February Is a Tough Month (for Love)/RPM 2024

This year’s RPM Challenge was a walk in the park for me. Maybe, if I’d decided to push it and make a full-length and not an EP, it might have been a bit harder. But for some reason, the song ideas were flowing and I even have my next single in the can from this creative exercise.

My latest release

With this release, I embraced a bit of genre-shifting, or at least, I diverged somewhat from my usual indie rock. Granted, the first two tracks align with most of my previous input, save that the overall quality of recording has improved.

On the opening track, “Al Gore Rhythm,” I wanted to tackle the notion that to succeed in music these days, it really does come down to “feeding the beast,” which are the social media algorithms (or, Al Gore Rhythms) that seem to drive everything, talent or songwriting prowess be damned.

The second song on the new release, is an update in my musical narrative that really began with the death of my son, Mark Baumer. January was the 7th anniversary of his death and music has allowed me a space to find some healing of sorts. “100 Days (7 years later)” is an update on the story about Mark, and also serves as the single on this release.

The next track is probably one of the peppiest numbers I’ve done (at least in terms of music and melody, if not lyrics). Breaking out of my usual 115 BPM, “Rocket Store” could certainly fit the bill as a single. On this one, I really embrace Auto-Tune on my vocals.

During the making of FIATMFL, I’ve been playing around a bit with synth loops and other effects. That exploration delivers the fourth track, “Synth Wave Sweep,” which uses a synth loop to create a bit of “space” on the record between songs.

In 2008, I wrote my first Moxie book, Moxietown, which detailed how Moxie and my hometown of LIsbon Falls became epicenter of the Moxie universe. The central figure in that narrative was Frank Anicetti, “the Moxie man,” or better, “the Mayor of Moxietown.” This track, a simple acoustic number is my paean to one of the more interesting characters I’ve met in my lifetime. Glad I took the time to pay attention his stories.

The final track is me, my electric guitar, and a pedal board. Decided to have some fun, crafting a song, “Future Gaze,” best described as shoegaze, with lots of delay, distortion, and compression.

If you use Spotify, please add me to your playlists and give the new single a spin or two when it drops on Friday.

Cover Song Friday/Flying Pizza

I’m using the TikTok to post content, all in an attempt to keep Al Gore’s Rhythm fed and feisty. I edited this down for those who feel the need to watch shorter vids.

I’m covering one of my favorite bands from the Dayton,Ohio scene of the 90s, Swearing at Motorists.

@jimbaumerme #coversongs #swearingatmotorists #indierock #daytonohio ♬ original sound – JimBaumerME

Guitar Story (episode 2)

Guitar Story will be my weekly feature where I share details and tips from my own journey of picking up the guitar again.

As someone once said, “the guitar is an easy instrument to learn; the difficulty comes in the mastery.”

I’m on a quest to master the instrument I love to play.

This week’s video finds me talking about the myth of talent.

If you are new to my music, you can find all my important links here.

February is for Making Records (RPM)

February is for Making Records
Vol. 4/Issue 2

January here in Virginia has been frigid. We even got three inches of snow two weeks ago, after last winter being snow-free.

February is right around the corner and with it comes another RPM Challenge. Last year was my first year of participation. I ended up producing a full-length record over the 28 days of the month.

If you don’t know what RPM is, it stand for Record Production Month. The goal is to record and release original music during February. Participants set their own goal for release length. RPM is a global affair, with releases being made all over the world. Since 2006 when it started, tens of thousands of albums and close to 100,000 tracks have been created.

Last year’s original goal was for a five-song EP. Instead, I got rolling and recorded a 10-song full-length called Home Sweet Home

This year, rocking a full-time day job, I’m opting for the slightly shorter five-song EP format.  I’ve already started working on new songs and have at least two songs pretty much written.  Since I often write on the acoustic guitar, the challenge usually involves adding drums, guitar, and vocals and any other effects. As a one-man-band kind of artist, I play all the instruments on my records.

