How many albums are you working on?

[realsurreal]

I don't know why I do this, maybe it's because I love to keep things fresh, but I'm working on 5 albums just started on the new one tonight.

They are all different genres. I work on them but I have not finished one yet but somehow I slowly keep adding them.

I more or less feel like I'm defeating myself by taking on so may different paths but I just can't help it I have to write different things to keep from getting burnt out on one sound.

So yeah how many albums are you working on and how does it affect you're productivity??

[PLacidBasilisk]

I don't really think in terms of albums. I think maybe one day when I have a bunch of material that might fit on an album I will be tempted to put it together, but until then it's songs ahoy!

[Angstrom]

yes, me too - I'm working on several, or at least - I've realised that many of my songs don't work with the others as a group.

one is similar to my previous one, but more so.
one is guitar music vaguely related to something like the cramps, mixed with some other sleazy stuff
one (or more) is 'film soundtrack' type stuff, in the mold of Lalo Schiffrin
one is 'ambient'

The concept of 'albums' is a little bit dead these days, but I do have to consider how to 'brand' them to avoid confusion, to avoid people saying :"I thought this guy did ambient, but this track is all surf guitars and horns!"

I'm fine with having so much music sat around as it enables me to collide them together if necessary, also to plan how to use them. I have an order in which to finish them, and that's OK - sadly it's non-music stuff which is slowing everything down right now.

[sporkles]

Just one - the same one I've been working on since forever. My problem has been that for every
track I've finished, I've made another track "obsolete", in the sense that I've improved my
production skeeelz in the course of constructing the new track.

Also, I can never completely call a track finished - I always have to go back and do some minor
tweaks, so it's all a painstakingly slow process. The good news for is that I've got all the
tracks more or less laid out and sequenced, so it's mostly a matter of tweaking - the biggest
challenge for me is actually getting it laid out properly in Arrangement.

Curious, though: what is an "album" nowadays? Still limited to 80 minutes, or is it simply a
collection of tracks that the creator intends to be listened to in context?

[realsurreal]

The concept of 'albums' is a little bit dead these days, but I do have to consider how to 'brand' them to avoid confusion, to avoid people saying :"I thought this guy did ambient, but this track is all surf guitars and horns!"

Curious, though: what is an "album" nowadays? Still limited to 80 minutes, or is it simply a
collection of tracks that the creator intends to be listened to in context?

I really mean to speak more in the sense of genres or projects, but Im not much of a singles person myself not to say I don't like them. I love and prefer a full collection of songs written at certain time by an artist. I want the full album from an artist and I always listen beginning to end. It's a journey too me and I love it.

I've realised that many of my songs don't work with the others as a group.

Same thing here as well but I personally aim more or less towards an album.

So as to not pigeon hole the topic, maybe projects is the proper term verses album. you pick!

[mholloway]

i think it's the product of simple creative short attention span. I'm working on two albums, but only because that way I can bounce back and forth between them whenever I feel tired/bored/worn out on one of them. they are totally different genres, so it works.

-M

[sporkles]

I really mean to speak more in the sense of genres or projects, but Im not much of a singles person myself not to say I don't like them. I love and prefer a full collection of songs written at certain time by an artist. I want the full album from an artist and I always listen beginning to end. It's a journey too me and I love it.

I see; in that case, I've got 2.5 projects, out of which only one is serious - the others are
just for fun, and their only real function is to distract me from finishing my album (those
bastards!)

I'm really hoping to be able to finish the album some time this year, though - I've had most of
the old tracks on ice for a while now, and listening to them on my iPod now really renews my
faith in them, and the fact that I actually more or less finished a brand new track last night
makes me want to go back and finish the old ones properly too.

[emef]

i just make tracks and see what happens
i dont like concepts or albums, i like tracks
thats how i buy my downloads

[spkey]

I always thought the vast amount of music we're exposed to today isn't a good thing.
It's good to be more open to stuff but at the same time we need to be more focused.
This disruption has only got one result, us working on a hundred things we never finish.

PS: In fact I think this is a very interesting post.

[weeddigger]

I'm currently working on 115 tracks.

Some more finished than others.

All will be finished at one point.

[Angstrom]

I always thought the vast amount of music we're exposed to today isn't a good thing.
It's good to be more open to stuff but at the same time we need to be more focused.
This disruption has only got one result, us working on a hundred things we never finish.

PS: In fact I think this is a very interesting post.

All through our history there has been synthesis to produce new things. Increasing awareness of outside cultures - whether that's UK beat groups appropriating US blues and then re-importing it, or the fashion for 'world' music as people struggle to conceive of a culture outside their own. When we discover something new and incorporate it with something else then something new is born.
Now we are saturated with media, sure, but you sound like you think there was a historical golden age when everything was 'more focused'. If John Lennon had not heard US blues he would have 'remained focused' on playing turgid skiffle.

Consider the synthesis products of the past:
US Blues/ R&B , Skiffle, German quality speed = the beatles
US funk, African necklaces, German bleeps = proto hip-hop
hip-hop, rave comedowns, movie soundtracks = trip-hop
house music, Californian sound, german prog = Madchester (stone roses, etc)
hip-hop, funk, jazz, rave, dub = jungle / drum& bass, etc


I suggest that the more influences are available then the more potential and varied fruit can be produced.

If I cross surf-music with traditional Latvian cheese-trumpet music, and do it successfully then there's every chance of creating a whole new genre. The idea that choice prevents completion is wrong IMO. I think that lack of personal focus prevents completion. The people who cannot complete a synthesis of surf-cheese will have the same problems simply banging out a cookie cutter 'trip hop' tune. It's not down to the environment, it's the individual who lacks the required drive.

[logic_user99]

I often change complete musical direction between tracks I write, so I'm never going to get an album finished!

My main goal is to have a bunch of music composed so that I can take it out, do a show, and basically jam out with it!

[scientist]

going OT...

If I cross surf-music with...

the example i always come back to: dick dale's "surf guitar" invention was pretty much him playing egyptian folk music (his father was egyptian) on electric guitar.

one is guitar music vaguely related to something like the cramps, mixed with some other sleazy stuff

have you heard kreeps? he just did a couple remixes for the record label i co-run. he's a great example of someone who crosses over between electronic and garage rock and does both amazingly well...so much so that he did the music for GTA IV: Lost and the Damned.

[realsurreal]

i think it's the product of simple creative short attention span

I'm pretty sure this is my problem, I work great in burst of 30 minutes to 1 hour on one song, then I have start another one or do something else.

[Angstrom]

i think it's the product of simple creative short attention span

I'm pretty sure this is my problem, I work great in burst of 30 minutes to 1 hour on one song, then I have start another one or do something else.

yep that's a sure sign of a short attention spa
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