seanhaefeli.com

each year, there was less

to remember.

the body wore lines.

Nu Soul Magazine has written a thoughtful review of Sound Strategy. I have pasted it here, but if you follow this link, you can visit their site: Nu Soul Review

Sean Haefeli’s independently released four-song EP, Sound Strategy, portrays a skilled and passionate musician who strives to put his best foot forward using nothing more or less than he’s always known to be true to his core being. His sound is founded in the jazz he spent his childhood years exposed to, and rounded out by hints of hip-hop, soul, groove, and electronic that defined the culture of his generation. His belief in open sincerity comes across in his music, lyrics, and the personal character drawn from each song.

Mellow pianos, horns, and bass maintain an easy feel throughout the CD. Yet as a testament to the urbanism of Haefili’s generation, the vocals are extremely rhythmic (a distraction from his lack of pure singing ability) and decidedly hip-hop, laced with an underlying degree of forwardness and aggression.

Although Haefeli describes his album as a “fusion of jazz, soul, hip-hop, and modern groove” the sound is mainly grounded in jazz, the likes of which his father played professionally and Sean himself was educated formerly. It’s as if Haefeli purposely avoids venturing into anything too modern or commercial, instead sticking to the roots he knows for sure make him content. The drums and bass parlay into deeper grooves and hip-hop style rhythms on occasion, but mostly remain true to his musical background.

The final track, Balance, is the greatest exception, best described as a mish-mash of styles on every level. Every instrument as it is played in the song, from the drums to the horns to the vocals would fit into a jazz or soul piece as easily it would a rap song.

Much like Sean portrays himself, the album makes the best of what jazz and its adjacent genres have to offer. The result should be equally familiar to yesteryear’s jazz enthusiasts and today’s hip-hop, spoken word, soul, and new groove fans.

- Nokware Knight

After spending my entire life spelling, and then respelling my name, I am considering a change to the much simpler ‘Haef,’ which is what friends call me anyway.
I have always had an aversion to the idea, but I actually like the name ‘Haef,’ and it is certainly easier.
If you have an opinion on the matter, please let me know, and we can have a poll of sorts.
I apologize for breaking solidarity with the Haefeli’s of this world, the website url will live on.

(One hour later)

So, maybe this group will change to the Haef Project, and for future albums, in the vein of Natural Hunger, the name will remain.

Is this neurosis?

(Okay, so the “send to editor” button has decided to cooperate:)

I wanted to share this pic with you, because you may never see me rockin’ it like this again. Plus, two bruthas snowboarding in Japan, that’s a rare sight!

Also, we look pretty badass, standing there with the snowboards. Key phrase: standing there.

What up, Los!

Well, my best laid plans have been thwarted. Today, I had hoped to spend some time updating the website. However, Wordpress has once again, chosen to be stubborn in uploading my photos.

So, for now, I’ll just send a shout, and let you know that I am back in Chicago!

Also, I just ran across this video that I recorded a couple of years ago, not great, but someone might enjoy:
Just Friends

“Bedroom Window,” from the album Natural Hunger, has been licensed by the German company, Daimler, to create a promotional folder with a CD inlay, for the Mercedes C-class. 7500 copies will be produced and distributed.

Let’s keep it rollin’!

It’s been years, since I meditated for nearly 2 and a half hours every day, but the teachings of Buddha remain in my heart.

Unfortunately, not my size.

The last couple of months, I have been playing on a basketball team, mostly comprised of ex-pats. The teams we compete against are almost entirely Japanese. And naturally, the referees are Japanese as well. This has led to some rather interesting officiating.
So, in a game last month, one of our players took exception to the fouls that were not being called, and laid into one of their guys with an extremely hard foul. As the situation escalated, he pulled a page out of the Sprewell archives, and began choking an official. I will say that it was not life-threatening, but choking, nonetheless. At this point, our team intervened, and eventually, managed to cool his temper.
Now, what transpired next, is what I find almost unbelievable. In the next game, our team needed to help officiate. Well, so guess who found himself wearing a referee’s uniform!

Happy New Year to everyone who has provided so much support throughout 2007! People have been visiting the site from all over the world, and I feel great joy, knowing that I am able to reach so many people.
Here is a list of countries, from which people have been visiting the site, just over the last 3 months:
United States, Japan, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Chile, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Greece, Brazil, Austria, Belgium, Seychelles, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Russia, Turkey, Virgin Islands, Netherlands, and Spain.

If you visit the site, I encourage you to drop a note in the ‘comments’ section or ‘contact’ me, via e-mail. I would love to hear from you!