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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