Lee Negin
An Interview with Gianmaria Consiglio

Often with music words are not useful, and, perhaps, to talk about music is even less useful, because to do so would be like trying to explain the end of a joke to someone who hasn't understood it. The logical/rational thought process just doesn't work in this case. So why write a review? Why interview an artist? Because the temptation, on the part of he who listens, he who observes and he who attempts to explain, is strong. And so we tried to have a chat with Lee Negin, an authentic "outsider", and currently one of the most interesting and inventive independent artists both from a musical and conceptual point of view. What emerged is the personality, the sane madness, the ironic sense of the absurd, the friendliness and the panache. We talked about Lee's latest album, Views from the Outer Rim, published on 19th September 2012, about the long and multifaceted trail which started at the end of the 70's and has made him the "total" musician that he is today, about the obtuse mechanisms of the record industry, about his own recording label, about his journeys around the world, about the extent to which the cultures he has experienced have influenced him, and above all about his future plans which hold in store both for himself and for his fans a prolific 2013 full of surprises.

GC: Let's start by talking about the question which is probably closest to your heart. What is music for you?

LN: I would have to address that from three perspectives: as a listener, a ‘player’ and as a creator. The answer has fluctuated (fluctuates) with life’s vicissitudes. Music is vast, so its functions run the gamut.

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"Technodelic Transmissions"
by Lee Negin
Album review by Gianmaria Consiglio

Way back in the 60’s, Dr Timothy Leary started preaching, “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Today, almost fifty years later, Lee Negin says: “Be happy now or you never will be!” Negin defines himself as a “Sound Sculptor” (or “Noise Maker/Producer”). The slogans change, the words change, the methods change (in the first case hallucinatory drugs, in the second case hypnotic electronic music “based on the opening of the chakras and the corresponding vibrational frequencies”, often accompanied by psychedelic images), but the substance remains the same. In fact Negin’s research is characterised, like that of Leary, by an introspective nature that reaches out towards an ideal universal harmony but at the same time is tempered with a measured dose of irony and madness.

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 VISIT ARTIST PAGE 

Lee Negin is an international composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and recording engineer. A prolific composer and videographer, he has released several videos and recordings in his career. 2012 has already seen the release of several CDs, videos and more, collaborations with leading Korean performance artists, and a solo tour of Europe and some Asian cities. (Visit the IndieGuild CDstore for direct "buy" links.)