I'm not really one for music theory, but here's an interesting discussion on Ask Metafilter about key. Particularly good is the post by chrismear that's very in-depth and also has audio examples. I still don't understand key but now I'm pretty sure I thoroughly don't understand it.

After so many delays, Outside the Inbox is now finally out. After screwing around with Cafe Press, it seemed best to just make the CDs myself for now and sell them for $5 US shipping included a la my album. Thanks so much to everyone who participated and also thank you for being patient through all the delays. I hope everyone enjoys the compilation!

Update: A few people have asked if they could buy both my album and Outside the Inbox at the same time and that's no problem, just Paypal me $10 and let me know you want both. Thanks!

I think I've decided that Outside the Inbox is going to be out this weekend. If Cafe Press doesn't work out by then I'll just offer the $5 US home burned version for now. I'm getting the impression nobody really cares about the packaging if the price is low enough and I'd really like to get this thing out. THE GUILT OF DELAY IS TEARING ME UP INSIDE.

I'm mailing the Outside the Inbox mix off to Cafe Press next Tuesday. Hooray!

Since I have no budget for videos, you will have to use your imagination. The video for my new song There's Something Wrong is this little guy here:

During the intro he just stands there and then he begins to dance. He pauses at 1:57 during the little break and begins again at 2:14 and does not stop until the very end.

If you watch it backwards there is somehow additional meaning. Good luck.

"I just got the CD today...oh my, does it ever smell reallygood - can only hope that it sounds half as good!!" - Becky Campbell

I've been sitting around wondering a few things and then I realized that the people who read this weblog are probably the best source for the answers. Here are the questions: 1. Are there any net radio stations worth sending my album to? I'm on dialup so I have no idea about that whole scene.

2. Are there any independent music magazines/blogs/sites worth sending my album to? I think it would be nice to get it reviewed and have people say mean things about it officially on the record but I have no idea where's hip.

Inquiring artists want to know! Thanks!

My mother says that track 9 (Overreacting) is "it" and "could go far" and my dad says that with some more instruments, track 4 (Bad Attraction), "could be a good song". It's also worth noting that while my mother offered to pay for the CD, she made me deduct shipping from the $5 price and I have yet to receive payment. My father, on the other hand, just asked to borrow a copy and then didn't return it.

So with some hesitation I decided today to send my CDs into CDBaby.com. $35 setup fee and they're going to charge $4 markup on each CD, but I'm hoping it will get the album in front of a few more indie music fans who might be Brad Sucks compatible.

Well, I submitted Brad Sucks: I Don't Know What I'm Doing to CDDB (I think) the other night and it has been showing up in Winamp, but I can't find any mention of it on either the CDDB for freedb website. So I dunno what's going on with that.

All the Brad Sucks: I Don't Know What I'm Doing CDs that have been ordered were mailed this afternoon. I assume it'll take about a week or so for the ones in North America and I have no idea how long for the overseas ones. I have a bunch more albums here all prepared and ready to go. So if you order one now you are free of the guilt of making me burn and label a CD. You will have only the guilt of making me address an envelope to contend with.

I slaved over CDs and envelopes and labels tonight to get all the CDs that were ordered ready. Barring some terrible unforeseen obstacle, they should all be in the mail tomorrow afternoon. Thanks to everyone who ordered one and also a big thanks to everyone who has been linking to me!

Brad Sucks: I Don't Know What I'm Doing now for sale. It's homemade. It's $5 US including shipping worldwide. I think it sounds pretty darn good.

I finished the Brad Sucks album today. It's called I Don't Know What I'm Doing and has twelve songs on it, mostly ones that are on this site though they've been tweaked and improved. I'll post a track list soon. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. After a whole lot of investigation and research, it seems the best option is for me to just burn CDs and mail them off as people order them. It would be nice to have cool packaging, but I really can't find a way to do that without it costing either me or you guys a bunch of money.

Best case scenario is that I come close to breaking even, the album is really inexpensive and it gets into a fair number of people's hands. These should not be crazy goals, but apparently they are.

