Griff says; 'Check out CLLCT! Do it now!

So, where do we begin? With introductions I suppose. It seems rather formal but we'd like you to know who we are and what we're about and, who knows, perhaps in time you'll grow to love us. So far there are three of us involved in 'the streetlamp doesn't cast her shadow anymore'. There's Griff and Gordon who are lo-fi musicians involved in the indie-folk band 'sighrens' and there's Ray an amateur film-maker. We'll all be involved in producing content for this blog and we'll each of us occupy a special niche. Ray will obviously be responsible for the video content. Gordon will be sharing his love and encyclopaedic knowledge of Indie-pop. In particular he'll be featuring music in the Twee, Shambling, C-86 and Cuddlecore genres. Griff's special areas of interest are Lo-fi, Acoustic indie-folk, Bedroom-pop and Outsider music. Hopefully, there'll be something for anyone with an interest in genuine independent music.
Why are we doing this? Simple, we love music and we love the freedom of the internet as a forum for obscure, over-looked and unsigned bands to get their work into the public domain. At one time both myspace and last.fm were wonderful resources for small independent artists and labels to do just that. It now seems that the corporate types who run music as an industry don't like it when artists remain independent and allow the music to be freely available to all. Changes to these sites has had the effect of further marginalising and squeezing out these small independents. We intend to give them some room here.
Given the above, it seems fitting then that my first post is about the wonderful CLLCT website.

CLLCT is the abbreviated name for 'The Collective Family'. Basically, this is a group of artists loosely amalgamated around the CLLCT website all of whom are happily prepared to just give their music away. A noble idea, I'm sure you'll agree. CLLCT features some well-known lo-fi indie bands such as 'Madeline Ava' 'Tinyfolk' and 'Wisdom Tooth'.
However, a dig around in the lesser known reaches of the site will bring its own rewards. The true indie enthusiast with time on his/her hands and a zeal for the thrill of the new will soon unearth many under-rated and criminally unknown acts of genuine quality. It's the ultimate indie-snobs dream site. Give it a visit and soon you'll be dropping the names of your own private discoveries into pub/work/student halls conversations in the true spirit of indie one-upmanship.

A Secret Owl, who runs the site, sums up his philosophy rather nicely in this excerpt from the CLLCT myspace page:

"The Collective is me and some other friends and neat musicians, and we put up music for free.

Yeah, I know, you want to make money. It's not a crime, don't be ashamed (...okay, never mind, you're not). You have to do some thinking, though. If nobody knows who you are, is some random dude who stumbles upon your myspace (or, okay, maybe you added him, whatever) going to buy a CD or a shirt or something? Pshht, you already know, but HELL NO.

The hard fact is: you're probably not ever going to make much money. BUT WHO FUCKING CARES? Shit, if I wanted to make money, I'd become a fucking lawyer or a doctor or something. I make music because I love it, and you should be the same way.

So, submit your music to the collective, and lots of people will download it. And they'll listen. And you'll be on their playlists, on their iPods, and on their mixed CDs. They'll listen to you when they drive to work, when they go to school, when they drive to the grocery store. Younglings will hear your music, and when they grow older, you'll influence the music they make.
Can you feel that? "


I don't think we need add anything further other than to say; If you're an indie fan check it out and if you're in a band then what are you waiting for? Get submitting!


Griff
xx