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Sweet Jesus: Steve Cobby’s One Man Cottage Industry

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Steve Cobby - Sweet Jesus

A lazy Friday in May revealed a righteous surprise. Without warning: the arrival of Sweet Jesus. This event wasn’t a religious awakening, but for fans of Fila Brazillia, it was like unexpectedly finding an apparition burned onto the morning toast. Steve Cobby, one half of the aforementioned Fila B, had dropped his latest solo album — yes, Sweet Jesus — on Bandcamp.

The album opens with the ringing strings of a gently played guitar. The thing that always struck me about Fila Brazillia’s oeuvre is its innate organicness. Though considered an electronic band, the duo (Cobby in cahoots with David McSherry) wasn’t afraid to toss in the odd guitar riff, live drum kit, or shite harmonica. As out-of-place as folksy fingerpicking might sound on Sweet Jesus, it’s all part of a modus operandi that’s a long time in motion.

Recognizable elements of Cobby’s velvet-textured production come into play — the intro of “Chauffeur De Camion” brings to mind at least a couple of Fila B’s mid-90s moments — but it’s the renewed intersection with a prominent guitar that inspires imaginative shifts. Notably, there’s “Feline Plastique” which incorporates a rhythmic Latin shuffle alongside a wealth of melodic riffs and optimistic tones. And jazz features more than we’re used to, allowing the guitar to explore on extended cuts like the Liston-Smith-laid-back-space-jam-ish “Truer Than Words.” Introspection rarely feels so sunny.

The mechanics of the release of Sweet Jesus interest me, too. Steve Cobby is no stranger to independent labels. After a stint with the major-aligned Big Life via his band Ashley & Jackson, Cobby played a part in the formation of no less than four different independent imprints. Déclassé is the latest, launched in 2014, and is the home of this new effort. But it appears a one-person operation, making the surprise release of Sweet Jesus an intuitive experiment.

Steve documented the launch of the album in real-time, live-streaming the click of the ‘publish’ button on his Bandcamp account, followed with a listen of the album accompanied by an affable and enlightening commentary.

Watch on YouTube

I’m always curious about artists who thrived in the independent sector pre-Napster and how they operate now. It’s no secret that I’m one of those artists. Though I get excited about the potential of today’s DIY freedom, the changes remain a constant struggle of adjustment. Cobby’s embrace of the Bandcamp and live-stream platforms led me to believe he’s a lot more confident than me in the modern landscape. But, after an email chat, I see he’s playing it by ear like the rest of us.

Says Steve: “[These tactics were] borne of desperation and curiosity. I prefer to be just creating. I never anticipated being an owner-operator at such a late stage in my career, but necessity is invention’s mother. The times have moved a great deal. I wouldn’t say I’ve moved with them 100%. But I have autonomy so I can try out things signed artists might struggle with. The live-stream idea, for instance, only came to me about a week before the planned release on the 10th and the night before I was still tweaking tunes and mastering. I cannot envisage that scenario being duplicated many places where a committee is involved.”

How long did it take to figure some of this out and how rough was the transition?

“2004 to 2014 was a fallow decade for me. Couldn’t get anything to traction with the collaborative releases put out on the labels I co-owned. Once I went completely solo in ’14, consolidated all tasks to myself, and went direct-to-customer it was revolutionary. The light appeared at the tunnel’s end, and I began to earn money again. I’m a digital busker now, and almost everything that goes in the hat comes home. I think this is more like the many-to-many publishing model we’ll move towards. You’re sustained by a very bespoke coterie that you’ve curated.”

But, that’s liberating, right? So much nicer than being under the thumb of a label I’d imagine.

“I would much prefer financial security to be honest. My one man cottage industry is simply the only way I can get my material to market without interference. Certainly far from an ideal. I did enjoy the liberation of delivering an album completely ‘fresh’ and sans promo. But I’ve not worked within the traditional label machine since being signed to Big Life in the late eighties. They were pricks who wanted to dictate what we did and who we worked with. But If I was signed to an open-minded label, then I don’t see why I couldn’t make the same decisions I’m making now. Who knows.”

