Posted August 26, 2016 by AdamSG1 Comment Features

Liner Notes #1 / Goodbye EHS, Hello SG

Welcome to Liner Notes! It’s a semi-regular series that’ll be used as a platform to write about whatever comes to mind. I believe on EHS I used the first submission of Deep Cuts (a predecessor series that was cut short before it truly got to blossom) to talk about how I went Skydiving for the first time, and how terrifying that was.

I suppose a good way to kick off Liner Notes is to talk about something that until this past weekend I never thought I’d do: start all over again. I decided to stop doing music reviews under the name Exploding Head Syndrome and spent the last two weeks creating an entirely new blog under a new name – Good Sounds. So this Linear Notes will answer a pretty simple question: Why?

One of my biggest downfalls as a music blogger is lack of consistency when it comes to posting content throughout the year. In the two/three years as Exploding Head Syndrome I flip-flopped between posting three times a day, to once a day, to three times a week to three times every other day. I’d stick to a schedule for a month or so before missing a day due to being too busy/lazy and eventually wound up writing content once again in preparation for the “return to posting” Tweets to try and build up some buzz.

There was no real reason behind it other than sometimes I’d burn out. Having this as a passion alongside a full time job, a social/love life and a steady decrease in tolerating an overwhelmed inbox was probably a dumb idea. Also, moving EHS to WordPress resulted in taking a hit in views and while the interaction would improve, the views each month would be nowhere near EHS’s tenure on Blogger. Ultimately I decided that if I continued to chug along the EHS train it would continue to stop and start at Laziness Avenue or Can’t Be Arsed Alley the need to post some words on the Internet would disappear quicker than my sudden resurgence of productivity.

Something I did notice in my time as EHS is that I really enjoy writing about music that sounds good. Having the opportunity to pull together words that described the joy and fangirlism I experienced from a hot new band or a great new single brought so much more glee to my insides than writing evil, hateful words could ever do. I used to write about the music back when I started and didn’t like it. It would leave me feeling 1. Sorry, especially if it was a new band 2. Like I was just trying to copy every other music blog out there and 3. In need of a comfort pizza.

Witnessing this progression made me realise that I should strive to keep writing about the good stuff and tweak my blog as a home for these Butterflies of joy. It also made me realise that having a name like Exploding Head Syndrome probably wasn’t ideal for inviting Butterflies of Joy to come and hang out, so I decided to say bye bye and start up something that provided them with comfy sofas and good vibes.

Sounds Good is the result of a desire to push against music blogs and websites embedded in slating releases online, whether in need of hits or a lack of understanding the notion of how not to be a dick to people. One of the first things I was taught as a child was “if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all” so I’m all about posting the nice. Fortunately I’m not alone in that notion, as there have been a few blogs who also strive to be nice too.

I‘m sad to say farewell to Exploding Head Syndrome, but I feel as if Sounds Good is the ideal platform to keep spreading the word about the good sounds, and one that could easily grow into something that Sounds Great (terrible pun). Plus, starting over again is totally refreshing. Knowing that people, artists and PR companies are yet to discover SG at the moment brings a lot of reassurance and excitement to me, as I hope to have the same impression on them as a new artist does to me when I discover them for the first time.

Exploding Head Syndrome, you were a great blog with a badass name and I’m thankful for all the opportunities and artists you brought to my attention. Goodbye for now, I love you.

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