Already a month in Tangier
Jul 22, 2025
Hey,
I hope you’re doing well...! It's already been a month since we arrived here with our hearts filled with huge expectations and desires to give life to what we work so hard at so it can be the best music we’ve ever made!
We’re now in this incredible phase of this journey where everything we do is talk about what we’re digging so hard to find, meaning we’re embodying this piece of work without even noticing it. It just happens. And when this happens, it means we’re on to something incredible!
I can’t be more proud and happy than right now, I think! It’s been such a long journey to get there...! It’s now time for us to embrace this to the fullest and never look back!
Here’s what has been inspiring and moving me these past few days.
🎧 What I’m listening to
Album Tír na nÓg from a great band called Maruja that I had the chance to see live at the Molotow in Hamburg! It was past midnight when I went all the way up in this very small and really warm venue and experienced this amazing band!
For the few of us there that night — it was a moment!!!
📖 Reading highlight I’m pondering
Alex has been sharing an article from a music commentator called Bob Lefsetz, whom we both discovered ages ago as we were getting started to become a serious band, enough to quit our day jobs and start our own record label. He’s been really useful to me, to us, over the years by always inviting artists to become entrepreneurs and to work harder and harder.
I have a love/hate relationship with him in some sense since, to me, he’s only a commentator and hasn’t achieved nor accomplished anything other than observing and sharing his thoughts, which is something we all do on a daily basis. I love to comment on politics, on sports, on society, on many things, but this doesn’t give me any status; it’s just part of being a human being on this planet, one who can think and question certain things. This is the level of value I give to this guy. Just another guy commenting on the music industry.
But this week’s newsletter he sent brought us to have interesting conversations about the work we need to put into our social media/Substack and so on!
Bob Lefsetz shared things like this:
- Being good at your craft is not enough.
- Being signed to a label is not enough.
- Don't talk to me about talent. Sure, it's necessary, at least to a degree, but if you believe the most talented people have triumphed in the music business, you're sorely mistaken. It's always been the ones who've been willing to work hardest.
- The most important thing is STARTING.
The conversation beautifully switched toward the words starting and bond. We started the year around the wonderful idea of sending postcards to so many people around the world in order to strengthen this rich bond you and Alex created over the years and how meaningful that is to us all. It’s based on this same spirit of bonding that we created The Club and now Substack.
Starting! Bonding! These are the key words for us! Yes, artists need to post on a daily basis. Yes, they need to open up and be generous and put in countless hours and work in order to either connect or sell albums or concert tickets. Of course! But to us, at least to me, what matters the most is the question: why are you/we doing this?! Bonding!
It’s easy to take pictures and videos now… But to connect, share, grow, and transcend music, social media, and all of that jazz is what makes us thrive even more every day!
Thank you for connecting with us on such a wonderful level! We’re just getting started here…!
📸 Podcast I’ve Enjoyed The Most
I added this new category since I’m a huge podcast consumer. Every week I was struggling to find a video or something else, but I’m not consuming much TV in my life, and it’s always been that way.
Since I’m the chef at the Fajar Soul Dweller studio twice a day and run in the morning, I’m using those hours to feed my soul with something I can learn and bring into the studio or around the table with me.
This week, I’ve been really enjoying this Rolling Stone pod called How Sly Stone and Brian Wilson Changed Music.
I’ve never been a Beach Boys fan at all, so following Brian Wilson’s sad passing and seeing all of my close friends sharing on social media about how he impacted their lives, I kinda felt that maybe I’ve been missing something which might be greater than the music itself.
When I listened to this podcast, I realized how much Brian Wilson, through his lyrics and his view on America and its wonderful people, truly inspired millions of people around the world. I really discovered so many things in this short episode but it got me to dig deeper into his art, lyrics, and unique life.
It also got me thinking about sometimes diving much deeper into something despite my first impression or taste, and to also apply the same into my life and relationships! This moment has been more than entertaining but truly inspiring to me this past week...!
"I believe that music is God's voice" - Brian Wilson
📸 My Video Of The Week
Last Saturday evening, Alex and I were invited by our friends for a nice dinner at a high-end restaurant in Tangier’s Marina! We were supposed to meet there at 21h (9pm), but now being people living the Tangier lifestyle, we arrived at 21h20 (9:20pm), and our friends weren’t there yet, and the place was pretty much empty! I already thought it was very sad to see such a beautiful restaurant that empty at that time on a Saturday night!
21h45 (9:45pm) rang, and here came our friends, finally!!!! Let’s have dinner! Yes, this is how people are doing it here! Everything goes very late into the night since it’s quite warm in the daytime! By 22h30 (10:30pm) the place was packed, the music was loud, the show was on, and the whole place was on fire with such a great vibe! It felt so great to go out after such a busy week of soul digging and freedom seeking!
We left the place past 1am and as we got out of the restaurant, every street we walked on was filled with people! Gotta love this city!!!!!
💬 Shared in the Long Shadows Chat this week
Having Hugolin with us brings such an interesting dynamic on every possible level. He’s 24 years old to start with, which always brings interesting conversations about life, dreams, taking chances, relationships, family, and so on...! I really love to hear his perspective on things and to understand the “why” this is how he sees things and the thought process behind it. It must be puzzling also for him on some levels to hear us speak of friendship and our quite unique journey thus far.
This is something that was shared in our band’s chat last week following what has been a late evening conversation about living life to the fullest at every possible moment rather than looking for an illusory feeling of security over everything else in life.
Being a Long Shadows doesn’t come easily! One thing for sure, the artistic work or process is the complete opposite of this “security” feeling some are striving for in life!
"The process is different for everybody. But let me say this: Don’t ever dismiss an opportunity just because it has risks — because everything has risks. You could fear risks so much that you decide never to leave the safety of your home…
Yet you could still die if a tree fell on your bedroom while you slept or your house caught fire. If you’re going to have a bias in a direction, have a bias toward action. In the end, people most often regret the chances they failed to take, not the chances they took that failed." - John C. Maxwell
It’s been such an empowering week on every level! Can’t wait to see what this one has in mind for us!!!! Hope it’s the same on your end!
Let’s be great to one another!
Your chief operator and friend,
Jeff
