2010 has started pretty slowly for me. I can't seem to get motivated when it comes to recording. Because I'm right at the beginning of my next project, it seems like I have such a long way to go that I can't be bothered to start! I am in fact so at-the-beginning that I don't even know what the project is yet.
The one positive is that I've been writing quite a lot, and I've managed to keep the songs to myself, so there is plenty of new material to go along with the next release. I have about 6 songs almost fully written, and a host of half finished ones too. So now I'm wondering what to do with them. I need to make a full studio album, but that should include old songs that haven't been properly recorded yet - Blackout, Potential, Untitled, etc. And I'm not sure all of the new ones fit into that album. So my current plan (I think) is to record these new ones fairly simply - not necessarily 'live' as in the Blackout Sessions, but close to it if not actually it, and start selling them while I start on the studio album.
I've been listening to a lot of Mountain Goats in recent months and I like the idea of putting that kind of lo fi material out there, alongside a smaller number of nicely produced albums. They're more 'real' sounding - very honest, simple representations of the songs, and it encourages writing quickly; being more prolific. Releasing a really polished album every other year means you can get away with writing less than one song a month... I want to be writing one a week, releasing 4 EP/albums per year (that don't take months to create). Then maybe one studio album each year as well, that contains some songs from those other releases but with more instrumentation, and a few tracks that are exclusive to that record. That can be the one I push more - send out to radio stations, reviewers etc.
I think I'll go with that approach for now... It'll be especially useful over the next year or so as it will build up the repertoire for live shows.
I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing this down, I imagine it's quite boring if you're not me. Sorry about that.
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6 comments:
I actually found this post really interesting. Its great to be able to read about someone else's process and how music, writing or any other kind of art evolves over time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I often listen to music by a number of youtube artists (including you) when I'm about to sit down to work on my own stuff. I'm glad that we all seem to run up against the same kinds of challenges along the way. Looking forward to your new stuff. - Jen
I agree with TowardsTheSea.
Hope your new stuff will be so good that you'll come to Spain for doing a gig ;)
i hope you do some live shows later this year that i can come to.
I think the Mountain Goats give that rawness to their music even with their studio albums. For example in The Sunset Tree you can definitely feel the strain of his voice. There's something special about John Darnielle, he manages to transcribe feelings rather well upon the recording.
@Luisa Oh yeah, don't get me wrong their studio albums are brilliant, and I'm not saying that lo fi recordings are better, it's that I attribute a lot more worth to them than the industry seems to. It's not the strain in his voice, it's the actual recording - the fuzz in the background, the mics just managing to keep up and the simplicity of the songs, take All Hail West Texas - I feel like I can picture the songs being recorded, they're like a snapshot in time, whereas the songs from The Sunset Tree, though also brilliant, feel like they've been built in a studio... Because they have!
I think both of those sounds can be good, but it seems like everything has to be polished these days to get any attention from the industry, and from a lot of individuals too.
that sucks dave, but be patient it will come to you....im hoping to have an album up on itunes by this summer to earn me some money but i know of no-one who would want to buy it and i dont have the following like you do so no one would buy it!!
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