These
both represent cases where a traditional review did not really fit, but I
wanted to do something.
Dan
Green/Dan Tanglewood
Dan
Green did follow me on Twitter, and he still has a great Soundcloud page.
However, as it got close to the time to review him, his profile was changing. I
asked, and he was sort of leaving the business, at least for a while.
Dan
referred me to Lock Up Laura, because he had once played with one of the
musicians in there, so I did write them up, but I have left Dan on the list
because I always hoped he would come back. That was May 2014.
Right
now the Soundcloud page is still up, and it is really good. Most of the songs
are instrumental, and if you love guitar you should love them. He puts me in
mind of the listening I did based on the Greatest Guitar Songs list and
comments. The music is so alive, and so complete without any vocal
accompaniment. It is amazing.
And
it is all that is left. Dan deactivated his Twitter and Facebook profiles.
A
music career can be really hard, no matter how talented you are. I don't know
what he's doing now, but his music matters. It should be checked out.
I
still hope he comes back.
Christopher
Serafini
Technically
Christopher should have been on the recommended list instead of the review
list, because he never followed me on Twitter. I just became aware of him
because the Gin Blossoms like him - which is not a bad recommendation.
Still,
this happened when I had just started tracking the bands I was going to check
out, before I was even sure that I would be writing about them.
The
first music link I found was a MySpace page. No one who is currently working
too hard on self-promotion uses MySpace. These are mainly songs from Let Go,
which is an older project. When I say "mainly" it looks like
everything is from Let Go, but not everything is a song, exactly. There is also
a recording of someone narrating a Star Trek video game where Ferengi are defending
against Borg, which is interesting but it goes on too long.
Other
projects have followed, with Serafini at least touring if not actually being a
member of Pollen, Black Sunshine, and The Stereo. Then it became kind of hard
to know which project would make the most sense to review. I lean toward The
Stereo, because it seems more current, and he plays guitar and sings there,
which seems like more of an active role, but his profile and biographies seem
to focus more on bass. Generally when I listen to something where he is playing
bass, I like it.
Again,
the ambiguity there may indicate that he is not focused on self-promotion, but
if he is getting the work he wants anyway, it probably doesn't matter. There
are a lot of advantages to having a good reputation.
That
makes my review boil down to "If you listen to music where Christopher
Serafini is playing you will probably hear good stuff." That seems so
tepid, but it's not faint praise. You can't say that about a lot of
professional musician out there.
And
I like the mix on the MySpace page.
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