Tammy Lakkis is the daughter of Lebanese immigrants. She grew up in Windsor, Ontario and Dearborn Heights, Michigan and is now based in Hamtramck. She is a singer, songwriter, producer, and DJ. Lakkis is also known for her all-hardware sets and singing bilingually in both English and Arabic.
The other day, I saw one of her posts on IG that caught my attention. It was a cool looking video teasing her new release Notice. As I am getting more involved in making videos at work, I try to stay in the loop of what is being made.
Released on Portage Garage Sounds, Notice is her first vinyl release and consists of 4 tracks exploring dance music. As it is a pre-order, we can only preview 2 out of the 4 tracks. The opening track Hello?? is a percussive banger. The closing track Notice is a less aggressive track and more of a house ballad with beautiful vocals by Lakkis.
Reading is something that I struggled with for a long time. Not because I couldn’t read, but rather because I didn’t enjoy it. Reading came later when I was a teenager. Before that, the only thing I could read without feeling bored were comics and graphics novels. Even then I would still be bored after some time. The weird thing is I wasn’t bored of reading, but rather of standing still. Unlike with music, which is timed, thanks to the tracklist, reading isendless – until you finished reading. Your timing is based on the number of pages and your reading speed. I am a slow reader. Sometimes, because I took a break in a book, I have to start over because I lost track of where I was. You are probably suggesting that I use a bookmark. Trust me, I have. Many times. It still didn’t help. So I started to read shorter books. Essays, short stories, poetry, short novels, plays. I got really into those and it helped me reading bigger, longer books at times.
But today’s book isn’t long at all. I was able to read it in two 45 minutes reading sessions, sitting up in bed at night before going to sleep. I am not consistent with that way of reading, but I try to. This book is called, as you read in the title of this post, Art. It is written by French author Yasmina Reza.
I picked it up at my local library while searching for something to read in the personal essays section. I probably didn’t pay attention to the fact that I was in a different section. The book isn’t a personal essay, but rather a play about three middle-aged friends who discuss the latest acquired piece of art by one of them. The piece itself is described as a white canvas of five foot by four with white diagonal scars. The painting is supposedly the work of Antrios. A renowned – fictional – contemporary painter.
White Square on White Background by Kazimir Malevitch
When reading that, I immediately thought of Kazimir Malevitch’s White Square on White Background – seen above. Which, when I first discovered it, made me think that it couldn’t be art. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t understand why it existed or how it came into existence. Today, I love it and am a firm defender of what some people would call isht. What I loved about Art is that it reminded me of a few friends who didn’t get that type of piece either. We’ve had several discussions as well during which I tried to understand why they didn’t get it. Their reasons were similar to mine. The difference was that I started to go deeper and try to fully understand why art has evolved in such away. Context. Context is key when it comes to art. I found that most of the time, people don’t want to hear about the context in which things are born. There is always a why before the how. Reza nailed that perfectly in her play.
Even though the main character of the play is Antrios’ painting, what Reza is talking about is friendship and how we should treat them. Friendships are, like a lot of relationships, work. You have to work to make them happen. You have to work to keep them alive after many years. You have to work to stay friends. If you don’t, you end up drifting apart.
Art is great play. If you care about friendships, you should read it. If you care about art, you should read it. Art is a play that will make laugh and think. It’ll put things back in perspective. It’ll help you understand why you have lost touch with certain friends. It will also show you that no matter what, art will always unite, divide and reunite people. Remember to love art because art is power.
I started the blog to write about the things that I like, and the music that I listen to. I have always enjoyed sharing my discoveries with friends, families and people I just met. Blogging is a perfect way for me to do so. Another great thing about blogging is that I get to meet new people and write about them. Tyson Swindell is one of these lovely people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting online. He contacted me initially to review his latest project L’Aventure. I didn’t receive the package until this post was written. I ended up interviewing Tyson.
Can you introduce yourself to the readers? Who you are, where you from, what do you do/make? Howdy everyone! My name is Tyson Swindell, an artist from Austin, TX, USA. I create music, books and digital content.
How and when did you first start making music? I am from a musical family. My father is a jazz singer and mother played piano. They started me on violin at age 3, and I have played string instruments ever since.
What kind of music do you make?How would you define your style? Has it evolved since you first started? I can play violin, viola, piano, guitar and I produce, write and record electronic music. I have played in indie, punk and metal bands over the years and have toured North America dozens of times!
What is your creative process today? Where/how do you find inspiration? Do you use any specific gear? I try to write or record music for at least 1-3 hours every day. Some times it’s fruitful, other times it’s exploratory. I find myself rotating through instruments as I discover or rediscover them. For example in 2018 I focused on the piano, then in 2019 I used the ukulele to write, 2020 found me using acoustic guitar a lot and my next release will be an electronic album using a lot of baritone guitar. It’s boring for me to have to stick to using the same instrument over and over!
