Hello friends !

Thanks for joining the Home of the Tone ! This will be some sort of monthly newsletter/blog post/epic rant about life, adventures & music. I haven't got it figured it all out really. Let's just see how this pans out. It could also be a refreshing way to keep in touch, to speak up & have your say !

Making music and performing on stage are what I love doing above anything else. I have a huge grin on my face when someone confesses that a Lil' Tone song is stuck in their heads or pulls me to one side after a gig just to say they enjoyed themselves. Your words are bliss I tell ya ! Earworms ! Thank you so much !

I would like to use this opportunity to explain the motives & philosophy behind my next few releases of 2018. The results are chiefly out-left, DIY, experimental ideas, quite the opposite of meticulously recorded pop songs. I'm trying a different approach towards music. It's a different kind of fun.

If you have ever played music with me, you will know that I'm adamant about pushing the REC button before getting started. I will use my phone, computer, portable audio recorder or 4-track cassette player. Whatever is lying closest to me really. Time is such a rarity, sound quality isn't my main focus. What matters to me is to capture the moment.

I spend a lot of time listening to these recordings thereafter, aiming to find inspiration from a liberated past-self locked in a one-chord-wonder-trance that lasted maybe a second, a minute, or even an hour. Whatever. I spend time afterwards reshaping these recordings into new thoughts that will result in new songs. But as most things in life, the vast majority of these recordings end up lost or forgotten somewhere in the realm of Cybertron.

In the early months of 2018, unsure of what I wanted to do next in life & in music, I started digging through tape sessions from yesteryear. It was like opening a dusty childhood photo album for the first time in ages. What struck me was the spaces between songs where there was fooling around with loved ones that could be heard over tape hiss, and also intimate solo sessions recorded next to the midnight lamp burning away the afterhours.

What was lost became suddenly a clear vivid recollection splashing around in my head like a fish caught up in a hook. I don't understand what the hell was going on but the memories came slowly back into mind. I remember where I was, who was there, what we were up to on that day. The beer-fueled burps. The laughs. The jokes. It gives context to a period in my life that I voluntarily discarded for serious and not-so-serious reasons for what seems today like a very long time.

I can hear how my voice has muted over the decade. Most people are uncomfortable hearing their voice recorded. I'm used to it, but hearing something from long ago, so raw, wild, unpolished, felt rejuvenating. A youthful insouciance that had a voice and that wasn't afraid to use it.These tapes feel to me like a torn-out page from an old diary, or a polaroid taken unnoticed, slipped inside a book for later surprise.

I think it's good to remember that music is above all played in a specific time and space. Recorded music has became prevalent to live music for over a century now. We listen more often to the artifice than the the raw animalistic material. We demand skillful, precise, crystal-clear sounds to sooth our ear drums, easy to anticipate, like heating a ready-made meal in the microwave. This is called Easy Listening where humanity with an open heart is drowned by capitalistic perfection. Music like people, evolves through trial and error. If we are made to feel ashamed of our mistakes, we should think again. They are part of who we are. Oh, and please, define error.

In a day and age where everything has to be social, viral, trendy or whatever you wanna call it, I have come to the conclusion that I find being connected 24/7 extremely weary & harmful, probably because every single notification I get looks like the next one and like the one that came before ! I've accepted to many newsletters, liked too many posts, joined to many pages. It has fucked with my thought process. I have very often ended up losing track of what's in front of me whilst lost inside the Hall of Mirrors founded by not-so-social social networks & media moguls using very dark arts at my expense. The reflection, for most, has overpowered the suitor. Too much energy is wasted on bluffing our way through life pretending to be individuals, personalities, OG's. It's called vanity. I wish to break the glass into infinite small shards, & see what's on the other side.

Unless some deranged maverick persuades me otherwise, the majority of these recordings will be kept safe in their analog vault. Nonetheless, I wanted to challeng myself by giving them a chance to shine in the summer light of 2018. With somewhat careful curating, I have compiled what could well be the sounds of my twenties in some way. From wailing sorrow to candid passion, I want to share something honest & human made by myself and with other weirdos living on this pale blue dot. A journey through the past can be very therapeutical. It has certainly been the case for me at least. I hope to do it again someday, searching through dusty recordings of my thirties. For now, my mind is set on the present. I am enjoying life. I embrace both the joy & the fear it brings to me. More than ever, I feel inspired to make music that challenges first of all my own prejudices. Positive feedback from you guys is the icing on the cake.

It has also felt good pouring my thoughts out through words. Thanks for reading, thanks for listening.

Until next time,

Lil' Tone