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Happy 5 Year Anniversary to CHILLFILTR
The world turns and the seasons change with it. This month we have a huge list of new songs to share.
It's been a very interesting weekend. I have to say that this is about as happy as I've ever been to see the changing of the seasons. For whatever reason, the last winter was a tough one for me. Today, two of the largest trees in our front yard sprouted new leaves overnight: yesterday each was just a trunk with branches, and today we have buds and little leaves and I’m really enjoying that concrete message that even if we do get another cold spell or two, it won't really matter. The lake ice has melted, the birds have moved back in, my kids are catching frogs at the pond; and I'm gonna have to start cutting grass pretty soon.
I started CHILLFILTR® in early 2018, from my little home office in Ashland, Oregon. Five years later, here we are in upstate New York, and I have allowed that five year mark to pass quietly. I want to do something interesting to commemorate this 5 year milestone, but I haven't decided what that should be yet. But I have to say, it does feel weird to be moving into our sixth year with this project that started out as a small business idea, and has segued into hobby territory now that I work full-time again. But in that sense, I am in good company. I think the vast majority of other reviewers on SubmitHub are also technically hobbyists, so perhaps the mistake was mine to originally think that there would have been a way to turn this project into a viable source of support for my entire family. I think art and affluence have always had a tempestuous relationship, so perhaps I have just reminded myself of the obvious.
Music Roundup for March. - New Releases from Joseph, Boygenius, Wilder Woods, and Many More.
This is one of the two great music release seasons of the year. The back-to-school months of September and October tend to attract some of the most high profile releases, but late spring is a close second because so many artists want to have their music be reasonably fresh for the touring season. The previews start coming out in late March and April and the full releases tend to drop close to May. So I am just awash with new music to listen to, which makes me happy.
I heard about Wilder Woods years ago, and now he's got a full length release that I'm pretty excited about. SG Goodman is another artist I've written about previously, but I only just discovered that her latest release is very impressive. So "Teeth Marks" is not new, per se, but new to me. SG Goodman just has one of those voices that you never forget, and coupled with her amazing and unique sensibility for songwriting, she's really in a class all her own. And then, of course, there is boygenius, and The Lone Bellow, Jacob Humber, and The Ruralists. It's a long list this month. What a time to be alive. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if anyone ever tells you that there is no more good new music, just give 'em a little slap and send them over to CHILLFILTR Radio. That should set them straight. We've had to make some technological adjustments over the last few weeks—we've moved the image transformations from Imgix over to Amazon 'Sharp', we've done a lot of work cleaning up our RSS feeds so that we can start auto-populating against Apple News again; but all of that should really be invisible to you, the end-user, so really, I shouldn't even have brought it up. :)
Here's a breakdown of the new pieces that were written this month, followed by a list of new songs below and another ‘moment of honesty.’
