Music Notes: nairboman - Here We Go...

Recently, I just self-released my first music album, which I am very proud of. It is called Here We Go... and is available on CDbaby, Itunes, and Amazon. It is in the genre of Electronic Dance Music and covers a wide variety of styles within that genre. I grew up loving the ideas and sounds I heard in contemporary electronic dance music. Music is, after all is said and done, the art of sounds and that is what electronic music realizes and celebrates. Electronic Music is also relatively free of the sometimes cumbersome structures imposed on more conventional types of music, which makes it all the more exiting. My album, though, is very accessible and extremely dance oriented. It is perfect for parties, clubs, and home listening. The following are the songs on it and my short descriptions of them. You can buy the individual songs or the whole album by clicking on the links to them on the blog sidebar or scrolling down all the way to the bottom of the blog to my music store. Thanks. :)

1. Acid Trax - I wanted to make the leadoff track very compelling and think I succeeded. Featuring a classic acid house bass line, if this song doesn't get you dancing or your head bobbing, nothing will.

2. Here We Go -  Mixing classic rock style piano and an electronic beat and percussion(with some judiciously placed oscillations)shouldn't necessarily work, but absolutely does and is the most popular track that I feature on Youtube. Easily as danceable and even more emotional than Acid Trax.

3. Predestination - This is a stately, ominous ambient track with a burbling bassline and some old fashioned record hiss at the end for added effect. If you like film noir or trip-hop or relaxed and sophisticated, this should do the trick.

4. Get Freaky - Fun would be the best way to describe this track. Full of 80's and 90's style hip-hop record scratches and turntablism, this track works simultaneously as a cut-up pastiche, experimental instrumental hip hop and one of the most intensely danceable tracks on the album.

5. Walk the Dinosaur - Based around a fuzzy bass line and insistent strings and cinematic in scope, this should appeal to people who love film soundtrack music and trancy sounds.

6. Evilsmell - Humorous and experimental, but grounded in pure groove, this track should appeal to people who like Frank Zappa and/or Parliament/Funkadelic.

7. Everybody... - Eminently danceable, this is kind of a collision of disco and IDM(intelligent dance music). With bits of my eccentric humor and variety thrown it for good measure, this should get you moving.

8. Remembrance of Things Past - Emotional and very danceable, this one will make you both nostalgic and tapping your feet.

9. Etherea - Different from any of the other tracks, this one is a mix of women's choir like voices. No beats or even instrumental or electronic sounds  to be found here.  This should appeal to both fans of relaxing ambient and classical music.

10. Melancholy Bliss - A bittersweet piano driven dirge with electronic flourishes, this song will appeal to those in the mood for reflection and contemplation.

11. C'mon Ladies - The most purely experimental piece on the album, this track features nothing like dance music and is based on  found sound (musique concrete) and artificially produced sound (electronic/computer music) mixed together for maximum interest and impact. If you love experimental music, you will love this track.

12. Jaunty Palms - Jazzy keyboard and exciting rhythms make this one immediately accessible and fun. Bouncy and irresistible, with some nice surprises thrown in for good measure.

13. Surfing on Wav(e)s - This is a pure trance track full of burbling synths and a compelling forward momentum. Accordingly, its perfect for the dance floor or your headphones.

14. Nightcity - Also quite different than the rest of the album, this one might be called downtown ambient. Like taking a relaxing walk or drive through the hot city at night, you can almost feel the sweat dripping off your body with this one.

15. Dub Africa - Combining African rhythms with a dub aesthetic, this track is also very original in terms of the album. Danceable and involving, especially for fans of African and Dub music.

16. Dance Macabre - Another album anomaly, this track is a cinematic horror genre pastiche of sounds, complete with wind and low droning electronic sounds in the background. Perfect for Halloween or a Horror genre buff.

17. Marnobina - Synthpop heaven. Full of synths flowing back and forth and in and out of each other, with dance rhythms to back it all up. If good vibes and/or nouveau disco is your thing, you'll love this.

18.  Evocation - Subtly creepy, with a hint of sinister, this ominous soundscape is pretty danceable too, but just as at home on your headphones.

19. Undul - Experimental and groovy. Based around static and other similar electronic sounds, it nevertheless is one of the most rhythmically compelling tracks on the album. If you like your grooves original sounding, step no further.

20. Swell - Explicitly synth oriented ambient that eventually morphs into something very different while retaining the original flow, this track ends the album on an epic, appropriate note.



