New Year no surprises?

If you already know about my rating system then skip on down to the next header, otherwise here's the lowdown.

The rating system
The rating system I use for this blog is somewhat unique. It's not a reflection of how much I like the music itself as much as it is of how far I am along the process of conversion from consumer to fan. So, over time you may well see some of these ratings go up if I mention an artist again. And indeed go down, as musical changes of direction or failure to keep my interest are just some of the reasons that may affect a rating.


Congratulations, you've made a temporary blip of interest on my radar. Now how are you going to keep it?


I've seen enough of you to recognise and remember you, but I'm undecided so I'm not really following you (yet). I may make a spur of the moment decision to check in on what you're up to once in a while, but even that's no guarantee. May also apply to artists I am aware of, but whose music I've decided I don't have enough interest in to want to pursue further based on what I've heard.


I'm liking what I hear in general, but I still wouldn't describe myself as a fan. I will be wandering past your site occasionally, and there is something like a 50% chance I'll be buying your next offering once I find out about it, providing I have the money available.


Now I am a fan, so the chances are I'll be past your site once every month or two at least. There's a 90%+ chance your next offering is already sold, and occasionally I might even be going for something more than the basic package (if you have one)


Reserved for very few, this is about as close to internet stalker as you can get. I am actively watching because I do not want to miss your next release date, tour in my area etc. etc. You may not always be aware of the fact I'm looking over your shoulder to see what you're up to, but trust me, I'm there on a weekly if not more like a daily basis. Depending on how you tend to release your information, I may well be signed to your mailing list as well.

Who I've been looking at
Firstly as a quick update from my review of the year post, it's probably going to come as no surprise that the Skitzo Calypso album "Ghosts" has arrived safe and sound. And in fact a few days earlier than I was expecting it. Meantime I'm still waiting for my Natalia Safran album, even though the email exchange with Sellaband about the situation (and other subjects) continued after my review of the year post was written. Indeed it will soon be another month since she last logged into Sellaband and more complaints have started appearing on her wall in that time. And enough said by my last post on what I'm thinking at the moment as a result of these events.

As for the Skitzo Calypso album, interestingly although I like it nothing has leapt out and grabbed me above any other track as a must-listen. The tracks come across as too similar rather than having the variety (and hence interest) that Brad's solo project album ("The Day The Devil Fooled The World") did. Rather I think the better (and more memorable) tracks are the ones up for free download. Even though it's well known I'm not a fan of rap, my pick of the bunch is therefore "Ready or Not" - the song you'd probably be least expecting me to choose of the eight available (5 on the EP + 3 free).

Into the Night are in the process of changing their name etc. to Howling Dollhouse. So the album I posted as expecting this year is going to be released under their new name. They already have a new website and a new video for the first single from the album which you can view from the Howling Dollhouse link I just gave you.

Don't know whether he read my last blog post, but it looks like Matthew Ebel is finally getting himself organised with regard to sending out things overdue from last year, causing me to once again relax and stop doubting my sanity for now. Looks like I'll be able to expect this in the first half of March, given the travel time for post and the fact that the album part of "The Lives of Dexter Peterson" is expected to be mastered and have all its artwork ready by the end of February - once again it makes much more sense to send everything together at this point.

I also now have an album title for the new Poets of the Fall album due this year. The album is called "Temple of Thought" and the first single from it "Cradled in Love" has already been played on radio in Finland. Of course this also meant within a couple of hours it had already been uploaded to Youtube, despite the fact it wasn't even available to buy at the time. Unusually this isn't an up-tempo track (as might be expected from the first release off an album) and might therefore explain why a different single is being released in Germany. Whilst I don't generally link to unofficial uploads, I've got a particular reason for doing so this time. So go listen to the full song here and then give your ears a real treat by listening to the full quality clips posted on the artist's own site. Like many in this day and age, I'm often guilty of listening to mp3s for convenience and portability, but it's nice to be reminded of one of the reasons I still buy CDs in the first place, given what can happen to track quality in some cases. And at the same time there has also been a reminder of the dilemma fans face in the form of this post. Just as artists seemingly face the "chicken and egg" situation of not being able to get their music on the radio or tour until they have enough fans in a country, so there is also the problem from the fan side of how to convince others to listen to an artist (and hopefully eventually convert into fans) when their music isn't being played on the radio and they're not touring there either. Hence one of the reasons people turn to illegal means in the first place, even though a lot of artists seem to be under the impression sharing is actually hurting their sales despite the fact those who like what they hear will often buy it later. People don't buy music they haven't heard unless they are already reasonably big fans of the artist that created it, yet there are still way too many roadblocks out there stopping music getting to potential listeners without them resorting to methods considered illegal, given music should be considered a global market.

