My new album, *Clang & Chime*, goes on sale to the general public in a matter of ...of however many hours it takes for a certain website to upload the information!

But you don't have to wait for that to start digging on it.

Listen to/download/freak out over the first track, "Letter to the Editor", right now!  It's available on my iLike, Reverb Nation, Myspace, and Facebook pages.

What I'm saying is, if you look hard enough, you'll find it. :)


Thanks for listening, folks.  Enjoy, and stay tuned for album release news!

be well,

Seth

Seth Horan on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace

Every now and again I suppose I should leave a reminder on Myspace that I DON'T BLOG HERE ANYMORE.

That's a good idea today, because this is one of the more important blogs I've written.

For your consideration:

The Shockingly Unjust & Hideous Death of the Cafe Au Lait. http://su.pr/2jtjkl

Wow. 

So, it's been a month since I announced that I was opening up involvement in the production of my next album to anyone who wants 'in'...   and I've gotten at least one of every time of response I could have dreamed of receiving since that time.

Overall by far, though, the idea has been intruiging enough to enough people to have assembled a relatively small-yet-fierce group of people who have, so far, taken their roles pretty seriously!  It's been inspiring and refreshing...  I've had more than one cautionary word from my fellow songwriters about this...  there's a faction of them that seem to feel involving my listeners in the creative process will either:
-compromise my integrity, or
-make my music less "special" to the people who have liked it in the past.

Well, we've just started on week 2 of this venture, and my first impression is that both of those theories are rubbish.  My producers, without being specifically asked to do so, have been telling me what they like in the songs of mine they already know, and so by inference I also know what matters the least to them. I've had a few of them tell me things like "If you were any other artist, I wouldn't criticize this point here, but since you're YOU, I know you're better than that"...  they're keeping me honest, and I feel that my integrity is being cared for better than with any of the other producers I've worked with.  Seriously.

I had a fear that there could emerge a battle between the opinions of the musicians versus the non-musicians, but the first week's feedback was far more harmonious that I expected...   It seems that if there is any sort of universal truth to music, that truth will out.  Of course there were a few dissenting opinions last week, and as I'm well aware, you can never please everyone all the time, but I'm just thrilled that it seems, so far, like this idea is going to work even better than I'd hoped.  :)

(If this is the first you've heard about this, I recommend going back and reading last month's blog to get the details.  As I mentioned, we're only now on Week 2 out of 20, so if you wanted to get involved, you wouldn't have a ton of catching up to do.)

In the meantime, there's plenty else going on...  I recently returned from the 3MOB east coast tour (pics are on the 3MOB myspace page), I'm about to play in my hometown for only the second time this year at the Artown After Dark festivitiess, then I'll be kicking off the month of August with my first Central California shows in over 3 years, and the autumn is shaping up to be one of the most interesting times I've had on the road (and on the plane) in quite awhile!  Lots to look forward to, folks.  :)

As always, thank you for listening!

Best wishes,

Seth :]

1. I've read in a number of sources that a lot of people claim they don't buy full albums anymore because most records have only one or two good songs on them. I've heard this in a lot of conversations with people as well. They say: if artists made better albums, well then of course they would buy the whole thing. People are, it seems, still willing to pay for quality... or at least the promise of quality.

2. Normally when an artist goes through the creative process of songwriting, song refining, and choosing songs for an album, he or she works with a producer. The producer acts as a sounding board for the artist's ideas, and steers the artist in a (hopefully) better direction than the artist might have taken by himself/herself. To wit: the producer's goal is to make sure the artist puts out the best possible record.

     3.  YOU CAN'T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME... but you  CAN try to please most of them most of the time.

So now that we're on the same page, here's:

THE DEAL:

-I'm going to record one song a week for the next five months. That's a total of twenty (20) songs.

-Statistically speaking, a few of these will be great. A few will suck royally. And most of them will need just a bit of help to bring them where they need to go.

-You (and by that I mean "those of you who want to") are going to give me feedback on these songs, and ultimately, you're going to decide which ten (10) make it on to the next record I put out.

You are going to be, in essence, my 'producers'.

-Every week, I will send you an email with a high-quality MP3 attached (it will be a decently-sized file; big, but not huge). The first of these will be delivered on Wednesday, July 9^th, and the last one will be delivered on Wednesday, November 26^th. There is only one week during which there will be no delivery made, at the end of September/beginning of October, and that is because I will be on tour in the United Kingdom at the time... it still works out that there will be four (4) MP3s delivered each month.

-In each of these emails that deliver the MP3s, there will be a small feedback form, and every week, you'll get to send it back to me with your opinions and comments until the next song is delivered.

