10 Varied Songs That Define My Sound
A Free Sample of the Deep Dive
Mark Rushton’s Perseverance in the Arts is a weekly email on Substack where I talk about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist.
This week’s topics:
10 Varied Songs That Define My Sound
This Week’s DISCO Additions
Where I’m Going with All of This
10 Varied Songs That Define My Sound
I was listening to a music producer’s podcast last week, and he was talking about the of difficulty defining yourself in 10 songs on a playlist to a stranger.
He’s right. It’s not easy. I figured I’d take that as a personal challenge. It’s one thing to group like-minded songs together on an album, but it’s another to take my nearly 25 years of music creation and distill it down to 10 songs.
Mine is called “10 Varied Songs That Defined My Sound” and is a free, streaming playlist on my DISCO site.
It’s mostly ambient / electronica / syncopated rhythms / drones / and desolate noises.
Most people don’t know what DISCO is.
DISCO is where I’m putting my new music (and, eventually, some older music), to try to attract the interest of music libraries, music supervisors for film & TV, and other creatives. I’ve already got some music in these types of libraries. It would be nice to if my music turned out to be the right thing for other creatives.
That’s all I care about. Does it fit the scene? Does it benefit the visual?
This Week’s DISCO Additions
You saw the cover for Across the Green Hills, which is mostly steady, calming ambient electronics. The cover is from one of my paintings.
And you also saw the cover for Pulled Into the Conversation, which is mostly stark, desolate, heavily processed lap steel guitar. The cover is from a photo I took.
Everything in my DISCO is open for free streaming. Wear good headphones. I like Grado headphones.
As of today, September 8, 2024, I have 120 music tracks on my DISCO site, and I’ll be adding a lot more in the coming months.
Where I’m Going with All of This
Starting next week, I’m working with a music producer and it’ll be interesting to see where that road takes us.
We’re both high-output people in terms of creating recordings, and we want to make a big push into the world of getting accepted into music libraries.
He’s an actual musician and producer and teacher, and I’m this guy who has been making sounds and noises my own way for nearly 25 years.
The last few months, I’ve really changed my focus. I’m no longer aiming towards streaming services. I had to get back control of my music publishing catalog, and I did. I got into my first exclusive library! It’s been quite the rollercoaster.
On the visual art side, I will keep making it, but it’s probably only going to be for cover art. I am working on some large paintings (36” x 36”).