Galaxy Beach

[galaxybeach]

and then imagine a pendulum slowly swinging from side to side... that’s pretty much what it’s like. There you are slowly swinging from one side to the other trying to make the most of that comparably small sliver in the middle... It’s an emotional rollercoaster ride but you put up with it because making things is all that feels right. 

[galaxybeach]

Jericho & Starting A Conversation

I’m getting really excited for this day (tomorrow) to finally come and to show you what I’ve been up to for the past while. It’s a very difficult feeling knowing and believing you are an artist but meanwhile having no art to show for it. A big part of this for me is the conversation between people, and I hope that’s what it is - a conversation. I hope that my art sparks something inside of you, not merely for some sort of justification or flattery but for the conversation begin and to continue. 

Jericho will be released tomorrow, Wednesday April 8th, 2015 and it will be available on bandcamp with availability in other stores soon to follow. 

[galaxybeach]

Catching Up

Hello good people I hope this reaches you well on this long easter weekend. I sit here typing and listening to Local Natives’ “Gorilla Manor” album drinking a hot cup of tea (Taylors of Harrowgate English Breakfast if you’re wondering) and also yes I drink breakfast tea at 11pm. I’m weird. I am in good spirits tonight. It’s been an encouraging couple of weeks both as a person and as an artist. I’ve just come out of a mundane season filled with apathy. I would create. I would write but all of it seemed to fall short of what I had intended, which is a frustrating feeling as an artist. The one job you have is to express yourself and you can’t do that. It’s hard to take. It’s hard to battle through that feeling of inadequacy. You’re like a car without fuel. Going nowhere and unable to do anything about it. Gladly though I admit to you I am past that season and now everything is new and bright and shiny and I am excited again. All that to say I have a few things I would love to share with you. 

First, at long last, I have finished my song Jericho and will be releasing it Wednesday April 8th, 2015. This song is my first real composition and it is very telling of the last year of my songwriting life. It’s been a transition as I moved from writing as part of an indie/prog rock band to then entering the vast world of electronic music production. It was an adjustment to say the least. This song I am really connected to. It’s all about breaking down walls and being patient with that process. Sometimes it’s just persistence that pays off in the end - and that’s the point of this song. It’s a very cinematic snapshot of what I felt last year and I hope you enjoy it. 

Also, I would just like to say I had the privilege the past six months to work on a couple collaborations with some dear friends which will be released very soon so please keep your eye open for those. I am very excited about them. 

Finally, perhaps the biggest news. I have decided that I will be recording an album this year. I have already started the writing process for the record and I hope to release it this year. A debut EP from Galaxy Beach is on the way and I hope that excites you as much as it does me because I’m really not sure what this is going to look like. I am pulled in so many different directions in terms of influences and I’ve put off defining Galaxy Beach in any concrete way up until now because I wanted the freedom to allow my sound to shape organically and the time has come for that process to take shape. 

For those of you who took the time to read this I just want to thank you so much. You are a beautiful soul and you mean so much to me. For me creation is no fun in isolation so that you for providing a context for my creations. 

Sincerely and always yours, 

Galaxy Beach

[galaxybeach]

Photographer Brings "Star Wars" to Earth

Canadian photographer Thomas Dagg inserts elements from "Star Wars" into urban landscapes

[galaxybeach]

Galaxy Beach: Where I'm At

I really love the journey - and I don't mean the musical journey or the journey of creating things. I mean the journey of life and bringing people along with you. It's important to include people and so for those of you who are taking the time to read this. Thank you for being part of my journey. 

Now, of course my journey does include art and creation and making things... It's a satisfying feeling taking all the resources, and emotion and talent and piecing it all together into something uniquely you - and that's kind of the problem. Sometimes it's really difficult to define exactly who you are. It doesn't matter really age or status or gender, because identity is a tricky thing. It's tough to find and often you aren't exactly sure what that looks like and how people will respond to it. The same applies to musical identity and though I assure you I have been busy travelling down many roads to find that thing, that piece that is uniquely me. I am not quite there yet. 

But the path to self discovery is not a passive one. I have been working with many other creatives getting opportunities constantly to express myself in different ways to Remix, Rework, and Cowrite. All these are brand new experiences for me and have been unique to my musical journey in this past year. Now it should be known that at the very core of my creative mind is a songwriter. I play make-believe when I step into the producers/engineers chair, but it's been a fantastic dream that is no doubt helping me in my songwriting. 

Until such a time comes that I am able to fully express myself I hope that you will follow with intrigue as I attempt a varied number of creative outlets. If you desire here are some links to reveal my fingerprints over the last while. 

