Dan Tindall: News and Views

Not a new tune - but one which a few people people have requested should be re-released - uploaded at ezFolk.com
I'll be compiling a few other older songs (singles/out-takes etc) over the next little while - more on this later!

I love a good recession - of course, it can mean disaster for communities and industries, but it also means we finally get to see exactly where the priorities of governments and their corporate friends really lie...as if you really need to be told!

The harsh fact is that the haves take care of themselves. Banks take our money, lose it, and get bailed out by our taxes. Our governments gladly pour funds into their coffers because, for some reason, the rich must not be impoverished, no matter what the cost.

Now ask yourself this - what is worse - an impoverished nation with a broken and corrupt banking system kept afloat by public funds, or an impoverished nation with no banking system? Is the requirement for growth and over-consumption at all costs really such a desirable one - especially considering the pending ecological gloom over climate and natural resources?

I mixed down a few new tunes over the weekend (seven tunes, actually), and have a couple more waiting to be mixed down and mastered. They seem to have taken an awfully long time to get to this stage - that may be a good thing, of course, since usually I work at a breakneck pace when writing and recording. A couple of these new songs are major re-writes of some stuff I did earlier in the year, and was not happy with (for various reasons); the rest are just new!

The trouble is, of course, that once you really get into the whole song writing thing, you tend to get carried away until you have more stuff than you know what to do with. I suppose I should be happy that I get so enthusiastic about the process (there'd be no reason to do it, otherwise!), but the flip-side of that is that the nitty-gritty of recording and production seems to be a bit of a distraction! Still, I'll get there sooner or later....

...please heed the call...of Wall Street!

Is it just me, or are the amounts of money being dumped into financial markets around the world just crazy? Does this money really exist - and where is it all going? What good will it do when there is no circulation of cash in the consumer economies of the western world?

Do any of these politicians know what they're doing? Or are they just doing the bankers' bidding?

From 'The Folks Underground'...

2008 is turning out to be just as bad as I suspected...the world of business seems to be tearing itself apart...reckless wars...society falling to pieces...

On the plus side, the new long-life strings on my mandolin are just brilliant.

...space? Solace? Sobriety?

Personally, I am in search of some way to finish a song. I have the tune, I have the words - but it just ain't right. Just one phrase is annoying me, and it's in a key place.

Songs are like people - no, really - because you just need one key element or piece of information to make everything make sense. Often this will change your perception of the person/song, and make you think twice about whether it/they are worth the effort. Equally, something/someone that previously seemed beyond fixing might actually turn out to be a real gem; you just never know! *


*please note that this theory is most likely nonsense.

From 'Post-industrial Polka'

Still busy writing and getting some recording work done - where exactly it will all lead, I don't know!

Art is derived from life, they say, and this is reflected in the twists and turns a song can take. A key change, an accidental alteration in the lyrics, or just simply realising that something is not worth the effort (well, sometimes you just have to be brutal!) - all these and more go to making the creative process both frustrating and enjoyable all at once.

Curiously, art is derived from life, but it is not an accurate depiction of the real thing. It is a flavour or filtered image of reality, a best (or worst) case scenario - or just simply plain fantasy suggested by something fleeting. The trick is probably to summon up the emotional response without being specific - or being overly generic. Or something....

You can now buy all three CDs from CDBaby for a collective price of $15 - the MP3 downloads are also very nicely priced too! ;) Check out the links above, or click below...

My head is filled with ideas, and some tunes have been recorded - although not yet finished! Plenty of ideas and lyrics - but the attraction of walking the Mourne Mountains through sunshine and rain has just proved too much! Still, it clears the head, and the place is full of sights and sounds; inspiration comes from all around, so who knows?

So - I finally got down to getting some new songs recorded - how long it take to get something out there is another matter altogether!

Yes, time to write some new songs, revisit a few old songs, and generally get it together...

The sun is shining, the world seems a better place; ignore the news and the daily cycle of material life, and there is perhaps a little inner peace for everyone. Pick up a guitar in a sweet open tuning, play some pick and slide combo, relax in the warm surround of sound - ahh, heaven!

You often hear people ask the question how do you write a song? - but rarely do they question why they should do it. That might seem like a crazy thing to say, but often it appears there is no accepted good reason to write a song. Music can obviously exist without lyrics, and certainly without meaningful lyrics. So why do it?

Songs exist for a reason - the first musical instrument was (probably) the voice. Music made by voices is more interesting with words, and more memorable if they have a story and maybe a rhyme scheme. And if you have no written language, that makes song a good way to pass on stories and information. It is an effective way to express an idea in a simple way.

Music nowadays (at least in modern westernised cultures) seems to be more a commodity than oral history. Occasionally it has been an art form. But still the song remains the most effective way to write down what you see or hear or think, and lift it above dry academic prose and mere sophistry.

Why write a song? I can't think of a reason not to do so!

So the world is heating up, resources are becoming scarce, every day another initiative to fix this or ban that - and yet I turn on the TV and there's nothing but junk where willing victims allow themselves to be judged and humiliated in order to win the prize as most willing slave; I visit a supermarket, and there are foodstuffs and white goods from every corner of the world, freshly packaged in 3 layers of plastic; everything burning up energy, ever more complicated systems for bagging and tagging everything and everyone.

Something doesn't seem quite right...

Of course, the irony that I am writing this on a computer, connected to the internet, and drinking a bottle of (rather tasty) Italian red that probably cost me less than it does in Italy, is not lost on me. Does that make me a hypocrite? After all, I am just another consumer - I thought was my purpose these days in western society? Or is it my duty to save the ice-caps by turning off the heating whilst re-cycling all those spent cartons and cans that ensure that nothing natural has been near my food?

I am confused...

I've updated the 'Links' section, especially the 'artists' section.

I have been told that I ought to spend more time promoting myself rather than encouraging folks to check out fellow artists...but that sort of attitude is for commercially driven companies and their wannabe followers. There's all sorts of great and human music out there which deserves to be heard..if I could list them all, I would!

All the tracks are now uploaded in the music/downloads section for your listening pleasure!

The world is falling apart, economies are failing, the climate will change and render millions starving and homeless, governments dwell in fantasy lands where figures and assertion render reality unnecessary - but don't worry, the good wine-growers of northern Italy are working hard to provide the means to enjoy what little is left with a warm low and a gentle smile...

Consider love, consider pain, consider the joy of harmony and rhythm - we may all be doomed, but at least we can go out with a look of bemused resignation.

The SoundClick player updated with new tunes from the CD which is available right now from CDBaby - the button above in the main text will take you to the CDBaby page.

Please visit the links section and take yourself off to Sound Aid, who were good enough to add the Empires And Dust EP to their extensive and top quality set of downloads. Lots of free music, info - and the chance to donate to a great cause!

One of the new songs - you can also hear it (and read the lyrics) on the music/downloads page.

All being well, the new CD should be ready for release soon - as well as the songs from the EP, there are some brand new tunes to give you 10 songs in total.

Tracklisting

1. Guns And Sand
2. People Tell Me
3. Sunday Morning
4. The Folks Underground
5. Famine Blues
6. What Would You Do
7. Stare Into The Mirror
8. Roundabout
9. Run To The Sea
10. Bang The Gong

Previews of at least one new song soon...

It seems quite likely that a full length CD version of 'The Folks Underground' may make an appearance - the original EP plus some new tunes - more details to come!

Just spent a week away from it all, and got some new tunes recorded. Whether they are any good or not remains to be seen. I basically threw out all the stuff I was going to do, and just wrote (or re-wrote) new stuff. This is generally not considered to be an efficient or professional way to work - but then I am neither of those things! :)