The Seldon Plan | Indie Pop & Christmas Lights

The band’s music has been described as “tuneful-wistful rock” (The Washington Post) containing a “literate, yet still youthful” sound (Allmusic). Will Hagle describes the core ethos of The Seldon Plan best, “The group hails from a city known for its hipsters and quirky indie music, but they make seem to make songs that are less alienating than Baltimore’s strangest— without sacrificing their inventiveness.” (Earbits). Stephen Carradini writes, “They know what they’re doing, and they’re doing it well. The tunes have the kind of cathartic melodies and lyrics that late ’90s “emo” bands like The Promise Ring and Sunny Day Real Estate were trying to capture, but without all the burdensome youthful drama. It has the strong emotive instrumentals that bands like American Football were trying to capture, but without repetitiveness driving the point home. The Seldon Plan trusts its listeners to be like they are: older, well-versed, appreciative of the little things without being told to be so.” (Independent Clauses)

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New Seldon Plan Spin Off

https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/underlined-passages

If you like The Seldon Plan, consider new ex Seldon Plan members Frank Corl and Mike Nestor...they have a new project called Underlined Passages. 

https://www.facebook.com/underlinedpassages

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We had a little studio fun and re-recorded an old Seldon Plan song...way more down-tempo and cough syrupy...check it out.

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A bio of sorts

Longevity and progress define The Seldon Plan’s unique intelligent indie rock sound. The musical thread that runs through the nine years and four critically lauded records that make up the band’s body of work represents both a commitment to core songcraft and an open mind toward creative redefinition.

The Seldon Plan reflects an amalgam of influences that can be heard but do not define their sound. The use of strong and repeatable melodies is reminiscent of the American Analog Set, yet the technicolor layers and simple pop structures bring to mind Let Go-era Nada Surf and The Californian by Sunday’s Best or Days by Real Estate.

The band’s music has been described as “tuneful-wistful rock” (The Washington Post) containing a “literate, yet still youthful” sound (Allmusic). Will Hagle describes the core ethos of The Seldon Plan best, “The group hails from a city known for its hipsters and quirky indie music, but they make seem to make songs that are less alienating than Baltimore’s strangest— without sacrificing their inventiveness.” (Earbits).

Stephen Carradini writes, “They know what they’re doing, and they’re doing it well. The tunes have the kind of cathartic melodies and lyrics that late ’90s “emo” bands like The Promise Ring and Sunny Day Real Estate were trying to capture, but without all the burdensome youthful drama. It has the strong emotive instrumentals that bands like American Football were trying to capture, but without repetitiveness driving the point home. The Seldon Plan trusts its listeners to be like they are: older, well-versed, appreciative of the little things without being told to be so.” (Independent Clauses)

The Seldon Plan spent the last few years taking on a busy tour schedule—including shows with Explosions in the Sky, The Stills, Now It’s Overhead, The Octopus Project, Matt Pond PA and Hammer No More The Fingers. The band has also made numerous appearances on radio, television, and film over the past few years while keeping a strong DIY ethic.

After the release of the latest record Coalizione del Volere, the band has stepped back from touring to explore music through other types of media. In 2013, the band made two videos with film maker Eric Klimt for their 3 song EP, titled That Time You Dreamed.

After a long think, the band is back playing shows in NJ/NY/PA/and MD as an acoustic two-piece and trying out new material for a new record. They are still trying to figure out the new musical landscape that is post-iTunes.

Frank Corl (drums) recently wrote, “After the last record which had a nice release on vinyl, we have also been struggling with what a “record” means. In this new digital 2.0 era, it is not clear that records hold the same place that they did when we were growing up. We have always been a band who has been well regarded for recording “complete records”. We take pride in that, but we have been thinking about letting this concept go and instead putting music and images together in a way that goes beyond the “record” format.””

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Album cover that did not make the cut.

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Making music. Making music. Making music. Sometimes we have to go to sleep to find ourselves again.

