album cover
we finished the album cover painting earlier this week. used the digital camera to photograph it, which was a challenge or trial and error. not sure if i got the best outcome possible, but got what we got. for the most part it looks exactly how if looks in real life, which was the goal. and it came out exactly as i envisioned. tommi did most of the painting, and i assisted in some areas, doing some of the more simpler grunt work.
i have been trying to market the album to blogs and such. it's kind of like applying for a job, which is horrible and generally something i tend to avoid doing at all costs. perhaps if i had some kind of training as a publicist? it comes down to "what do I write?" and "how will that effect perception?" and "will this encourage the reader to actually check out the music and give it a shot?" the worst aspect is, does it even have any effect at all? my strategy thus far has been to construct a simple email that keeps the focus on the availability of the music online at the bandcamp and the purity of the listening experience available alongside the visual art component that we have provided. presenting the album in a vacuum where it can be judged on it's own merits. is that too pretentious? or not high concept enough? what grabs a stranger's attention via an anonymous email? ought i construct an elaborate yarn filled with falsehoods of adolescent travails, like that one band...you know, the one that i can't fucking stand. out of the thousands of emails sent every day, every week, from bedroom garageband auteur amateurs of "check out my track on soundcloud", "pick me pick me!" how is it that we are to stick out and simply upon only our merits? more so than the merit of simply being 20 years old? what does youth/age have to do with anything? how is that relevant to narrative beyond crass marketing maneuvers?
these blogs, they say that they want to discover "new music", they all say they do. but that's rarely true. they all feed off of each other, a food chain of influence and a trade of cultural kineticism. i'm sure each one would love to be the one to say FIRST and have the mantle of kingmaker of discovering a new artist, but unless they exist in the upper echelon blogdom, i doubt that a persistent course in such action lacks the patience of attention for most part-time music bloggers. perhaps there are a few, i wouldn't know where to look, and even less on initiating their seduction.
we announce ourselves into a vacuum of indifference. is it that our work is unworthy? not forward thinking enough, lacking zeitgeist, or simply bad luck. or are we destined to be overlooked along with a legion of like-minded unknowable others only to be discovered by future hipsters 20-30 years henceforth as part of a renaissance of reappropriation and rediscovery? fuck that shit.
i try and create a noise upon the facebook machine. no one cares, no one cares, facebook is a narcissist's domain, especially among "friends", utterly impunible to marketing of but the cheapest and broadest of virility. it is only the blogs, they are the only hope, yet how does one penetrate such a dominion lacking the hype, interest, or appellations of sex and newness? Richard says we should make more music videos, which would be a fun endeavor, unfortunately one of our band members remains AWOL from all group activities. perhaps we ought to cast a stand-in?
we'll be playing a show on nov 26, just myself and tommi - we'll see what that's like. been a long time since we've done a show as a duo, hopefully we each learned something in the interim. we should have some physical CDs of PCN for sale as well.
i have been trying to market the album to blogs and such. it's kind of like applying for a job, which is horrible and generally something i tend to avoid doing at all costs. perhaps if i had some kind of training as a publicist? it comes down to "what do I write?" and "how will that effect perception?" and "will this encourage the reader to actually check out the music and give it a shot?" the worst aspect is, does it even have any effect at all? my strategy thus far has been to construct a simple email that keeps the focus on the availability of the music online at the bandcamp and the purity of the listening experience available alongside the visual art component that we have provided. presenting the album in a vacuum where it can be judged on it's own merits. is that too pretentious? or not high concept enough? what grabs a stranger's attention via an anonymous email? ought i construct an elaborate yarn filled with falsehoods of adolescent travails, like that one band...you know, the one that i can't fucking stand. out of the thousands of emails sent every day, every week, from bedroom garageband auteur amateurs of "check out my track on soundcloud", "pick me pick me!" how is it that we are to stick out and simply upon only our merits? more so than the merit of simply being 20 years old? what does youth/age have to do with anything? how is that relevant to narrative beyond crass marketing maneuvers?
these blogs, they say that they want to discover "new music", they all say they do. but that's rarely true. they all feed off of each other, a food chain of influence and a trade of cultural kineticism. i'm sure each one would love to be the one to say FIRST and have the mantle of kingmaker of discovering a new artist, but unless they exist in the upper echelon blogdom, i doubt that a persistent course in such action lacks the patience of attention for most part-time music bloggers. perhaps there are a few, i wouldn't know where to look, and even less on initiating their seduction.
we announce ourselves into a vacuum of indifference. is it that our work is unworthy? not forward thinking enough, lacking zeitgeist, or simply bad luck. or are we destined to be overlooked along with a legion of like-minded unknowable others only to be discovered by future hipsters 20-30 years henceforth as part of a renaissance of reappropriation and rediscovery? fuck that shit.
i try and create a noise upon the facebook machine. no one cares, no one cares, facebook is a narcissist's domain, especially among "friends", utterly impunible to marketing of but the cheapest and broadest of virility. it is only the blogs, they are the only hope, yet how does one penetrate such a dominion lacking the hype, interest, or appellations of sex and newness? Richard says we should make more music videos, which would be a fun endeavor, unfortunately one of our band members remains AWOL from all group activities. perhaps we ought to cast a stand-in?
we'll be playing a show on nov 26, just myself and tommi - we'll see what that's like. been a long time since we've done a show as a duo, hopefully we each learned something in the interim. we should have some physical CDs of PCN for sale as well.
posted by eriq at 8:21 PM
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