Danelectro’s customers may no longer be their target market. Danelectro is selling formerly budget-tier pedals at contemporary boutique prices.
Danelectro’s Fans Can No Longer Afford Danelectro’s Products
Into Now – The Booklet
Liner notes are awesome. There is something very special about listening to an album for the first time with the notes open and all focus on the album. At least, that’s how I feel.
I want to emulate that with my own projects. The Bandcamp release of “Into Now” has a high quality PDF file with notes included. If anyone is hearing the album on Spotify or any other streaming service, then I’d like to invite you to read along as well.
It’s worth saying that this is an album about four people casting off their pain, and choosing to belong. That process starts with facing some pretty dark topics. In short: there are dark topics ahead.
Hopefully, the final message is one of healthy community and genuine love. “A road trip to a place to belong.”
Continue reading “Into Now – The Booklet”The Ever Aspiring Artist
Updates and thoughts on the next project.
With “Into Now” on Bandcamp and streaming platforms, I’m onto the next project. I started conceiving the idea when a total stranger with a permanent marker decided to use my hand as a canvas. Good times were had by all.
When people ask, “How can I get inspiration?” my answer is always “Have an adventure.”
I’m taking some time this January to really learn the deeper workings of my guitar. Between Whitest Rose and Into Now, necessity required me to learn a lot of maintenance. Now I’m doing a video on demand guitar course.
I have started the process of re-recording a song that I wrote and summarily butchered several years ago. I am very excited by another song that is bordering on loud post-punk and the kind of music I hear when being woken out of a dream.
I’m researching, too. Nonfiction books. Old movies. Even an adventure here and there, as time allows. There’s a story in here somewhere. Again.
Mostly, I’m learning and expanding so that the next project can be even better than the last.
I started as a drummer who wanted to write three chord punk songs with his brother and friends. Now, it’s hard to say. I don’t watch tv. I rarely play video games. This is the thing I do. I turn thoughts into music, and whatever happens after is going to happen.
Arcanasphere – The Whitest Rose
The last recent Arcanasphere EP, The Whitest Rose, is slowly becoming available at more digital music retailers.
Thank you. You are reading this. You are taking some time to listen to this music. The most important thing to say is thank you.
Onto those releases: I have direct control over the Bandcamp releases. I was also able to provide PDF liner notes & lyrics.
- Bandcamp: Arcanasphere – The Whitest Rose
A new, standards-friendly final master of the music is becoming available on other services. The Whitest Rose on Spotify, iTunes, and more.
Teenage Engineering PO-12, One Year Later
My brother wanted me to have this. He really wanted me to have this. After a year, I’m thankful.
The Teenage Engineering PO-12 is a drum machine.
Music, Continuity, Themes
I’ve been struggling with a theme for the last year and a half, very strongly. It can be summarized in two words: “Not alone.” This is me missing places that always felt like, “come as you are. All are welcome here. Our differences make this place more vibrant. Love and respect are all that matters.” Concerts, certain scenes, and some online groups really celebrated that aesthetic.
Now I’m very happy that those places are needed much less for so many people. There are still people who feel torn in this current climate. People who look like everything is cool on the outside, but feel completely without a real place to be themselves. I’ve been searching for that place, but every time I act like it’s already there for someone else, it appears.
Not alone. Continue reading “Music, Continuity, Themes”
Inspired by the Music that was Inspired By Shoegaze
This is all navel-gazing.
It all ultimately comes down to asking, “how do I label my music?” Read more: influences, new favorite bands, and contemplating this question
Arguing Against the Experimental Tag at Bandcamp
I make music out of my closet. I honestly enjoy hearing what others make out of their bedrooms, closets, and home studios. In the process of perusing Bandcamp, I also find a common red flag: “Experimental.”
The biggest reason I see for people using the Experimental tag at Bandcamp is when they feel uncertain about their music. Every time, I want to beg them: do not feel uncertain. You made art. You are already ahead of everyone who only dreams of making the art. By virtue of your recordings being published, you’re ahead of the game. You conceived, recorded, and published the art.
Do Not Undersell Yourself
DubStep: The Modern Answer to 80s Hair Metal
Are you angry yet?
I’m not annoyed by any individual dubstep song. Even that such a word exists hardly bothers me. The premise of a singular sound that an artist pigeonholes himself into does irritate me to no end, but that runs in every genre from the very real Flanders Recorder Quartet on up to Dimmu Borgir.
I’m also amused. Continue reading “DubStep: The Modern Answer to 80s Hair Metal”
Did Freddy Kreuger Plagiarize Captain Beefheart?
1982. My dad was showing me around his record collection when he yanked out Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefeart. Being that I was very young, I ran away screaming in pure horror. There’s not much else to tell, here, except that my father usually handled that album with care from then on. Only, from time to time, he liked to see if I would still jump.
Its presence in his record collection – and please remember these were the days of big vinyl disks – kept my hands and curiosity at bay. That album cover is burned into my mind like a smoldering scar.
Those who know me can understand why it’s much less frightening to see Fred Kreuger in a nearly perfect mirror image of the same album cover. “Freddy’s Greatest Hits” recently came to my attention by way of a blog devoted to the foolhardy days of vinyl. Here are the covers, side by side. Continue reading “Did Freddy Kreuger Plagiarize Captain Beefheart?”