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yes I quite like this one - it's an improvement on my previous one - this one gets extra points for being a bit odd and for being more even and easier to get lost in, which is one thing my music seems to specialise in, or so I flatter myself - it's not pretty-pretty, but I find that it has a certain icy remote beauty
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I am always alarmed and saddened and I admit puzzled whenever my favourite talking-radio stations start ranting about "social media" and how it is making young people depressed - and I hope this doesn't come across as flippant but it does genuinely seem to be that people have killed themselves because one of their Facebook posts didn't get as many "likes" as something else, or something - and basically, apparently, "everyone" is trying to be popular and liked and the ones who don't fit in are getting very gloomy about life.
You can probably already see where I'm going with this. Yes - as someone who is not popular and who is not liked .... well, I'm not really a good judge about how popular/liked I am as a person, you must ask others - but e.g. it is certainly a fact that my music is not popular or liked. Perhaps I am meant to be depressed about this fact.
Genuinely, I don't think I'm just kidding myself ("ah you'd be fucking DELIGHTED if one of your albums suddenly got you famous and rich etc etc") but I don't think I am - I would be worried at best, terrified at worst. I would genuinely think that something had gone seriously wrong.
And of course I am being arrogant in thinking that just because I totally thrive on being unpopular - it's actually a badge of honour - as well as being very funny - as well as being very calming for my nerves - that therefore everyone else should try to enjoy being unpopular. But I think we could (maybe "should") try to spread the gospel - especially in our schools and universities.
After all it's nothing new. Billions of High School films have been made about the cool outsider in class who no one likes but who has the coolest music and the coolest attitude to life etc etc etc etc - and "everyone" cheers on this anti-hero - and then they go out and photograph their mall-burger and get upset that it only gets 274958738109 likes - three less than the identical photo they took yesterday.
Believe me, I am happier sitting here telling you how I revel in my unpopularity than I would be if I had scores of little pictures under all of my album "covers" and I had to tell you how brilliant my latest offering is and how I hope it'll shift even more copies than the last one because otherwise I shall be a failure. Instead, I find it wonderful and funny and such a relief to be able to report that so far today (3pm) Katharine Eastman has had one "play", one download (free) and one visit - and that is a very comfortable place to be.
Down here I have no musical worries whatsoever. In fact, I wouldn't call it "down here" - I actually feel very lucky to have gone this far, with over 200 albums, and this level of "fame" is where I've reached - lower than when I started.
So let's tell young people that being unpopular in their social media world is a cool thing to be. In person I'm a warm person who really likes people, who'll talk to anyone and everyone, though I don't really need people and some of my happiest days are the ones I spend alone - so I'm not being misanthropic when I say that, sadly, most people, though delightful in small doses, are pretty unbearable in large doses, and few have anything great to recommend them for long, and to try to be liked or "liked" by people is to try to be as twattish as they are. Popularity is a sign that you've failed, that you've blanded-out.
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(recorded lunchtime today, photo Salisbury Friday night)
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it sounds like those early Selbstportrait albums that Roedelius did a million years ago that have been my favourite albums for all of my life katharine eastman
The latest from Grails is full of woozy, expansive music that draws on a host of sources to create immersive compositions. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 5, 2016
