Paper Plane Pilot Blog

If Nothing Else… For Something Else (1/5) Now Available!

February 19, 2010

I’m proud to announce that If Nothing Else… For Something Else (1/5) is now available for download! The release is the first of five, two-song, mini-ep releases that will eventually make up the next Paper Plane Pilot full-length album. This way, instead of waiting for 10 songs (and for me to go insane trying to write, record, produce and mix 10 songs at once), you get five little mini-installments, instant gratification, and, if my math serves me correctly, a 5x saner host!

Sure, I could sit on these tracks for another year or so and release everything at once, but, clearly, that’s crazy talk! And it goes against the first rule of this album: Do not wait to release songs. Okay, so maybe there are no rules, but it is part of the plan. And, yes, I realize I didn’t use any of the album names from October. Mea culpa!

Be remarkable. Or go home.

February 4, 2010

Bob Lefsetz had a great post yesterday about albums vs singles. About how the old world of selling albums has given way to a new digital age of singles and ‘a la carte’ music consumption. In the old paradigm, artists sold a collection of songs because they could. Records, tapes and CDs all held X amount of music, and they had to give someone a certain amount of listening enjoyment for us to pay $10-$20 for the one song we really wanted. We didn’t mind spending $15 for the rest. To experiment. To find the one or two other tracks that moved us. The ones that weren’t supposed to be good.

But we didn’t have the choice we have today.

Paper Plane Pilot Interview (Outliered Reprint)

November 21, 2009

This interview was originally conducted for Outliered Music Magazine and published Friday, November 20, 2009.

There is no denying that these days art and technology not only collide, but frequently morph and spawn the most interesting music. Dustin started Paper Plane Pilot in 2006, originally writing his music on a little 25-key midi controller. Now he uses a Digital Audio Workstation to write electronic pop music with an Indie twist. Think Lily Allen meets New Order, the kind of sound you would happily listen to at home with your headphones on. In his home studio Dustin embraces the latest technology, he has even become a bit of an expert on the subject of DAWs. I talked to him about it, to find out his views on the marriage of music and technology.

What or who got you into music?

Conceptualizing a new Paper Plane Pilot release

October 9, 2009

For the past few months I’ve been jotting down ideas for a new album. Like First Flight, the new release will have 10 tracks and will be recorded and mixed by yours truly. But unlike First Flight, the release will be broken up into 2-song segments, which means five separate releases.

I like this idea for two reasons. First, writing, producing, recording and mixing 10 tracks all at once is a ton of work. Second, the current state of digital distribution just begs for a more frequent release cycle.

So five little mini-releases just makes sense — it’s easier, and it means that more music comes out sooner. And after all five, I’ll wrap the 10 tracks together in a proper release.

Launching a new website: From concept to build, and even some free music

July 31, 2009

In the year and a half since I built the second version of the Paper Plane Pilot website, much has changed around here. I’ve added a couple releases, joined a few social sites, started a blog and even created a store. So it’s not surprising that a version three would show up sooner or later.

Looking back to where it all began, even back to the other sites I used before I settled on the Paper Plane Pilot name, version three represents a big step forward.

Version one of this site served as not much more than a repository for song ideas and a quick outline of the Paper Plane Pilot project as I worked on the tracks that would ultimately form First Flight.

Hi, I'm Dustin. I create electronic indie pop music. Click here to learn more.