Pt.1: What im working on

This week my main focus has been putting the final touches to a project im really excited about and have been working on for a few months.. it was meant to be something quick, but before i knew it it grew and grew. The project is called ‘A Directory of Inspiration’. The inspiration came from a series of conversations; I noticed that while there’s no shortage of academic and journalistic articles, there’s not enough documentation of the work from the creators' perspectives—their stories of experimentation, struggle, and ideas.  I have formed a strong interest in collective work, or at least the disconnection we are used to due to the internet when so many of us could benefit from understanding we are all connected… and thus want to explore more how we can connect, share audiences, support each others work and form more communities that can sustain us creatively and emotionally.

It started as a small conversation and quickly grew into something much larger. We creators are experimenting with new ways to distribute our work, build worlds around our art, and redefine what it means to be independent. But our stories were rarely told by us and the connections between the work is rarely noticed. Instead it is often filtered through outside perspectives. So, i set about starting to collate projects and expermints that musicians around me had been doing and bringing them together. The collection will form a digital zine and includes some amazing stories and knowledge from the inside of the creative and planning process. From conception, context and process. Its a treasure trove of inspiration and knowledge all from the voices of the creators.

The project will be released on the Metalabel platform which unlike bandcamp allows us to direct splits of sales to all 29 contributing artists and also release any format or medium we choose (I highly recommend exploring what Metalabel have built). Some of this weeks tasks; I have been working with Jade Garcia who has been a big part of the project, a great friend and came on as producer. We have been editing, proof reading and re-organising submissions from artists, writing the story and copy to tell the story of the project and working with designer Ana Carolina Laurindo to finish up the design. I have started putting together the release page on Metalabel which you can see from the video above. Honestly, as always this was way more work that i could have imagined, but its going to be such an amazing resource for inspiration and knowledge for creators far and wide. I really believe in strong case studies as a source of knowledge, real world ideas, real world experiences and all so unique to each contributors identity. more to come on this soon as we will be releasing it first week of December!

I should add a personal note, that yes doing projects like this a hugely time consuming, and take away from personal creative time to make music, however, i do believe in how need to tell our stories more, and i also want to show the work the amazing work we are all doing. This has led me to try and be less selfish in my solo music journey, and i want to reach out to the world more and push to try new ways of working and connecting in this crazy mess which is music. I see knowledge sharing as part of that but also documenting our work ourselves. lastly a shout to CY Lee who has come on as an executive producer to fund the design and other elements of the project, i add this to say thanks to him and his work in supporting creators and to remind you reading this that meaningful art needs funding, and we need your support to do the things that we all believe matter.

Pt.2: Mk.Gee !!!

This newsletter/mail list/ blog?? was meant to be about staying in touch with you all and sharing as much of my process as possible, and given that i wanted to share about the Mk.Gee concert i went too last night.. it was amazing. seriously. I have been obsessed with this album since i saw this video below. I love imperfection and emotion in music, and i loved the way the outdoor recording and filtering of the wind made it sound even better to me… and although i knew about Mk.Gee as the guitarist and writer working with Dijon, i had not heard the album yet… and then i became obsessed. I love albums, i love the moment in time they capture, i love that i fall in love with different songs at different times, how there is slow burners, and songs i didn’t understand yet but then hit me when i need them. I know its not the industry thing to do anymore, but it creates a personal journey with music for me that grows with me. And this album has sound tracked my year.

The gig was everything i hoped it would be. Sonically it was so fresh, the use of analog gear mixed with samplers, drum machines, crazy guitar processing, 80’s synths and vintage desks to create this stuttering explosion of energy and emotion. Go check him out.