Author: Carl

Dreamer in an office – first song up

I have postponed shipping my music for a long time. The excuses have been of the regular kind. It’s not ready yet, it’s not good enough, I’m not feeling it anymore. Big plans of albums and EP:s have resulted in nothing. So, I figured. Let’s do it song by song. Ship often and compile once there is a body of work. Let’s just get over the threshold.

I have many songs ready to record, and many half-finished projects in my files. So now my idea is to just keep finishing them. It would feel great if I could release one song every two weeks. A year of 26 songs would be something!

Last night, I uploaded my first song onto DistroKid for distribution on all major streaming services. It’s not perfect, it’s mixed in the box, and Bob Ludwig had nothing to do with the mastering. But it feels great that it’s there. It’s nothing spectacular, nothing grand. But I think there’s something human and sweet.

(For some reason, I fell for the temptation of setting a on week later release date. So, here it is on Soundcloud:)

Rebels make squares rounder

Two weeks ago, Valborg, a big spring celebration in Sweden took place on April 30th. Valborg is also the name of a song by Håkan Hellström Sweden’s and Gothenburg’s biggest rockstar. So, it wasn’t without logic that said artist would do a surprise performance in the Azalea valley of local park Slottsskogen on that particular night.

Unannounced they drove a big truck with a trailer as a mobile stage into the park. Played a few songs until the police had them leave for not having a permit.

Most people like surprises like that, even those who wear uniforms. It’s however not the job of the police department to like surprises, so apparently it’s now a crime investigation. And as a result people are complaining about the police. Which is unfair, since what job does the police have but making sure everyone plays by the rules.

What I find interesting is to see how often the things that make a society and city feel human is about someone breaking the rules. Street art. Food trucks without permits. Buskers. Skateboarding. 

The city comes alive from creative mischief, people breaking rules. I wonder if maybe it’s good that not everything is allowed. Because if it was, what would be the point.

Three tools in creative work

Taste, interest and intuition are powerful tools in creative work. They drive our decision-making as we create. Of course, there might be more tools, if I can think of any more I might return to this.

When I think about it, taste might be the compass that takes us home. Interest is the wanderlust, that make us leave the usual path and head out into new terrain. Intuition, well, it might be the feeling that something great is just around the corner if we just put in that extra effort.

Taste is a kind of reflex. It can be a great strength, but it can also make us repeat ourselves. I remember listening to Rick Rubin talking to Brian Eno, who told the story of a period when he was tired of his own taste. 

The importance of getting lost is a recurring thought that I might have written about before. There are a lot of ways to get lost on purpose. Abitrary constraints such as not being allowed to use your favourite tools could be one strategy. 

A creative prompt could be another. And as a guitar player I have the opportunity of tuning my strings to an alternate tuning. When no position or grip on the fretboard sounds like home, you have no choice but to try to find your way back. Trying out strange chords and slowly finding parts that fit together.

I think this is taste at work. Presented with this sonic mess, we start trying to get it homely again. Finding something to play that sounds neat and tidy, comprehensible – music that makes sense.

Interest and exploration might be the reflex that comes before the retuning. A kind of restlessness with the same old. A desire to challenge our routines, our current skill-set, a longing and a realization that there’s got to be more than this.

And last intuition. What about it? Maybe we can see it as some kind of trust? Having a hunch and trusting the process. Accepting that we can’t control or know everything, but finding the courage to go out on a limb, to try something new – because it might work!

And when it doesn’t. We’ll try again, in some other way.

Critical projection bias

I’ve heard the following: In a political context with two sides, in which we root strongly in favour of one, it is common that we associate our own side with the the charachters we admire the most. Whereas we see the other side represented by their worst examples.

We are biased, we exaggerate our likes and dislikes and turn reality into more black and white than it really is. The good vs The bad. We are more likely to forgive the rotten apples in our own bunch, whereas bad behaviour from the other side is just to be expected.

I’ve forgotten where I read it. So don’t trust me. But I think it’s quite common. Most likely it’s one on the long list of cognitive biases that make us more foolish than we need to be. I should read up on this, but I haven’t yet.

I’m thinking there might be a parallel here when we bring our art to an audience. We experience fear. Fear of being criticized. And yes, we might be. But, the problem is that we project the negative criticism of a single voice onto a whole crowd – and make that rotten apple a representative for the whole.

Criticism and ridicule stings. Many artists have testified about how negative remarks seem to take over. If they are praised by 99 and critized by 1. It will still be the 1 single critical voice that speaks in their heads.

Projection apparently is a big problem for many. Having a name for it might be a good start for learning how to deal with it.

Being wrong could be the right thing

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

Mark Twain seems to have said or written a lot of cool lines, but apparently the quote above is from the psychologist Abraham Maslow. It’s an amusing quote and it isn’t that rare that you get to experience people showing it to be true.

Physical tools aside, I think it’s interesting to consider our thinking as a toolset. In today’s world of gurus there’s no shortage of intelligent people who have arrived at a number of clever and reasonable conclusions. Reading their blogs can be educating, but you might also see patterns emerge. To serve their teaching they are busy finding examples in the world that prove them right. Telling parables, analogies and anechdotes. Just like Jesus did and Aesop with his fables about animals.

That’s not a bad thing. But there’s a different quote that I’m very fond of, attributed to different people according to Quote investigator. I’ll settle for Bertrand Russell: “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.“

Since I started blogging again, I’ve been employing a method which was suggested to me. “To look at a thing and ask yourself, if I was to blog about this what would I write?”

