7 albums in 2017

Have you noticed this? There just isn’t enough new music. Especially in Austin. Nobody is making albums and putting them on the internet and there is almost no music to listen to anymore. This is probably because making music isn’t any fun at all. Personally, I hate it.

Never fear, I will solve this problem, several albums at a time. Trunkloads of CDs. Ones and zeros of digital sound piled to the ceiling of your harddrive. A Nebraska-load of farm runoff polluting your spotify streams.

Stay tuned for my blog next week in which I predict which 10-11 albums I will release in 2018. I hadn’t made a decision to release any particular number in of albums 2017, but I ended up with these 7:

1. Sam Arnold – Space Taste Race Part Negative 2 – This is my all-electronic album meant as a response/rebuke to Opposite Day’s 2015 album Space Taste Race Part 2. I’ve had a few people tell me they liked it, but not many. I got one meh review on the internet. Fair’s fair. Other than getting Dieter to make a super-amazing album cover for it, I didn’t put too much into the production or promotion costs. And the creative experience was highly rewarding. Also, you don’t know the secret yet, but you will.
2. Lick Lick – You and Me Neither Too. Early this year we realized that Lick Lick actually ended in 2016. Very sad, since we had another album ready to record and of course because I loved playing with these guys and gal. One thought keeps me particularly warm at night, however: I got to co-compose and release 2 really great albums with over my 6 years in the band. This is the second one from the days when Cameron Page was the drummer.
3. Sam Arnold – Suspicious Depths. In February while waiting to play an Opposite Day set at Mohawk, I was watching some Nightmare on Elm Street sequel on the TV and decided I would make a horror score the next day. This was mostly done within a single Sunday, but took about 2 weeks to finalize. I enjoyed the challenge of making less percussive, more atmospheric music.
4. Sam Arnold and the Secret Keepers – Listen to your Mind. This one took about 18 months and we released it in May. However, then we switched drummers and schedules got crazy and I had to start focusing on the Opposite Day release and tour in October, so kinda hiatus-mode for now. I’m really happy with it though and it got a couple of good reviews (including one in French!) and an interview published so go read those after you buy 10 copies!
5. Opposite Day – 14 mics, no plans volume 1 – Opposite Day’s first all-improvised live recording yeilded a full 40 minutes of keeper weirdness. Worth every penny of the no money we spent to make it! So much fun, we did it again! See next blog for news on that.
6. Opposite Day – I Calculate Great – in the summer of 2017, we finally finished the last Opposite Day album to include Pat Kennedy on drums. This also contained my first attempt at non-jazz ensemble orchestration, in the song Making Tornadoes, and our first classical cover, Ravel’s Bolero.
7. Sam Arnold and Opposite Day – Space Taste Race Part Zero. This reveals the secret to #1 above. This Wednesday, 12/20/2017, it will exist for all to behold. Put your beholding pants on!

That’s it? Just 7? Lame. Well, like I said, more to come in 2018. Thanks to all the people who encouraged me by collaborating, critiquing, or listening in 2017. I will do this with or without encouragement, but encouragement is appreciated.