Welcome to the seventeenth episode of Ringo Dreams of Lawn Care, a newsletter loosely about music-making and music-listening and how technology changes the culture around those things.
I'm working on a couple of pieces that aren’t quite finished. They need to marinate a bit longer in the pondering-zone. I'm also playing around with the format of this newsletter after considering a few wise reader suggestions. So this will be a lighter episode. But it still has a theme song, and this week that song is titled "Rose of No."
A little over two years ago, I started a project named 'Tiny Accidents.' If that sounds familiar, it's because I referenced 'Tiny Accidents' in an earlier newsletter. The concept in a nutshell: create songs quickly based on randomized rules.
First, I took every single sound file from over two decades of making and collecting sound files and threw them in one folder. I created an Applescript application that, when activated, would go into that folder and randomly open a sound in my audio editor.
The first rule: do this three times when starting something new, and these three random sounds must appear in the song. It’s frequently a battle to make these three elements fit in one song — which is the point. Then I play a random song by someone else (usually from my iTunes library, which has a randomizer). The iTunes song's tempo designates the tempo of my song, and listening to it serves as inspiration. Lastly, I hit the 'random article' link on Wikipedia. I’m required to find my song's title somewhere in the text of the article that comes up.
Oh, and I have to finish the song in an hour — or at least get it to a point where I can arrange, tweak, and mix it down later. I set a visible timer to add pressure.
This experiment was fun, and I came up with about 15 short songs throughout January 2018. I revisited some of these short songs and transformed them into longer songs — "The Burning City" from my last EP was originally a 'Tiny Accident.'
I always intended to revive the 'Tiny Accident' process for this newsletter's theme songs. "Rose of No" is the first result. It's satisfactory — something that has promise if I'd like to work more with it — but only time will tell if it lingers. "The Burning City" stuck in my head for months after its short inception, inspiring me to develop it into a longer track.
I call these 'creative games,' the collaboration of me and elements outside of my control. By creating unforeseen challenges, we trick ourselves into arriving at solutions that wouldn't appear otherwise. I've spoken about this many times before — and Oblique Strategies, The Third Mind — and the process has proven useful throughout my music-making career. From now on, each of our Ringo songs is a 'Tiny Accident.' And I'm adding more randomized rules and finding other ways to trip myself up. I'll fill you in with the details as we play this game.
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Shawn Reynaldo's latest First Floor newsletter is remarkable. He asks himself, "What does 'doing better' actually look like?" Shawn refers to his desire to confront systemic racism, especially as part of the electronic dance music industry. His piece starts with a lay of the land and what others are doing — or are trying to do. Then Shawn leads into a self-examination:
Looking back at my own career, I'd like to say that I had avoided these traps, but the truth is that I'm just as guilty as most other music professionals I know. I admit that before last week, I hadn't really considered some of these issues, as I was complacent in the fact that because I had written about and booked countless black artists over the years, I was doing my part to help. After all, even though my colleagues and I had been mostly all white, we were also "progressive" people with good intentions and the right politics, which placed us on the right side of this struggle. It almost feels ridiculous to be writing these things now, but after doing a lot of reading, reflecting and listening in recent days, it's now obvious to me that I wasn't doing enough.
Shawn goes on to list how he plans to start 'doing better.' These suggestions are thought-out, and I'm making note, adopting them as well. And, as Shawn knows, these serve as a starting point. The changes we need to make go deep — both outside and within — and they will evolve as addressing lingering issues will reveal new challenges. Be sure to read Shawn's full article — it's powerful, and I can't stop thinking about it. [LINK]
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I also want to mention Craig Mod's pair of fantastic email newsletters, Ridgeline and Roden. Craig lives in Japan and walks. A lot. Last year he walked around Japan for a couple of straight months. His newsletters are about a lot of things, but mostly they're about walking. I'm sure that sounds less-than-fascinating (and some of you were confused when I linked to his walking podcast a few months ago), but these newsletters are captivating. More importantly, they're calming and expose the value in peaceful, contemplative activities. I look forward to sitting down with these every week.
Craig's about to self-publish a book based on his 'pizza toast' article. That sounds strange, but his article about searching for traditional Japanese pizza toast is one of the best things I read in the past several months. I'm all in once this book is available. In the meantime, Craig is documenting his adventures in self-publishing in his Ridgeline newsletter. This endeavor is extra-adventurous in the time of COVID-19 — meeting with potential partners and manufacturers is tricky.