Galaxy Beach Remixes EP - A Compilation of the four remixes i've done. 

http://noisetrade.com/galaxybeach/remixes

Galaxy Beach Bandcamp - I cowrote a song with my talented friend Joshua Lim

https://galaxybeach.bandcamp.com/

I currently have my hands on a few different project that I hope you will keep your eyes out for. Thanks for your time and you love 

With Love, As Always, 

-N 

[galaxybeach]

The Source Of Creativity

We want to be creative but channeling our creative impulses is no small feat. Is creativity something we are born with or can we learn it? In this hour, TED speakers examine the mystery of creativity.

[galaxybeach]

Kings Kaleidoscope - Becoming Who We Are

It's not often I take to admiring the musical creativity of Christians Worship & Praise music, however, I also see the importance of giving credit where credit is due and in a "genre" of music that seems to be depressingly devoid of any creativity and ingenuity I simply MUST share the new record by Kings Kaleidoscope. "Becoming Who We Are" is an absolutely stunning record both musically and lyrically. Themes that, prior to this album, have seemed exhausted and dry now seem to drip with inspiration. Given that Praise and Worship music is largely fuelled by the Biblical Texts it can be all too easy for common themes and passages to become worn out and dull. The track "Felix Culpa" is a perfect example how Kings Kaleidoscope doesn't fall victim to an all to common trap. 

"And still I’m a wicked, wretched man, I do everything I hate

I am fighting to be god, I seethe and claw and thrash and shake

I have killed and stacked the dead, on a throne from which I reign

In the end I just want blood, and with his blood my hands are stained

See the God who reigns on high, he has opened his own veins

From his wounds a rushing torrent that can wash it all away

Grace upon grace, upon grace upon grace."

There is so much more that I could say about this album but really you just need to go and buy it. I promise you won't regret it. 

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/becoming-who-we-are/id918895190

Incase you need some more motivation... Here's the live video for Felix Culpa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nmFovPbZBk

[galaxybeach]

Presuming that there is such a thing as 'progress' when it comes it music, and that music is 'better' now that it used to be, is typical of the high self-regard of those who live in the present. It is a myth. Creativity doesn't improve.

How Music Works, David Byrne 

[galaxybeach]

A New Favourite: Vancouver Sleep Clinic

For People...who love the melodies of Justin Vernon and the songwriting James Vincent McMorrow combined with the pop sensibilities found on Coldplay's "Ghost Stories." Packaged in moody and ambient electronic arrangements. 

Words That Come To Mind...Beautiful, Glassy, Delicate, Haunting, Emotional

Time of Day...Mornings and Late Nights, usually spent alone. Introspective. 

https://soundcloud.com/vancouversleepclinic/collapse

[galaxybeach]

"I virtually never re-record a vocal. It's because that first take is always the most charged. It seems a bit silly to go into a studio and try better it somehow when you just don't have what you had in the first place." - James Blake

DLM Commentary of Overgrown. Spotify

[galaxybeach]

The paradox of choice

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

Apparently it's not good to have options...at least not ONLY good.

[galaxybeach]

Resolutions for an Artist

It can be a refreshing time, a new year, full of hope and aspirations, newness and rebirth. In all this excitement we tend to make promises to ourselves in hopes of turning in a better version of ourselves by years end. This applies in all areas our our lives, maybe we want to shed a few pounds or maybe we want to get a better job or spend more time with family. The point is that come January 1st we submit our entire life to critique and spend the next year trying to improve ourselves.

The only problem is that usually these resolutions fade and before too long we forget all about them and continue in our normal patterns. Two things on this and I won't be too long. First, a resolution should be something you actually WANT, because if there's one thing that's true of us as humans is that we do what we WANT to do. Secondly, make resolutions that can become habits. Find a way to work them into your daily life and do this even more so at the beginning when you're passionate about them. So that by the time it starts to fade you've already created a habit of it.

Now, I recently came across a very great article on Resolutions (http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/resolutions-you-need-for-new-year/890253/) and as I read it I couldn't help but thing how appropriate these were for the life of an artist.

(I've made certain edits to allow for clarity where needed and in some cases rewrote the subtext but the main points were all left intact and unchanged) 

1. Stop showing and telling everything to everyone.

The world does not need to know your every move; leave some things to the imagination. Mystery is good.

2. Stop comparing yourself to others.

As artists we are all guilty of it and at times we can't even help ourselves but the reality is that this only hurts us. Artists are a unique brand of people and art itself is unique. Find your niche and be confident and passionate in it. Don't try to be something your not.