I think I'm just about done the Brad Sucks album. There is so much I don't know about mastering and mixing it is just stupid. The only thing left to be done (I think) is to worry that the volumes of all the tracks are approximately the same. I think they're "close enough" right now, but could probably be closer to perfect.

I wrote to both DollarCD.com and CDBaby.com the other day but either haven't gotten replies or I've lost them while deleting the literally kabillions of Sobig viruses I've received today. I think I've figured out my plan for distribution and it is both cunning and sad.

I'm just about finished my little compilation of my songs which I will call an album. I've been trying to figure out the best way to convert the songs into CD format without costing me a ton of money or sticking me with a big batch of CDs I can't sell because everyone just downloads the MP3s instead or doesn't care. I asked about CD duplication on the Songfight message board and got some really helpful replies.

I originally thought I'd just stick the album on Cafe Shops and be done with it, but since then I think I've decided that I want to distribute my album with CD Baby because they seem really frigging hip and on the ball. CD Baby requires a minimum of five CDs sent to them. With Cafe Press that would cost me $8.99 US a CD and then shipping on top of that. That is crazy expensive and dumb.

So this week I'm trying to figure out how possible it would be to make the CDs here on my own, at least in a limited run capacity. That and maybe DollarCD seem like the best options right now.

It would be nice to have a super slick product to try to sell all y'all, but I think it would be even nicer to be able to keep the cost real low. There is nothing more rock and roll than saving money.

I am trying like heck to put a song together for Songfight this week, which is due Wednesday morning. The title is "Bad Attraction" and I am dumb and lazy and got a late start on it last night. I have the music written but I need to record some screamin and yellin tomorrow morning. We'll see.

Junk email. Spam. Art? Outside the Inbox will be a compilation of songs inspired by the often bizarre and intriguing subject lines of unsolicited junk emails.

Some examples from my inbox over the past month:

• Your Urgent Attention Please
• Do You Remember Me?
• No Pumps, No Weights, No Surgery
• Haven't Felt Like This For Ages
• Bonnie Forgot Her Clothes
• Re: Your Bowels

Interested in contributing a song? All submissions are welcome! The only rule is that the title of your song must be an actual junk email subject line. You can choose them from my list or you can provide your own (please be ready to provide the email).

The deadline for submissions is August 1st, 2003.

If you've recorded a song for submission, please email the URL of your 192k encoded MP3 to me at outsidetheinbox@bradsucks.net. Links only please. If you send the MP3 it will bounce and be lost forever.

This is a non-profit compilation. The CD will be sold on Café Shops or Mixonic at cost and all rights to the songs will remain peacefully with the original artists.

If you'd like to be notified when Outside the Inbox is released, please send an email to oti_notify@bradsucks.net.

Update 08/15: The compilation is almost complete, just waiting on one or two other tracks and then we should be good to go. The submissions I received sound fantastic, thanks to you all!

While driving home tonight thinking about all the spam waiting for me in my inbox, I had an idea that made me laugh. The idea would be to put together a compilation of songs by independent musicians where the title of the song was a subject from a piece of junk mail. I went through my spam folder when I got home and here's an idea of what the tracklist would look like: 1. Bad Credit Need Money 2. I'll Make Your Dream Come True 3. VIRGIN BABES LOOKING FOR PARTNER (ON NEW HARDCORE PARTY) 4. Get Your Pills Now 5. Ready to Enlarge Your Penis 6. Bonnie Forgot Her Clothes 7. We Can Pay Off Your Debt 8. Is Your Woman Satisfied Today 9. Viagra, Soma, Fioricent, Prescribed Online for Free 10. Women will flock to you 11. Are You Sick of Spam 12. Toner Cartridge Prices You Requested 13. Brad Feel Happier About Your Appearance

For some reason I'm actually giving some serious though to putting a collaborative project like this together and selling it for cost on Cafe Press or something. I think it would make me happy to turn junk email into art somehow.

Apparently the auditions went well and the video is going to be shot on April 18th. I am a curious little kitten re: how it will turn out.