The FIRE! project

Man.  Changes happen quickly in some ways and not so quickly in others.  Above all else is is the FIRE! I have to make new music and the perspective I maintain to retain focus and enthusiasm.  It's not about the money or even the shot at playing decent sized gigs anymore.  Right now we are back to basics.  Small ball.  I'm confident in my playing and the writing and getting everything I want done.  That is important.  It isn't easy but it is THE factor needed to see a musical project through to completion along with a budget and the will to do it.  This project will be the most challenging for me due to all of the changes and what I'm trying to get across as I'm not about to retread anything like I've done.  The wild whips of changes often sling you forward if you are facing the right way and can ride that wave...in spirit.  My attitude is to focus a lot more on each track this time around and there is no rush for release.  Why in the world would I? I've been playing all parts on all instruments thus far and if things keep progressing, I might just leave it that way.  I'm learning so much that there is no way that this experience will be a loss as I will be doing a lot of the mixing and technical stuff myself as well at times.  A decent part of the budget will go toward the 3 or 4 items left needed for me to make my own studio grade recordings at my own pace. I'm fortunate to be able to play real instruments and sing so I don't have to choke the life out of the recording with digital tools too much or add faux beats or whatnot but the interfaces and processes are not too different from home or studio recording I find....at least the way I do it.  Currently, I'm working on my arrangement of the 1812 Overture and I have plenty of homework left, although the track is taking shape nicely.  The thing about doing a track like this, hopefully well, is that the rest of the series of songs on the project better be damn good....and they will be!  I have some interesting works in the um...works.  I can finally put in the order for the digipacks for the 2nd album which is already available in digital format.  Posters and digipacks for Guitar For Money are still available but I'm happy to report that the stock is shrinking!!! Be well everyone and have a great weekend.  Thanks for your supporting me with your ears and nice words.  Back to the beat.

Leibowitz

Artist Links:

www.leibowitz.bandcamp.com
www.reverbnation.com/leibowitzmusic
www.facebook.com/leibowitzmusic
www.twitter.com/leibowitzmusic

I Lost and I Don't Care

Been jamming a lot lately and playing all of the instruments I can get my hands on.  It's been a bit of a lull since a lot of what I considered action.  It hardly seems worthwhile to put any kind of release date as there hasn't been sufficient interest in anything I've done to date to have any traction whatsoever.   There's been writing and I consider it good but I'm tempted to hold off on making any release of the music.  I have a studio session booked for June and that might just be the last one I do.  I'll probably record everything else using a home studio on the cheap and keeping it for myself.  I'll play the right gigs when I feel like it.  Thanks to those who listened and supported me and the music.  Continue to go out and support your local musicians if you like what they are doing!

Josh

Cruising Altitude

Hello Y'all.  It's been some time since I've been recording, playing live and promoting the material and doing the first 2 albums.  It has been nothing less that 2 dreams come true. I've even done interviews, gotten great online radio exposure and enjoy a following of a small yet growing loyal listener base.  As with all things in life, certainly in music, changes happen and adjustments are made.  For a few minutes it feels weird to navigate the strange waters of uncertainty but if you have your goal in mind and not so much the moving parts, it really helps to hold one's ground I feel.  Finding the right perspective and having confidence kicks in and keeps you moving forward if you can find it. 
At this point I've been writing a lot and have really understood what I have made up to this point and pinpointed what makes the sound THE SOUND that is Leibowitz music.  I've kind of found the common thread that trails through all of it from the first songs I've ever written until now and the music I am making.  It will help me further define the sound on upcoming recordings and the sound will mutate but getting to this point of understanding my own musical direction is harder than one would think.  All I can tell you is that its effect will leave a listener with a feeling that it's not too derivative of anything that they really have heard, yet somehow sickeningly familiar.  It's because I want to recreate the feeling and effect that the music I love and that runs through my mind and cast it out.  It really has connected and I look foward to every new listener getting into this stuff and enjoying it.  It's not to be taken too seriously.  It really is only music and all of it fictional although I do try to be honest and truthful in my reporting.  Anyway, really was great to have The Beginning Of The Endless Search For Oblivion premiered on Tony Romero's show on Aiiradio.net on May 5h and being interviewed for that as well.  It seems many folks enjoyed it and I'll be back on the air with Tony sometime in the future with any luck!  This time around I will be premiering material with Ronald Marquiss, another amazing DJ and champion for independent artists.  There is an inside circle of folks who are like the Leibowitz musical family and I love hatching my schemes and rapping with these folks.  Onward and upward to Saturn Sound Studios (dig the alliteration for recording June 20 and 21st.  Times are good and I hope they are with you as well. 


