Go Fund Me

I'm going to take a break from my normal writing about music to post something that is extremely important. I have set up a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money to keep me from losing my home. I don't know how many regular readers I have on this blog, but if any of my tabs or videos have been helpful or entertaining to you I would ask you to consider making a donation to my Go Fund Me link below. And perhaps even share the page with others. Clicking on the link will open a new page. Thank you!

Submit 'Milestone' For Review?

I really want to get working on my next album. And I would really like to have it done this year. At the rate I've been going the last decade or so I would think that is impossible. But a 'new' band I just discovered said they recorded their latest great record in 3 days. Of course they are a 4 piece band which makes things easier. And their album is over 60 minutes long. I know I can do it but it will require extreme dedication.

I want my next album to be great in every aspect that matters to me. What that means is that I want solid musicianship, really good vocals, lyrics that are at least somewhat meaningful, relatively simple productions and great mixing. While I do feel accomplished at having released "Milestone," the songs on there were recorded over a period of 12 years. I grew and learned a lot during that time. Some of the songs on there will always be personal favorites of mine. But others were lacking in some way or another. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to my music but I am limited by certain things.

I have considered several times sending in "Milestone" for review on websites that accept artist submissions. But I almost know what they will say. The musicianship is solid in my opinion. Some of the older songs had some recording issues which I could not fix without re-recording. However my biggest concern is the vocals. I'm not a good singer and some of the songs have flat vocals in spots. Perhaps to the average ear they may go unnoticed. But I'm confident that reviewers will not miss that. Thus while I'm curious to read some reviews of the album I also want to spare myself the outside criticism of what I am already highly critical of myself. It's not that I cannot handle it. It's more of a matter where they may decide to focus so much attention to that issue that the rest of the product will go largely unnoticed. Of course, they may dislike the music as well. They may conclude that the album does not flow well and that there are too many styles on it. They may deem it uninteresting. If they're going to say that the songs are badly produced and poorly vocalized, I will not completely disagree. I already have my reservations about those things so I do not need to hear that. The next project will be improved in those areas. Hopefully they will realize this was not created in a state of the art studio. But I would like more focus to be directed towards the musicianship, the arrangements, the lyrics. I want to hear who they think the music reminds them of. I guess I'm seeking more of a focus on the creativity versus the technical aspects.

So I don't know. I'm already overly critical of my material. I don't need to hear more criticism. I'd like to focus on the positives. Again, I'm not afraid of criticism. I'd rather not read anything that may discourage me. There's plenty of that going 'round already. Of course, there's no guarantee anyone would ever get to doing a review of my album anyway. Just something to think about.