This might not be the most original blog post, but sometimes this is important for me to remember! Given the work that goes into producing music, it can be hard to deal with when a track or release either falls unexpectedly flat or gets negative feedback. Ignoring negative feedback definitely isn’t the answer – there is always much more to learn. However, I think neither is dwelling on it, which I find easy to do.

Music can’t be reduced to following a set of rules, and every listener has their own perspective and is approaching any track from a different angle. It’s impossible to please everyone and it’s a mistake to try. The important thing is to move on, get the most I can out of any feedback and focus on moving the music forward- without forcing it when inspiration really isn’t there. Over the time I’ve been releasing music on the internet I’ve found on a number of occasions, with hindsight, that I have deceived myself about aspects of a track, particularly when there is pressure (self-imposed or not) to release something, and this can be true of both technical aspects and also the overall impression that a track gives. Although perfectionism can be painful, I’m constantly learning that it’s best not to ignore any doubt, even if it doesn’t seem important at the time. Some people can work to deadlines, but I think music can’t be rushed. Personally, I need to step back from music before releasing it, and if it’s not absolutely 100% (in terms of something I am happy with), if there is anything that I feel isn’t quite right, it shouldn’t be released. This can be a difficult lesson to learn- but I think the most important thing is- don’t compromise.

At the end of the day, (particularly given the state of the music industry!), and whatever it costs to make, this is not a career, and I make music for self-expression above anything else. If people enjoy it, or even better, occasionally buy it*, that is a great thing and makes me feel that it is more worthwhile, but it’s not the primary reason why I make music. For a long time when I started no-one heard any tracks, I composed music because I enjoyed it and for no other reason. Music can take me somewhere else when I’m making it even more effectively than when I’m listening. I think that whatever level an artist has reached, this is still the best reason to produce. However, at the risk of stating the obvious, when you release music it should also have the aim of communicating something at least to some listeners, otherwise releasing it is pointless! Finding out that complete strangers enjoy and appreciate something you have created is always exhilarating. It’s the challenge of achieving the two aims of expression and communication, without one of these aims defeating the other, that keeps driving me to improve.

Because of this, it’s still never easy putting stuff out there, and it can feel quite isolated at times when music is released with little apparent response. Positive feedback is always great.

(*Free vs paid d/ls is another very long, blog post. I think illegal downloads are not a good thing.)

I’m writing this blog in response to a recent blog ‘Eclecticism and what makes a good album’ by the electronica artist Dementio13 on his website. The blog started me thinking about the reason why the album still exists in an age of digital music; the point is made several times in the blog and subsequent comments that the album isn’t as important as it used to be. When its so easy to pick and choose, download only your favourite tracks, and play them in whichever context you want, what is the point of an artist putting out an ‘album’ rather than just ‘a collection of tracks’?

I’m going to make the declaration straight away that I don’t think I’m ever going to stop listening to albums as albums. I very rarely put my ipod on shuffle, when I decide to listen to an artist, I generally listen to one of their albums or EPs, front to back. This definitely makes me a more demanding listener – an artist can have great tracks, but if they fail to put an album together without a few tracks that need to be skipped, either due to the quality or due to them being completely out of place in the collection, I’m likely to listen to the artist much less than I would otherwise. I’m aware that I may be unusual in listening like this, but I don’t think I’m unique, and the important point I want to make here is that I feel I get more out of the music by listening to it this way. This might be one reason why my favourite artists are all good at this. I get frustrated with them when an album is just that bit too long, or contains a few weak tracks that should really have been left out.

People can of course listen to music however they want, as a random shuffled collection of tracks or whatever. But as a fan of the album, I think they are losing something fairly significant by doing that if the artist has released the tracks as a coherent whole. The best albums really are a lot more than the sum of their parts and form a story, whether it’s done with similarity, contrast or progression it adds something subtle to the meaning of the individual tracks and builds something bigger. I agree with the point on Dementio13’s blog that this can be done with contrast, even jarring contrast, as well as with similarity. In fact the album, by its very format, forces you to listen to more challenging tracks that you otherwise might not have given a chance, and it’s these that often stay with you, and also make the sense in context that they might not have made in isolation. But it’s important to point out that the best albums don’t make this completely opaque either. Whatever the intention of the artist was, if to the listener the album does indeed sound like just a collection of tracks and doesn’t communicate something more, in my opinion it has failed. One of the things that keeps motivating me to make music is the idea of the album that really does hold together and communicate something more profound than the individual tracks on their own. It’s obviously less important for pop music which has always been all about the single, but I can (subjectively) list great artists in a range of genres, from Boards of Canada to U2, and they are almost invariably associated with a strong and successful album (normally more than one), not a collection of (even great) tracks. In the past, making an album as a clear statement of intent has repeatedly made musical reputations. I also believe that, even today, it’s the artists who are able to do this that really make a name for themselves in the genres that I prefer to listen to. But even if I’m not right about this, I’m not planning to put the album aside as, whatever the state of technology, I don’t want to lose that more subtle and sometimes more profound listening experience.

As an artist, the challenge of this really appeals to me. It’s relatively easy to put together a collection of tracks, even good tracks. Putting together something that flows, or not, in a logical way that really makes sense to the listener, has a signature sound or a clear evolution of sound, a strong unifying idea or concept, and transcends its individual components is much, much harder. And getting it right must be that much more satisfying.