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Whatever liberation there might be, a lot of artists are finding that Bandcamp is an essential tool for achieving it. Not only is it often used as a direct-to-artist platform, but Bandcamp also encourages artist fandom rather than passive playlist loyalty. I asked about Bandcamp’s role in Steve’s ‘one man cottage industry,’

“Bandcamp has been key to my turnaround. It’s the platform that delivers uncompressed and compressed downloads as well as streaming whilst taking the smallest cut of any retailer. This release was a Bandcamp exclusive for the first six weeks to help promote some more traffic that way. I’d still bother without it, but the returns would be less as all other online portals are serviced through an aggregator. “

I wondered: was Sweet Jesus‘s surprise release date set in stone and was there any temptation to push it back? And, as Steve was tweaking and mastering the album less than 24 hours before he clicked ‘publish,’ would he ever go back and update any of the tracks, Kanye-style?

“The beauty of the surprise deadline is it can be moved on a whim, but I was confident it was coherent work. I’d set that deadline for myself to avoid over-procrastination. As for reviewing post-release, the egg is fried. I don’t beat myself up once material is published and I would only ever re-upload a track for a technical reason, never creative.”

Despite the backed-into-a-corner nature of a self-release (and I can relate), I’m heartened and inspired by the freshness and ingenuity of Sweet Jesus, both in its playful roll-out to Steve’s fans and its bright, sanguine, and thoughtful sound. But, without any constraints, how would Steve Cobby release this album differently?

He answer: “To fifty thousand subscribers.”

Follow Steve Cobby and his Déclassé label on Bandcamp to help him get closer to that number.

A Comprehensive Reissue Of Big Star’s Third Album

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Complete Third, a three volume (CD) reissue of Big Star’s convoluted but brilliant third album is out now on Omnivore Recordings. The set features loads of demos and outtakes and is an illuminating look at an album I thought I knew inside-out. A fine article from A.V. Club explores the album’s inception:

Due to the heavy amounts of alcohol and pills that were being consumed by all concerned in the fall of ’74, the accounts of the Ardent sessions differ. In the broadest sense, this appears to be what happened: After Big Star finished another disappointing tour, {Alex} Chilton returned to Memphis and put together acoustic demos of some offbeat new songs, then recruited respected local musician/producer Jim Dickinson to help bring them to fruition at Ardent. {Jody} Stephens came along for the ride, as the only other remaining original member of the band, and contributed one song (the gorgeous “For You”) plus some string arrangements; because Chilton didn’t share what he was doing with his drummer, the percussion tracks were sometimes improvised. The sessions were long and contentious, with engineer John Fry often begrudgingly spending his days cleaning up whatever madness a stoned Chilton churned out in the middle of the night.



The project just sort of trailed off when no one could stand each other’s company any more, after which Dickinson and his Ardent cohorts shopped around their finished versions of the songs without Chilton’s input. Whenever he deigned to talk about the record at all, Chilton would often say that no released version of Third represents what he had in mind. Sometimes he’d even say that the sessions was never meant to be for a Big Star album. The original tapes were labeled as “Alex Chilton,” “Alex & Jody,” or “Sister Lovers”—the latter of which may have actually been a proposed new band name, referring to the fact that Stephens was dating Lesa Alderidge’s sibling, Holliday.



I was lucky to meet and have a short chat with Alex Chilton on a few occasions. The first time I was introduced by a mutual friend who warned me beforehand to not mention the Third album, and especially not the song “Holocaust”. “Alex is a bit touchy about that period,” my friend said, and alluded to having made this dire mistake previously. Regardless, despite his moody reputation, Chilton was always warm to me. He remains one of my favorite songwriters.

 

2015: This Is A Recap

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I admit, I do like end-of-year ‘best of’ lists.

I’ve used my work – and being immersed in client music – as an excuse not to listen to much new music. I’d bashfully tell people “I’m actually a bit out of touch” when a new release or band was mentioned. These past few months I’ve aimed to change this, in part by training myself to listen to music while working (for me, it’s a practiced skill to not get distracted by music). Then, armed with a handful of ‘Best of 2015’ album lists and an Apple Music subscription I made a truncated journey through the year in album releases. And I’ve been loving it. Here are some of the lists I’ve been consulting:

FACT’s 50 Best Albums of 2015
The Quietus Albums Of 2015
Bleep’s Best of 2015 (good re-issues + compilations sections here, too)
NPR Music’s 10 Favorite Electronic Albums Of 2015

There are other lists bookmarked that I’ll be hitting, but this is what I have covered so far. What have I found? That I really like these albums:

