WHAT?

DG6 – as you might deduce from it’s title – is our 6th compilation that we’ve put together since March 2007. Many times I’ve found myself saying “whatever the fuck it is we’re doing”, but I think I might have finally figured it out. On a very basic level what we’re doing is stumbling around trying to find great new music, and in turn provide a platform for mostly unsigned bands to be heard. Most of these will not be household names or the product of fashion, many will be self-recorded or essentially lo-fi by nature, and some will have mastered home-recording to such an extent that they will be as far from lo-fi as you can possibly imagine. In essence what these compilations will do is create a sampler, an alternative soundtrack, a modern-day mix-tape of sounds and songs that you’ll struggle to find in the same place anywhere else. And the compilations with be genre-less – you’ll find folk and psych sitting side-by-side, along with experimental electronic instrumentals, shoegaze anthems, simple acoustic pop, indie-rock, and so and so on. Like my Mama says “The Daydream Generation compilations are like a box of chocolates for your ears, and you just never know what you’re going to get”. You might not like it all, but the chances are there will be something in there for you, a song that you can carry around for the rest of your life, a band that you can fall in love with, or simply something new when you’re tired of the radio and the music television channels, or a neverending stream of bulletins on MySpace from musicians desperately fighting for the last droplets of your attention. Sometimes I think this is some kind of revolution in music, decent people coming together free from concepts like money and advertising and t-shirt sales, and celebrating music for what it really means, and at other times I just think it is a bit of fun, something to kill a couple of hours on a rainy afternoon when there’s nothing left to do but listen. So to answer that “What?” I’d say it is a load of ideas rolled into one and rolling on it’s own accord – you can take it or leave it. Personally I think you should take it because there’s some really amazing music for you to discover, but I’m not going to blow our own trumpet for you.

Who?

The 40 bands who make up DG6 have been carefully hand-picked, or sucked in by something resembling fate. If you’ve downloaded any of our previous compilations then you’ll no doubt be familiar with a whole load of them – The Real Burnouts, Fig Mints (Of Your Imagination), Rollercoaster, Dead Canaries, Uberfuzz, Warchalking, Becky N, The Playground, CoDY High School, Jane Gilmore, James Redmond, Allan Douglas and The Tragedies, Broken Mono, Rocketships of Love, and Sucks To LaLa Land have long been friends of the project and supported us along the way with their songs and words of support. Also there are a handful of artists returning from the gargantuan technological frenzy that was DG5 – names like The Space Between Things, The Hoborchestra, William Carpenter, The Revolutionary Patriots, Kaleidonauts, The Sugar Skulls, Ghodbane, and MotherBIRD are back and will hopefully in time become established sounds on the daydream bus. Finally, there is of course a whole new army of songmakers for you to familiarise yourself with – One Unique Signal, The Falling Floors, Twisted Gimlet, Sauvie Island Moon Rocket Factory, Wild Smile, Invasions, The Gills, Vagabond Stories, The Lucid Dream, Daniel Land and The Modern Painters, The Grosvenor Suite, The Loaded Whispers, The Barefoot Kid, Riot of The Century, Love Knot, Simon Piler, and The Great Valley. It’s a mighty fine mixture of new and old, even if I do say so myself.

The reality is that as hard as I work at this with as little time as I’ve got, that the Daydream compilations wouldn’t be possible without the technological and moral support of several individuals and organisations – so here’s where I get the traditional thankyous out of the way. First and foremost thanks to Tim at www.transatmospheric.com who continues to host this strange little adventure we’re having here – if the DG was really a magic bus, then he’s the guy who owns it and paints it and keeps the engine ticking over. A massive thanks also to Kris for sharing the workload & halving the weight of the daydream (more appreciated than you could ever imagine), and to Chris for the cool cover art – I’m guessing tomorrow the question you’re most going to want answered is “What’s the guy in the woods holding in his hand?”. As always a huge brotherly cheers to everyone at www.cozyhomerecords.com – especially Bobby and Paul – who ride the same wavelength on the other side of the Atlantic and are as inspirationally understanding as it gets. And of course thanks to all the bands and people within bands who responded to my messages to get their songs and artwork in on time – Jon, Tim, Nick, Keith, Will, Kenji, Jolan, Cal, Nick, Dave, Casey, Kyle, Mike, Ryan, Gil, Thomas, Noddy, Jay, Becky, Daniel, Paul, Allan, Paul again, Stephanie, Mike, Paul a third time, Antonio, Celina, Helter, Jane, Rebecca, Davyd, Loudon, Vucky, and Peter. Also not forgetting the projects who have helped us along our way, especially Cozy Home Records and the Splendid Isolation podcast laddies. Finally thanks to anyone who is still reading this and goes on to click “download”. Whether you enjoy it or not is irrelevant – its the trying that counts.

WHERE?

Here: 

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=e7bd6c08e4cf772fab1eab3e9fa335ca91c7edf5194e2970

AND YES IT’S FREE!!!

WHEN?

Right now.

WHY?

Well this is the one part of the equation I still can’t get my head around. For all I babbled on about the “WHAT?” it somehow still doesn’t make any sense. Just recently it was pointed out that I am the worst entrepreneur in history, the anti-thesis of a Richard Branson. “So how much money do you make from this thing then?” I was asked. 

“Erm, none” I said.

After a round of laughter in my direction and struggling to regain my composure I began to try and somehow justify the unjustifiable, “Music’s about more than money” I said.

“Yes, but what’s in it for you?” I was asked.

All I could think of was how much I loved DG6 and the five compilations that have gone before, the thrill of discovering a new song that sings it’s way into the very essence of your being, the sense of connection you feel when you recognise a little bit of yourself that has always seemed out of place in some other folk’s music, and the magic of at least attempting to create an alternative to the capitalist-media-circus that is the modern music industry. Of course, I didn’t say any of that, I just shrugged my shoulders and smiled. “WHY?” goes very deep, sometimes too deep to really make any sense.

Nonsensically yours in anticipation of you thoroughly digging this latest offering,

Smally

CATEGORIES:DAYDREAM GENERATION, DG COMPILATIONS, RELEASES