<a href=”http://republicoffragments.bandcamp.com/album/null-set” _mce_href=”http://republicoffragments.bandcamp.com/album/null-set”>Null Set by Republic of Fragments</a> As predicted, I had nearly no time to work on the album and considerably less than that to blog about it. But in the end I was able to eke it out: I present you the album Null Set. It is, by its very nature, pretty spare, but I tried to construct a thing that I’d be able to do in less time but still have it sound like I wanted it to. So that’s what you get here; I think I did a total of six days’ work on it, and considering that, I’m pretty proud of the result. I envisioned it as a suite, in which there are four movements (the ones with capital letters on the tracklist) and the rest are interludes. That difference is pretty esoteric, the more important point being that the whole thing is intended as a single piece. Enjoy. I can’t wait to see what some other people came up with for RPM, this is one of my favorite parts of the year.

As predicted, I had nearly no time to work on the album and considerably less than that to blog about it. But in the end I was able to eke it out: I present you the album Null Set. It is, by its very nature, pretty spare, but I tried to construct a thing that I’d be able to do in less time but still have it sound like I wanted it to. So that’s what you get here; I think I did a total of six days’ work on it, and considering that, I’m pretty proud of the result.

I envisioned it as a suite, in which there are four movements (the ones with capital letters on the tracklist) and the rest are interludes. That difference is pretty esoteric, the more important point being that the whole thing is intended as a single piece.

Enjoy. I can’t wait to see what some other people came up with for RPM, this is one of my favorite parts of the year.

“

Ourchestra

So you haven’t got a drum, just beat your belly.
So I haven’t got a horn — I’ll play my nose.
So we haven’t any cymbals—
We’ll just slap our hands together,
And though there may be orchestras
That sound a little better
With their fancy shiny instruments
That cost an awful lot—
Hey, we’re making music twice as good
By playing what we’ve got!

”
– Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

Day -1

I am on the eve of my second solo RPM Challenge. I’m pretty proud of the result of my effort from last year, and I’ve been feeling the pressure to live up to it pretty much since March 1.

The major difference this year is, of course, that my son was born six months ago, which has seriously altered the amount of free time I have in general. I haven’t really done much music-making since he was born, and I wanted to take this opportunity to force myself to do something.

Last year I heard a little bit about a subset of RPMers who, on February 1, roll tape and record 35 minutes of whatever. This ensures that, no matter what happens for the rest of the month, you have already completed the Challenge. This sounded compelling, and doable.

Tomorrow night, I’m going to hit record and just make some droney nonsense for a while. My aim is to sort of add bits and layers to it throughout the month as I get the chance, but even if I don’t, we’ll all have a nice long stretch of droney nonsense to listen to at the end of the month.

To all my fellow RPMers, good luck.