Episode 75: Numbers are numbers

Seventy-five.

There it is, sitting at the top of another episode of Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda. A tidy little number for something much less tidy: finding music, making room for it, and hoping someone, somewhere, will hear a song they want to keep.

We musicians have a complicated relationship with numbers. Plays, followers, monthly listeners. The little counter beside a video. The number that goes up, the number that stays still, the number we promised ourselves we wouldn’t check again until tomorrow.

And then we check it again.

Of course we want an audience. We want our songs to travel. We want to pay for the recording, replace the broken cable, perhaps even earn enough to make the next record without having to perform a small financial miracle. There is nothing embarrassing about wanting your work to reach people.

But somewhere between uploading a song and refreshing the screen, it becomes tempting to let that counter answer a much bigger question: was this worth making?

That is a lot of responsibility to give a few digits.

One person can play your song while washing the dishes and barely notice it. Another can hear it once, stop what they’re doing, and carry it around for years. From the outside, those moments can look remarkably similar. From the inside, they are entire worlds apart.

So, welcome to episode 75. Pull up a chair. We have music to share, and a little breathing space between the numbers.

Mad Painter brings a touch of the seventies into the Salon, with WORLD5 also joining this week’s selection. I like having different musical paths meet here. Nobody needs to arrive with the same influences, the same language, or the same idea of what a song should be.

From Italy, PINHDAR brings “Frozen Roses,” followed in the selection by LUDIOSIS with “Overcomplicated.” That second title could almost be written above the desk of an independent musician. Write the song, record the song, release the song… and suddenly find yourself trying to become a designer, a video editor, a publicist, and the person who remembers every password.

Somewhere in all that, we should probably leave ourselves time to play.

CRED’s “For Your Eyes” adds the Depeche Mode connection noted in this week’s listening, while Ian, The Sanctity of Crows, gets room for the longer journey.” There is something reassuring about leaving space for a piece that takes its time. Listening can be a place where we stop watching the clock for a while.

Claudio Fondo is here with “Te vas con él,” returning us to an artist already present in the very first episode. Seventy-five looks quite different when you think about the people and songs that have travelled through those broadcasts. Familiar names return. New ones find a seat. Over time, you begin to recognise a voice before you’ve even looked at the title.

Nikola Zenko’s “Who Are We?” offers another question worth sitting with. Who are we when a release attracts little attention? Who are we when it suddenly gets more than we expected? I hope we can still recognise the person who wanted to make that music in the first place. That person has something to say, even on a quiet release day.

Brass Camel joins us with “Everybody Loves a Scandal.” The title alone makes me smile in a world where getting people talking can feel like a full-time occupation. There is plenty competing for our attention. I’d quite happily spend some of mine discovering a band and following the music wherever it leads.

Chase The Bear is also in the room, alongside The Word66 with “Heed the Words.” And we went on with Ten Eighty Trees and “Always On.” As a title, that feels particularly at home in this episode. Always available. Always posting. Always checking whether something happened while we were busy doing something else.

Maybe, after the final track, with Gregory Kodric, we can allow ourselves to be off for a moment.

If you find a song you love here, spend a little time with the artist. Listen again. Buy something if you can. Send the track to a friend who might enjoy it. Vote for him/her. A short message saying what caught your ear can mean more than you imagine.

And if you’re an artist staring at a stubborn counter tonight, I hope you’ll give yourself enough room to keep creating. There may be another song waiting while you refresh that page.

Numbers are numbers. Behind them, there are people, including you, listening now.

Thank you for spending some of your time in the Salon.

Love, on all of you.  No matter what. You do know what I mean.

-M