“I didn’t get into this to build a big company as fast as I could no matter what the cost, I got into this to make something simple and beautiful for people who love music, and I plan to continue doing that.
That mess we call the music industry strikes again at the whole reason they bloody exist - to get music to people who love music. Oh, that’s me being naive of course - they are a business, they are shifting units, they used to make loads of money from manafacturing, and now they are desperately working out how to continue being an ‘industry’ thats needed or more to the point, wanted.
If you do anything creative, this is a sad story, but hopefully it will have a happy ending.
The Journal of Popular Noise is a semi-annual audio magazine inspired by the traditions of pop music, printed periodicals, and the delight of a finely crafted artifact. Limited edition of hand-folded, letter-press printed copies. To purchase click below.
Too tired to write loads. Just back from a suprise visit to watch a band practice. I was struck with the beauty of watching 7 band members feel their way through songs, making stuff up as they went along and coming up with some amazing music.
It made me think about how I do things - that letting go of the misconception that it has to be perfect straight away is good. And most of all, it’s good to make stuff for the sake of making stuff, for the love of it and maybe not even recording it - letting it go into the ears and brain attics and that’s enough to satisfy.
Been thinking a lot recently about the amount of noise in my life, prompted by various posts and a feeling that the noise in my life often outweighs the doing of good stuff. I’m in need of the internet version of my real life earplugs - maybe the off button is a good place to start. It’s not quite that simple though, is it, maybe it is. All I know is that I don’t want to get to a ripe old age and have a lovely DVD full of twitter posts but not much else to show for the time spent supposedly doing stuff.
Maybe the issue lies more with my own lack of control than anything else - I find things like Blip.fm very addictive. Better that I’m addicted to something like Blip than crack though.
I love the tone and design of this site - made by people that love their city, not in a buzzword marketing way, they just love it and want to say stuff about it.
They also do work for people like Levi’s and Urban Splash - work they no doubt won due to the good writing and definate tone of voice and not because they knew a load of media buzz words. Good for them.
“I had a lovely conversation a couple of days ago with one of the beautiful young daughters of a couple i know and we both decided that one of the best things in life are chips from the chip shop, soaked in vinegar. She got hers that night i’m going down my local to get some now.”
I am Curtis James. This stuff is very interesting to me, and probably not the kinda cool you're looking for. If for some strange reason you do want to get in touch, click here.
101 Things I learned in Architecture School
