John Henry by Ben Godwin

This is just a short note to say- I’m on my way back. I’m signed up for RPM 2011, which means I’m going to be spending the month of February recording a new album. Nothing like a deadline to get things going. =)

Updates here, there and everywhere, as is the way of the Web these days- facebook page for the bite-sized bits, here for significant announcements, RPM blog for chatty noodly bits and ultimately the Bandcamp site for the finished Thing.

Wish me luck!

You can listen to ShinyShiny, Lighter Than The Atom and Skin And Bone in their entirety. Some tracks are also free to download in 128kpbs MP3 if you so choose – mouse over the ‘Download’ link to find the free ones.

I intend to keep putting my stuff up, as I release it, to stream in full, for free, forever.* As well as the Bandcamp site, I’m looking in to ways to get my stuff into places like Spotify, Pandora, etc. It’s already on last.fm. Expect to see ‘unreleased’ stuff on Bandcamp too. Did I mention you should join Spotify? You should join Spotify.

These recordings can also be bought on pieces of plastic (!) that I have printed, and store in my house (?!) then send halfway around the world (!?!) so that, for more money than you could have them instantly (??) you can have them sent halfway around the world =again= so you can listen to them in a week or so (!??!) Which does, let’s face it, seem like an awful lot of trouble to just listen to some music. (Did I mention that, given that they’re plastic, CDs are an environmental disaster? Damn. Well, at least they’re recyclable.)

(*not counting apocalyptic scenarios, obsolesence of the internet, or me getting signed to one of those fuddy-duddy major labels.)

Bugger.

And yet, hurrah, because now you can make it work even better, if  you just spend one more evening tinkering…

All of which is a long winded way of saying: ‘Skin And Bone’ is now up on Bandcamp‘. Rest of my discs to follow. Listen to everything for free, download a bunch of stuff for free, pay what you want if you want to download the rest, no DRM, and all wrapped up in a tasty Creative Commons license.

Lovely!

Lazlo over at Blow Up has been a huge supporter, and now he’s trying to raise money for a cause dear to his heart- anklyosing spondylitis, (early onset arthritis to you and me.) It’s a great cause, and besides, some of the other acts on the bill are killer! It’s worth a click, a listen, and at least $10 of your cash – even in these meltdown days. You get a free CD with your donation, too =)

(ps for those of you wondering what the hell I’ve been up to- emigrating, moving house, and lately, changing nappies! Don’t worry- more music coming soon.)

I keep on meaning to find the time to explore the site in more depth, but suffice it to say that I’ve been hearing some great music there. And, inevitably, some terrible music. There doesn’t seem to be an exact relationship between the chart positions and the quality, but then again, there isn’t in the iTunes charts either, is there?

It may not be a perfect site yet, but I’m very heartened by the fact that the editorial team actually listened to the tunes. For an independent like me, that’s not something you can take for granted. And it may be the closest I ever get to Bon Iver, and that’s something. =)

Pretty much every other similar site relies on bands and artists asking their mates to go vote for them. So nobody actually ends up listening to any music. Some of them even want you to get your fans to send text messages at 50 cents each… leading to the awkward spectacle of musicians buying dozens of pay-as-you-go SIM cards and setting up impromptu phone banks with ALL TEN of their fans, and spending hundreds of bucks/quid on trying to win.

Fortunately, Ourstage doesn’t require any of that ludicrous crap. You go to the site. You listen to randomly selected tunes from the genre of your choice and you rank them. Since the songs are randomly selected, you can’t ask your mates to vote for you. And rather than text messages, they rely on the idea that once in a while you’ll hear something you absolutely love, and you’ll go buy it. So no cheating!

So- I’m NOT asking you to vote for me. But do point your browser at Ourstage and find some great new music. (Although, if you wanted to leave a comment on my Ourstage page, it would help me look more like a rock star.)