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RPM 2017 recap

Another RPM is in the books and I thought I’d share some feelings about it.

This year I feel like I got in on a technicality. The album that I started at the beginning of the month isn’t done, and 2 of the songs on the CD I mailed to New Hampshire were from the kids’ scouts meetings last month in which I led the group in a discussion and lab about electronic music. So, it counts in that they were recorded in the month of February, but not, because they aren’t exactly mine. The 3 songs I recorded amounted to roughly 25 minutes of material, so, I was close regardless.

On the other hand, I participated in blind chaos again this year, so there’s one album, and I did produce > 35 minutes of music, so I’m still calling it a win.

Moreover, and more importantly, I’m feeling good about the project. It’s not done, and that’s okay. e and I have committed to trying to take time each night to work on art, and, honestly, that’s more important than a completed album.

In years past, I would scramble to get my RPM album done, then talk about and think about doing more stuff during the year otherwise, but it would usually never happen. This time, I feel like it’s a thing I can actually continue and, partially, that’s because we’re doing it together, even if we’re in separate rooms at the time. And I’m really enjoying seeing the finished paintings that go along with the music I’ve created and how they work together despite being created separately.

The recordings I’ve made are very rough, they are probably too long and need some work. But I’m getting used to a new laptop that doesn’t have all my stuff on it, a new version of the software, and being exceedingly out of practice since it’s been several years since I last touched an instrument. At some point, I will need to revisit the songs I’ve recorded and clean them up, but for now, I just need to get back into the habit of making music and getting comfortable again with the tools.

All in all, I’m happy with the result more because it marks the beginning  of a new project rather than the end.

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Last minute change of RPM plans

In true RPM fashion, I’ve changed my mind re: plans for RPM album. It’s not going to be all about Trump.

While the thought process going into it is more personal/intimate, what I can say is why I’ve decided to switch gears.

In talking with e about the project — because she’s started painting and I wanted to use her art for the album — we started talking about art that challenges the artist and why many male artists (of various forms), in particular, use pain and suffering and misery as inspirations for their art. In music, you can hear it in Trent Reznor (especially early NIN but pretty much everything he’s ever done, ever), Kurt Cobain, I mean the list goes on. Pretty much the entirety of “alternative” music is some dude bitching about how everything is horrible. Isn’t the world bad enough that we don’t need to add more misery and suffering into it through art?

I’m no different. For a long time, I believed that a) all art was created through suffering and b) the only things I had to say were things that came from my own personal angst. I used to channel and hone the worst possible feelings in order to produce music. I would actually make myself unhappy in order to channel that negative energy into art.

Since then, I’ve learned that art (even, gasp, good art) can be made from emotions that are not harmful/painful. For me this is much more of a challenge having believed the other thing for so long.

So, how does this relate back to RPM? Well, the original concept was basically more of the same. It’s easy to get angry about Trump and make art from a place of anger and resistance. But that’s not challenging anything and that’s not changing anything. That’s Trent Reznor’s entire career. Maybe the topic for him has gone to “she dumped me and I’m unhappy” to “the world is shit and I’m really angry about it”, but the basic point is the same “life is shit, I suck, I’m going to go drown my sorrows in some good old fashioned substance abuse”.

We also talked about doing a collaborative project where we’re basically taking the same source/topic/emotion and creating art based out of it. In talking, this felt like a much more exciting project than bitching (musically) about Trump, so I’m much more interested and excited about this idea.