Really, we know New Year’s eve is just another day, an arbitrary marker. But we figure that it makes us sit still enough to begin walking backwards through the last few seasons, and when we do, it’s natural to reflect on what happened when they turned, wonder where we’ll all be the next time that happens. This links us wherever we are, it pulls past and future into the now: threads. So many of us seem to be hanging on by one lately, which is hard.
We feel fortunate if things are ok but we’re hyper-aware that those who are sweating it out right now have been us, could be us…no one is sure what the hell the new year is going to bring. Threads again; we’re all connected. The subgroup of you that form our Strange Angel subscribers form a very definite lifeline. You all are a bright thread that runs through the fabric of the entire process: bringing music from the air to people’s ears.
For years and years, our attitude toward music was colored by the influence of a big business: labels, agents, radio stations, record stores, press, promoters. We knew better, but we have to admit, the industry interfered. It interfered by telling us that we could succeed if we would just be willing to suck. Dumb it down, fashion it up.
These days, because they are entirely listener supported, our ventures feel more like fine art projects or CSA’s than anything in the entertainment industry. It is only our obligation to you and the song that we care about. The way we see it, your financial support obliges us to not suck. (Yay!)
You wouldn’t trust the results of an experiment published by scientists beholden to corporate interest more than to the public commons of knowledge — and rightly so. Follow the money (duh); that’s just basic critical thinking. We wouldn’t expect you to trust our results either, if we were constantly vying for the attention and approval of gatekeepers in the entertainment industry. Instead, we’re fortunate enough to now be in a position to serve the listener by serving the song and to share music in the public commons of knowledge.
We’re not entertainers. We don’t like to be looked at. This music could be made and kept in a drawer and we’d be cool with it. But songs don’t seem to feel they’ve done their work until they’ve resonated with you, become part of your soundtrack. Music takes personal experience and turns it into something universal by making it personal again; personal to you. As financial supporters, Strange Angels also give us the wherewithal to give some music away, so that those who can’t afford to buy it may still make these songs part of their soundtracks.
We’re so grateful for you being a part of our world. Love and medicine, good science, fine art, kindness: bright threads, woven together, unraveling, weaving together again.
Love,
Kristin, Billy, Throwing Muses and 50FootWave
p.s. Strange Angels should look for an email in the next day or so, with a bit of news in it.
Posted in: words, writing on January 4, 2012