Running late into 2025!
Our updates for the month. Take a seat and dig in.
Hey cybernauts, hope you’re doing well.
We’re running a bit late into 2025 to wish everyone a happy new year, but well, happy new year everyone! We’ve been chaotically swamped, and will start sending these newsletters out with less frequency, although more packed than ever.
This week, we have the following to share with you:
Some changes around here
How we’ve been
An opinion on AI on music
Garden Gnome Transmitter
Our memes of the week
Rebuilding our online foundations
Like everyone, we’re getting exhausted of social media. To be fair, we already are. And since everyone has been splitting away into different websites/apps, and even offline, it’s getting difficult to keep track of it all.
We do feel really lucky to have you here, and want to thank you for having us entering your inbox with news around the band. Very grateful for your attention, which is not to be played with.
We decided to list the places online where we’ve created an account and are actually sort of active. We did not add Facebook, as it is mostly auto cross-posts from IG.
Every time we post to one of these platforms, it will be reposted on the other, more or less the same way (depending on format). The only real, personal, exclusive content is on this newsletter :)
So, let’s recap where you can follow us:
This beautiful, personalized newsletter!
For future shows and tour info, we’ve added a dedicated page to it on our substack. We’ll link tickets and info as soon as we get them. Be sure to check it regularly for new info and updates
Give us a follow on one platform or more, if you like. Again, we recommend this newsletter, as it is the fastest route between us and you.
Also, how would you feel about a paid subscription to get exclusive recordings of rehearsals? Mostly jams, new songs, and such...
It’s been chaotic, and we’re all over it
So, the last few months of 2024, and the first month of 2025 have been crazy. A lot to unpack, but we’ll focus on the music.
We released a two volume compilation, celebrating a decade of existence. We’re working with Carolina Bonzinho again for the Operation Vacation Finito video, and it’s been pretty fun dealing with that. And although it might seem that way, we're not resting on our laurels. We've recently wrapped up recording for our next release(s), and we can't wait to share them with you. These new projects have allowed us to explore the boundaries of our sound and push into new creative territories, where we’re feeling pretty good, and slightly uncomfortable (in a good way).
In addition to our own music, we've also been venturing into other exciting projects that have challenged us as individual artists, and as individual people. From working with fellow musicians, and artists in other fields, to experimenting with new genres and styles, we've been keeping ourselves busy and inspired.
These new endeavours have not only helped us grow as artists but have also given us a fresh perspective on our own music. We're excited to see where these new paths will lead us and how they'll influence our future projects.
The shape of AI music to come...
As we “celebrate” the latest advancements in music technology, a growing concern has been lurking in (or, increasingly out of) the shadows: the heavy use of AI in music production and writing. This theme has produced some great debates among our more personal circle, and it has raised important questions about the future of creativity, originality, and the very essence of music itself. Dramatic, we know.
While AI powered tools can streamline the production process, (debatably) generate new ideas, and even create entire tracks (arguably good in quality and production), we can’t ignore the potential risks and consequences of relying too heavily on these technologies.
One of the most significant dangers of AI in music is the homogenization of sound. If this process has been happening in the last 15 years by humans, we can only imagine how it is shaping up with AI.
When algorithms are used to generate music, they are trained in finite data, where they often rely on existing patterns and styles that were fed into the machine learning system. There’s no pushing the boundaries of innovation, so this will result in a sea of sameness, where there’s no unique voices and perspectives, just the same formulaic production.
Music has always been a deeply human endeavour, driven by emotions, experiences, and intuition. AI, on the other hand, is a cold, calculating force that can strip music of its very soul: losing the imperfections, quirks, and nuances that the human touch has on music production. This will kill how the future generations connect to music.
As musicians, producers, and music lovers, we must be mindful of the role AI plays in our creative processes. To ensure the continued vitality of the music scene, we must support and celebrate the artists, labels, and organizations that are driving innovation and creativity.
So what’s your take on this? What do you feel about AI in music production?
Introducing ‘Garden Gnome Transmitter’
I (Carlos) have launched a monthly playlist, that I’ll share here on Everything Electric.
I sometimes feel I may be gatekeeping some great music, so I decided to challenge myself to a monthly playlist of cool stuff I discovered over the last years. There’s mostly no real theme to it, other than I like these songs.
You can find it on Mixcloud, and as playlists on Tidal.
Our memes of the week
That’s all, folks!
Thanks for reading this far. Here’s a quote we enjoy:
"You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing."
George Bernard Shaw
Have a wonderful week. We love you.
— Sunflowers, the band
There are experiences and emotional resonances that AI will never be able to replicate, thank God! I mean, the great Spacemen 3, when they were ‘Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To’ make a perfect case for this - how will AI ever do that?!