Colleen – Captain of None (Thrill Jockey)
– My most exciting discovery. This album is fantastic and otherworldly.
Floating Points – Elaenia (Luaka Bop)
– I think I’m a little late on Floating Points but this album was an impressive introduction. The 10+ minute “Silhouettes (I, II & III)” is a stunner.
Four Tet – Morning/Evening (Text Records)
– Fout Tet has obviously been on my radar, but not much of his output has grabbed me quite like this two song album.
Cliff Martinez – The Knick, Season 2 (Original Series Soundtrack) (Milan Entertainment)
– I actually haven’t seen this on any ‘best of’ lists yet, but Martinez’s work on The Knick (also recommended) is among his most compelling. My current favorite ‘gotta focus on this tedious computer task’ soundtrack.
Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express – Junun (Nonesuch Records)
– There’s not a whole lot on this to differentiate it from purely an Indian / world music album, but it’s still a great one. Greenwood’s input isn’t always obvious, but when his influence is apparent – like on the rapturous “Roked” – it’s the kind of fusion that really piques my attention.

As you may have noticed, spacey and somewhat laid-back electronic music is what’s turning me on at the time of making this list. Though, on the grungy shoegaze tip, “Firehead” by Infinity Girl rocked my boat repeatedly since its release a few months back. Their album’s not bad, either, though I’m not sold on the band name.

I’m continuing this adventure of listening to new music and going through ‘best of’ lists so mine above is hardly complete. I’ll continue to practice my ‘listen while working’ skill in 2016 so next year’s list should be more of a corker.

When it comes to movies, it is interesting that my two favorite films of 2015 were not movies per se, but are in fact BBC produced documentaries. Adam Curtis’s Bitter Lake blew my mind in January and continues to do so … I watched it for the fourth or fifth time last week. Its content is eye-opening and incendiary, but Curtis’s use of visuals (the bulk being found footage, mostly discarded, from BBC News’s Afghanistan coverage) and music is revolutionary. And then there’s Atomic – Living In Dread And Promise, commissioned as part of BBC’s Storyville series. With help from a moody soundtrack by Mogwai, Mark Cousins (known for his expansive and essential The Story of Film: An Odyssey) has crafted a sort of meditation on life in the nuclear age. Like Bitter Lake, this film is made up of found footage juxtaposed to give additional meaning and emotion, and is narration-free, at least verbally.

Of the handful of ‘real’ movies I saw in 2015, I loved Paul Thomas Anderson’s divisive Inherent Vice most of all, and I discovered profound meaning where I know many others found complete nonsense. I can dig it. Mad Max: Fury Road is the only other movie I saw multiple times, which puts it in odd company with Bitter Lake. If I’m feeling down I just imagine I’m the guy whose job it was to mash up all those automobiles. Ex Machina was fine stuff, though I wasn’t as nuts about it as others were. Fantastic score by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and composer Ben Salisbury, too. The End Of The Tour gave me a lot to think about and used Eno’s “The Big Ship” in a wonderful way. And I believe Mommy is technically a 2014 film, but it opened in the US in January and it’s a definite favorite. 26 year old director Xavier Dolan is responsible for one of the most moving and heartbreaking sequences I’ve ever seen in a narrative film … that one towards the end, and you definitely know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen Mommy.

Unlike music, which I listened to more of this year (though mainly in the past couple months), I usually watch a whole lot of movies. But this year I consumed a lot less – as I worked a whole lot more – so I’m sure there’s a bunch left out, and a bunch of 2015 winners I’ll see later on that would’ve made it up there. But I know that’s everyone’s story.

As for me, 2015 brought on a lot of professional changes that don’t feel confined to this year as they are ongoing. I’m in the middle of planning a new creative project that I’m quite excited about, but it probably won’t see a launch until the middle of 2016. I’m also opening up 8D Industries a bit more to provide ‘virtual assistant for the music industry’ services, helping with things like contract management, music publishing organization, royalty calculation, web site administration, and so on. More news on this soon. 8DPromo continues to develop into an increasingly efficient promotions machine with a fine group of labels on board. 8DSync looks to expand with new catalog and site features added early in the new year. It seems my plate is full.

So, indeed, here’s to 2016. {glass clink} I’m anti-resolution, but making new friends and connections is paramount in this coming year. If there’s a way you think we might be able to work together, or if you just want to reach out with a ‘hello’, question, and/or comment then please do so. Let’s make things happen.