It's pretty high on my list too if we're keeping track 
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San Diego, CA
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Madison, Alabama
I like both EPs and albums. I listen to music while I work so I can digest both, so attention span and time are not an issue to me.
Since Danimal specifically mentioned "Victory Lapse", I'll comment on that. I really wanted that EP to be succinct, tight, sequenced nicely, and to leave an impression. I basically wanted it to be like an album in miniature. I had other tracks written for it that I did not include for various reasons. Some of them weren't up to par and some of them just didn't fit with the vibe. I'm happy with the results.
What I always look for in a release, be it EP or Album is a carefully curated set of tracks that feel right together. If you have 3 tracks or 30 it doesn't matter, so long as they are high quality and flow nicely.
That being said, I am personally fond of EPs that feel like albums. Things like Peer's "Dances" and Bit Shifter's "The Information Chase" feel like fully formed epics to me.
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NC in the US of America
roboctopus wrote:
carefully curated
Can you go a little more in depth on this? My only experience with the term is in regards to museum displays.
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Madison, Alabama
SketchMan3 wrote:
roboctopus wrote:carefully curated
Can you go a little more in depth on this? My only experience with the term is in regards to museum displays.
I probably should have said "selected" or "chosen," hahaha.
I just meant that (in my opinion) a release shouldn't just be everything you're written over a period of time, but a carefully selected group of songs that are not only your best output, but that sort of, you know, go together. I guess sort of like a museum exhibit--a collection of related pieces by an artist. Or whatever. Yeah.
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"Chiptune" albums are no different to normal albums, if we're talking about a traditional chipmusic release of streamed material. The one place chiptune albums could differentiate from normal albums is their ability to be played back in real-time. (if written on game or computer hardware) Being able to switch out channels, mix live, have sync'd visuals that can be manipulated etc. This is a big thing in the demoscene but not done here very often.
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Brazil
roboctopus wrote:
SketchMan3 wrote:Can you go a little more in depth on this? My only experience with the term is in regards to museum displays.
I probably should have said "selected" or "chosen," hahaha.
I just meant that (in my opinion) a release shouldn't just be everything you're written over a period of time, but a carefully selected group of songs that are not only your best output, but that sort of, you know, go together. I guess sort of like a museum exhibit--a collection of related pieces by an artist. Or whatever. Yeah.
Actually that is the standard for being a release. Otherwise Dark Side of The Moon wouldn't be the same. Also "Heroes" from Bowie, even if its from over a period of time, he wrote the songs as they were meant to fit on the album.
Hell, actually most albums are made of these, unless we count Vanilla Ice album(s?).
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nashville,tn
.02$ I've always centered what felt like a complete work based around the medium it was gonna be released or the resources at hand to record it. Who is paying to record it: Me? a label?Where is it giong to be recorded:My house a studio etc?
Smaller chunks of music are easier to give aesthetic consistency to, and can be freeing over a long term-I dont feel like i have to put every idea i have into a release. I just pick a few of the strongest ideas and develop them with nuance, the leftovers can then released as bonus material,reworked or just buried. When i think of my music as a buzz in the din of digital releases it depresses the shit out of me. I dont write anything unless i can imagine it being heard/performed live
or as a physical entity.
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Madison, Alabama
Subway Sonicbeat wrote:
roboctopus wrote:I probably should have said "selected" or "chosen," hahaha.
I just meant that (in my opinion) a release shouldn't just be everything you're written over a period of time, but a carefully selected group of songs that are not only your best output, but that sort of, you know, go together. I guess sort of like a museum exhibit--a collection of related pieces by an artist. Or whatever. Yeah.
Actually that is the standard for being a release. Otherwise Dark Side of The Moon wouldn't be the same. Also "Heroes" from Bowie, even if its from over a period of time, he wrote the songs as they were meant to fit on the album.
Hell, actually most albums are made of these, unless we count Vanilla Ice album(s?).
Well, some people don't self-edit very well and just throw a bunch of random things on bandcamp as they do them. Or some people release "a collection of chiptunes I've written over the past 3 years". Or like Knife City's "Magfest Sucky EP" which was described as "here's a bunch of songs I'll probably never play live again" (or something like that). (Not that I'm knocking that magfest sucky EP...there are some cool tracks on it.)
I was just beating the drum of Quality Control.
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Chicago IL
I'm with roboctopus on this (including the part about understanding what curate means)
the reason it always takes me so long to put out a release is because i never want to just throw a bunch of tracks together. Everything needs to have a similar feeling to it, and for me, that usually means written in the same time period before my style evolves again. But instead of leaving tracks off of a release, i just give up on them before they're finished and never get back to them.
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sweden
Saskrotch wrote:
I'm with roboctopus on this (including the part about understanding what curate means)
the reason it always takes me so long to put out a release is because i never want to just throw a bunch of tracks together. Everything needs to have a similar feeling to it, and for me, that usually means written in the same time period before my style evolves again. But instead of leaving tracks off of a release, i just give up on them before they're finished and never get back to them.
Story of my life.
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Brazil
roboctopus wrote:
Subway Sonicbeat wrote:Actually that is the standard for being a release. Otherwise Dark Side of The Moon wouldn't be the same. Also "Heroes" from Bowie, even if its from over a period of time, he wrote the songs as they were meant to fit on the album.
Hell, actually most albums are made of these, unless we count Vanilla Ice album(s?).Well, some people don't self-edit very well and just throw a bunch of random things on bandcamp as they do them. Or some people release "a collection of chiptunes I've written over the past 3 years". Or like Knife City's "Magfest Sucky EP" which was described as "here's a bunch of songs I'll probably never play live again" (or something like that). (Not that I'm knocking that magfest sucky EP...there are some cool tracks on it.)
I was just beating the drum of Quality Control.
Yeah, I was actually agreeing with you, maybe wasn't clear.
I'm doing that for a while, shit is never ok to me, so I keep postponing...
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São Paulo, Brazil
I only completelly listen to full-lenght albums, without skipping songs, if this is a long play vinyl.
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I can't remember the last time I listened to a song all the way through much less a whole album. The longer the album, the more likely you are to run across a track that's just "meh." To me, I think EPs are the best way to go. 20 to 40 minutes depending on what style of music you're writing (obv. punk songs will be shorter for example.) That way, you get your fix of your favorite artists more often but they're still exercising some quality control to their work and leaving you wanting more.
Plus, most artists really want to get their work out to people as fast as they can. And I think the need to release a full length puts pressure on the artist to release an album with more filler and less killer.
Last edited by NationalBroadcastNetwork (Jan 10, 2013 4:45 pm)
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guess the problem is that people peruse releases for Songs Which Hit Hard, which are not necessarily where an artist's ambition lies, ie, major label bands hook you in with the singles they wrote in two hours with the hope you'll listen to and appreciate their more carefully assembled album tracks
not so much all killer no filler as much as all shill no skill
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Well the phenomena happens among good independent bands as well as major label shills. It's normal for an artist to want to put their stuff out to an audience as soon as possible. As well as it's normal for fans to want to hear new things from artists they like. If you're feeling the bug to be heard, then songs you're writing quickly go from being "Ok, that's good." to "Ok. That's good enough." Whereas if you just released EPs, everyone would be able to get their fix and then have the time to step away from unfinished songs and come back to them later with a fresh perspective and polish it up.