Weird visuals for weird music

This time something unexpected and unorthodox. Thanks to SleepingBagStudios for making this video. If you lovely people would like to see a more colourful version of this video, let me know and I might be able to do something about it.

Fact of the day

The new album is probably going to be released on a real label. It was fun doing the first album all by myself, but it's really draining the energy out of me to do everything alone.

Might also not be released on a label. I guess I'm just too assertive or something. Either way I don't know how this is going down in the end.

Sleeping Bag Studios set the bar high for reviewers

This was just a review of such quality that I don't usually run into on the internet.
I have come across all kinds of reviews online, and while most of them are pretty decent, some people still surprise me with the unprofessionalism despite being a writer for a very popular big music website 
Anyway this was really nice so I wanted to mention it up here. 

Charming Timur – A Brief Moment Of Existence – Album Review

Ummm…ok…watch your volumes on this one…starting Charming Timur’s new album A Brief Moment Of Existence off as loudly as you were playing that last jam you heard from whatever band might just spike your heart rate through the roof – or make you wish you were wearing your brown pants!  So be careful with those speakers – there’s no easing into this album; Charming Timur is here to fill every inch between your walls with a sound onslaught!

No joke – from moment one, this one-man unit from Helsinki is throwing more at you than most bands can in their combined efforts.  As a guy that personally NEEDS a ton of sounds coming at me every once in a while – opening tracks “OCD,” “Falling Down,” and “Cut You Open” greatly satisfied this hole that is often wide-open in my never-ending list of indie-music to listen to.

As noted in our latest interview with a similar artist – Chris Romans of The Last Surrealist (Also a solo-act) – it can often be extremely difficult to get that word spread, or the message in the music out when presented in such an in-your-face style.  That being said – there’s certainly awaiting ears for this style of Nu-Metal…and I definitely found a ton of this album to be extremely interesting to listen to on a production-level.  The dynamics of the album are fantastic…a shift you can hear nearly mid-way through the third track “Cut You Open,” and then certainly into the following track “My Pain.”  Musically, it all becomes a little less frantic, which leads to the strength in clarity as Charming Timur highlights parts of the instrumentation through the excellent use of the loud/quiet combo.  “My Pain,” is often just as brilliant when everything cuts out & slows down, leaving just basic bass and drums, as it is when firing on all cylinders.

As a quick side-note for our readers & followers…if you dig on sounds we’ve brought you in the past from Fey, Sky As Skin, or even Closer – Charming Timur is DEFINITELY an act you want to check into…

According to what I can find online…aside from a “mysterious man” who “played some drums and rhythm guitar” on “All The Same” – everything you’ll hear on A Brief Moment Of Existence is created, produced and put together by Lauri Santeri Lohi.  Credit truly needs to be given here, in the songwriting department, even if it’s not the style of music you might normally dig on.  You can clearly hear just how much effort would have been necessary to not only come up with and create these enormous sounds – but to fit them all in as clearly as Lauri has here is a true achievement in indie production.  It’s rare to find an indie album that can match up equally in concept and production, but I believe we have one here.

“Broken Personality” is a complete monster!  LOVE it.  Such an excellent contrast of bright and beautiful guitars against the swaying vocals, and then against the ultimate burst of sound as it all comes together.  Lauri is beyond phenomenal in what he can put out for sound through the vocals.  If you need a lesson on how to get your screams across clearly, this would be an excellent place to start.

Like…for real…I imagine the ‘clean-up’ duty of a recording session with Charming Timur has got to include sweeping up little chunks of Lauri’s lungs from the floor.  It’s literally like the very inside of him is making its way out to join you on each and every track!

In a clever combination thematically, tracks “Ego Machine” and “Center Of The Universe” work extremely well together as a set occurring in the second half of the album.  Again, I’m a huge fan of sound-collages and I love singers and vocalists that aren’t afraid to take chances on a heavy effect to style their sound overall, or simply on a single track.  Opposite to many of my peers, perhaps stemming from my own experience with vocals – I really believe it takes just as much courage to dirty-up or change your natural sound.  People talk about ‘relying’ on effects…I mean, c’mon…if you’re only experimenting with your ‘natural’ sound – you’re ‘relying’ on only one quality.  “Our Day Is Beautiful (The Obsession Song)” is another massive example of his ability to reach out, expand and create new sounds.  Experimentation like this…using the vocals as a virtual instrument in the music is an approach I’ll always appreciate – big thumbs up to Lauri here for these moves.  

As it closes on the final track “Nostalgia” – a slower version or similar feeling as “Broken Personality” – you can really get the closure you need and realize what a satisfying listen this was.  It’s fuckin MEATY – and cooked just right all the way through.  The album has pain…it has emotion…and whichever way these songs have come out, distorted, effect-laden, or straight-ahead – they reflect those feelings stored within Lauri that have been caged up and waiting to come raging out in full control.

But what makes the album and songs as great as they are – is that production aspect and how nailed tight it all is.  It’s through that precision that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that as chaotic and lashing as the music can be – through Charming Timur Lauri has found a way to channel that angst into something artistic on A Brief Moment Of Existence.

However brief – after listening…you can only hope that at the very least there’ll be more of them to come in the future.

• Jer @ SBS

Check out the album for yourself at: http://charmingtimur.bandcamp.com/

Find more excellent indie-artists both locally and from around the globe at http://www.sleepingbagstudios.ca

Music video reuploaded.

Yeah this is the third time lol.

Party hard while digging in the yard or something like that. Hopefully this time the video will stay up there.

Charming Timur new picture

It really fits well. I'm just that handsome.

I should just put my face on the album cover to make everything even more attentionwhoringly obnoxious.

Info on the new album

I have composed and recorded all the stuff for the new album. All I have to do is mixing and mastering and come up with album art and stuff like that. The songs don't even have titles yet or anything.

There's going to be both, softer and heavier stuff. Lots of weird stuff, even a song that is all just trippy post-punk and not at all metal. Also beware, the vocal style very common in aggrotech/ebm music has a strong foothold on this album! Yeah nobody saw that coming but the echoing and distorted whispers are coming with a vengeance. They're not the only style of vocals though, don't worry!

I don't know yet if I will release it myself or if I'll find a label, though it's more likely that I'll just release it myself. The problem with that is, that it's a lot of work, and although this is probably the only thing in my life that I'm actually motivated to do, I'm still a "very tired person". Depression is a bitch. Anyway the album will be out one way or another.

Sorry I don't have any preview material yet, I will post something once I have at least one song 100% ready!

Less Social Media

Yeah I created a masterplan to just appear in a lot of social media networks and then dissappear after getting a bit of attention, leaving people to reminice and wonder about that mysterious artist that they found and this will drive them crazy and remember my music sounding better than it actually does. What the fuck am I talking here lol...
Anyway yeah Soundcloud and Reverbnation are both more artist-to-artist oriented than artist-to-fan oriented, and I just don't have the passion for social media in general so in my case: Less is More. It was a nice experiment to do though, but in the long run, Blogger+Bandcamp combination seems to rule supreme. This still doesn't mean that other people should give up on this many social media options as I did. Everyone is different in terms of what works for them. Maybe someday I'll try Myspace!