"Be Caring, Be Human, Be Real"
EDIT: The album is now released. Go give it a listen over at Bandcamp
FAQ:
Why are you calling this thing "New Sincerity"? What is that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sincerity
The hipster era emerged because people realized that the friendliness they saw was surface-level and showy. Basically, this is the next step in that progression, in which people have realized that cynicism is just draining and destructive, and that it's possible to be friendly and decent in this day and age without being shallow and superficial. Kinda similar to that "Love and Tolerate" saying you've heard by now."New Sincerity is a term that has been used in music, aesthetics, film criticism, poetry, literary criticism and philosophy, generally to describe art or concepts that run against prevailing modes of postmodernist irony or cynicism."
Is this a Brony album? It's on MLR, so it's about ponies, right?
As I mentioned above, Bronydom, and the whole "Love and Tolerate" mindset, is actually a subset of the New Sincerity movement. Feel free to mention ponies and bronies, don't feel shy to talk about it. However, ensure that your track is still capable of reaching a mainstream audience.
Since it's about being real, does that mean I can do whatever I want?
Well... kinda yes and no. Feel free to mention things like your beliefs and world view, your past, your opinions on things. These things are generally considered taboo, though not distasteful. Humanity is what's going to make this album powerful.
Conversely, don't shoehorn those things into your track in a jarring, disjointed manner, just because you're "allowed to". If it's not relevant to the direction of your song, it's going to sound unnecessary and sloppy.
Also, the classification on this project is PG. While it requires more effort, it is very possible to be controversial and not vulgar. It ends up being more effective, too.
What genres are allowed?
If you know me personally, you know exactly what I'm about to say :P
Any and every genre of music is allowed (except Deep House. Sorry, I just have a personal pet hate against it). However, your track must be lyrical, and the words must be fitting to the mentality of the album, of which there are 4 parts:
Part 1 - "The world that we can see, it shows no authenticity"
This'd be a melancholy section that depicts the world as uncaring and cruel. It'd establishes the already existing "The world sucks" and "fight the man/system" motifs present in modernism/postmodernism.
Part 2 - "We want transparency without the snidey irony"
This'd be an upward change in tone. It reveals hope (i.e. since we are all part of "the system", we have the ability to affect it from the inside. Life sucks, but we don't have to perpetuate it.) and acts as a counter argument to Part 1.
Part 3 - "No shallow vanity. We value our humanity"
Now this part is the frustrated and annoyed voice of a person that has decided to be genuine, but still has people around them acting cynical and sarcastic still. I'd imagine lyrics naturally leaning more toward 2nd-person here.
Part 4 - "Let us set it free: a kind of New Sincerity"
Like Part 2, this part of the album is uplifting. It responds to Part 3, saying that cynicism is going to die eventally and, although New Sincerity is going to fade away after a while, we should enjoy it while it lasts.
Are remixes allowed?
If, and only if, you can get a personal message (in writing or audio recording) from the original artist, saying that they're okay with it (The reason for that will be shown further down).
How are the tracks being evaluated?
The tracks are not going to be competing for spaces (unless there's as many submissions as Balloon Party, which I doubt), so don't worry about that. They are, however, going to be reviewed by a panel for arrangement ability (does it keep the listener interested?), production quality (does it sound professional?), lyrical pertinency (do the words matter?). If your track isn't up to all three of these standards, GET A COLLAB PARTNER to help you so that it is. ♫ ~Sometimes you can't make it on your own~ ♫
You're running this album, Evdog. Are you making tracks for this?
I am. In fact I have quite a bunch of originals and collabs lined up for this. Now, they are still all going to be peer reviewed by others at the same standard as everyone else's tracks, but a lot of tracks on here are going to have my involvement.
Is this album going to be released for free, or for money? If so, where's the money going?
This is going to be released for a small price (which will be arranged later down the track). As for where that money's going: To you guys. ...well, to us guys. The proceeds are going straight to everyone who successfully gets a track/tracks on the album (total $ gained/n songs= $ for a solo song. Split it 50/50 for collabs). Now I know that it's very possible, and kinda likely, that everyone will end up with just trinkets, but TBH, it'll still be better than nothing.
Hey! >:U You said you were making heaps of songs for this. If you have a large slice of the album, is this just a scheme for you to get rich quick? Are you gonna make a ton of cash off this and go holiday in Jakarta with Stablefree? You dirty sellout capitalist!
Wow, rude. 1) I want to use this album as a chance to collab with a lot of people that I've been planning to in the past. 2) If all the money's going to other artists, then Paypal's gonna want a piece of the pie for getting that money to you. That's coming out of my slice. Also, 3) Jakarta? Ew, too hot. Russia's where it's at m8!
Anything else I should know?
I'll be doing my best to get this album airtime on both brony and mainstream radio stations (I'm in Australia, though, so I'm not sure how I'll get you airtime in the US). Hopefully, this will give everyone involved a slight publicity boost. (I'm not sure about the legalities of all this, so I'm going to have to research this in the next 2 months).
Why are you doing all this?
Why not? Give me a good reason why not.
