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Today marks ten total Underground Binder-Clip Society Newsletters! Wow. And I’ve written a number of other little ramblings along the way. Thanks for tagging along and supporting my art and words.
My screen time is down overall as of recently, but I have still been on Instagram a fair amount. I am grateful for my time in the car recently with my thoughts, my CDs, and the Radio. I’ve also gone to a couple of shows lately without any phone at all. Although my flip phone hasn’t effectively cut down my Instagram usage, I stumbled upon the artist “Half-Handed-Cloud.” I saw his post about a compilation Christmas tape called “The Seasons Glreekins” that he was a part of back in 1998. Composed of 4-track cassette recordings of Chattanooga, TN bands. Let me re-iterate. This was in 1998. His other recordings are great too. And he still releases music. (I’m adding him to my index of lifelong music-makers, as I’ve previously mentioned in these posts.) His Bandcamp bio states, “Tiny, spirited, scrappy investments in melody & arrangement -- homemade pocket-symphony pop sound collage.” I love that.
All of this, paired with the garbage I mentioned last week about Spotify continuing to cut the Achilles of small artists, is leading me down a road of further interest in buying physical music. And distributing it. I bought a 5-disc CD duplicator this week on eBay. It hasn’t arrived yet, but I persisted in using my single-disc burner to make CD copies of my record “Medicine Songs” that I put out last February. I cooked chili and had friends over this weekend and gave away copies. I am going to begin using my good old label namesake Holy Moly Records to distribute more CDs and tapes in 2024. Maybe even some vinyl if I can make it make sense money-wise.
Streaming just isn’t making me psyched about music and art like it did when I was a kid in high school buying tapes, and finding artists through YouTube. I miss making real investments in my peers and my idol’s music. I want to have that back and encourage others to have it for the first time. Involvement in and exploration of your local scene, far away scenes, and their surrounding scenes. An “art tithe,” if you will.
I’ve been discouraged by the lack of quality and the excess of music that is dished to me algorithmically and otherwise in my last 4 years in Nashville. But I am realizing that the “good stuff” is all still out there. If I would just get myself to look for it again, and not solely listen to what I’m working on (although I do love a lot of what I’m doing for myself and my clients!)
I’ve been ENCOURAGED by more and more little labels popping up that distribute tapes and other physicals before they are available digitally! This puts real whole dollars back into the pockets of artists. And is mysterious and stirs the pot. It adds to some great word-of-mouth publicity. It requires involvement, investment, and fandom. Which in turn curates community. I’m here for all of that, if you can’t tell.
Anyways, lean into your local scene, and maybe gift someone a record this Christmas. I’ll leave some Recommendations below in the quick clips if there is any room left for that today. Ha. Thanks for tuning in.
Here are a few “Quick Clips” because I’ve already talked at you a lot today:
* The aforementioned “The Seasons Glreekins.” Christmas Tape from 1998as pointed out by Half-Handed Cloud.
* Scott McMicken of Dr. Dog runs “Press On Records.” A tape label that seems nothing short of true DIY glory and righteousness.
* “Half-Handed Clouded” is music by John Ringhofer.He does what he wants. And he has been since the late 90s. And that has been encouraging me. As I said earlier, he calls it “Tiny, spirited, scrappy investments in melody & arrangement-- homemade pocket-symphony pop sound collage.” Also DIY glory and righteousness of a slightly more Christian variety.
* “Everything is Free Now” - Gillian Welch. This song seemed fitting to mention alongside all my physical copy media vs. streaming talk.
* I am fascinated by Silver Jews (band) and the late David Berman (frontman) right now. Apparently, he lived in Nashville from 1999 until his death in 2019. The final Silver Jews show was at The Cumberland Caverns, here outside of Nashville. He once said, "We're gonna live in Nashville and I'll make a career/ Out of writing sad songs and getting paid by the tear." Sheesh.
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Yours Truly,
Jake Smith
