leaning in
it’s weird, i almost feel guilty talking about my new music in this newsletter, because it feels like promotion? and promotion sometimes feels kind of gross to me, even though i know it’s necessary. maybe it’s because we live in this fucked-up-algorithm world now where everyone is promoting something all the time and participating in that charade can feel draining.
on the other hand, i feel like if i don’t talk about the work, i’m doing it a disservice because of course i care about what i’ve made and i want people to hear it. it’s a disservice to the hours fine-tuning the song to just assume it will find the audience without doing anything. so i guess that’s the dilemma that constantly exists in my brain.
i think this dilemma has come through in the work that i’ve been making lately. i had a bit of an existential crisis trying to figure out why i even make music in late 2024. does EDM have the ability to create discussion about how we feel about today’s culture? can it be brave and self-reflective, or is that reserved for other genres? and on top of that, am i even making EDM? i am unsure where I fit into everything.
so what do i know about myself? i want every song i make to have a point. i don’t want to make bland music about nothing. i’d rather take risks than find something that works and burn it to the fucking ground till it doesn’t work anymore. i’d rather flop on something where i took a chance than coast on something that felt easy. i’d rather be a lone wolf making the things i want to make, than a diet coke version of another bigger artist that an algorithm suggests.
in july i put out mouth of madness, a song about the overwhelming feelings of disconnection and navigating life in an increasingly dystopian world. on friday, i put out ‘wanna go,’ a song about escapism that i genuinely think sounds like me and no one else.
and i think that was my late 2024 realization, do i want to make music that feeds an algorithm, or lean harder into what i like?
seems obvious to me.
-felix