Boffo at (think outside of) The Box Office!

Lee Negin's epic Technopera, "The Cheeze Chronicles: Volume V" has become the biggest smash of Summer 2014! Huge in Mongolia and rising in Uranus, critics are unanimous in their praise....

From a 18 July review in IndieGuild, the premier site for international indie musicians:

"Lee Negin, American by birth and currently residing in Seoul, (is) one of the craziest and most brilliant characters of the contemporary musical scene, as well as one of the precursors of post-punk and the so-called “Detroit Techno” of the 80’s.

…the sounds, arranged and amalgamated in layers and spaced out across eight different channels, at a quality level that rises tens of kilometres above the average standards that we are used to, at times seem to be infinite. It is an avant-garde concept that of Negin’s, which follows faithfully in the footsteps of the teachings of the visionary producer of the Beatles, George Martin, but takes a decisive step forward from a conceptual and technical point of view. Helping him in this achievement is the prestigious sound engineer Pete Maher (noteworthy for his previous work with U2, Patti Smith, Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails) who did the final mastering for an album which was otherwise totally self-produced in Negin’s Seoul studio in the DIY tradition of which he is one of the pioneers. "
full review at
 http://www.indieguild.net/featured/uk-album-reviews/album-review-the-cheeze-chronicles-vol-v/

"Lee Negin's 'The Cheeze Chronicles: Volume V'  is not a conventional collection of album tunes.  In breadth, it is operatic.  In scope, it is mesmerising.  The mind is dragged from one sonic experience to the next, sometimes feeling it's been dragged into the depths of space and sometimes back to earth with a rhythmic bang.  It's Lee Negin's most ambitious work yet.  It draws together all the bits that go into making his work so transcendent and mesmerising and slots them all together in one shuddering whole.  This is music for the brain, the guts, the feet and anything else you've got." - Mark Whitby, Dandelion Radio (UK)

"Man, it's a sonic journey of epic proportions. In the world of opera, the Cheeze is mighty indeed. Negin doesn't so much hit the funk button, as kick it all the way to Neptune. I'm loving it." - Simon Humphrey (UK Producer/Engineer: The Clash, Culture Club, David Byrne, Hans Zimmer, Jeff Beck, etc.)

The first video/single from the Technopera, "(Let's Join) The Twit Parade" has already had about 10,000 views since its release 4 weeks ago.

http://youtu.be/SWSU62zT1ow?list=UUOG_a3UIDS0EDN-8buHQ48A

Today, the second single/video, "Just Saying..." was released:

New Major Motion Picture! नई मूवी! Nueva película! 新劇場！Nuovo film! 새로운 영화! סרט חדש! Шинэ Movie! The sequel to the summer blockbuster, "(Let's Join) The Twit Parade," Cheeze Studios proudly presents "Just Saying...." the second single from Lee Negin's interstellar epic Technopera, "The Cheeze Chronicles: Volume V"

http://youtu.be/rDKYW7CiPPc

For tickets, herbal refreshments, 3rd Eye Monocle rental or recyclable 5D glasses: http://passingphasemusic.com/

Enjoy the ride! Bon voyage!

Less Likes; More "Love"

 Less Likes: More “Love”

I will try to make this brief (a difficult task for a pedantic, long-winded fart like me). Since returning to active music making 4 years ago, I have amassed well-over 100,000 ‘fans’ between my various Cyberspace sites, critical acclaim in many, many reviews, international airplay and countless messages/comments from ‘fans’ telling me how much they enjoy listening to my music or watching my motion pictures. What they fail to mention is “FOR FREE.”

This is the scourge of the Internet. Just as ‘video killed the radio star’ in the 1980’s, Internet—with streaming, illegal downloads, and countless hacks/posers giving away their mindless dribble for free on soundcloud, etc.—has killed the recording artist. I get ‘streamed’ every day (should spell it ‘reamed’). Each time I make $00.00039. Yes, kids. Less than 1/100^th of $1.00 (an American dollar). No—it does not ‘add up.’ Not for Indie artists. I am not PSY or lady gugu.

Nutshell: I am $40,000 in debt ONLY from musical endeavors in the last 4 years. I am lucky I have a ‘day job’ (university professor), but I live from ‘paycheck’ to ‘paycheck’ and every extra bit I earn, after paying for rent and food, goes into my musical endeavors. I am not singing the ‘white man’s blues,’ I know I am lucky to have a good job (that and 5 university degrees…so luck and effort go hand-in-hand), I am just pointing out (and here we finally get to the marrow), every time people—you-- listen to my work for free, be it on Youtube, Reverbnation, etc., they/you are ripping me off. No, despite what morons like 'Will I Ain’t' spew, music is not created by artists to sell ‘product’ (as in, for example,  crappy, over-priced headphones, etc.).  That idiot (Will I Isn’t) even said Miles Davis made music to sell trumpets! No shit. He said that, in an interview on the BBC that touted him as a techno-prophet genius (he heartily agreed) (read “profit.” Two words: ‘My Humps.’ Enough said). Easy for him to say—he’s already made millions from his insipid crap.

If each one of my thousands of ‘likes’ and ‘views’ paid for just one download at $.99 apiece—less than one American dollar-- I wouldn’t be in this financial mess and I could make even cooler videos. Not just me, but many other actual ‘artists’ (pardon my pretension/arrogance here)…again, not the plethora of bullshit ‘noise’ ‘ambient’ ‘experimental’ ‘drone’ ‘EDM’ ‘DJ” ‘soundscape’, ‘chip’etc. wankers (99% of the time euphemisms for clueless, delusional saps that know nothing of music, or how to make it), geezers who put together cool sounds readily available in free software, twiddle some knobs and add lots of reverb, effects or loops, and call themselves ‘artists’ and have their sycophantic pals fawn all over them—this even includes many ‘famous’ gits (some wear masks); you figure out who. If the shoe pinches, go barefoot.

"One always has to remember these days where the garbage pail is, because it's so easy to make sounds, and to put sounds together into something that appears to be music, but it's just as hard as it always was to make good music." - Robert Moog

Every day--literally, I am very pleased to get messages from all over the universe, complimenting my audio and video work. I am truly grateful for this, but, pardon my crassness—“money talks.” On youtube alone, in 4 years I have amassed about 65,000 views for my videos (again, I am not PSY, thank Zeus). However, I am $40,000 in debt. Something is wrong here.

Finally: If you ‘like’ my material—any of my ‘songs’ or videos—please download a track, or one of my albums (CDs, either digitally or purchase the physical disc. I spend a lot of time and money making cool CD covers and packages. You are missing out on the ‘album’experience’ …your loss; a cool art form).

As they say in the church, “Show me the Love (equals money).” While I really do appreciate your ‘likes’ and kind words, they do not pay my bills.

Cheers,

LN

These sites await your love offerings:

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/LeeNegin

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/lee-negin/id357053891?ign-mpt=uo%3D4  (and Internationally)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lee%20negin (and Internationally)

http://leenegin.com

http://passingphasemusic.com

 

Streaming (Spotify, etc.) is like urine. Better than a catheter, i.e., free downloads, but not by much.

PS- If I’ve alienated anyone with this rant, that’s cool. I’m an alien, too.