I love when creative people document their processes and trial-and-error experiences. I'll work to do the same as my Tiny Accidents get into full swing. [LINK] + [LINK]
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Speaking of documenting processes, Robin Sloan is going into intricate detail as he develops Perils of the Overworld, a narrative-adventure video game. This ‘development diary’ starts at the very beginning, and we follow Robin as he thinks aloud about choices in storyline, design, text deployment, music — all of it, including the geeky bits.
Confession: I have no interest in video games. I played enough of them in my early teens to satisfy me for life. So I didn't expect this series to enthrall me as it does. But, again, it's about the why, what, and how of creative people getting things done — a subject that's not only compelling but instructional — inspiring, too. For the first time since I was about 15 years old, now I want to make a video game! [LINK]
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Email newsletters are my social media newsfeed. My email app has a filtering rule that files my subscriptions into a 'newsletters' folder. In the morning or after a workday, I dive in to see what everyone is doing. Unlike social media feeds, I often leave happy and enlightened. I recommend it.
Oh, why not — here are some more newsletter recommendations:
The Maven Game — David Moldawar is a writer and former publishing editor. His usually-weekly newsletter is a creative boost, offering advice and encouragement to writers who don't always feel like writing. David's also the one who tipped me to the productivity-changing Focusmate community. [LINK]
Erratic Aesthetic — UK music journalist Joe Muggs has good taste, and his newsletter is a quick ramble through things that struck his fancy (or caused him concern) over the past week. He also posts links to new (and often private) installments of his Soft Music For Hard Times playlist, which are all terrific. [LINK]
S/FJ — Here's another music journalist's newsletter, this time courtesy of Sasha Frere-Jones. You never know what you're getting (or when it will arrive), but this newsletter's always a delight and often contains on-point recommendations and artful commentary. Frere-Jones also occasionally includes audio letters, including this terrifying and exhilarating sonic snapshot from a recent NYC protest. [LINK]
Rusty's Electric Dreams — Rusty Blazenhoff works with Boing Boing, Pee-wee Herman, and the Oakland theme park Children's Fairyland. How cool is that? She calls this her 'inbox zine' (♥️), and it's filled with fun, unusual stuff and heaps of positivity. Like me, she also enjoys sending postcards. [LINK}
The Orbital Index — I don't intend to subscribe to any newsletters about the actual news, but I'll make an exception here. That's because it's SPACE NEWS. On a clear day, I can see the Cape Canaveral rocket launches from my backyard, which is excellent as I've always been obsessed with the space programs of the world. This newsletter keeps me up-to-date with tons of links alongside entertaining and educational editorial notes. [LINK]
Orbital Operations — If you're on the newsletter train, you're probably already stopping at this station. Speaking of peeking into a creative process (or struggle, more apt), Warren Ellis is incredibly open about what it's like to live the life of a creative machine. He also regularly recommends inscrutable art films, droning ambient music, and books that will test your faith in humankind. It’s great. Reading this is a Sunday lunchtime ritual around these parts. [LINK]
I subscribe to a lot of terrific newsletters and this is only a sampling. I’ll tell you about others in future Ringo episodes, including a few newsletters by thoughtful music industry commentators. Inbox onward!
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Do you need something to listen to while reading all these newsletters? I enthusiastically suggest Room for the Moon, the new album from the Moscow-based Kate NV. From the press release: "Conjured from unlived memories of 70s and 80s Russian and Japanese pop music and film, Room for the Moon is a 20th century fairy tale suspended in time like a moon torn from a paper sky." Somehow, that description is spot-on. Kate NV has captured the feel of the artsy mid-80s (it's all about that kick drum sound, and a chorused bass guitar helps), and Caroline and I were independently reminded of the production on Laurie Anderson's work from the era. Room for the Moon came out on Friday, and I've been listening to it all weekend. A treasure. [LINK]
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I had an enjoyable conversation with Lyte's Lawrence Peryer last week. We got nostalgic about learning about new music in our formative years — especially challenging for me as a teenager in the middle of Louisiana. I told him about hanging an electric antenna out of my bedroom window and how crappy equipment made me a better DJ. Then, we talked about why there should be niche streaming services, how people are forgetting Frank Zappa, and that Sandinista! isn't the best Clash record to start with. I used the word "fascinating" a lot.