Sept 27th, 10 PM WRSU-live performance and interview. Stream it! (Linkz here: http://wrsu.rutgers.edu/)

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This was a fun video that Eric Klimt shot at The Hamilton Arts Collective in Baltimore. We wanted to do something a little offsetting, and the idea started with stop-motion images. We settled in on playing with the song at fast and slow speeds and changing the frame rate of capture. Minimal editing, we wanted to just kind of go with it.

In other news, we are working on new, slower material. Not sure yet whether it will get released as "The Seldon Plan" yet. I had this wacky idea about writing a record covering songs as myself but as a different "band". Like, "The Poppy Cats cover songs by The Seldon Plan". OK this already sounds dumb, forget I mentioned it. Enjoy the video! If you like it, please share it.

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Frank and I went to an old historic building in Mt. Vernon in Baltimore and recorded three tracks that we wanted to get out of our heads before working on something more substantial. The building was an old abandoned hotel and it was an amazing couple days. Our friend Eric Klimt decided he wanted to make a video based on that day and he put this together. Hopefully you like it, thanks for listening!

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Hey guys, it has been a while. We are very slowly working on a documentary with an accompanying EP. We recently updated our website with some new news on it, so check it out: http://www.theseldonplan.com.

I was playing around with some auto-tune in the home studio...this too about 5 minutes to write on the spot and 10 minutes to record...you might like it...it is a fun listen of a pseudo-song.

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Fool's Gold from the album, "Coalizione del Volere"

http://www.facebook.com/seldonplan, http://www.theseldonplan.com.Recently recorded at Airshow Studios in Takoma Park, MD and engineered and mixed with Frank Marchand (The Thermals, Bob Mould), who worked with the band on 2005's Making Circles, and 2007's The Collective Now. (http://www.airshowmastering.com/).

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The Seldon Plan went back into the studio after the CD release of the lauded Coalizione del Volere in April, 2011 to record some unreleased songs for the vinyl version of the record. One of these songs, "21st Century Tulip Mania" was written specifically to be released as a video accompaniment to the vinyl (BRL 10002) version. This is the first track by the band that has not featured founding member David Hirner on bass. Baltimore's Kresimir Tokic (Poly/Western, lushfarm) joins the band on this futuristic pop track that has been exclusively released to Baltmore's WTMD since May, 2011. A direct reference to the "boom/bust" cyclical nature of our modern media and economy (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania), this song is an offspring of that very zeitgiest, clocking in at a attention deficit disorder friendly 2:06. The band again teamed up with Frank Marchand (The Thermals, Bob Mould) at Airshow for the recording. Although not actively playing live shows, the band is already working on the concept for a new record due in late 2012.

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What do you do when your voice is muted?

I recently said in a interview for lovesound magazine:

"The democratization of music means that there are millions more boats on an already crowded sea. It also gives more power to those who have the biggest boats and the loudest megaphones. So I think that it opens up all possibilities which excites me, but it has allowed a backdoor for the old payola system to come into its own. A band like mine is kind of lost in the middle. Not enough to get supported by bigger labels, but too professional for self-release…I feel for the millions like me that are out there and wish I had the answer. I just don’t. Time will tell.”

So what do you do? Most of my friends have toured incessantly, and some of them play live music 3-4 times a week, cheating the system by playing acoustic shows as "the band" so that they can add those venues to their band resumes. I watch them from a far, counting the 6 months worth of shows, and and seeing in all that time they may get 10-15 more facebook friends and 50 more plays on myspace.

I used to play show after show after show, and at some point the graph for investment/return becomes an asymptote. In other words a line that gets closer and closer and closer to perfection, but never quite touches.

So, what do you do? Most people believe that incessant "networking" with other bands will do the trick. They volunteer to play on each others' records, and to record each other, and to trade shows. I mean, that's what they tell you to do on all the blogs, and "how to get big 101.com" sites.

I think that all the "you have to do it because you love it" hoopla is just self-rationalization of underachieved dreams and goals. These same people complain about this venue or that, or this band or that or this person or that in back rooms...and you have to wonder, do you really love something you complain so much about?

