Recorded at Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY, May 1999.

This talk includes an overview of each of the four limitless qualities: love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, and an explanation of the four lines of the four limitless qualities chant. One of the key points to developing a connection to each of these qualities is training in relaxing with uncertainty, anxiety, unpredictability, and groundlessness. Another is trusting in the good heart, the buddha nature, of all beings. Such trust develops through inquisitiveness and honesty, especially with respect to our frailties, prejudices, and limitations. Four equanimity practices are introduced.

Self Compassion

Mad World is an acoustic cover of the classic by Tears for Fears.

Mad World

This was one of the best tracks my first real band played. Mostly written and sung by Max Friedenberg, who passed away recently. This is how I will always remember him - happy, singing, and part of my musical life.

Requiescat in pace, Max.

The Bridge - "Raindancing" [1986]

Vintage 1996 direct-to-used-cassette, live-in-rehearsal-studio punk rock masterpiece, taken from the "One Last Page" album

The only Bug song to feature me on lead vocals.

Presented in honor of the Sex Pistols' vanity credit card.

Bug - "How The Mighty Have Fallen"

In the mid/late 90s, Joy Ray was playing in at least 2 bands in Los Angeles: Silverlake scene favorites SISSY BAR and the darker, more gothy SEVENSOFT.

She approached me in late 1997 about helping her record some solo stuff. In fact, working on "Firefly" was what convinced me to quit my day job and "do music full-time". 

As this was one of my first projects as a producer, engineer, and collaborator this way, I made a lot of mistakes. I failed to build a good rapport with her, and we ended up disagreeing quite a bit about the direction of the record. 

I'm still pretty happy with these tracks, all things considered, but at the time, she definitely was not. I wanted to add more production and technology, and she didn't. After taking 3 songs to completion (including doing one over almost completely from scratch), we parted ways.

There's still some nice sonic detail in there, and I can still remember working on the song all through MLK day and realizing "man, THIS is what I should be doing with my life, not sitting in an office." 

Thanks for that, Joy!

Joy Ray - "Firefly"

If there was any justice in this world, E*lux would have been signed and huge.

I met Kevin Bombay and Bobby D. through the local music scene. I saw their band, E*lux (which also featured Tony Babylon and Mark Poland!), and I thought they were amazing. A perfect combination of elements from The Cure and The Cult. Goth and Glam. Great songs, great players, great voice.

I also didn't like their demo, and didn't feel it captured their sound. We did one track at my place (which I overly-synthed and under-ly guitared, but they still liked!), and then they asked me to record a bunch of tracks. I think they were a little shocked when they saw how small my studio actually was, but they made the best of it.

This track was the first one we finished, and given how quickly and inexpensively it was done (I think I charged them $300 total for 4 or 5 songs), it's still pretty rad. Big. Huge. Not bad for 1998.

E*lux - "Lonely"

Lisa Papineau was good friends with my girlfriend. In 1999, she and bass legend Juan Alderete asked me to do some recording with them for their new project, after being left high and dry by a previous partner. I leapt at the opportunity.

I recorded a bunch of basic tracks for them at my garage. Lisa brought a special borrowed microphone that probably cost more than my car. Worth it, for her beautiful, magical voice. 

After the basic tracks, I had all kinds of ideas for how to enhance or improve them, generally involving synthesizers, weird effects, drum replacement, too much reverb, or all of the above. The band was reluctant to adopt most of my suggestions, and I was too young to handle it well. I rehearsed with them a bit, as well. 

They ended up finishing the record with L.A. fixture Mickey Petralia, and it was released to great critical acclaim.  Proud to have been a part of it...and I then went on to work with the other members of Lisa's previous band Pet!

This is my rough mix of a track that made the first record. I prefer my mix to the released version, but as it is a rough, it is flawed.

Big Sir - "Fuzak (Anu mix)"

"Failure, in every sense." One of the "singles" from 1997's "Songs For The Last Man On Earth".

Guess I drove myself too hard
Guess I drove you all away
Guessed that I could do it
Guess that I was wrong
Guess that’s all there is to say

Burned out and wasted away

It’s funny how things change
Never thought it would end this way
I awoke from beautiful dreams
With the taste of ashes in my mouth

Burned out and wasted away

I’m waiting for tomorrow
I’m all through with today

Burned Out

About the song: “A portrait of the artist as a young man”, reaching the Age of Consent. Another Green World, but as a desert.

About the album: Anu heads West. Modernist stylings, oblique themes, and odd parallels combine to produce a Western-influenced alternative album. Classic cowboy sounds. Spaghetti westerns. T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land". Bay Area boom towns. The Mojave desert. Manifest Destiny. The closing of the American West. Voice. Wind, dust, rust, sand and wood. Twangy Telecaster. Creaking and buzzing acoustic guitars. Prepared piano clunks and sighs. Synthesizers sing and thrum. Melodica. Electronic beats, shakers, and hand claps. Techs-Mex. Cowbot. Clip-clop trip-hop. Downhome downtempo. Westronica.

I was out walking
Walking in the city one day
I heard the wind calling
Calling my name
Under the hot August sun
I went wandering west
With my boots and my gun
and a guitar across my chest

Come a ti yi yippee yi yay!
Come a ti yi yippee yi yay!
Come a ti yi yippee yi yay!

Under the empty sky I ride
Under the empty sky I fly
My destiny is on the other side
The other side of the empty sky

They say the streets are paved with silver
I hear there’s gold in the hills 
And you can walk away with a sack full of cash
If you’ve got the guts and skills

Beneath the blue August moon
I lay me down to rest
Amidst the bleached bones and the desert dust
I dream of what comes next

Come a ti yi yippee yi yay!
Come a ti yi yippee yi yay!
Come a ti yi yippee yi yay!

Under the empty sky I ride
Under the empty sky I fly
My destiny is on the other side
The other side of the empty sky

The Empty Sky

Krafttwerk - 5:12:20, 4.58 PM

Euphrates

Musician, Composer, and Producer.
Anu records under several different aliases depending on genre.
All music released through the Bastard Science label.

Big Sir - "Fuzak (Anu mix)"

Anu

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