Over the course of the past few years, the music biz has shifted. Singles are now the preferred means of releasing new material. I released new singles across October, November, and December, so I’m really looking forward to having a multiple song release again.

Stay tuned to my socials for previews and updates throughout the month. If you aren’t receiving the newsletter, sign up to become one of the growing legion of JimBaumerME fans and know whenever there’s new events or releases on the horizon.

Yours in (indie) rock,

JimBaumerME

Cover Song Fridays (Elliott Smith)

Over the past four years, I’ve developed a three-hour set of songs, many being my own songs I’ve written, but I also play some covers.

I’ve never been one to learn a bunch of songs by some other artist. However, if forced to play covers out of necessity, I’m going to play songs by people I really like. Elliott Smith is one of them.

This is my 2nd Cover Song Friday since I’ve gotten rolling.

This one is “Rose Parade” and I’m happy with this version; recording on my back deck.

Will try to do one of these each Friday.

It’s a Wrap on 2023 (JimBaumerME Newsletter)

Bunker Rock/JimBaumerMe

Movin’ On (A New Musical Home)
Vol. 3/Issue 2

I’m actually working on this newsletter on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. I don’t love this time of year, where, at least in these parts, the days start out dark and the light fades far too early.

Dec. 20 follows Dec. 19, which this year would have been the 40th birthday of our late son, Mark. It was nearly seven years ago that he was hit and killed by an SUV along a desolate stretch of highway in Florida’s Panhandle while attempting his second walk across America. Many of you know the story, so I won’t elaborate.

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The Music Shift (I Don’t Sing Like Taylor Swift)

The song “Music Shift” is about music approached as an avocation, if not a vocation. The idea of working a “shift” in terms of labor dates back to 1809 and mining. Playing guitar may not be mining but it helps to approach music with that same sense of purpose and consistency.

I begin the song by saying that playing music is a “grift.” This emanates from much of today’s music promotion being about “pay to play.” Yet, this is nothing new. We know about the days of payola. In our time, it’s the constant enticements to pay for this or that in terms of getting your music streamed. Even if your song(s) get played, you’ll make little to nothing because any profits from Spotify or other platforms aren’t funneled equitably to the creators of the work. The con works because musicians want their music heard by others.

Since I began writing songs and getting my music out there, I’ve had a sense that people really don’t understood what I do. I play indie/alternative rock with influences from lo-fi bands like Guided by Voices. For fans of Taylor Swift and her overly-produced schlock and corporate façade, lo-fi with a DIY orientation sounds foreign.

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Spotify Heavy Weather

Just like Oliver Anthony, I release my new songs via Distrokid. It works well because for a minimal annual membership, I can launch multiple tracks/albums via a host of streaming platforms.

Streaming seems to be where it’s at (even if no one makes any money), so I thought I’d take Distrokid’s suggestion and create a playlist of my own, including two of my own tracks. My playlist, “This is Indie Music” is a really good gathering of my influences and the bands/artists who inform what I do as a songwriter and guitar player.

Have at it!!

Oh, and feel free to add my songs to your Spotify playlists.

Creative Continuation

I was thinking the other day about creative output and how it relates to my own production. During the time I was focused on writing, I put out four books from 2005 to 2014, which also included my repurposed Moxie book in 2012, sold to Down East Books (now Rowman & Littlefield). Remarkably, this book continues to sell and I’m sure it’s one of the better-selling regional releases for New England from that period.

Those years also included a host of articles for publications; alt weeklies, trade journals, and newspapers, both local and regional. I launched this blog in 2012, as a platform for content and became a practitioner of “shipping” (as Seth Godin frequently talks about). It was routine for me to create and post three to five blog entries each week.

Since 2018, I’ve been focused like a laser on music, another side of the creative process.  First, playing guitar daily in order to advance my playing. But just as important—writing my own songs. Over the course of that time, I’ve written 30+ songs. I have two Eps and two full-length releases available for purchase on Bandcamp.

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