Above is a trailer for Sound Study #4, hopefully coming later today.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are live.
Which is to say that I wasn’t exactly live before. I finished my first three pieces (Sound Study™ #1, #2 and #3) this summer before I had any idea what to do with them. I had—and have—a clear artistic vision for what I’m working towards in the studio. But I’ve been aware for a while that what I’m doing is not really suited to any existing content platform. This is not, at heart, a newsletter. And Substack is, at heart, a platform for newsletters. Nevertheless, after a survey of the options, a hybrid approach of Substack and YouTube seemed to be the closest fit for my needs. So here I am.
I have to say, it has been a fun and fascinating foray into the world of Substack and social media. After about a month of writing, reading, and orienting myself in this new digital landscape, I’m genuinely energized by the community. I also gave myself some time to wrap my head around the fundamentals of the “content” business, and genuinely enjoyed finding my way into that headspace. I started to think of myself as the owner of a newsletter, and I liked the idea of someday running one as a job.
But that sense of direction fell apart when I ran out of music to write about, and went back into the studio to make something new. There were simply too many conflicting priorities. I know I want to keep leveling up the music and video production quality. That means a lot of listening, a lot of research, a lot of experimentation, a lot of practice. Now that I’m doing it all without a content backlog, it’s obvious to me that something’s got to give. It’s simply untenable to make art, get better at making art, write about getting better at making art, and get better at writing about getting better at making art, all on a predictable publishing cadence and while consistently engaging with the community.
So as much as I’ve genuinely enjoyed the content side, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to focus on the art, and accept that the newsletter won’t be all that it could be.
It’s not a value judgment at all, and it’s not about money. Both art and content can be free. Both art and content can be businesses. And clearly it’s possible to do both synergistically, i.e. an art business that supplements a content business or a content business that supplements an art business. Or free art that’s marketing for paid content, or free content that’s marketing for paid art. It’s all legitimate, but I think they are different models, and the distinctions have significant implications. Since I don’t have any business anyway, it’s easy enough to identify my personal priorities.
Here’s what I think this means for the foreseeable future:
The music is done when it’s as good as it can be.
I’ll publish the music by itself when it’s done.
I’ll write about it separately if and when I have bandwidth to do so.
My expectation is that this will, unfortunately, make for a spotty newsletter.
While the art is the clear priority, I do hope I’ll have time to do some content as well. I was excited to write about the next few pieces, which will all be studies of specific albums. After doing the Ed O’Brien piece, I decided to do a series of studies, each inspired by a different project connected to Radiohead: The Eraser, Atoms for Peace and The Smile. I just finished the one based on The Eraser (trailer above). I listened to the album every morning and made notes of what I heard that I wanted to try. Of course the end result is distinctly my own, but there are a bunch of details that trace back to moments in the album, and from research into Thom and Nigel’s process. I learned so much from working this way, so I’m going to keep going on the series myself. I’ll look forward to the opportunity to do the production notes down the road.
Thanks for reading and listening. Going to wrap up the edit on the next piece now and hopefully get it out later today 🤞
This is not a newsletter (and other news)