Two Lights! They're a band! They worry about money!

weird, someone visited my page 15 mins ago who were listening to http://www.last.fm/music/Astronautalis

Makes it sound like elephant droppings. (xpost)

yeah i'd say the bands of the last 10-15 years have definitely been a lot more technically minded. the Raymond Scotts of the world are finally having their day

well did not expect astronautalis to pop up in this thread

btw he's not originally from MN, he just moved here i guess he was from out there and fell in love with mpls or something, plus for his type of hip hop this is prolly the best place to be

Baby Gilmour Face is also a dead ringer for brother-in-law dude from Weeds:

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTI4NTE3NjAxNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDQ5NTk3MQ@@._V1._SY314_CR18,0,214,314_.jpg

also we are definitely being unfair to two lights...and mean, too

but there's something about a certain kind of naivete that comes from people that grew up privileged and so certain of their own specialness (probably reinforced by the type of parents that had the means and willingness to drop 25K on instruments and however much on voice lessons and shit) that i just want to grind into the pavement with my boot heel until it's dust.

i don't know why.

It's because we're annoyed with idiots who act like Gautama before he stepped outside the palace walls.

If only Austin Wiggin had had that kind of money and patience to spend on The Shaggs.

a lot of my favorite albums lately are being recorded mostly in-the-box, probably with cracked software, with maybe just the internal mic on a sampler for live sounds.

not that that makes it easy, just cheap. everybody has to learn to be an engineer now.

― the third kind of dubstep (Jordan), Monday, January 30, 2012 11:29 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I guess I have some personal bitterness on the matter, having had the experience of both successfully recording in a studio and trying and failing to DIY a recording. We even had a member who was fairly knowledgable about recording, but we all had f/t jobs and the only space we had where we could record loud stuff like live drums was a parent's suburban house an hour and a half away (which basically meant we needed to schedule for when they'd be out of the house or on vacation). We still had to shell out a decent amount of money for gear and software, and it ultimately just never got finished (admittedly, this was partly unrelated to logistics).

I also think people are blind to the utility/necessity of some kind of marketing/publicity budget -- not paying some asshole $1000 to send out "e-mail blasts" but actual, properly done marketing and publicity.

^^^

good art always requires resources

Then again, I also have had the experience of making a studio record in two days for less than our failed DIY record cost.

what is the utility of a marketing budget?

in a social sense

None, unless you want people other than your friends to actually hear your music.

I also think people are blind to the utility/necessity of some kind of marketing/publicity budget

agreed.

and fwiw i do think it's harder to make a great sounding "live band" type of record on a shoestring budget, the stuff i'm thinking about is basically electronic music.

another good way to do that is to make good music xp

I don't think they actually expected to see champaign fountains and elegant sounges backstage. This is just the kind of bad writing you'd expect form a certain type of ameteur.

making music, scoring babes, school of rock 4eva

lol @ iatee perpetuating the "good music will magically find an audience" myth

another good way to do that is to make good music xp

― iatee, Monday, January 30, 2012 12:27 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Again, this is the myth of cream rising to the top. There's a bajillion bands out there. In most cases you're not going to hear about a band without someone doing something to promote them beyond just having a bandcamp page and playing dive bar shows.

they should do more drugs prob

sort of feel contempt for any band playing shows in NY and not currently billing themselves as "two lights"

otm

lol

they should spend some money on cool clothes, write articles abt being sad/p4k and become superstar djs

Hey, I created a thread on IMM to share experiences and opinions on worthwhile diy marketing/publicity.

independent music marketing publicity done properly

lamp u should take this band under yr wing

Again, this is the myth of cream rising to the top. There's a bajillion bands out there. In most cases you're not going to hear about a band without someone doing something to promote them beyond just having a bandcamp page and playing dive bar shows.

ya but the idea that someone should hear your band instead of someone else's band - I mean this is something you are doing to help humanity, in the big picture it's basically a vanity thing. so it's not a total bummer people aren't gonna be using money for this.

this is not something you are doing to help humanity*

yes it is

music doesn't help humanity?

no I mean hurting's band not your band

also shakey's band

shakey's band does not help humanity

oh good, glad we cleared that up

playing in a band is def about helping humanity or least the subsection of humanity that covers total babes.

and helping i mean helping them get on yr dick

can you identify some bands that have helped humanity plz just so we're clear

xp

u2

I think humanity is a lot better off because there have been a select group of artists that have been able to reach larger audiences, get money to continue working on their craft, etc. rather than just a free-for-all of terrible hobbyist bands.

::two lights band guy nods sagely::

http://georgesjournal.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/band_aid_1984.jpg

so you think that

1. people can only reach large audiences through marketing budgets and 2. there is some implicit contribution in social welfare going on here, it's not just like picking between different types of peanut butter

lamp u should take this band under yr wing

there is a version of this band that lives next to me and have terrible parties all the time and wear plaid shirts everyday. the really love the black lips/keys. next time they are out smoking on our porch i will tell them to change their name to 'two lights' to 'make buzz' but i dont think god himself could change them

peanut butter has been great for humanity btw

no I agree, peanut butter is great, I just don't think that peanut butter would be less great if jiffy spent less money on marketing

have we ever had a thread abt the psychology of small time artists deludedly identifying w/the concerns of the irl $$ art market, its sort of a fascinating tic, joe the plumbers of indie rock or w/e

there is a version of this band that lives next to me and have terrible parties all the time and wear plaid shirts everyday. the really love the black lips/keys. next time they are out smoking on our porch i will tell them to change their name to 'two lights' to 'make buzz' but i dont think god himself could change them

― the parable is the parable of the (Lamp), Monday, January 30, 2012 12:44 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

tell the you know someone famous and would like to help them, rent a limo maybe

http://dribbble.com/system/users/70105/screenshots/404570/two_lights_small.jpg?1327891104