Can you talk about your latest project? What made you decide to have both the tape and the zine? My latest release, titled L’Aventure, is a further attempt to make my music exist outside of the digital barriers musicians have to compete in these days. I wanted to offer something tangible and textile with the music. As I wrote the songs and music, the path sort of just revealed itself to me. I wrote the songs first as poems, then slowly converted them into demo songs before putting an official single on Spotify. About halfway through the process, I realized that I needed to just release all of the pieces together in a tidy package. The package contains the poetry book, the demo cassette and the official single as a download (along with some other goodies). The demo and the official single can be streamed online separately, however. I purposefully tried to be vulnerable and honest with the audience with this release.
I believe that you’ve also worked on your music videos? How was it? Yes, I have a handful of music videos which I made on my own or with other artists. I love performing and the craft involved in video creation, so it was an easy decision. It helps to surround yourself with creative, positive people!
With all the hats you are wearing, do you consider yourself to be a musician or more of a 360° artist? I just say that I am an artist these days, but music is my #1 love in life.
Can you share 5 songs that you always go back to and why? Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven is a powerful, moving piece that stirs me to my core. I always go back to this song for various reasons. In Dreams by Roy Orbison is a bittersweet song written by one of my all-time favorite singers ever. This performance was captured live and is an incredible feat. Roy Orbison is also a Texan, and I love his songwriting style, it’s so mysterious. Europa by Santana this instrumental song gives me vivid life memories from different, random times in my life. I can remember hearing it in a bar in Paris one late night as an adult, and I can remember hearing it at a quinceañera slow dance as a kid. All good memories. Stand By Me by Ben E King I mean what is there to say about this song. Classic, breathtaking, honest lyrics, powerful performance all around. Gives me the chills and is a karaoke favorite of mine. Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You by Julia JacklinThis whole album is an obsession vibe. This track specifically is so good and when I saw her perform it before the pandemic started, it is a memory I will keep forever. Her band was perfect, her voice was mixed perfectly, the setting was bliss.
I’ve always loved writing. I can’t remember a time when I was not writing. I would write poetry, short stories, notes, thoughts, words, letters. I love writing. Even though I was never exceptionally good at it. At least in terms of writing essays and analytical pieces. I was more on the creative side of things. When I discovered blogs and that I could have one of my own, I figured that I could have a go at it. Instead of writing about random things, I focused on music. I would present underground artists to the world. Unfortunately, because I wasn’t taking blogging seriously, I never got a big break or gone viral or any of the sort. Therefore, all the content and music that I was posting was all… Not for nothing but quite close to it, until I started Hello Sounday.
Things started to shift with HS. However, once again, because I was taking it seriously, I didn’t go big with it. Even though that is sort of what I was dreaming of in a corner of my mind. I have tried to revamp HS a second time and I was facing the same issue: I don’t see it as an important thing in my life. I write this because I disregarded it. Because I let other things come in the way, or shift my priorities, or let life dominate me, I stopped writing for HS. The fact that blogs aren’t doing so good either doesn’t help either. There aren’t that many people that read blogs anymore. Most people spend their time scrolling content on IG or TK. Which is fine, but reading isn’t as important as it used to be. Which is a sad thing, I think. I love reading non fiction. Even more on the web and blogs were great for that. Most of the blogs I was scrolling through were music related or about art, and design. I even go the chance to write for one and work for another. However, blogs are struggling. There are still some out there, but it just isn’t the same anymore. But I’m hoping that they will come back one day. Which is why I am taking things in a new direction.
I’m going back to the roots of blogging. Writing about random things. Documenting my life as a graphic designer in the music tech industry who happens to DJ and produce electronic music. Also, I am about to leave on a 2-week road trip with my girlfriend and her father in the North of Spain. And I wish to write about that too, along with other random things, thoughts and notes that pop into my head when it appears. I also want to have conversations with friends and colleagues about their lives, their journeys into this world. I know that this sounds rehashed or whatever, but this is something that I believe in. I also want to take this opportunity to talk about my art, my music, my weird little drawings, my experiments, the things that I do that make me live and who I am today.
I have a Substack on the side, but haven’t update it in a while because of the millions of things that I do, because I cannot just do one thing. I have to do several things, and if I didn’t have a 9-5, my calendar would be a perfect glimpse of this. Maybe Monday I prep my week and do a bit of admin stuff. Tuesday would be music day. So making music, listening to music, DJing. Wednesday would be art day. Drawing, painting, collages, photography. Thursday and Friday would be content creation day and that Saturday and Sunday would be week-end as usual. With, potentially mixing at a venue every once in a while, or hosting a music related event or workshop for teenagers, because I believe that we should nurture our future generations with other things than school and sports. With that said, I’m getting close to 40, and am seriously taking action to do more of the things that I enjoy.
For instance I’ve been doing a lot recently. I host a Hip-Hop radio show on the web radio that I cofounded (RTL3). I started to read again and just look at my phone. I’ve been making music again too. Basically, I am making an effort to fill my life with more of the things that I love doing. Also my girlfriend and I are almost done with decluttering our home and it feels great. Clarity is back in our minds and with that I feel ready to take on new challenges, without overdoing it—and without disregarding them either. Which is why, for the 3rd time in my life, I am happy to welcome you to Hello Sounday.
