Man, that took for-fucking-ever! Not really, but...man! The count was just racing toward the big 1000 and then at about 980, the visits just sort of ground to all-but-a-halt. Then, it was like every time I pushed a promo on social media, there'd be another 2-5 visitors, so I just had to start getting so obnoxious that I was annoying myself! I could have said "close enough" and just lied, justifying it with the thought that, oh well, it'll be 1,000 within two days at the most, but no, I have too much "integrity" (or some such bullshit) for that. Sorry I'm being a bit more vulgar than usual, but fuck, the exasperation was exasperating, and I'm so relieved to be writing this "celebration" post and to be able to finally post this hefty treat for y'all. Originally, I was just going to publish the SoundCloud release The Collection for download with some artwork attached. Then I kept getting new ideas, and then it was starting to be a matter of how many ideas I could manage to implement before the 1,000 visitors mark was reached.
A sort of competition was going on as well, unbeknownst to the folken. The number of visitors to this blog isn't the only count that has increased momentum since the 500 milestone and the release of Pentacental. Over at my Bandcamp site - which I have started to refer to as the Snail Tunes page after the link to the app on my Facebook and the link I made on this blog to the site (ha! I accidentally typed shite) - the floodgates opened and the visitors have been pouring in. You may remember that sometime during the week of Pentacental's release, the Snail Tunes unexpectedly reached the 500 milestone, also. Well, the increased momentum over at that site has not decreased; in fact, it got to the point a few days ago so as the number of visits at the Snail Tunes and at You Have Failed Us were neck-and-neck and I was tempted to start taking bets. Except that I wanted to keep what I was waiting for and what I had in store somewhat of a secret.
In the end, the Bandcamp site reached 1,000 visitors first, sometime very early in the am yesterday, I think. I'm not sure. Things have been kind of a blur lately. Not only because of my nocturnal instincts and my habit to of wearing myself ragged when I'm in work-mode, but also because of pain in my feet caused by neuropathy, I've been sleeping in a couple of short shifts a day. Then I get super caffeinated, take my (prescribed) drugs, and go full-tilt with creating and promoting until I can't focus anymore. Sleep for a couple of hours, then do it all again. In my last post, it was a source of making the article somewhat amusing that I recounted the events of the previous week from going through old Facebook posts. But that was in all seriousness. I have no concept of what day it is a lot of the time, I just know that I've run myself into the ground, slept, and restarted the cycle.
But all that's beside the point. The point was that the Snail Tunes had 1,000 visits before this blog, and up until the moment I had found that out, my intention was to celebrate whichever came first with the upcoming release (which has been ready minus the additions that I keep making for a couple of days now). When the time came, however, I was in the middle of working on a new track, a bonus track, for the release. And it seemed kind of wrong to celebrate one or the other, when I owe most of my music's current popularity to this blog. No, I would have to wait and celebrate both events together when You Have Failed Us finally reached it's mark. And it finally has!
So let's get all the typical thank you's out of the way and get to the release, shall we? Thank you friends, family, fans, and fellow artists. Thanks for your support, for listening, for following me on social media, for promoting me, for downloading and/or giving me money for my work. February 19th, the day I made the first post on this blog and released my debut EP, seems like forever ago, but really, it was only a short while ago. From having no recognition except as a singer and spoken-word performer in Portland Oregon over a decade ago to having 1,000 visits in less than two months to my music site and my blog is...well, it's fucking fantastic is what it is. This whole experience keeps being amazing and surreal. So, yeah...thanks! I mean, people in other countries are visiting this blog. It's currently having a small streak of popularity in Russia! Russia! Man, how wild is that?
As I was saying, the original plan was just to release The Collection as a compilation album. Not as my debut album, I must stress! That's still in the works. So I'm getting away with this not being my debut album by inserting that word: "compilation." Did you all say it with me, just then? At least mouthed it? Good. Because it's a compilation of the essential tracks (and the essential versions) from my three EPs (when compared to those little seven-track beauties, Delving For Devils is most definitely a "single," as is Progress Report Alternate Tracks. So, every song that I've released so far (and in the cases of songs with multiple versions, these are my favorite versions) is on this record. Different from the Collection playlist is that the Alternate Spin of "Giger's Lullaby" from Delving For Devils is included rather than the version on Pentacental and it has switched spots in the track list with "Glory And Wrath." And, because of the ideas I kept having, there are three bonus tracks that will remain hidden until the album is downloaded. Other features include: track art associated with each track that identifies the EPs that the tracks are from. For example, if you're listening to "Winter's Salve - The Alternate Spin," a picture with the covers of both Progress Report - The Alternate Spin and Pentacental will show up on your media player. In the case of "Dusk Devils" and "Giger's Lullaby," the art that accompanied their online releases on SoundCloud will be displayed. Also, the download comes with a .PDF booklet of liner notes and the artwork that has become associated with my music to date.
And, perhaps most important of all, there is unheard content among the three bonus tracks at the end of the album, as in no one in the whole freaking world has heard it except for me, as I spent the last two nights recording it, and the timing of my finishing it and the blog reaching its goal just happened to coincide about exactly. Well, it did coincide exactly, as far as I'm concerned. I finished recording, checked the counter on my Blogger dashboard, and there was the number 1,005 burning itself into my retinas. All in all, this totals to 84 minutes of music! So, without further ado or a further to-do, here it is: No, it's not called The Collection.
I give you the compilation album formerly known as the SoundCloud playlist The Collection...
Now, I had a lot planned to say in this post, but as I haven't slept a full six-to-eight hours straight in I-can't-remember-how-long, and I was going to sleep, like, five hours ago, but then realized I needed to call in a prescription and now I'm waiting on a ride to the pharmacy, and y'all took forever to get this blog to the 1,000 (HELL YEAH!!!) visitor milestone so it's clearly all y'all's fault that I'm forgetting everything I wanted to say and I'm half-delerious to boot, but thank the goddesses there's an edit option and I can always come back and put more into this if I get inspired later...
I love using run-on sentences to convey delirium and fatigue. Well, I'm gonna leave this as is for now, and I sincerely hope you all enjoy, and I sincerely say THANK YOU again, so don't hesitate to download, because, of course, this is a name-your-price deal, and if you name "0," consider your support all the payment I need. You freaking earned this. But, as always, "tips" are appreciated and adored.
Here's to many good turns of this record! May your inner snails always be resilient and determined.
(Working hard or hardly working? You be the judge...)
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