   

nairboman's insights #4

After getting Bob Baker's book on Guerrilla internet marketing for musicians, I have decided to try a few new things with my blog, change the format up a little and see how it goes. In a way, it is going against what I would prefer to do, but not totally, and if it doesn't go well, I will switch back to the old way. I have decided to continue with the insights weekly posts, because it keeps people interested in my music, marketing, and thoughts concerning those things, up to date. The music reviews will change now to all Electronic Music reviews from the late 60's to the present day. I would prefer to review music from as many different genres as I can, but the fact is that people interested in my music may be more interested in my thoughts and reviews on primarily electronic music, because it is the genre I make music in, myself. I will try that and see what happens and in some ways, it is a good idea even outside of marketing purposes, as it will expose people who already like my writing and music to more quality electronic music(which I think is great), and it will also help me learn even more about it and I realize that learning about your art is a lifetime experience if you truly care about it. If that goes well, I will slowly begin to incorporate some other types of music over time into the reviews. As far as the movie reviews go, I will continue them, but will only review films from the late 60's on, as many people who read the blog are probably more interested in the modern era of films, which I frankly think is a shame, considering there are as many great films from the pre-modern era as after. Again, if that goes well, I will begin to incorporate older films slowly into the reviews. If anyone has any thoughts on these decisions, please leave a comment.

Other than continuing my blog, my goals for the summer are to do a lot of the things mentioned in Bob Barker's brilliantly researched marketing books, get my music on CDbaby next month for sale, play live at clubs and events, market offline locally in my area and nearby, and contact managers, artists, d.j.'s, radio stations, and record companies to seek help and advice. Wish me luck! :)

nairboman's insights #3 - Crossroads

With the arrival of my book by Bob Baker on Guerrilla Music Marketing on the Internet, I find myself at a crossroads. I think I picked the right book to purchase on the this subject, as it covers so much ground I can't easily find all grouped together and explained clearly about on any free internet site. I have taken the next step in my marketing endeavors, but now I have to make a decision about what format to continue publishing my blog in and I need my reader's help in deciding this. The book wisely says that it would be better to concentrate on my music and my genre on my blog for marketing purposes(and in fact, I already knew that). But I do love to write about all kinds of music and all kinds of movies. Should I only talk about electronic music? I mean, I do love it and it might even be good for me and a learning experience to do a blog concentrating on electronic music. Do I separate it into two different blogs: one for general music and one for electronic? And what about movies? Do I stop reviewing movies altogether or start another separate blog for it or keep it part of the regular blog? Another factor is time. I would have more time freed up to do my marketing if I simply concentrated on electronic music and my musical and marketing endeavors to write about for my blog posts. What I also need to know is "what have I written about that you guys and gals have particularly liked reading? My insights, my movie reviews, my music reviews, certain posts?". Please share your thoughts with me about this. Next month I officially release my music through CDbaby, and after I do that, I will be working 6 hours a day on my marketing 5 days a week, but I still might fairly easily have time to publish the same blog with the same amount of content. Tell me what you think about it. :) Bob Baker site

nairboman's insights #2

Above is a video of mine I made a few months ago for my track Acid Trax. The video is minimalist in style and so is the song, really. I didn't have a lot of resources at the time to make a video with any kind of budget. This one was simply made with a photograph I took of myself and then my girlfriend Heather Campbell used a graphics program online to change it to black and white/distorted and we used windows movie maker to make the video of it. It is definitely my goal to make higher quality videos in the future, but I think the videos I made(with my gf's help) are kind of hypnotic in and of themselves. All 5 of them can be viewed here.

I wish I had more to say about my marketing endeavors right now, but the fact is that it has all been internet marketing so far and internet marketing isn't the most exciting thing to talk about. It's basically making profiles and adding content to sites that can help you spread the word about your art. I recently ordered a book by the famous music and book marketing guru Bob Baker about internet marketing. I have been using a book by Catherine Parker about social media marketing and it has been very helpful as well, but I'm hoping that Baker's book will be even more helpful considering it is specifically for music marketing.

Of course, I also wanna do local marketing this month including business cards, flyers, and playing music for folks in public areas, but being low on money might become a problem, though I'm hoping not. Luckily, these things on my list to do are pretty cheap. In May, when my music is finally published through CDbaby, I also want to make it a point to contact more people in the industry, such as artists, managers, D.J.'s, record companies, and possible benefactors(volunteer personal financiers). The fact of the matter is that while I like marketing my music better than any job I've had before(because I confidently believe in my music's value), I would rather be doing creative work and accordingly, would rather someone else do most of the marketing work, so hopefully I can get a manager to help do this eventually, so I can concentrate on more creative endeavors. If you have any suggestions about marketing or any of the things I mention, please leave a comment. I welcome them.