Month: April 2023

SUBSTACK NOTES IS FIRE

I’ve been on Twitter since 2006. One of the first 3000 users. I’ve spent a lot of time on there, and today I have 2,562 followers.

When I leave Twitter, I can’t take those 2,562 followers with me.

Now let’s say I spend more time on here with Substack Notes, and that leads to 100 new subscribers in April.

Then let’s say Substack becomes a dumpster fire in May.

I can export all my subscribers and go somewhere else. FAST.

The relationships I build are PORTABLE. I can export all my subscribers and open up shop anywhere in an afternoon.

That’s what makes Substack notes so remarkable; building relationships into subscribers, instead of posting on social media platforms for followers.

POLITICS ON THE TRAILS

Running around Leaser Lake is not enjoyable. It’s a lot of soft grass, and there’s really only two nice single track sections, and the one just sorta.. stops. It’s weird.

But it’s sort of a mindless run, a healthy four mile jaunt, and the scenery really isn’t so bad. The loop is sometimes nice to run into some random people and their dogs, which is always fun.

Not pictured are the two road signs with Patriot Front stickers on ’em. Fuck off, white power assholes. This is exactly why trail running is political, because non-white people don’t get the luxury of “leaving politics out of it.”

FAVORITE THREE ALBUM RUN FROM ONE BAND

Had a fun talk the other day with my “Social Media Escape Club,” where we hopped on a Zoom call and talked about… getting away from social media.

One of the things I mentioned was instead of Tweeting out some random thought, or in the case of the image above, my “favorite 3 album run by your favorite band,” why not text a friend? Send a photo. Call a pal. Write them an email.

Someone on the Zoom call said something along the lines of, “why should I give my best material to Twitter?”

Why put so much into a platform that limits my reach anyways, when I can message my friends directly and I don’t know… grow closer?!?!

So in the spirit of putting my best material on a platform that I control, you see my “favorite 3 album run by your favorite band,” which are Helmet‘s ‘Meantime,’ ‘Betty,’ and ‘Aftertaste.’

I remember driving around town in my Nissan Sentra Wagon XE trying to play air-drums to the Meantime album.

Betty wasn’t nearly as crushing. Had lots more melody and dynamics, but having come out my senior year of high school there’s no way I can listen to this album without thinking about my younger days.

‘Aftertaste’ came out in 1997, three years after graduation, and so did Limp Bizkit’s ‘Three Dollar Bill Y’all’ and Deftones ‘Around the Fur.’ Oh, the 90s were a magical time for heavy music.

YOU LIVE IN A THEME PARK

From Dan Wentzel, a quote from Gareth Klieber:

My hot take on “15 minute cities” is if you can get to the coffee shop within fifteen minutes, but the barrista who makes your drink can’t afford to live closer than a half-hour away, then you live in a theme park.

Ain’t that the truth?

TALKING WITH LAURA KIDD ABOUT ONLINE MUSIC MARKETING

Laura Kidd recently released an album called ‘One In A Thousand’ with a new project called Obey Robots, with Rat from Neds Atomic Dustbin.

That album was the #1 Independent Album when it came out, and you’ll hear a bit about how she did it in this video, along with some other nerdy observations from me along the way.

HUSTLING AND SCAMBAITING

This is long, but wow, ‘Vigilantes for views: The YouTube pranksters harassing suspected scam callers in India,’ is quite a read.

Kulik and Bingham, together known as Trilogy Media, are part of the online “scambaiting” community — an increasingly popular internet subculture that involves hacking, pranking, and generally taking revenge on people they believe are conducting scam phone calls.

Absolutely not my cup of tea at all. Haven’t watched a single second of their videos. But the hustle and determination behind it? Fanscinationg.

“For Trilogy, the IRS scam video was a launching pad. “Over the course of the next year, it catapulted us into that space of like, oh shit, we can monetize this,” said Bingham. By 2017, after posting several more scammer call-out videos, they’d pivoted the entire Trilogy Media operation to scambaiting.”

Read more on Rest Of World.

AT PEACE WITH MY PACE

Marlee Grace really sums it up here:

I noticed in my month off social media the ideation phase of my practice felt so serene, I had less money then and yet I still found myself with so much more trust. Left without the reminders that everyone else is always launching, always sharing, always has something to sell. I found myself peaceful with my pace.

YES, this is so great: “I found myself peaceful with my pace.”

I’ve stopped promoting Goodnight, Metal Friend on social media. Each new mix just goes out to newsletter subscribers first. A day later they go up on YouTube and Mixcloud.

Less promoting, and I still got a HUNTERTHEN track featured in this ‘Spectra-Sonic Sound’ mix.

Less promoting my HEAVY METAL EMAIL newsletter on social media, and I’m still welcoming new subscribers, and some of them support my work financially.

Trust that your work doesn’t need to be plastered on billboards, you don’t need to stand outside a venue handing out flyers. Let the magic go where it’s going to go.

CALL SOMETHING GREAT

I’ve seen lots of discourse recently over the struggle for the press outlets to keep up with the unending wave of music releases each week.

For me I think it’s so many sites trying to cover so many genres.

And also trying to do interviews, reviews, and live gig coverage.

There is just too much, everyday, every week.

I’d love to see a site that just covers the metal shows happening in PA every month.
A newsletter that rounds up 10 great beat-maker videos.
A YouTube show like the old MTV Top 10 Video Countdown.

Be editors. Be tastemakers.

The internet is wide open again. Let’s fuck it up.