So onto the new stuff and as usual we're at the time of year where I go looking around at some of the artists I haven't been near in a while to see what they're up to, rather than actively looking for new music. However that doesn't stop new music from finding me, and it's been interesting to spot that I am starting to get the odd artist follow me on Twitter, seemingly appearing from nowhere. Unfortunately I haven't picked up anything that has grabbed my attention sufficiently to warrant a follow back (at least at this point), and as can probably be expected the follows have therefore tended to be temporary as a result. Most interesting so far has been Bridge Construction, who sounded like they ought to be something I'd have fairly high interest in listening to from the description in their biography, but have turned out to be a pretty disappointing take-it-or-leave-it based on the tracks I've heard so far.

As for those I've been to visit so far, it feels like I'm pretty much suffering the curse of the dead due to unclear, outdated or just plain old hard to find information presented to those dropping by rather than actively following. Three examples of such artist websites follow.

It's been rather a long time since I stopped off at Mandyleigh's page and it's unclear whether the most recent post on her blog is a couple of weeks old or more like a year old as a result. What does seem to be certain is that family has been taking up a lot of her time since I was last there and the music has been forced into taking a back seat as a result. Indeed the fundraising she started on her own site for a second album back in 2010 looks like it didn't really go anywhere either and there's seemingly no new music available since she recorded her Sellaband album. Whatever she's currently up to, I wish her well, but it doesn't look like anything much is (or will be) happening musically any time soon.

I've also wandered past Lily's site, but the obvious information on it appears to be about a year out of date, as the "February 8th single release date" shown on the homepage appears to apply to last year. She does appear to be active on Twitter though, so will be seeing what further info I can get from there as she always used to be a pretty friendly and fast responder before.

Bulletproof Messenger's site pretty much continues to annoy me. I find I get much more useful info a lot easier from anywhere but their own website. I really like these guys and their music hence why I'm signed to their mailing list, but it never ceases to amaze me how poor their website seems at introducing them and their music to anyone hearing them for the first time who will have dropped by to find out more. When you get more from Youtube and even from Twitter than from an artist's own site, it's quite clear they're really not making best use of their potential.

One other place I've been was to visit Grooveduke's site to find out how he was getting on with the cancer battle. Seems he is still holding off on getting the transplant operation done and started looking for a management team at the end of last year to try and get some progress towards getting a new album funded. Looks like the one he attempted (and failed) to get made on Sellaband did indeed get finished. It's called "Heavy Mariner" and whilst I have to admit I never really got into his music, I quite like the rather distinctive album art he had made for this (of which there appears to be more in a similar style elsewhere on his site). There hasn't been any update to his blog in January though, so I can only hope his latest trip to hospital has gone well.

The websites I've been looking at
Netvalar who I first met on Sellaband has resurfaced on the music scene after being pretty much absent for a while now. It looks like he's reopening his music research, but has dropped the Netvalar name and slightly bizarrely has me listed as one of his mentors, despite the fact I only scrambled out the consumer pile and started looking at music and crowdfunding as a result of discovering Sellaband. So it's a little strange to feel someone considers me a mentor when I've spent all the time we've been interacting in learning from scratch myself. A process which is still ongoing, but for which I really ought to publish a "what I've learnt so far" type post soon, listing the conclusions I've reached to date. Five years has caused me to contemplate some interesting stuff, after all.

I've also started a little more training of my station on Last FM. So far I'm up to just over 500 artists covering about 3000 plays, though the first couple of pages are now getting pretty representative of who I'm listening to most at this point in time, whilst being not necessarily so accurate of who I've listened to most if the past were properly taken into account too.

That's pretty much all I've got for you at the moment. Recovering from Christmas/New Year and getting January with all its birthdays (including a major one of my own this year) and wedding anniversaries out the way always tends to take up a lot of time (yet another reason for me not looking for that much in the way of new music at this time of year), so hopefully I'll be finding some more interesting info and sites for you soon.