Throughout February, Son Lux (aka Ryan Lott) has been documenting the work on his new album. He wrote, recorded and produced the entire thing in the four weeks of February, in parallel with a couple thousand other bands around the world.
New Hampshire music magazine The Wire (not to be confused with the UK mag of the same name) runs the annual event, similar to what NaNoWriMo does for novels, encouraging musicians to create a new CD in the shortest month of the year.
Now in its sixth year, the RPM Challenge urges musicians to write and record an entire CD of at least 10 songs or 35 minutes of original music during the 28 days of February. Those who complete their CDs will have their music added to the online RPM jukebox and will be invited to celebrate at regional listening parties in March. Participants can register at www.rpmchallenge.com.
This year more than 2000 bands participated, and many were rushing to finish and submit their music in time. Here’s how many have been completed so far. The RPM Challenge website has blogposts by participants, links to their websites, and lots of other cool stuff from bands past and present.
NPR’s All Songs Considered has been following Son Lux’s story, in particular, from Day 1, as they’ve been a fan of his music in the past. Here’s a time lapse of Day 5:
Lott has had contributions to the album by collaborators around the country from Nashville, TN to Savannah, GA.
