Transmission

I suppose the first question in things of this nature is to first ask:
1) What is the nature or mood you want to create with the album?
2) What’s the intended audience?
3) What do you want your audience to get out of the album?

um…. etc… (suddenly lacking the right words now)

By Renata on Jun 11, 2007

I second Renata’s comment. If you are looking for a theme album aka Rotation then I like the interplay with Rotation with Moment of Inertia or mass acceleration depending if you are now standing still and reflecting or moving forward.

Ike and the Hipostles sounds like a power praise band that would make the Wedding Singer sound deep.

By becky garrison on Jun 11, 2007

Assuming this album contains portions of music for a service of Holy Eucharist, aka “mass setting”, and more,perhaps the simple title of Service might be good. Subtly it conveys the inextricable link between worship and acts of compassion, mission, or serving others.

And Bowie, remember that summer solstice was celebrated up until the Middle Ages in the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist, June 23rd. “I must decrease that He may increase.” Love to all, Dad

By Dad, James Snodgrass on Jun 11, 2007

well, as the guy paying for this album, my main agenda is to have a title which encourages people to buy it. Like a good book cover, an album title should be intriguing; it should spark the imagination of the listener before the album is even heard. It should be relevant to the album material, but it should also be a little ambiguous to leave room for discovery. Some of the best album titles, in my opinion, are things like: Rubber Soul, Exile on Main Street, The Joshua Tree, and The Dark Side of the Moon.

By Isaac on Jun 11, 2007

Great, Isaac, but you still haven’t fully answered my questions. What is the content of the album? What are the songs about? What is the feel? I can’t work up a title or a name for the album without some idea of the direction I am supposed to be heading. This is the same sort of consulting I would do with a new client who is looking for a logo (aka brand identity). The brand says everything about the company and is always created with a market audience and feel in mind. Designers do not come up with these things out of thin air… though sometimes I think our clients think we do! (But you probably get the same thing being a musician as well.) So talk me through it, what is it about the album that you would want me as the listener to take away that goes beyond the title but rather to the depth and the soul of that album?

By Renata on Jun 11, 2007

It’s great to see so many questions and comments concerning this album’s title. Renata in particular has raised some good points with her questions. I’d like to do my best to shed a little light on that, based on my understanding as the album’s lyricist

I’d been told that Rotation’s “Lead Me To Jerusalem” would be something of a template for the sound – kinetic, driving, dark, heavy. Where Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode meet Prince and Stevie Wonder, with disco-grooves that would give the Blue-Man-Group a bunch of heart-attacks. The primary image that comes to mind is the Zion dance-party in the Matrix – young people covered in mud, dancing like it’s the last night on Earth.

Target audience and marketing are not my strong suit, but for intention, I’d definitely say that the lyrical message of the album is – get off your knees, stop thinking about Heaven above, and get to work to bring about Heaven on Earth.

I think a lot of these titles are good –
-MASS ACCELERATION
-CRITICAL MASS
-SERVICE
-MASS
I hope that the repetition of “mass” here won’t cancel it out – I think Mass is really good in the way it interacts with “Rotation”. My primary concern is the word “Inert,” which to me (I think I failed High School Physics) will always mean torpid and sluggish. I just can’t reconcile that with my understanding of this album’s sound or its mission.

By j. Snodgrass on Jun 11, 2007

J – Let me run it around in my head for a little while and I will get back to you. I have some images in mind and may play with the images until it brings me to a title or a mix of the titles you have…

By Renata on Jun 13, 2007

I am not sold on it yet… but the first name to come to mind is: inertia service

By Renata on Jun 16, 2007