I think music is in the great depression. I think no amount of work or networking will get many of us where we want to go. No one cares about the 6 days you booked consecutively as a "tour" up the east coast. Really, no one except for your musician friends, and you don't really want them anyway. Think about it.

I think the sooner we all realize this and act accordingly, we will bring music out of this great depression.

It is exactly like the housing bubble. We need to stop inflating it and let the bubble burst and let it find its natural bottom.

Lady Gaga has done me in. No more talk. We need action. I am sorry for those of you who still keep holding on like there will be something there-you are better than me.

So, what do you do?

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Here is a new video for y'all...thinking about some touring/recording. Thinking is the operative term here! :)

The Seldon Plan-The Sun, The Sea (by theseldonplanmusic)

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The del Volere

Well, we are finally on our way to finally pressing the vinyl 12" port of the record. This port contains 3 bonus tracks and a remastered version of China Blue. We recently went back to Airshow to work again with Frank Marchand to record a completely new track for the vinyl called 21st Century Tulip Mania. Why is it called that? You can read about it here.

We were going to go with clear green vinyl and then decided on a whole different design. We decided that the 12" should not reflect the CD, but compliment it, and be something special. Thus, we only made 100 copies, hand numbered on clear red vinyl and with completely different artwork shown here. If you want a copy mailed to you for 13.00 (includes postage), email us with your mailing address at info {at} theseldonplan.com. We will not add you to any mailing lists or otherwise spam you!

What about shows? Well we did our initial mini-tour on the front end of the record to launch its coming release...now we are going to be more selective about shows and space them out. So to get all the info on that end, and what touring we will do, go to our Facebook page.

Stay tuned for some videos from mastering and a new video from the band for the song Love Your Way.

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Two album covers NOT being used for the vinyl.

Here are two proposed covers for the vinyl version of Coalizione del Volere that did not make the cut.

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Here are some tour pix from our mini-east coast jaunt for the new record Coalizione del Volere. These shots were taken by Rob Schilare at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ.

You can read two short reviews of the new record, coming out March 1st here and here.

Also, you can read a little about the inspiration behind the record at The Baltimore Sun's "b".

Our website is static, our tumblr site is dynamic. This is where you will get updates about the record, shows, and other news. Thanks for reading!

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Week of love.

We had really great sessions with Sam Sessa at WTMD in Baltimore, MD and John Campbell at WGMU in Fairfax, VA. Look for us to post the audio/video from these sessions soon.

In the meantime, check out our shows in the previous post coming this weekend, and especially please consider our Kickstarter Campaign.

It is the only way I know to get the new Seldon Plan record for 5 bucks...5 bucks!

Thank you all! See you at the shows

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Pack it up.

John said, "My arms get really tired sometimes, and my heart pounds. It is like my body is made of rubber with this beating, pounding heart reverberating against the bands. When I get to the top of the flight of stairs with my heavy amp, I can't remember if my heart pounds from the work, or from the excitement I feel knowing that I get to connect with them again, to feel their energy. Either way, I remember the van, and the miles, and the conversation, and most of all-the anticipation."

We are going to be on a "mini-tour" (not really even a proper mini-tour really) to support our new record. These are the only dates we will play in 2011, unless something huge happens. We love the road, and the clubs and playing live is our favorite thing...

You can buy a copy of the new record (months in advance of its "official" release) at any of these three shows. After these dates, the record won't be available for purchase for months, and not as cheaply as we will price them. We hope to see you, and bring some friends. We all love to talk to people in analog life (no, really we do!).

Here are the dates and times:

Friday, Jan. 14th - Baltimore, MD-8 PM, The Metro Gallery (w/Among Wolves, E. Joseph and the Phantom Heart, A Cat Called Cricket, and The Brixton Riot).

Saturday, Jan. 15th - Hoboken, NJ-8 PM, Maxwell's (w/Jody Porter & The Black Swans, The Anderson Council, and The Brixton Riot).

Sunday, Jan. 16th - New York, NY-8 PM, The Delancey (w/Recess)

Then we pack it in for the winter and focus on getting this record worldwide. Who knows, then maybe we will get on the road again!