Funfessionally,


Josh


Artist Links:


www.leibowitz.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/leibowitzmusic
www.reverbnation.com/leibowitzmusic

You Might As Well Try

And make a song that everyone will love for the sole purpose of going viral....and then go on creating as you please.  I was at a meeting yesterday with an engineer who runs one of the better studios down here and he had asked me the day earlier to bring by the albums I had done.  So when I made it there early and got to take a walk around I was happy to see that the space and gear was situated as I like and I rapped with the friendly studio manager for a bit.  These meetings in no way make me nervous.  I'm not here to impress anyone, just to see if it is suitable for me to start working here and test the waters.  In some regard, all I really need to do is be grateful that they let me come check out the place and talk and act accordingly.  So the engineer sat down at the mixing console and turned on the lights.  We started in on the particulars of music right away and he popped in Guitar For Money for 1 track.  Popped in "Oblivion" and let it just run on the house speakers.  He was impressed and I was not surprised about that but he was holding the CD and just smiling and saying that Martin Kornick's cover reminded him of "Children of Men" and that it was a relief that people were still making rock albums like this and mentioned that the sound was "hip".  He mentioned Norah Jones and a few other names and compared some aspects of their most recent work.  Now the music I'm making in no way sounds like some of the names I heard, to my ears anyway...but what made me happy was that the drumming on the 2nd album had really gotten his ears perked up enough to really consider what we could do with the drums this round with the resources available.  We also spoke of exposure and what that's been like and we all know the deal.  The landscape has eroded so much that bands with music worth listening to, and taste does vary, will undoubtedly go overlooked without constant thought, effort and persistence with regards to exposure.  Similar aspects and effects apply and trickle down to music studios, so the people who love the process of making music are very much all in the same pit of understanding the current state of music in terms of dollars and cents and common sense.  Anyway, we spoke of local radio stations and events we could do with audiences and things that were very constructive and promising.  I'm all about partnerships and grass roots beginnings and I'm not out to be famous, but even getting local gigs and fans takes a lot of exposure these days as venues will not risk a poor turnout in this economy and want to know there will be people there.  You can't blame them either.  It is a joy and honor just to know what I'm doing is heading in the right direction at this stage. Back to the beat.

Leibowitz

leibowitz.bandcamp.com/album/the-beginning-of-the-endless-search-for-oblivion
leibowitz.bandcamp.com/album/guitar-for-money
facebook.com/leibowitzmusic
reverbnation.com/leibowitzmusic

Radio Shows, Reviews, Features and What's Next

Good day y'all.  It's been exactly a month since my last blog post and the site has all these new doodads and an unnervingly white background I am tying against.  Might be time to grab my shades!  Hey, the new album, The Beginning Of The Endless Search of Oblivion is getting a lot of play on Progressive Rock radio with Ronald Maquis over at AOLMP, Tony Romero at AiirRadio and Mario over at Mexicali Prog really holding this one up as well as all of the people who have already said such nice things.  I try not to pay too much attention to praise as I don't want it to get in the way of the work or my friendship with people on an individual level.  That being said, it is appreciated beyond words.  People like me who are doing things like I am are not doing it to get rich.  We aren't doing it to get seen really.  It's about getting heard and sharing.  I write all of this music to my taste and in doing so I am enjoying the process of watching who else likes it too, not who purchases it or anything.  Money is hard to come by these days so it's a huge deal to me just to have people grooving to it. Plus, albums and songs last forever and so do the memories of making them which has been so much fun. So far there have been a number of reviews for Guitar For Money which have been really positive. (See below)  With this kind of attention and attitude about the music and my own personal desire, with all team members intact I've decided to full on do a 3rd Leibowitz album, even sooner than planned.  The release date depends on scheduling as every last member involved in our productions is in constant demand and can be at any number of geographic locations at any given time, but I'd say June or July 2013.  First things first.  We're having a party on May 5th Cinco de Mayo and you are invited.

What:  Tony Romero and I on AiirRadio--Interview and Full Album Premiere of "The Beginning Of The Endless Search For Oblivion"
When: Saturday May 5th, 2012  2PM EST---11AM PST---7 PM UK
Where: www.aiiRadio.net

Here is a preface for the album that will appear in the 6 panel digipaks now being made:
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150423235664664

Reviews for Guitar For Money and Features From The Rocktologist (April 2012):
http://zacharynathanson.blogspot.com/2011/04/josh-leibowitz-guitar-for-money.html
http://www.therocktologist.com/leibowitz---guitar-for-money.html
http://www.prognaut.com/reviews/leibowitz.html

Reviews for The Beginning Of The Endless Search For Oblivion: ??? ;0)

Desert Island Discs
http://www.therocktologist.com/desert-island-discs-joshua-leibowitz.html

Interview with Tony Livadas and I
http://www.therocktologist.com/leibowitz-interview.html

Artist Info Links:
www.reverbnation.com/leibowitzmusic
www.facebook.com/leibowitzmusic

Albums:
http://leibowitz.bandcamp.com/album/guitar-for-money
http://leibowitz.bandcamp.com/album/the-beginning-of-the-endless-search-for-oblivion

Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the ride.

