HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME
A reflection on producing music & accepting that even those closest to you are all but incapable of listening.
I turned 31 yesterday.
Soon, I'll be releasing another album. This will be my 12th EP/album release available on major streaming platforms, dating back to 2017. Before that, I was publishing my music in other spaces, mainly on YouTube and SoundCloud.
Between my music as LAE:// and the other projects I've produced, my unspoken goal to put out 30 independent releases by the time I was 30 years old, and when I count up all those album covers I designed, I find that I overshot, and hit that '30' marker a couple miles back.
Note: This doesn't translate into anything resembling commercial success. I'm just proud of myself.
But you know, I'm ok with that. Because if I was doing any of this for money, I would have phoned it in a lot earlier. And I know there are many other artists who feel the same in this regard. We will continue to make the work anyway, for us. If others can enjoy it, well that's just a bonus.
People have become so obsessed with the idea of 'good content'. Or should I say, content that can be monetized? There's not as much of a need for thought or introspection or commentary in creative work anymore, just so long as it fits with the agendas of the algorithms, gets impressions, and looks good in its container.
That's right, content is for containers.
Identity is a weird thing, man. But for the love of God, please don't call me a content creator, ever. I knew a kid once who used to pee in Whataburger cups, he was a content creator. Just filling up those containers, day after day.
So that's my take. Content creation is a real, quality cheap-shot to actual artists & even generally creative types. To solely take advantage of an algorithm or a trend is not creative, it's capitalist. And that's fine, but don't lie to yourself, because WE, are not the same. Whatever side of that fence you fall on, YOU, know who you are.
This has got to be the worst way to announce an album, ever.
To reiterate: I don't care if you listen to this record, or any of my other ones for that matter. But I would implore you all out there to at least consider the following:
(this part will only take you 10-15 seconds)
How much time do you scroll... scanning, reading, bingeing, all but meaningless CONTENT? The memes, the shorts, the dances, the porn, whatever... all created by content creators and influencers who you will likely never know, and who are even less likely to know you. They just want your money, but in a much more sinister sense, your brain, and your time.
Note: I'm far from innocent, and I'm the first to admit being a junky for this BS.
Now, how much time do you give to looking at art, or watching people engage in an art form? Especially the works of those close to you?
Art and music will make your life better and more rich, unlike financial gurus and other types of clowns on the internet.
We are all but forced into this never-ending hike through the content landfill, digging through piles of consumerist trash, instead of the deeper thought and introspection we used to more commonly practice. I think art (and art forms) had significantly more power to compel us into doing the latter. And I will admit, before being accused of being too dramatic, that landfills contain some cool treasures sometimes, but it's mostly just a shit mountain.
So, I'm not asking for your support, not even your ears really. But Jesucristo, take a goddamn break from sifting through all that content trash and take at least a minuscule percentage of that time to give someone you care about's art a consideration, a real view, a serious listen. It's easier than you think, that's for sure.
I don't know what my exact screen time between YouTube & Instagram was yesterday, but I imagine is was somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour plus.
My new album is less than 20 minutes long, for perspective.
I will add a link here when it goes live.