Permanent residents in the state of independents

Not all modern music has been co-opted by the mainstream – a new book shows there are still musicians who refuse to compromise with commerce

BEN PEROWSKY’S Moodswing Orchestra, League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, Helen Money, Mammoth Grinder, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, The Tango Saloon. Ring any bells? No, we haven’t heard of any of them either, which leads us to ask the following question: what must it be like for an artist to create work and for that artist and that work to be, at best, shoehorned into a corner, where it languishes for years, known only to a niche audience?

For decades, independent music has been threatened on all sides – by focus-groups and computer-selected playlists, by the dominance of pop princes and princesses and the so-called tastemakers behind shows such as The X Factor.Independent vision and fortitude can often bring vibrancy and stimulation, but it can also lead to a lifetime of living under cultural radar screens, with genuine artists barley eking out a living while homogenised doppelgangers rake in the money.

"There is really only one main highway for music to get out there," maintains Chicago-based Chris Force, editor and publisher of Invisible, a new book that highlights obscure artists and overlooked music. "If you go back to when radio stations were more independent, when they were using music programmers who were making decisions based on their local market, when there was a local record store you could go into and ask the counter assistant for new music – a lot of those chains of supply have disappeared. So the book's definition of invisible or obscure is almost anything that you're not going to find at a big chain store such as Wal-Mart, or even on the home page of iTunes."

The music of Irish artist Stano is hardly going to be found snuggled up beside Nadine Coyle’s new album at Tesco’s, although with his singular back catalogue now on iTunes, he just might find that audience he has always sought. For many years, Stano – regarded, rightly or wrongly, as an “experimental” artist – has operated on the fringes. What are the positives? “Total creative control, and no boundaries when you’re in the studio,” he replies. “As I consider the studio to be my instrument, all of the development of the musical ideas happens there. I spend an enormous amount of time on the detail in each track, adding and subtracting layers until the piece is finally honed. I’m no longer dependent on record companies for studio time, which means I can dedicate as much time as is necessary to each track. Working in my own studio means I have no time restrictions.”

While he does not dwell on the negatives, Stano does concede that “a record company is extremely useful in terms of marketing and distribution, access to radio stations and foreign markets. But it isn’t necessary for me to have a record company’s involvement to produce my music; indeed, in terms of distribution there is a level that can be done independently with downloads. I prefer the quality of a CD to an MP3, though, and always produce a physical copy of my work.”

Chris Force points out that the infrastructure for the discovery of new music has become homogenised. “As that becomes smaller and smaller, media outlets are only getting solicited by companies that can afford larger promotional arms and bigger press relations.”

One of the artists featured in Invisible is cellist Helen Money (real name Allison Chesley), who has, it says in the book, transformed “a commonly known classical instrument into a mighty weapon for composing and arranging furious one-woman rock concertos”. Helen is undecided whether her engagement with the cult aesthetic rather than the mainstream is deliberate.

“My upbringing kind of moved me into a mindset where I felt like an outsider,” she recalls. “I was horribly unpopular as a teenager – awkward, skinny, I dressed funny, had maybe one friend all through high school – so I think this made me identify with others who didn’t fit into the ‘in crowd’. And then as I got older I realised that the outliers were generally more interesting than the people that fit in.”

Success for Helen (and, presumably, for other artists like her) is relative, and has nothing to do with piles of money. “How about making enough money to meet your needs and enjoy life? Success for me at this point is being able to make a living at what I love and finding a community to enjoy life with.”

“There are very few musicians,” states Chris Force, “who don’t want to have economic stability in their lives. So while they may appreciate being surrounded by like-minded musicians, and appreciate being surrounded by music fans who like them for their craft and experiments, and their willingness to do things that aren’t economically viable, I doubt there’s any musician who appreciates not having health insurance, not being able to pay their rent, and worrying about how they’re going to make their next record. So while they may feel more comfortable in an underground and independent community, it nonetheless needs to be a thriving one for them to continue to make music, make art.”

The sacrifice, it would seem, in making art, music, on your own stringent terms is to remain fully in control. But how do you manage to stay in control – to resist compromising your art in return for money – if you have a mortgage to pay and babies to raise? Chris casts a cynical eye over what he terms “hot-button bands” – those flash-in-the-pan types from temporary hotbeds of hype and creativity.

“These bands form quickly, are young, they’re popular for two years and then they dissolve because certain things run dry. Is that the best way to create the best music? Are we as a global culture creating an environment that will allow great works of art to be made?”

The nurturing argument has been made before, he admits, yet it remains a valid one. “A lot of people point to Bruce Springsteen as a good example – his first few albums sold very poorly, virtually flopped.

“In today’s music industry his career would be over, and he’d be back to serving burritos. But given time, support, and a culture that allowed for mistakes and experimentation he went on to become one of the most successful recording artists of all time. So I don’t agree that if you come out with a record – or even five years into your recording career – that you’re going to be brilliant from the very start. Some people don’t make their best work until later in life, and what good is it as a creative culture if we don’t allow for that kind of art to be made?”

Not everything should be defined by commercial success, of course. Invisibleclearly shows that there is an active and culturally relevant group of people creating music that isn't on television, that you don't hear in the background in movies, and that is not on the homepage of iTunes. By illustrating such examples, implies Chris, you're stating that music outside of the mainstream is worth putting effort into discovering.

“I will always develop and produce my music, no matter what,” claims Stano. Without any record company involvement the Dublin musician has released two albums so far this year with a third scheduled to arrive shortly. “Getting it to a wider audience, however, would be great.”

Invisible

is published by Alarm Press (see alarmpress.com). Stano’s 2010 albums,

Blind Sound

and

Trallywaggers

(the latter in collaboration with Colm Quearney) are released through Loscann Records (see myspace.com/stanoireland). For further information on Helen Money see helenmoney.com