Fresh Rock and Roll from Toronto. - Introducing Propter Hawk: Telephone
Sun, 02 Apr 2023 16:27:00 -0400
Take a splash of Humble Pie, a spoonful of Janis Joplin, throw in the diverse talents of a seasoned band, and the songs just write themselves.Read More
Captivating Indie Rock from Sioux Center. - The Ruralists: (Dis) Appear
Sun, 02 Apr 2023 15:34:00 -0400
A unique and profound amalgam of innovative indie rock, alternative folk-pop, and poetic individualism.Read More
Groovy Soul Pop from Orlando and Berlin. - The Lovelines: Make Believe
Sun, 26 Mar 2023 15:49:00 -0400
A vibe that is distinct and passionate, with equal servings of slick groove and hummable melody for fans of stylish retro pop.Read More
A Triumphant Return for this Songwriting Duo from London. - Meadowlark: What's It Like To Love Me
Sun, 26 Mar 2023 14:11:00 -0400
Offers a glimpse into the messy, storm-struck harbors of young love, adulthood, and self-realization.Read More
Fresh Indie Pop from Nashville. - Charlotte Sands: Alright
Wed, 22 Mar 2023 20:54:00 -0400
Channeling a fizzy, hook-filled pop sound for an ever-growing audience of Gen Z-ers (and beyond) who are plagued by these same feelings of angst, anxiety, and alienation.Read More
Gorgeous Folk Pop Preview. - Virens: Stitch Me Back Up
Sun, 19 Mar 2023 20:47:00 -0400
A signature that is both eclectic and slightly mysterious, marrying subtle shifts in timing and inflection with a laid-back groove and the simple conviction that love can heal anything.Read More
Winning Folk Pop from Ohio. - Oliver Hazard: Ballerina
Sat, 18 Mar 2023 13:54:00 -0400
For this trio of childhood friends from Waterville, dreams really do come true.Read More
Introducing: Isabella Rosetta - 505
Sun, 12 Mar 2023 23:28:00 -0400
A smokey, mid-tempo burner with a sense of presence and timing that speaks to a bright future for this young, Albuquerque-born songwriter.Read More
The Best Tools for Digital Music Production & Collaboration in 2023
Sat, 11 Mar 2023 11:52:00 -0500
As the music industry continues to evolve, so does the way we create and collaborate on music.Read More
Latest Tracks Added to CHILLFILTR Radio
The Lone Bellow - Fallin'
Madi Diaz, S.G. Goodman & Joy Oladokun - Be Careful - 01 Be Careful
boygenius - the record - 08 Leonard Cohen
boygenius - the record - 05 Cool About It
boygenius - the record - 07 Revolution
boygenius - the record - 12 Letter To An Old Poet
boygenius - the record - 10 We're In Love
boygenius - the record - 09 Satanist
boygenius - the record - 11 Anti-Curse
boygenius - the record - 06 Not Strong Enough
boygenius - the record - 01 Without You Without Them
Hand Habits - Sugar The Bruise - 01 Something Wrong
WMD - So In Love
the ruralists -- dis-appear
The Lovelines - Make Believe
Meadowlark - What's It Like To Love Me
Propter Hawk - Telephone
POLUN - Higher Ground (w. Gracie Ella)
POLUN - Today (w. LU KALA)
POLUN - Vacation (w. Jocelyn Alice)
POLUN - Love U Better (w. Atom Martin)
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 07 Get It Back
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 09 Death Of Me
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 06 Wish It Was Mine
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 11 Make Your Own Mistakes
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 04 Heartland
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 08 Be The Man
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 01 Maestro (Tears Don't Lie)
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 02 Patience
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 03 Be Yourself
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 10 Go Ahead
Wilder Woods - FEVER - SKY - 05 Criminal
Photo Ops - Bury Me In Nashville
Photo Ops - If You Call I'll Answer
Photo Ops - The Dream Is Done
Feverkin - Element & Moderate
Maggie Miles - Asthma
Maggie Miles - Indecent
Dylan Gitalis - Alone
Dylan Gitalis - Frosted_Windows
Joseph - Nervous System
Virens - Stitch Me Back Up
Jacob Humber - Kodiak
Jacob Humber - Batch Brew
Jacob Humber - Afterlife
Jacob Humber - Stick Around
Jacob Humber - Manifest Destiny
Joel Baker - Is This Love
Peter One - Cherie Vico
The Smile - The Smoke
Matt Hibbard - Get Down
Lanns feat. Murtaza Retiwala - Peace
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- Keeper Of The Time
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- Patron Saint Of The Dollar Sto
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- Dead Soldiers
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- The Heart of It
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- Work Until I Die
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- You Were Someone I Loved
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- If You Were Someone I Loved
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- When You Say It
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- Heart Swell
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- All My Love Is Coming Back To
SG Goodman - Teeth Marks --- Teeth Marks
But Wait, There’s More
So this one took me a little while to get to. Sorry to keep you all waiting, I was just trying to really figure out what I wanted to talk about at the end here. I've grown fond of our little moments of honesty. Here's one that is very close to my heart, where I can discuss at some length the merits of what I call legwork.
