Simon Little

It’s finally here!

My brand new Monochrome Echo album Matrix Rebooting is officially out now!

This is my third full length electronic album. I started working on these tracks pretty much as soon as my previous album Nobody Is Looking At You was released last year. Once again it is entirely produced by me and the artwork is by the awesomely talented stratego.nine, who also did the artwork for the last record.

I’ve been running series of giveaways on my Monochrome Echo Twitter and Facebook pages over the last week offering free download codes for some of my back catalogue so hopefully some of you managed to snag a free album or EP in the run-up to the big release.

Matrix Rebooting is available for purchase or streaming at all the usual places worldwide. Obviously the best place to buy it is from Bandcamp where you can download the album in whatever high quality format you desire. The added bonus being that you can buy the full discography which now consists of three albums and three EPs with a 25% discount. So just over twenty quid for the lot.

Not to be sniffed at…

I really hope you enjoy the album (and indeed all the other albums) and don’t forget to share links on your social media to help spread the word. Those of you that use Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal (does anyone actually use Tidal??) or any of the other streaming sites; please follow Monochrome Echo and add your favourite songs to your playlists; it really does help spread the word and crack those pesky algorithms so other people might actually find my music without me telling them about it myself!

So without further ado, here’s the new album!!

Hello folks,

For those of you that haven’t spotted it yet, I’ve been producing electronic music under the name Monochrome Echo for a few years now.

Today I’m releasing my second full-length album Nobody Is Looking At You worldwide and I need your support! It’s a collection of 14 tracks I’ve been working on over the last year or so. Jason Rebello guests on one track and the artwork is by the excellent artist StrateGo.Nine. Ta-da!

Big thanks to those of you that preordered the album on my Bandcamp page! The album is now also available to buy and/or stream in all digital stores worldwide including all the usual suspects (iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Tidal etc). Personally I’d go to Bandcamp for the HD version. Plus you can also buy my full discography on bandcamp with a nifty 25% discount (£18.75 for the lot). Not to be sniffed at folks…

So, if you haven’t already, now’s the time to follow Monochrome Echo on Spotify, Twitter and Facebook.

After you’ve gone and bought the record obviously.

It’d also be an excellent time to add a few Monochrome Echo tracks to your electronic music playlists on Spotify. I’d start with Dot Matrix, Master Control Program and Look Both Ways (feat. Jason Rebello). They’re my favourites anyway. Spotify seems to have changed it’s discovery algorithm and forgotten what I sound like.

But most importantly it’s time to spread the word! You will know better than me who amongst your friends will be into my stuff. Please tell them about the record and share my links and posts on your Twitter feed, Facebook etc. It makes a big difference.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the new album and I hope you like it!

Tell your mates!!

Whether you’re a music fan or an artist, the brand new fan pages from Bandcamp are really rather exciting.

Now anyone that has bought music via Bandcamp can sign up for a free fan page where they can showcase their music collection and browse the collections of other like-minded music lovers to discover new records. Yet again Bandcamp has come up with a clean, simple and effective system where iTunes has failed. The ill-fated iTunes Ping service lasted all of five minutes with it’s fussy interface and attempt at creating a social network, and now Bandcamp has managed to achieve a fully integrated music recommendation system without detracting from its core values or functionality. Here’s what my fan page looks like today (you can click on the link if you want to follow me!):

As you can see, you get a really straightforward page showcasing the music you’ve bought on Bandcamp. You can show or hide whatever you like on your page, add reviews/comments to albums and select your favourite track for the player. You can follow both artists (which automatically signs you up to their mailing lists and lets you know when they release new records) as well as your friends and other fans so you get notified when they buy new music. And once you’re signed up as a fan, a little thumbnail of your profile picture will appear beneath any album you’ve recently bought on the artist’s page in the ‘supported by‘ section, as will any comments you’ve added as a recommendation.

This new feature has benefits for both fans and artists…

Fans now have access to a great music recommendation and discovery system for all the excellent independent music available via Bandcamp. Since they introduced the Discover feature last June, Bandcamp has steadily improved the way in which new music can be discovered in it’s vast library. Artists have been able to add up to three albums in their recommended section, which now features on their band page:

Fans can now be notified immediately when their favourite artists release new music or their friends buy a new record. And now you can show off your impeccable taste in your own personal corner of Bandcamp, and publicly show your support for your favourite artists. You can see who else has bought a particular record and explore the rest of their collection. There is also now a wishlist which enables you to save albums you’ve found that you might like to come back to and purchase at a later date. All of these functions are presented in the most straightforward way with an excellent UI. Marvellous…

Artists can now engage more with their fans and other artists alike. Fans are incentivised to pay for your music so they feature on your page as supporters and showcase your music in their collection (free downloads don’t offer these possibilities). Your music can now be found via genre and tag searches, artist recommendations and fan pages. You can expand your mailing list as people start following you and automatically gain access to your fanbase when you really need to; when you release new music.

Bandcamp describes the fan accounts as “a social music discovery system based on the high-friction concept of ownership“. The idea being to involve fans at a level greater than simply pressing a ‘Like’ button or scrobbling plays on last.fm, and thus engage more with a sense of community and support for the artists they love.

So in a nutshell, You Need This!!! If you’ve ever bought music via Bandcamp (and hopefully most of you reading this will have bought one of my records at least!) you should sign up for a fan page immediately. It’s dead easy and it gives you instant access to a whole world of music discovery. I’ve already found a few little gems purely through browsing my friend’s collections and the recommended pages of my favourite artists. The worst thing that could happen is that you end up blowing loads of money on some great new music…

If you have yet to use Bandcamp to purchase music, I shall of course suggest checking out my latest solo release [un]plugged and our new trio recording Foreground Music, Vol. I with Jez Carr and Mike Haughton. Of course. What better way to start your collection and connect with other music lovers? Enjoy…