay at home and work on music. Although I gotta say, it would be really nice if more people were making house music here.

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…and it hits me like a bullet train…

Amy and I had a great birthday weekend. Here are some snaps from the phone until I get my lazy bum to go through the camera pictures.

Welcome to November, Mr. Armstrong.

10 days in and I feel some of my bones aching from the lack of hiking this year. Not a single trip to Mt. Rainier! On the other hand, quite an epic close to one chapter of my life and an even more legendary start to another; getting married and going to Europe for the honeymoon took such a large chunk of my mental, physical (not to mention economical) resources that I think I’m still in “recovery phase”.

Sidenote: This picture is from my phone while visiting the Microsoft campus in the evening hours. I was bummed that I had forgot the camera at home when I had left for work that morning, but at least I had *something* to grab these with and made the most of it. 

Fall has been filled with delicious home made cappuccinos with Monin Pumpkin Syrup and cinnamon on top. It’s been rife with delicious home made food.  It’s been chill in meeting various folks around the area for fits of hanging out (usually involving some form of tasty beer or coffee).  I’m definitely enjoying the season as we move swiftly into winter.

I’ve been all over the place in musical diet lately.  It’s been a good thing as I’ve had positive results in writing and producing music for the Sliptide side of things. I’m also trying to get ideas down for the new Silver Standard music, plus another entirely different project with another friend of mine that will exude a lot of tribal and industrial feeling.

With everything that I want to accomplish in life it’s hard to keep in mind we have to pick our battles wisely. We can’t be everywhere at once. If you multi-task too much then you aren’t contributing enough to each involvement to be moving forward. It seems that there are only so many things you can be doing at once. While I’ve become better at having more on my plate, there are times that require me to have less going on so I can dedicate myself to important tasks.  I digress.

I admit I’ve been having problems writing lately. I just can’t seem to get the motivation or the appropriate mindset to sit down and write anything (journal, lyrics, etc). What does come out ends up being fractured and in pieces, much like the topic-to-topic post you’re reading now that really doesn’t have much weight or substance to it. Ah well, at least I’m doing it!

So, what’s the skinny on the music, huh? I clearly don’t spend *enough* time doing what I want, but with the time I have been working with I’ve produced some great stuff. Think broken-beat meets grooves meets abstract music— in line with things you might find on any of Ghostly International, Brainfeeder, or Warped. Bold statement, I know, but that’s what’s driving me right now. Infusing my downtempo and chill soul with my mantra from mid year: “Emotion, texture, ambiance, and passion.” I’ll have some better examples beyond the first, “Getting Into Position”, coming out later this month.

Wow, November. It’s my birthday on Friday. I’m 28. Twenty Eight. Two in the tens, eight in the ones.

I wish I were making music right now because life is so god damned beautiful today. I look forward to seeing my wife later tonight.. we’re doing some heavy grocery shopping this evening (and contrary to popular belief, even before we were married we liked doing that together. We love food).

I need to add some widgets and additional information to my blogs. Stuff like, songs I’m into, albums I’m listening to habitually, or random thoughts/ideas about any old subject… maybe even quick snippets of tracks I’ve worked on in a given week.. ohh that’s a good one!

onward!

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