Internet, newsletters, design, music, etc.
Make cool stuff, show it to your friends. Those words from Rick Rubin are stuck in my head for months and months now.
Key point in this clip from MacAndre Pierre is all about bouncing your ideas off of other people. Present an idea, refine it, and keep making it better.
Take more photos (or writing, or music), share your work with people who appreciate it, get some sleep, and do it again the next day.
In this clip Theo Katzman explains his producing style – one take. One shot. One crack at it.
He stresses the performance in recording.
Yes, with technology, you can “comp” (sort of like splicing together multiple takes), but what if we got really good at doing it all the way through? In one take?
I’m pretty sure that’s how Vulfpeck makes their amazing performance videos and probably why they’re so captivating.
Theo mentions how playing in a room together means Jack Stratton (in the video below) has to play the drums just right, or else his performance will bleed into those vocal mix and ruin the take.
Like – how many degrees “better” is vocalist Monica Martin from doing this? Her skill, competency, and confidence in her abilities, from doing it live and in the moment?
And seriously, watch that video. It is pure magic. I watch it every now and again and tear up; it’s so beautiful.
I write almost everything in one take. These posts, most of my Social Media Escape Plan work, too. Get an idea down, make some cuts, and schedule it… onto the next.I’ve been writing publicly online since 2001, and this works for me. Are there mistakes? Sure, but this ain’t a book, and it’s not precious. There’s a time and a place for that, but I feel like all these years of writing are my “one-take performances” that allow me to speak with confidence and candor when I get in a room with people to discuss these sorts of things.
One take. One shot. Make it.
Lindsey Jordan (Snail Mail) talks to Monster Children about social media in the music world:
I think that anybody who is encouraging you to make a TikTok hit is probably brain dead. Don’t listen to them. Usually, those tactics don’t work. I’ve never done an actual ‘tactic’ and had it work.
There are people you didn’t reach yesterday because you didn’t display your art in a small gallery in Denver, CO, or play a set in a nightclub in Chicago last night, either.
They say not being on TikTok is a missed opportunity, but we miss opportunities every day because we are singular creative beings and have to do the dishes or cover a shift at work.
Sure, “everyone” is on TikTok right now, but everyone is at a club you’re not at, too. You’re not in a room with other creative people, working on a project with people you love.
There are missed opportunities, but maybe it’s time we were more selective about which ones we care about.
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on a bit of a tear lately with the “blogging thing.” Did you notice the new domain name? I’ve had sethw.com on and off since, like, 1999 or so because it went with my weird one-man-band act I did. But lately, as I’m now easing into my later 40s, I wanted something that reflected my new vibes, and sethwxyz really worked. Like, the alphabet goes wxyz, right? Seth W… xyz. Oh my god, I love it.
Anyway, since I’ve been writing or blogging so much, I’ve definitely felt different things pulling themselves together.
Like, I’m not spending multiple hours a day writing, but I do a lot of thinking and walking and taking voice notes on occasion, which I rarely revisit, but just doing them helps my brain put things together.
This brings me to this piece called ‘Companionship Content is King‘ by Anu Atluru.
“Companionship content is long-form content that can be consumed passively — allowing the consumer to be incompletely attentive, and providing a sense of relaxation, comfort, and community.”
After reading that whole piece, it was like, oh my god, no wonder I love those Noah Kalina videos, right? And he even mentioned in today’s video, near the end, how you could just have his video on in the background, you don’t even need to really watch it.
There were a few days where I’d find myself in haze after laying around and just scrolling through Instagram Reel after Instagram Reel. It was like when we were kids, and they used to say we watched 10 hours of TV a week or something, but now it’s like we consume 10 hours of video a day, but in 15 to 30-second increments, and it’s draining, as Anu says here:
“Consuming content requires attention, and everyone has an attention ceiling. This is the basis of my belief that short-form video has an upper limit. It’s not that short-form isn’t as good or as entertaining as long-form, it’s that it’s distracting and ultimately draining.
The mental energy consumed per minute of content consumed must be higher for short-form video than many types of content. I think of this as the “drain ratio” (as in energy drain) for a given piece of content or even a whole genre. (I doubt if anyone’s scientifically measured this, but I’d willingly commission a study on it).”
Maybe that’s why I like watching Craig Reynolds of Stray From The Path when he does his drum streams.
I don’t have to pay full attention, but it’s just fun to be “in the room” when he offers a sarcastic comment or self-deprecating humor.
Maybe I’m just getting old, or maybe it’s the after-effects of living through a pandemic, and things are just off, man. I’m not sure, but I just need the slow chill vibes these days.
HINDZ is another great example. A little softer than watching Craig on drums, but still… I guess it’s all about the person. I know what I’m getting from these folks, and there’s a peacefulness to that.
This is also similar to “body doubling,” or virtual co-working sessions that I’ve seen around. I haven’t really dabbled in those quite so much, but I know some people really like those.
So glad to see this happening.
From the press release:
Black metal is extreme music: fast tempos, heavy guitar, screeching vocals – it’s not usually thought of as everyday, easy listening, that’s for sure. Black metal came to global prominence with its “second wave” in 1990s Scandinavia, and was associated with church burnings, Satanism, and acts of extreme violence. But those days are now largely (though not completely) over, and black metal musicians are increasingly singing in favor of environmental causes, social justice, and anti-racism, in the United States and across the world. Black metal is still noisy and aggressive and sometimes it is also pretty bleak. But black metal might just be for you. So come see what all the noise is about. Everyone (except the fascists) is welcome!
Black Metal Is For Everyone – Symposium and Concert, Feb 28-29, 2024 at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN
Participants:
Amory Abbott, Emily Carr University
Larissa Glasser, author and musician
Joan Jocson-Singh, Lucas Museum
Rose Johnson, Falmouth University
Margaret Killjoy, author and activist
Daniel Lukes, co-editor of Black Metal Rainbows
Stanimir Panayotov, co-editor of Black Metal Rainbows
With:
Michael S. Dodson, IU History
Shane Greene, IU Anthropology
Olga Rodriguez-Ulloa, IU American Studies.
Rebekah Sheldon, IU English / Cultural Studies
Additional support provided by the Office of the Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the College Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; the College Arts and Humanities Institute; and the Media School. For more info, please contact Michael S. Dodson
More info here.
“We’ll survive however we have to. We’ll continue writing about art. What I know now, that I didn’t then, is that fun and games are the entire point — the way we weather a world that’s largely indifferent to our joy.”
Linnie Greene in ‘The Official Pitchfork Obituary‘ at Byline
I’m about a million years late to this amazing work, but I’m so glad I discovered it via a website (Waxy), and they have a website!
“The decision to stop at a location, to mentally frame a scene on your page, is the deliberate act of reducing your complex reality to simple lines and shapes.”
Nishant Jain of The SneakyArt Post
“I think it’s part of why I love running. It removes me from the internet for a bit. I listen to music. I can just think about the music for a while and have experiences with that. I can focus on one thing so it is not so fractured. I think it goes back to slowing things down. Slowing things down is a way to spend more time with stuff.”
Brandon Stosuy
Since I deleted Instagram at the start of 2024, I wondered how I’d find random bits of amazing artwork. Well, from blogs, of course.
Wait, not just blogs. From people.
It’s people that write these things and find these things.
Social media platforms get rich on the unpaid effort of all these artists and creative curators, while limiting reach, and making people think “who even has a website anymore?”
Fuck Zuck. Fuck Musk.
Go buy something from Old Made Good. Found via Swiss Miss.