It’s a great way to inspire creativity, pattern recognition, to come up with analogies and metaphors. What I wonder is, what if I just go around using objects and peoples like mirrors. Looking for self-validation and proof of my beliefs? Maybe this method of blogging teachers could be challenged somehow.

From an intellectual perspective, wouldn’t it be more interesting and admirable to look for things that could challenge your world-view? A method that would rhyme more with Karl Popper’s idea of striving for the falsification of your hypothesis.

Put simply, that the job for anyone seeking knowledge is to try to prove yourself wrong. Rather than to prove yourself right.

Swallowing a fly

I went for a run the other day. And sure enough, some kind of insect flew into my mouth. Or rather into my throat. It was as dis-pleasant as it was disgusting. I tried to cough, tried to throw up. Spitting for all I was worth. A moment later I was back into rhythm running. Not really knowing where the fly had gone. What was I to do? I ran on feeling dirty.

Naturally, I realized I must have swallowed some metaphor. Thinking about it, the fly in my throat seemed like an analogy to getting a bad review. You can’t protect yourself against it, neither can you let it stop you, nor can you let the fear of it make you decide not to do your art. If you’re on a mission, have a set goal, your job is to keep on going.

Spit out what you can and swallow the rest. What doesn’t kill you is protein.

5ive 4our

Every improvisation needs to start somewhere. And more often than not the trick is just to get started. There’s nothing to plan. Time will tell where you end up. If it’s any good the end destination might surprise you. After all, you wouldn’t be exploring if you end up in the same spot, with the same result as last time.

The power of prompts is an example of this. You just let any arbitrary starting point be the fuse to send you off. Somehow, I got it all wrong I figured that prompts were for beginners, for students. I’ve later realized that skilled writers and poets might use prompts too, just to get started.

Disquiet Junto is a weekly musical prompt that takes you out of the comfort zone very fast. I do these from time to time. Not because my end result is fantastic, it never is. But quite often, it turns out to be interesting. Because I wouldn’t go there on my own.

Yesterday was the deadline for Disquiet 0540.

Disquiet Junto Project 0540: 5ive 4our

The Assignment: Take back 5/4 for Jedi time masters Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond

Step 1: The day before this project began was May 4, which has been claimed by a fantasy from a galaxy far far away. Prepare to reclaim the day for the late jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and saxophonist Paul Desmond.

Step 2: Now, in honor of Dave Brubeck’s classic recording of the Paul Desmond composition “Take Five,” record something original in 5/4 time.

This is what I did:
Playing music in 5/4 is definitely outside the comfort zone of my musicianship. I started with programming a simple drum beat. Then I generated some electric piano. Added some chords on top, a bass synth playing long notes and an 808 drum machine playing hihat-patterns. I tried a while to solo on guitar over it all, but it sounded like crap. All in all, it was an hour of fun.

Here’s what I ended up with:
https://soundcloud.com/janglesoul/disquiet0540-jangle?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The importance of letting go

My kids are growing. With every year the leash gets a little bit longer. Staying out in the evenings, going into the city on their own. Step by step, after sharing all our advice, we have no choice but to put our trust in their ability to make sound judgement.

Releasing art into the world is not without similarities. It’s scary. Which is why I have postponed it for a long time. Hiding in preparation, in exploring new ideas. Trying to make something that is more clever, more impressive. More bulletproof from criticism or ridicule.

Which it never will be. I have finally come to the conclusion that if ever anybody is going to take my music to heart it’s more likely it will be because of its vulnerability and imperfection rather than my ability to impress – which I frankly don’t put my hope into.

In a week or so, I will put my first track up on all streaming platforms. Not just on Soundcloud, which I’ve found is a good place to hide. It won’t be my best or biggest tune, not the most clever lyric. But it will be good enough to ship. I don’t have any hopes of it achieving anything more than getting me over the threshold of shipping. Once, it’s out there. I can start shipping more – continually.

It will feel good to see that song take the bus into town on a Friday night. All on its own. It’s only scary if we want it to be.

Bigger art with a smaller palette?

Winsor & Newton aquarelles are available in 79 different single-pigment colours. That’s a lot more than a normal aquarell box can hold. In my aquarelle-beginners book it’s recommended you start with no more than five.

After all, aquarelles can be dilluted and blended in thin layers. And just a few colours will allow for a multitude of hues. 

Painting with audio is no different. There’s an infinite amount of instruments, effect pedals, outboard gear, and plug-ins available to take your sounds and songs in any direction. But if you settle with a limited palette there’s a lot to be won. 

Less time wasted on deciding what to use, increased skills on your selected tools and last but not least a distinct, idiosyncratic sound that comes from your particular combination of sounds. Allowing a collection of songs to share a mood, tone, flavour – giving your EP or album a sound all its own.

Seth Godin had a blog-post on this some years ago called Leave stones unturned. Because infinity of choice is a trap.

Incremental change

If I went around town with my phone photographing the streets I probably wouldn’t end up with street photography like Henri Cartier-Bresson. Since I’m not much of a photographer the pictures would likely be bland. Not saying anything in particular. Failing to fascinate us today because they depict normality.

But over time those bland pictures would would become interesting, telling a story of a time gone by. Their value would increase as a result of incremental changes. Because the city will change. Store fronts will be redesigned, new restaurants will open, buildings will be torn down and built up, people on the street will change with the fashion.

I think there’s a parallell here to other creative work. Things we write, play, paint, our failed attempts. In the moment of creation we might think they suck. But sometimes when I return to failed experiments and quick sketches a year later – some might surprise me by being better than I recalled.

The pieces haven’t changed. Distance and detachment have made me receptive in a new way. Because I’m new. I have changed incrementally too.