Been feeling this way for ages, but maybe more so relatively recently.
Bands I love, champion and try to promote, just don't do much or get a comparison that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
Pepe Deluxe is a big one. I get it, they are inspired by and similar to some of these genre-blending artists that are only appealing to a certain demographic.
Mr. Bungle of course. Thrash Metal meets Ska and Pop with even some quasi-rapping? and older styles (50's/60's lounge?) and Soundtracks.
Pepe Deluxe don't fit all of that exactly, but the DJ element and quirky style just doesn't work for many including progressive rock fans. Why? well, for one, many progressive rock fans are much like pop fans, rap fans, metal fans, etc..their tastes and open-mindedness and patience isn't all that high.
They like their prog a certain way, it has to have certain things, otherwise, no thanks.
Small Leaks Sink Ships, similarly, I find them brilliant and unique sounding. Their vocals are kind of odd and quirky, but not over the top weird. And the songs have a lot to discover. But progressive rock fans, even people who enjoy "indie" etc stuff, don't find them impressive and immediately engaging.
It's like so many of these music fans have short attention spans, so even if they might like their music with time, they'll never give their music enough time to know.
I suppose I am guilty of that somewhat as time is a valued commodity, and honestly, I am much more attached to Talk Radio and podcasts/YouTube than even investing a certain number of hours with many albums I have yet to hear or hear enough times.
But it doesn't change the frustration and just apathetic feeling about others liking music I love if it's not well known enough.
Even Bend Sinister. They are hardly super niche sounding, but, they're from Canada and they channel Classic Rock too much for some people. Maybe it's just there's too many other bands and albums for them to compete with, i dunno.
I really do want to try and make those shorts with clips for Facebook and Instagram and maybe TikTok. Although I don't think TikTok has the ability to add from a music database like Instagram and Facebook does.
I wish there was a way to access the database of song clips online. And I sadly have concluded, it's only available on a Phone of course. So, what I likely will want to do is some combination of shooting a brief clip or image of my physical copies on my Phone and then upload it via the phone. I just am skeptical if a lot of super obscure music is available on there like Distrails or Brice Plays Drums or something. Maybe a lot of them are. A lot of Kevin Gilbert's music of course is not, but Toy Matinee and Thud are at least.
But finding a long if not complete list of the database of clips Instagram and Facebook have I don't know if is available. It might be worth posing to somewhere on Reddit actually.
Because I sort of envision doing like a Short/Story of a Song of the Day or Song from an Album of the Day at least. or more ideally, 5 great songs from 2005, etc and then include a pic or video showing the 5 albums (vinyl or cds likely) and then it plays a clip from all 5 in the short. Aka a REEL of course.
Ideally, that would work, but I'm thinking more practically, it'll just have to be 1 song from 1 album or just 1 song per clip. But if it works, so be it. Beggars can't be choosers.
Afa as all the Projects..MPAR Calendars..my immediate plan is to do 2008 and then 2009, likely 2 videos for each year given the length. And then take a break.
I will then likely go back to the CD's A-Z.
And maybe, just maybe I will also start the Movies of the Year.
The Kevin Gilbert Shaming Tracks series will be anticipated. Massive deal, but a super labor of love much like the Thud Tracks. It will all be contingent on when the Shaming Multi-Disc arrives.
Yes, 2024 AOTY video is coming, probably next week. And there's a laundry list of albums that will be MIA.
And a 2025 Preview video. Unsure if the Calendars will be done again or at least as often. Maybe just QUARTERLY + anticipation (which felt like a lot of REHASH doing this year at times)
And the thing I proposed towards the end of the Prog Corner's Sunday stream last week of a Top Albums of the 2020's So Far now that we are 5 full years-into the decade,
I'll make a video for that, and if someone else doesn't do 1, I should create a topic on the DTF and maybe Reddit for it.
I can say though, my belief for years now, 2000's > 2010's > 2020's
And there's a big gap between the 2010's and 2020's. Granted, it's only 5 years in for the 2020's and we have 5 more years left. And of course there's a lot of 2020's albums I have yet to hear, that I may in the next 5 years+ anyway. But no, as of right now for my taste, the 2020's is a big dip in depth. I'd love to be wrong or off, but the 2020's could for me, very likely be the lightest decade for favorites and great albums since the 1960's actually. But we'll see in fairness. At the end of 2029 or in 2030 2031, I may not feel that way.
The Social part of YouTube continues to kind of get to me as well (FP's). 423 Subscribers and I make those epic MPAR and AOTY videos and barely anyone watches them. They still have value to me, even just for dictation. But it goes back to is YouTube fully worth my time and effort?
I do still want to make a MPAR doc or doc series. Voiceover and using stock footage or pics, but you know instead of having the ambition of doing 5 year periods and whatnot. I should try and just make 1 video that just scratches the surface. Maybe talk about 5 albums only. Or maybe 10.
And I sadly MUST write a script for it.
But it's something that to put on expectations from a time frame standpoint is maybe not best. It could be made in a year, it could 10 or more years. I suppose if I actually didn't need to work. You know, the day I reach retirement in 19 years or whatever, I could at that point in 2044 or whatever, give the needed time to actually be able to create 1 given my lack of work hours obligation.
That's also assuming I'm alive and not suffering physically too much to be able to.
I dunno, maybe the Calendars and like a Playlist. Then maybe Ranking Videos actually. But if I do them, I guess I would limit them to a Top 10+ HM's maybe. Maybe that'll be it and maybe I go back to just writing about MPAR instead.
That was my original plan anyway. And maybe it's just in this fucking blog. No book deal, etc. Just in here for now. I dunno.
I just feel Modern progressive Art (and Atmospheric) Rock deserves a documented story, and I'm 1 of like 3 or 4 people who could tell it. And I would like it to be done and then out there to be discovered by current and future music listeners, 20, 50 even 100+ years from now. And if I don't do it soon, it may never be done (or it'll be done by someone in a few decades who was not around when it was happening).
Also I wish I could curate my own radio station. It may seem kind of silly, but i could sort of do a fantasy/fictional Playlist. Spotify and/or YouTube I suppose. I dunno, maybe Internet Radio could be in my future at some point like my friend Rai on Wild Dogs Radio. That fantasy of a Station that throughout every week, would play songs from a different year around the clock. Every hour, a different year, the following year, etc. Hypothetical, but it would be neat.
