that

come along the way.

There are so many mistakes, at least for me, so many mistakes I make, which then ultimately turn into, oh, actually that was, that was kind of cool.

And then you change tack and then you move somewhere else and, and something beautiful comes from all those mistakes.

And you might end up with a very, very different thing.

than what you started with.

And I know that's like, that's familiar to all of us, but I feel like that's like a fundamental difference to the creative process where you are, you are entering maybe with an intention, but you, you might end up with something very, very different.

Yeah.

Maybe that's a little skeptic, but I don't think I'm completely alone in maybe wanting to see that.

Well, does that kind of tie in at all to, I don't want to switch the gear too much, but like the labeling of the AI artists and everything that they kind of mentioned? And I haven't, I mean, I don't like seek out AI music, so maybe I haven't seen any.

You don't? Huh.

I don't know if they've started doing that yet, but I don't know.

I kind of feel like just to that point of, you know, they're trying to backpedal somewhat.

But I do think that that's, I mean, that's obviously a much better route to take to go ahead and label it an AI artist versus like not doing that.

So whether they are trying to just... you know, cover their tracks or they're trying to just be more transparent about what you're, you know, listening to.

Yeah.

there i'm gonna get it right this time maybe uh but yeah uh marsh i'm just gonna put you right on the spot again where i think it'd be really cool to just share a little bit about how everybody's summer went i know we're all jonesing to get back into the uh the rhythm of of you know the the fall productivity and all that but summer is also great great to kind of breathe and reset a little bit so so yeah let's hear some stories marsh take it away man

Yeah, as I was saying previously, I took some downtime and was on a trip out in the Tahoe area with my kids.

It was great.

I mean, we were gone for a week or so, but it feels like a long time when you're doing that with two little kids and me, and that was fun.

Yeah.

And I felt like I gave myself some permission to just like lax on music and work a little bit.

But I also just really feel like the sometimes just being out of the routine in summer is just a big challenge for me to like be in a good mental energy because I just like having routine so much.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I think right now for me, as I do have these things that I'm excited about, there's certain small collabs here and there that I'm working on that are great.

I also am just like...

I think the best way to describe it is I'm, I'm wrestling with this like kind of creative like block of sorts or maybe like lack of inspiration and all feeding into this like scarcity mentality idea that I'm just like, that I'm kind of like out of juice.

And I, I, you know, I feel like I've...

Well, I know that I've wrestled with that before, but I think summer can make it...

Summer can, can exaggerate it a little bit when, when kids are around and they're, like the daily rhythm is not in the routine as it usually is.

Mm

yeah.

I think it's interesting too, like sort of what you mentioned, Ben, about just the wider conversation of AI in general is like, we talk about this stuff kind of going on in our scope as independent artists and in the music industry.

And, you know, like we said, like there's, it seems like there's something coming out about Suno or AI or this or that all the time.

If you kind of zoom back a bit, it also kind of seems just the general, like, all the other things happening with AI, like the, you know, the fake this and, like, the social media stuff, just things that kind of seem like they're just getting out of control a little bit.

Like, I feel like at first everyone just...

I kind of thought it was a little bit silly, like, oh, you can make these cute dog videos or whatever, and now it's like people are uploading themselves with celebrities and this, and you can't tell this, and certain music libraries that we work for are making AI films and stuff like that.

So, like, just...

Other predictions?

balance that's that's kind of different but yeah the terror of too late is a massive is a massive thing that I have to constantly come back to to be like too late for what like just do things with what you have and enjoy where you are and and learn new things and stay curious and try things out and you know

yeah I think there can be kind of similar to what you're saying Kirk there's like when you get caught up in your head about something being too late or that you haven't done something in the right amount of time it's like when you think about that pressure too much it kind of just like stops you from being able to just like sit down and actually make music or play the piano or whatever because we get like so overly focused on like well, should I be doing this or doing this or doing this? And I know for me too, that like something from the video that kind of ties to that is just like the, you know, whatever kind of dopamine hit it is wearing off.

Like if we have, you know, a track that does well or something on social media that goes off or whatever it is, it's like, You do that and then, you know, all of us as artists are like conditioned with like this dopamine stuff that like, you know, chasing the next one.

And it just gets so in the way of doing the actual thing that we enjoy doing.

And I feel...

I feel like it's hard enough for me to stay focused on one thing as it is, to be focused on whether it's a specific something for a client or something that I'm doing as an artist.

It's hard enough for me to sit down and be like, this is what I'm working on today without thinking like...

yeah rather than the editorial playlist and the this and that and the other it's like it's not what you're listening to can't be the numbers it has to be the art but then of course the numbers are important but that's not what's driving this right right

Mm-hmm.

And the pressure of keeping up with a release schedule and also having things that are random client projects and stuff like that hasn't... it's just kind of, like, taken the wind out of the sails a little bit, you know? It, it puts more of a pressure on, like, when you go sit down to do what you're doing, and it, you know, it, you don't feel like you have the time or the, um, just the pure, like, curiosity to just mess around for a bit.

So the, one of the main things from, from my convo with Ben was just, like, just remembering why we're doing this and the reasons why we love it, and that not everything has to be like this, like, productivity check mark, you know?

Yeah.

Here's a question maybe is what d- how do you guys...

Because when you struggle with the, the productivity thing, right? Because I feel like there's this thing of, okay, well, this is what I'm doing.

This is my livelihood.

If I don't get something done today, what...