Craig Stenseth
From:
Naperville, Illinois, USA
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Posted 17 Jan 2009 3:39 pm |
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A couple of friends and I did this last year (under the moniker "Texturions"), it was a lot of fun. Nothing like a deadline to get those half-done songs finished (and by "finished", I probably mean "75% done").
The site has a jukebox here to listen to past contributions:
http://www.rpmchallenge.com/jukebox/
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RPM Media Contact: Karen Marzloff, 603-540-5915 or Karen@wirenh.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RPM Challenge 2009: Record an album in month—just because you can
Creative music challenge turned international music phenomenon begins February 1
The RPM Challenge is simple: Record an album in 28 days, just because you can. That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material, written and recorded during the month of February.
Such a simple challenge, with such electrifying results! More than 5,000 bands from all seven continents have participated since 2006, resulting in the creation of an astonishing 16,000+ new songs, all available for streaming in an enormous online jukebox.
The fourth annual RPM (Record Production Month) returns on Feb. 1, 2009, and sign-ups are now open online at the community web site, www.rpmchallenge.com.
This is not a contest and there are no winners or prizes or entry fees. The only reward the RPM Challenge promises is that it will leave you a better musician than it found you.
The following passage is from the Challenge itself:
"RPM is not a contest; it's a creative challenge. What if every musician you knew put their music first for 28 days? What if every living being who could pick up an instrument spent February exploring their music? What if you recorded the best song of your life? What if you put aside the traditional expectations - that your record has to be a product that can be sold, that it has to be recorded in a studio with all the bells and whistles? What if you could do whatever you wanted? What if you recorded a solo record for the first time? What if you tried a new genre? What if you collaborated with someone you'd never met?”
From Anchorage, Alaska, to McMurdo Station in Antarctica, from London and Oslo to Tokyo, Aukland, Pretoria and Los Angeles, independent musicians from all walks of life have come together with a common goal: to set aside any obstacles to producing music for the month of February, and to find themselves on March 1 each holding in their hands a new CD of their own original work that they would not have made otherwise.
The RPM experience is a tremendous opportunity for music fans. The jukebox is packed with fresh, personal music made all over the globe, and the music created spans every genre imaginable—from electronic to experimental, from hip hop to heavy metal—representing the work of all types of musicians: aspiring stars, working bands, hobbyists, students, veterans, and closet musicians.
Musicans and fans celebrate with a Global Listening Party on March 28. RPMers throw parties in places like Atlanta, Dallas, the Twin Cities, Cleveland, Seattle, Brooklyn, and Edinburgh—even online in Second Life—swapping CDs and talking about the future of music in their community.
Some regions get into RPM as a whole community at once—In Oakland, CA, St. John’s, NF, and Portsmouth, NH, the local independent weekly papers have taken up the Challenge and issued it to their music communities, a fun way to stimulate creativity and support their music scene.
At www.rpmchallenge.com you can preview this year’s participants (including photos and online journals documenting their creative process). The Web site is the hub, a tool for the musicians to connect and support each other. Musicians who come aboard share their thoughts and trade ideas with an enthusiastic and tight-knit online community. With participants around the globe working at the same time, people who might never find each other in the regular world can meet, share ideas and collaborate. Connections made during the event have endured long after February ends, giving musicians a group of like-minded people with whom to share their artistic experience.
Bands must postmark their RPM 2009 CDs by March 1 to the RPM Headquarters at 10 Vaughan Mall, Suite 1, Portsmouth, N.H. 03801. RPM Challenge began in the musical enclave of Portsmouth, N.H., where 500 local musicians participated in 2006 before opening it up to the global music community. For more information, to see the participating bands, or to read the whole text of the challenge, go to www.rpmchallenge.com. |
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Craig Stenseth
From:
Naperville, Illinois, USA
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Posted 16 Mar 2009 9:11 pm
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We got in under the wire again this year, our latest effort can be listened to or downloaded here:
http://texturions.rpmchallenge.com/
I played lap steel on tracks 4 (Over the Sea) and 11 (Otis). I used my Magnatone Varsity grey MOTS six string, through a miked Peavey Delta Blues amp for both, tuned CEGACE low to high. I used a Shubb-Pearse steel, since I left my bullet bar at my friend's house. |
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