Share the love!

Yes it’s an advert! One of our friends has gone solo into the blogosphere! Her site has a bit of music, and lots of other stuff. Share the love people.

http://allthingsrepeated.blogspot.com/

you’ll have to copy and paste sorry people.

A late October muse in November

A lot of time has been spent by DMY exploring the interweb, revealing its multitude of ‘promotion opportunities’…and folks, the bulk of it is bullshit pure and simple. Here are some thoughts for you.

1) a friend is actually a friend…that is, someone with whom you have something in common and someone you like talking to. You don’t abandon MySpace friends for FaceBook friends just because facebook is now ‘Hip”

2) Success in music marketing will happen when someone likes your music and is able to do something about it for your mutual benefit.Thats it.

3) question everything! example;The Album Is Dead-this is only true if you make an album as a collection of single tunes. Baroque or Classical composers often wrote pieces that had a relationship with each other-whether movements in a symphony, or parts of a suite, or an opera.This meant that while you could enjoy individual pieces, there is also pleasure in experiencing them in context and enjoying the relationship of one to the other.

4) you can’t polish a turd. this is the number one concept in musical composition, or perhaps in any creative endeavour. It really wont matter what your EPK looks like if your stuff dont deliver.

5) ultimately, the music you make HAS to please one person-you.If you dont like it, or if it is not true to your vision, then you are polishing a turd.

All hail the Troncast!

All hail the Troncast! say no more!

music from the mighty Tron

thats the link.

Bands are a waste of time

One of the central DateMonthYear operating prinicples is that it is “not a band” which perhaps might deserve a bit of explaining.
The first idea is about the death of “the band” in modern music. This first became apparent with the advent of reality TV “bands” made up of faces who were competent enough singers to deliver the goods, but not experienced enough professionals to question where the money was . Older types everywhere could be heard gasping “…thats not a BAND, a BAND has real musicians playing real music…etc”. When you scratch the surface, what those purists were expecting from a “band” was a self contained musical unit based on the 60s models, 3-5 men (usually), gifted musicans/songwriters, good looking, anti-establishment…the list goes one and on, and becomes quite a narrow set of constraints. What the pop idol bands did was pretty much explode a myth- anyone could be a “band” simply by virtue of saying that you are, and plainly the whole concept is of most comfort to the industry that built up around it.Look at the example of Ian Stewart, who played piano for the Rolling Stones from the very beginning, but was never in any “band” photos, covers, etc because management deemed him unworthy of the status of “band member”.
A second point has to do with musical input. And we come to the sad case of Lol Tolhurst of The Cure who ended up being sacked because of incompetance but was legally able to go down fighting by claiming his member ship to the band entitiled him to all sorts of things (he did lose the case, though). the point is this, though- why would you want someone around who is not making a worthwhile contibution? why should that person be legally entitled to fight for his or her status when their musical contribution is not valuable? Consider the also tragic case of the Smiths, who never (it would seem) formalised their band agreements and ended up in court suing each other for royalties. In both these cases ( and, no doubt many others) the constraints of being ‘in the band’ backfired quite badly.
DateMonthYear presents an alternative arrangement. People are invited to make a contribution, and the level of conribution decrees their level of committment and financial return. Plainly, the best income a musican can make is as a songwriter, and so for DateMonthYear, level of contributrion determines a cut in songwriting. This is a flexible process arrived at by open negotiation and works very well indeed, provided all concerned communicate clearly.
What this means is that DateMonthYear’s sound can develop, expand or contract depending on those contributing. the effect is that the music can end up being full of surprises. Witness the style shift from the versions of Ghost5 and Ghost6 on 7Ghosts to their alternives on theGreatDateMonthYearGuitaRemixChallenge

More visual stimuli

The second installment in the visual aspect of DateMonthYear is an attempt at a more conventional “music video”. In this case two songs from the Pot/kettle/Black were selected to be performed live and recorded both as a video and a live recording.The basic premise was to rehearse, perform and film two songs live and try and avoid as many contemporary ‘tricks of the trade’ as possible.
  The personnel for this project were known collectively as the “DateMonthYear Black Team” in accordance with DMY operating principals, and consisted of the DMY Central Committee of Influence plus Jeremy Mayall (keyboards), Adrian Laird (Bass), Emma Koretz and Simon Hirst (Guitar and vocals). Live sound and recording was by Daniel Howard and video direction and camera work was by Darren of Rindiman productions.

 Essentially, the band set up, played each song six times and that was it. The best recorded takes were produced by Daniel Howard and Trevor Faville, and each song is a complete take, which was the original plan – to capture a band playing the songs live.

The result was satisfying for a number of reasons- the successful rehearsing and recording of the live band, good quality visuals, and entirely self funded with no need for handouts from NZonAir who have previously decided that DateMonthYear’s sound was not “commercial enough” to deserve funding.

DateMonthYear Light

DMY light is method of operating live using minimal personnel and/or in a setting that demands specific, low volume work. Often existing DMY material is adapted, as in the case of the acoustic live to air session on the Backbeat FM in 2005, or new material is written specifically, as in the music provided for Kinetic theatre’s production of the play “La Ronde” in 2006.
In maintaining flexibilty and as a revenue gathering exercise, DMY light has from time to time functioned as a covers unit, performing at end of year functions and fund raisers.

Visual Stimuli

A new part of DateMonthYear’s way of doing things. One way of avoiding the traditional music video route is to offer tracks to film-makers, and give them complete artistic control of there own interperatation. In this way, the visual artist becomes “part of the band” in a real sense. DMY’s YouTube channel is now up and you can view Craig Johnson’s vision of Prelude from the 7Ghosts CD.

Pot/Kettle/Black

Pot/Kettle/Black

After a protracted wait, and a not inconsiderable amount of drama,this fourth album from “Anti band” DateMonthYear has been released.
Spokesman Faville who is CEO of DateMonthYear, and convenor of the central committee of influence, is sticking resolutely to his contention that DMY is “not a band” and alludes to the contribution of the other central committe members Grant Blackler and Shaye Simpson as ” a way of doing things”.
The CD is over one hour long- a double album in another era- and loosely fits into that lost 70s idea of the concept album, dealing with the pressures and issues of the everyday life of the early 21st century western citizen- work, stress, traffic, mortgage and all the rest. An early rejected title was “the drama of the mundane”
Certainly the open ended approach has meant for a great deal of input from non-committee members, such as Saxophonist Kushal Talele, Oboist Jenny Johnson, and vocalist Emma Koretz.
Key contributions also came from Bass player Jeremy Graham, who made a huge contribution to the Cds middle and end stages, and co-producer Dan Howard.
The music also embraces an eclectic nature from the 13 minute opening epic “30Something” through the country-tinged “Awake” and the pop of “P.S.1.2″.
Pot/Kettle/Black will be available internationally though CDbaby and through itunes.

DateMonthYear is….?

DateMonthYear is not a band

DateMonthYear is way of making music in the early 21st century