Josh

Oblivion And The State Of The Rock Album

We did it.  We made a full length "story album" that clocks in at 57 minutes or so.  The story is called The Beginning Of The Endless Search For Oblivion and I'm really proud of it. It was NOT easy to make.  I think part of the pressure was that it had a format and structure throughout that hour long period that needed fierce attention or run the risk of being a weak link in a nice looking chain.  Now in the making of this album, or maybe even before, it dawned on me how dead the album format itself seems and how individual works seem much more practical for many reasons in the current day.  This is convenient as the next record I was planning was consisting of a bunch of songs anyway.  Now, instead of pressuring myself, locked into the need to put 12+ songs together, I can just release all sorts of different things periodically as they get finished. I never run out of ideas and at this point couldn't imagine stopping recording and creating...There is now enough material in the bucket to play a 2 hour + rock show of all original music.  By the time a few new songs are recorded, some songs would have to be dropped in order to make it in time.  Anyway, there's been no urgency in booking the band so I'm still sorting out who will play what in a live scenario and will continue to rehearse with whoever's around....on Wednesday nights.  Have been offered some cool playing opportunities where I can do original music only, which is my deal.  More on that to come.  It will be original Carribean flavored music played on classical guitar. Another project I have planned includes mainly drumming and singing.  By the way, don't get it twisted, there will be more albums that I will do, but while the state of music consumption is in such flux, best to stay loose, certainly as a drummer!  Leibowitz will be featured in next month's Rocktologist with an interview Tony and I did last week and some other stuff.  Aside from that, the record will be played in its entirety, by a soon to be named DJ at a soon to be announced time. The album will be available in a week or so and will be available at www.leibowitz.bandcamp.com .  You can check out Guitar For Money, our 1st LP while you're there. For even more news and clips, or to just become a supporter by being a "fan" you can visit www.reverbnation.com/leibowitzmusic .  Thank you so much for your support and friendship.

Leibowitz

Gigs, Albums, Changes.

It's been a crazy week and a new one is starting with me driving down to Miami to play a few songs at the Van Dyke Cafe.  That's if someone cancels.  It's a long drive to make to see if I'm going to play or not but music itself is a journey.  Even if I don't play tonight, I look forward to meeting those who are as I find musicians and performers entertaining...well most!  Regardless of cancellation, I will be playing an hour or so long show at the Capris Lounge in Boynton Beach, Fl...my hometown, on Thursday February 2nd! I get to play all of my own tunes and I'm gearing up for that, perhaps doing a web concert last minute on Tuesday or Wednesday or both.  This has been a long time coming with many false hopes and sinking efforts but I'm not a quitter and all I really want to do is play for people and for it to sound great.  The Beginning of The Endless Search For Oblivion will be completed in the next few months as Tony's other band is really taking off and his time is limited. I'm lucky to have been able to work with him this long and get this thing done...actually both this and Guitar For Money. Tony has been solid in the studio in both the capacity of engineer and bass and keyboard playing.  I'm not sure even he knew how fast his band would take off and to what heights and I'm really happy for him and time permitting, he'll be on recordings and stuff.  For now, it is impossible to have him in the live act as his committments to many are growing.  I'm really excited for him as he's such a great guy and has shared this journey with me up to this point.  If I thought we were writing wacky tunes, Tony didn't say so!  Anyway, us South Florida musicians need to stick together and when you meet selfless, artistic and talented people....you need to take note and respect their goals as well.  We all want our projects to get done the way we want, when we want, but today's musical climate can be barren so opportunities must be seizes and chances must be taken.   With that, I pick up my abbreviated setlist and get practicing and see if I can pound out some nice notes tonight.  As my schedule is getting sorted with solo acoustic shows, I will be slowly putting a live band together with the best local players I can find to play the music.  There will be more and more exposure as people are just starting to really grasp what I'm trying to do and when there are gigs, there is promotion done, beyond the word of mouth and my own interweb efforts.  I'm excited to see how I do with all this but I can't imagine backing down to any of it after 18 years or so of trying to make a spark!  Show me the way to the stage!

Best As Always,

Leibowitz