The Dog is not defeated because he is not Human, he does not compare himself to the Human, rather the Dog is proud of the fact that he is a Dog and spends his time being the best Dog he can be because that's what he is and he could not be any other. 

3. Stop worrying about what others think of you.

People will judge you regardless of what you do, so do what you want. There’s nothing wrong with walking your own journey on a path you create.

You don’t have to do, like or want the things that other people try, love or desire. Start that blog, write that article or wear that outfit about which you’ve been hesitant. In the great words of Kid Cudi, “They gon’ judge me anyway, so whatever.”

4. Stop waiting.

If you don’t take the chance or risk it all now… when will you? Time will always be hard to find. Start now and go after what you want, or wait for later and hope that later isn’t too late.

5. Stop doubting.

If you have an idea or feeling that keeps coming back to you, make it happen. When an idea keeps coming back, it’s for a reason. Take action and follow the ideas that flood your mind. Million-dollar ideas are a dime a dozen, but it’s only one in a million who follow through with their ideas.

6. Stop being a stranger.

If there's one thing that really caught me off guard with the (local) music scene is how much of a community it is. Throw yourself into this community and create relationships with people. Collaborate. Place yourself in new and inspiring situations!

7. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

How you feel is up to you and you alone. It takes a great deal of energy to keep up this pity party. That energy can better be spent on writing and creating rather than whining and complaining. 

8. Stop standing in your own way.

The thoughts in your head about yourself and your situation really do affect your life. Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t reside in-between your own ears.

This is really difficult because, as Artists, we are our own worst critic and our defeating attitude often seems to cut down the horses legs before the race has even started. Don't let fear or anxiety cripple your art and handicap your voice!

9. Stop feeling guilty.

There is a difference between moving on and quitting. Understand that it’s okay to grow out of things. You don’t have to want the same things you wanted when you were 16, 18, 21 or 25…

Life changes, and so do we. Staying where you are and living with guilt or fear is a guaranteed trip to nowhere. You’re allowed to move on and miss it at the same time. Missing something or someone doesn’t make you weak; it makes you real.

10. Stop thinking money creates value.

The average person really doesn't care enough about Art. They aren't willing to pay for it and they undervalue it's worth. As Artists we can have a lasting affect on the world that not many people realize. Find out what matters to you and create for that and not (only) for dollars. Keep things in perspective. 

11. Stop feeling obligated.

Don’t make decisions based on what you think you SHOULD do.

Don’t take advice from people who don’t have to live with the result of the decision. Make decisions based on what you WANT to do. It’s your life and you’ll have to live with the choices you make. You don’t need to choose the mediocre when greatness exists.

12. Stop saying “yes” all the time.

No is a complete sentence. You owe no one an explanation for not wanting to go out, not wanting to take a drink, not wanting to stay over, not wanting to go to the reunion.

Be careful and realize the value of your time. Is Art what makes you feel most alive? Then dedicate the majority of your time to that. Netflix binging is fun but at the end what have you accomplished? I'm not saying everything you do needs to be productive but hold things in perspective and do things that give you the results you want to see in your life.

13. Stop thinking everything is a competition.

I mentioned this before, but the Arts is much more of a conversation than a competition. Stop cutting people out and start working with people, you will be surprised how fulfilling collaboration can be. 

14. Stop trying to be like everyone else.

Once and for all, own who you are, own where you’ve been, and don’t be afraid to tell your story.

15. Stop thinking you have to get it right on the first try.

No one else has it figured out, either. There is no guidebook or perfect formula, and often, life (and Art) works much more as a process of elimination to figure out what we want.

We learn more and more about ourselves and the things that truly make us happy every day — and more importantly, the things that don’t. There are moments in life when everything is blurry and moments everything seems to be in focus.

Just like the lens of a camera, you have the power to adjust your vision. And, even on the darkness days, where you can’t see anything, just keep moving forward. It’s the only constant and forever the direction in which we all must go.

Happy New Year! 

*Original material was left unaffected while my additions or alterations are found Italicized  

[galaxybeach]

It's better to create something that others criticize than to create nothing & criticize others. Go create! Have fun :) - Ricky Gervais

https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/551799904381992961

[galaxybeach]

my friend Ben is amazing at capturing beautiful things.

[glitterweave]

[fnsamsquanch]

I just laughed so hard I gave myself a headache.

[galaxybeach]

The Emptiness of Accolades

kinda goes along with my last post on Success vrs Mastery. some very wise words here. 

[galaxybeach]

Galaxy Beach

Electronic Musical Expression. Born and Raised on the Wet Coast. Vancouver B.C.

Spent the last year getting into the remix world. I LOVE MAKING THINGS!