Oh, and we recorded this sprawling conversation. It's the latest episode of the Spot Lyte On… podcast, and you should give it a listen. It's fun.
At one point, on the subject of indie music discovery in the mid-80s, I mention a fanzine called The Bob. I call it my 'music bible at the time.' I can't express enough how vital this mag was for me. It brought this sixteen-year-old punk rocker to The Velvet Underground, after all. Anyway, after we spoke, Lawrence sent me this link on Etsy. Someone is selling four vintage issues of The Bob. I remember all of these — I read them cover-to-cover, and probably more than once, when they were brand new. Seeing these mags in this photo delivered that melancholy pang of remembering that youthful period of discovering that music means something. You know the pang I'm talking about. Sigh.
For someone who professes to avoid nostalgia, there's a lot of nostalgia in this podcast. I hope you enjoy the conversation. [LINK]
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Last week I mentioned the Giants of Video Summit, an online video marketing event featuring 35+ speakers giving tips and strategies for maximizing video in content marketing. I'm one of those speakers, and my hour-long presentation is about how and where to find music to use in your video productions (legally). 🎥
The summit starts on Tuesday (June 16), and it's still free to sign up. For more information and to register go to this [LINK].
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OK — did I mention that I'm playing with the format of the newsletter? Some of that info usually found at the top is now here, near the bottom. We'll see if it stays. But, for now, I hope you enjoyed this episode of Ringo Dreams of Lawn Care. This one was lighter than usual, but heavier topics are on the horizon.
At this point, there are three things you can do:
- Please let me know what you think and if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you.
- If you can think of a groovy person who would dig this newsletter, please pass it on. Sharing it on social media is also lovely. Spreading the word about Ringo is the best method of throwing some cheer my way.
- And, finally, have a terrific week. Stay safe, keep your friends and loved ones close in your thoughts, and open yourself to the inspiration to create cool things. I'll see you next week! 🚀
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BTW - I'm Michael Donaldson, and I write about music on 8sided.blog, license and publish music through 8DSync, and make music as Q-Burns Abstract Message. I think about music all of the time. My guess is you do, too.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you or you’re reading it online then I’d love to invite you to our enclave of Ringos. Please consider subscribing to the weekly newsletter by clicking the handy button. You can always unsubscribe via the link at the bottom of each email if you change your mind.
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And here I thought it was easier to connect to the actual, ugly face of racism in the music biz. If you like any kind of music more than your average radio listener, you are going to come across all kinds of people who don't look or think like you do and that has always been a major selling point for me. I do appreciate that the larger tribe of us white folks are all finally having to look that sh*t straight in the face but I am beyond depressed that it has taken this effing long for even my more progressive friends to have their come to Jesus moment. After reading Shawn Reynaldo's newsletter, I feel fortunate that as an impressionable youth I had legendary music people there to set me straight about what was what in regards to racism vs simple, down home style bigotry. It was like having Moses throw one of those stone tablets right at my face and the first commandment on it was "You must stare down injustice every single effing day...starting with racism."
ME: "Every day?"
MOSES: "Every goddamn one!"
I never forgot that or what a very sage and controversial fellow once told me when asked who my favorite three jazz players were... Lester Young, Bud Powell, and Charlie Parker came off my tongue without hesitation. "Racism killed every one of those cats", he said. For me, this troika was the living embodiment of the concept of the uber-mensch, they were far greater than normal people by a magnitude of a thousand and they all died tragically young because of the way things are for black people. That has never, ever sat right with me and it's actually changed the way I want to interact with American society, always at as far a distance as possible and ALWAYS holding my nose. As you can surmise, I have few allies and those that are say I am poisoned by my cynicism. It's been a rough few weeks but it's nice to see people feeling the unease I have felt for so long it feels like a family member, you know, the racist one. After living through the LA riots, I adopted the adage of - It's always thoughts and prayers when someone else gets cancer but it becomes a radical awaken when it happens to you.
PS - I still have quite a few old copies of The Bob, I could never throw my old fanzines away, and now I have quite the museum library of them. I really loved the way they loved music, it was inspirational.
Alright, gonna bench the superiority complex now. Unfortunately, I just love talking to hear my own voice - it's both weakness and vice. Thanks for the music & politics, with the music being explicit and the politics implicit. It never feels like you are talking down or finger pointing at anyone and there is way not enough of that right now in the world.