-At the end of every month (that is, after every fourth song), I will poll my 'producers' for that month as to how they feel the delivered songs stack up, in order, from 1^st place to 4^th. The 'producers' will have 48 hours to participate in this poll.

-The song that comes out on top for that month will be slightly re-tweaked using the best of the feedback I've received, and will be re-sent to all my 'producers' for that month along with an email containing anonymous samples of their feedback, my notes, and thoughts on the creative process involved with all four songs.

-At the end of five months, I will post one-minute clips of all twenty songs on the internet. Anyone who has been a 'producer' of the project at any point will be asked to choose their "Top Ten" songs from this list to pick the final songs for the album.

-Those 'producers' who have been more involved throughout the process will have their votes weighed more heavily than those who were less involved. This is partially because of the familiarity the more-involved 'producers' will have with the material. For example, if you were a producer for Month Five only, you would have heard the full versions of only four of the twenty songs. While it is important to get people's general impression of a song from a shorter preview clip, it's in the best interests of making a great album to consider the more informed 'producers' opinions more heavily. The more you've been involved by that point, the 'louder' your voice will be.

-Any 'producer' who has been involved for two (2) months or more will receive free copies of the resulting album, as described in a few paragraphs...

THE DETAILS:

-Anything goes with this. Some weeks I may do solo bass and vocals; other weeks I may invite guest musicians to play with me, or I might send songs by email around the planet for other friends of mine in distant lands to overdub themselves onto. I might do a song with drums and a keyboard part. I might do a song with very few words; or maybe a song that never repeats a word twice. There might be a completely instrumental solo-bass piece in there. I might record my upright bass on a song and invite other people to sing with me. I could do a bluegrass-style song. A jazz-style song. A complete heavy-fricking metal song. I could record two basses, a zither, and a kazoo. I could record my dog barking and play it back through my loop pedal to create a rhythm track. I could be just as surprised (or not) as you by the whole thing.

-The point is, those of you who opt to be a part of this will get to hear the sounds of my creative process. You'll hear everything UN-filtered... the raw material I start with. You'll choose how far you follow the songs as they develop, and you will guide that development process ("Dear Seth, while I really did like your use of the Norwegian fishing chant in last week's song, maybe following it up with a German drinking song-style tune this week wasn't such a fresh idea...")

THE BUSINESS END:

The opportunity to invest in this production costs $10 a month; you can pay fifty up front and be involved from the get-go all the way through until the album release, you can tread lightly and pay one month at a time, or you can forgo this whole operation, sit back and trust the capable and refined ears of your peers... the choice is yours!

Your level of commitment will determine just what you get out of your investment, as follows:

-$10

Four MP3s (plus one re-vamped song version) in one month, and a vote for the Top Ten at the beginning of December.

-$20

Eight MP3s (plus two re-vamped song versions) in two months, and one copy of the physical CD when the final version is pressed. In December, your vote for the Top Ten songs will count twice.

-$30

Twelve MP3s (plus three re-vamped song versions) in three months, and two copies of the physical CD when the final version is pressed. In December, your vote for the Top Ten songs will count four times.

-$40

Sixteen MP3s (plus four re-vamped song versions) in four months, and three copies of the physical CD when the final version is pressed. In December, your vote for the Top Ten songs will count seven times.

-$50

Twenty MP3s (plus five re-vamped song versions) in five months, four copies of the physical CD when the final version is pressed, and a producer's credit in the physical album's liner notes. In December, your vote for the Top Ten songs will count ten times.

And yes, if you decide to try this out for one month and then decide to re-up, your status will accumulate... For example, if you pay $10 the first month to try this out and then decide you'd like to stay on board for the whole project, you can pay $40 more and reap all the benefits of those who pay $50 from the beginning.

Basically, if this sort of thing is up your alley, you can't lose with this. :) I get to make a record that stands a chance of resonating with a large number of people, and you get to help me make the record you've always wanted me to make.

So where my producers at? :)

1. To get started, send an email to sethhoran@yahoo.com

2. MAKE SURE YOU SEND THE EMAIL FROM THE ADDRESS YOU WANT TO RECEIVE YOUR MP3s AT. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

3. Put the words "seth horan production" in the subject heading

4. In the body of the email, please include your name, and how much you'd like to invest into the project (10, 20, 30, 40, or 50 dollars).

5. I will reply to your email with a PayPal invoice (you can pay with a debit/credit card on PayPal), and once we square that away, you're officially part of the production team!

This is going to be a huge step forward, folks. Not just for me... if we're successful in this, other people will copy it, and you can say that you were part of the thing that changed the music industry.

Food for thought. ;)