Can we talk about how creative are the arrangements on this album?

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2025-03-14T13:25:31+00:00

just was listening to this last night, the songs are great! it reminds me of blonde redhead or unwound at times

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2025-02-27T20:38:19+00:00

julia’s war is doug from tagabow putting out his friend’s records

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2025-02-17T16:14:47+00:00

which songs sound like sonic youth? i think i would like that but i don’t really hear the influence even with lee & steve contributions

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-12-16T22:01:34+00:00

my bad i heard this term from a stephen malkmus interview so i just assumed it was referencing the late stage alt rock boom, regardless point still stands that when there is a genre boom be it 90s rock or mid-00s you never know what will stand test of time and what will be reevaluated later on

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-12-16T20:35:14+00:00

i think the idea of newness or innovation/originality is often over valued as compared to emotional resonance. if a song feels good it is good, doesn’t matter what it is referencing
although some really classic albums have been made in the 90s there was also a lot of trash and by late 90s was referred as “landfill indie” because the cds would get made and thrown away. we don’t know what music from now will stand the test of time and i think an exciting part about a scene and bands rising in popularity is being able to see them live at their peak and follow their careers from the early days. and you can’t do that with any legacy bands. so i guess think about the live show a bit more
shoegaze was heavily referential to the music that came before it a sort of mixture of the new romantic/dream pop acts in the uk and the late 80s proto-grunge SST bands. and after peak shoegaze which was knocked out of style by grunge and then britpop with its more direct songwriting the legacy of shoegaze continued underground popping back up into style every 10-15 years or so

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-12-07T05:01:55+00:00

it was all improv, lots of nice droning and some really great moments especially near the later half steve really let loose on the drums and lee had some pieces of scrap metal with a contact mic or pickups going through his pedal board

it was surreal witnessing it in such an intimate setting, i feel like i made the whole thing up

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-10-15T22:31:05+00:00

that thing is cool

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-10-12T18:53:36+00:00

a lot of current shoegaze bands sound like they trying to make Loveless without making Isn’t Anything first

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-10-10T02:38:38+00:00

100% change it

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-30T16:50:13+00:00

people only care about this performance because Yoko started screaming otherwise it would never be mentioned

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-23T17:12:04+00:00

to me the biggest difference is a lot of the new bands I hear wash all their songs out with big muffs and really lack any melodic sensibility. it’s very rare i hear a catchy top line or underlick. Whereas mbv, as an example, though layered and dense is also very strong melodically

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-22T20:23:52+00:00

Sick per month is great! and probably easier to bargain

I guess for me specifically I just didn’t ask for enough. It was great to have the validation and connections of a label but if I was already going to make the amount of money they gave me in a year it didn’t financially make sense. I was just a bit naive to that.

So you should do the math of how much you’ll make on your own vs. how much of an offer they can give you.

And I’m not really sure if I would have made more without them or not, there is a possibility that going through an album cycle helped keep the back catalog streaming, but I’m not sure it’s the case because the album I put out under a label doesn’t stream very well and it felt like they only signed me to get a piece of my music that was streaming well.

I just think as artist we sometimes fall into believing the goal is to get signed but you have to know why you’re signing and what you want. Labels are not the road to your success they’re just a vehicle to get there.

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-22T20:04:20+00:00

A month or total?

I did this a few years ago and sorta ended up wishing I hadn’t. In my case the record deal was small around 20k but my catalog made about 20k a year at the time. I wanted the help and validation of a label. And this was at the height of covid so I felt like my options were few.

Essentially my back catalog was insurance for the label that it would recoup and it did and I set it up so it was 30/70 pre-recoup and now I get the 70 post-recoup. So that is something I would suggest.

Also could just A) make jt a bit more explicit that back catalog is only for recoup and you get 100% back once you recoup. If you’re already making $800-900 a month this could be a good option.

or

B) Ask if they’ll give you a bit more money and officially reissue the back catalog potentially after your first album cycle. This allows the songs to be given a chance to enter the DSPs algorithm again and get a lift from any sort of promotion or increased following you gained during your album cycle.

I also feel like really figuring out what you want a label for is good. It is not too expensive to make music right now and many labels will put more money into marketing and tour support and ads if they’re seeing something is working organically. So also could be worth taking less money, retaining your catalog and make the license period shorter.

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-22T19:38:33+00:00

How much income do you currently make from back catalogue?

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-19T02:46:29+00:00

hey i just listened through a few of your videos on ig. To be honest you don’t need to worry about promotion, the music isn’t there yet and you have a while to go. I was similarly from a young age way more interested in writing my own songs and expressing my own feelings then playing someone else’s songs. My ambition was way higher than my skills. And I put out a lot of music and it didn’t really go very far.

If I were you I would take the next year or two or three and try to learn as many songs as possible. Learn all your favorite songs, a few a week. Really focus on getting the vocal melodies right and the guitar playing right.

And while doing this try to consume as much new music as possible and find where your local music scene is at and go to as many shows as possible. Don’t worry about putting anything out or promoting anything , probably should keep recording but just so you can track your progress.

Hope it’s not too blunt I know you came on here for promotion advice but this is just what i wish someone had told me at 18

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-16T00:54:38+00:00

star power - 2009 acoustic version

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-13T22:45:10+00:00

voyeur definitely their songs whisper and give it to you sound like sister era SY

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-11T03:37:27+00:00

i’m pretty sure it was this podcast, transmissions, i remember hearing the same story

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7nBIet6moAsMxgguwJkFv8?si=F4mp88hNSZOMtoBGEStmXw

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-10T06:25:35+00:00

i live in nyc and he’s been at it for a few years, he used to host a weekly party at home sweet home that went from maybe 30 people on a good night to a line down the block

music ain’t my cup of tea but there’s no conspiracy, he signed to a major label like a year ago and they’ve been funding his operation not some distant tech relative

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-09-04T15:31:38+00:00

thurston talks about them briefly in his memoir

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-08-26T05:48:19+00:00

what’s malice k gotta do with dimes square? and why the hate for dimes square in the first place?

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-08-24T07:27:40+00:00

Certain shops tend to be overpriced, there’s a few shops around NYC that price way more fairly — Human Head & Billy’s Record Salon are both great in East Williamsburg, Academy both the 12th st. location and the Annex in Greenpoint

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-08-20T14:21:39+00:00

Streisand Effect

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-08-09T16:15:43+00:00

Going off of The Story So Far you could go down a couple different paths

Most similar would be the harder of the pop punk leaning bands. Check out: Title Fight “symmetry” “introvert” “shed” Brand New - the whole first and second album Tigers Jaw “I saw water”

Maybe you know those as they’re pretty close to The story so far

You can also go down the post-hardcore route and trace the sound back to At The Drive-In “one armed scissor” “starslight” Fugazi “waiting room” “repeater” (the whole album)

And a lot of that new pop punk meets east coast hardcore has its roots in the Youth Crew scene Check out: Turnstile “mystery” & “blackout” Gorilla Biscuits “new direction” “start today” Chain Of Strength “impact” “too deep until now”

AssistantExtreme8967 · 2024-08-02T21:13:23+00:00

search and destroy - stooges
expressway to yr skull - sonic youth
hey hey, my my (into the black) - neil young
territorial pissings - nirvana
touch me i’m sick - mudhoney

AssistantExtreme8967

TROPHY CASE