Legwork
Hello to everyone and happy Friday.
I've been sitting on this blog post for over a week now, so I really need to publish it this weekend. I like to add a little note at the end of each one of these and I'm really starting to over engineer these little snippets a little bit at the end here. So I had one all ready to go, but it ran a little bit long and it felt a little bit like name dropping or something. So I want to take a step back and just talk about something else that's near and dear to me, which is the concept of legwork.
Yeah, I've mentioned this many times before, but there's also a context here that I want to expand on, which is perspective and sort of time frame. But to start with legwork. The idea of legwork is that we need to decouple ourselves from immediate gratification in the sense that if we are looking for an immediate effect for all of our actions, then we will necessarily, over time, neglect some of the most important ones. Right? So I've wrapped that all up into a concept called legwork that I learned from a friend of mine in Wisconsin wow, almost 30 years ago now. But the idea is basically just that we should be acting in good faith and be supportive of each other. We should be kind to each other. We should really try to encapsulate our best selves all the time without stressing about the idea of recognition. And so why is that important? Because we can't understand the long term effects of our own actions. Most of the time we can't, sometimes we can, but obviously that only ends up in retrospect, you can't possibly understand what the future looks like with regard to any certain thing that you're doing. So the concept of legwork sort of undoes all of that by just saying, look, be who you want to be. Look as far into the future as you want to look. Dream big and do the things that matter to you without proof that the future will look like what you want it to look like.
I don't know, I guess that sounds pretty fuzzy, but basically it's how I met my wife. So years ago I had the idea: I'm in my late twentys, and I'm starting to do pretty well. I got my tech job, I'm doing great as a musician, I'm making albums, I'm meeting people, I'm doing shows. And I said to myself, you know, I don't want to just meet people at shows. It's a certain kind of person. And obviously when you're done with the show, most of the people that are still in the club are drunk. And it's a different kind of social interaction and you sort of see that pattern over time. And I remember saying to myself, even at that relatively young age of 27 or 28, I want a different way of meeting people. So I decided to create a different pathway to meeting people. And long story short, I turned to Craigslist, which at the time was a pretty new phenomenon, and I ended up meeting my wife.
But that's not really legwork in the same sense. So the real sense is the idea of time frame, is doing things that possibly you may not see the benefit of for long periods of time. Everyone benefits when we all start thinking about legwork, when we all start doing things that will benefit all of us in the future, but that may not benefit us specifically in the short term. And that's the concept of legwork, of planting those trees that maybe you won't see blossom, but your children will. But the beauty of that is that in the end, often enough, you do see the benefit. It's just beyond some sort of time frame that you had initially in mind. And so, again, this example of my wife is pretty apropos because I spent years just staying in touch with her and her roommate, who is the person I'd met originally, but I was really interested in her. And both of them, they were good friends of mine. And years went by and I still made the effort to stay in touch, to send them a message every now and then. I ended up getting invited to a birthday party because of that, because I was staying in touch. And that's what ended up leading to our relationship and courtship and my proposal and that whole thing. And now we've got our happy family.
But it was legwork that got me there, right? Because I was saying to myself, I want to stay in touch with these two wonderful women, even though nothing's happening right now, even though it does seem like perhaps she's interested in other people. And she was dating and traveling, and I stayed around the periphery of her world and just raised my hand every now and then and said, you know, hey, how you doing? I'm over here and I'm interested and maybe one day something will happen. And of course it did. So anyway, that's what the concept of legwork is, in a nutshell: making effort every day to create the future that you want both for yourself and for other people, without necessarily knowing what the immediate response to that is going to look like and without expecting any short term or even medium term or possibly even long term benefits from that directly. And so far, that has worked out quite well for me. So that's it. That's my little nugget for this month.
Enjoy the music and thank you for supporting independent media.
Photo credit: Krister Axel via Midjourney
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