Russell Davies

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One (1) person has asked me if it's possible to receive the feed from the blog as an email. So, Dan. this post's for you.

I can't get the RSS to actually feed into substack, so I'm going to have to do this manually until I can work that out. I guess I won't put this post in the email, that'd be a bit recursive.

I will work out how to make this not a post, too, because it's going to disappear isn't it. I'll make it 'a page' if I can remember how to do that.

(Music and Love) Will See Us Through

It's been a while since I updated you about the music I've been making.

The basic plan hasn't changed and I'm managing to stick to it. One new piece of music a month, no more than a day to make it, stick it on all the channels, see how it feels and what I can learn.

How it feels and what I've learned:

1. I'm a long way from having a 'style'. All the music services ask you to tag your music with a genre when you upload it and I haven't a clue what to say. And whatever it is I might say seems very different for each track. It's interestingly different to writing. I can only write one way - like this. But the music I make is more varied, not especially because of my sensibility but because of the place I start or the tool that I'm using.
2. No one is listening. The Spotify listening figures (for instance) could all just be me making sure it's been uploaded right and seeing how it actually sounds a couple of days after I've made it. The random bits of promotion I've done produce no listeners either. I've been advertising in The Wire (more to support a publication I love than as a piece of genius marketing) but that has no effect either.
3. I'm no producer. I think I'm alright at a lot of musical stuff but I'm a very poor listener. I don't have the patience or aptitude to pay that much attention to the music I've made. I can't hear the difference that mastering makes, I can't be arsed to make everything 'sit right' in the stereo (and couldn't hear it even if I did). EQ, reverb, compression, all that, is a closed book to me.
4. It's still massive fun. Forcing myself to finish things and make them public is really useful. It is very like blogging - it doesn't matter that no one listens, it's enough to know that they could.

Actual music since the last update:

(Music and Love) Will See Us Through. It's pretty easy to come up with titles for tracks that feel cynical and clever but I wanted to do something more sincere. And I (really) enjoy playing with the effects of brackets (in titles) (and what that does to meaning). This is a prime example of not-being-a-producer disease. I just enjoy the groove and don't have the discipline to make it stop. So it goes on forever. Spotify. Bandcamp. Soundcloud.

Landline. This isn't too long! (Your mileage may vary...) It was the product of mucking about with a Keith McMillan BopPad and various Ableton Live configurations that made random hits of the pad seem pleasant. I couldn't work out how / be bothered to make it change key though, so it's a bit of a single mood outing. Still, quite gentle and inoffensive. Music for spreadsheets. Spotify. Bandcamp. Soundcloud.

 

July 2020