pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

it feels like that sometimes tbh.

true, not sure what it says about me that I imagined all these people with awful taste

i think you'd have to be a real weirdo to sign up for a zoom listening club with strangers.

no disrespect to the people discussed in that article. but message board posting feels more, um, like something regular to do.

i mean, if it helps people feel less alone it's ok. i feel bad about those posts now.

jon I feel you, some of my very favorite albums of the last few years I don’t even own because they’re OOP and expensive as heck. it just feels weird.

Yeah, it definitely feels weird. Things seem super limited these days and if you don't order the instant they go on pre-sale, that's it, you've missed it already. Which seems... short-sighted, to say the least.

i think you'd have to be a real weirdo to sign up for a zoom listening club with strangers.

― treeship., Tuesday, January 26, 2021 3:49 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I actually like the idea a lot, but would probably be too anxious/self-conscious to actually do it.

I'm listening to the Palberta album now, and I agree it sounds nothing like any Sleater-Kinney I've ever heard (though perhaps I've never heard "early, self-titled Sleater-Kinney").

lol wasn’t Chatroulette exactly that?

xp

tbf there will likely be equal amounts of jerking it

I’m frustrated by artists and labels who won’t do a CD issue but will do an LP run, but I know no one else cares.

Now you might be wrong about that

(That said, vast majority of my music purchases are strictly digital via Bandcamp these days.)

OK - you and me against the world.

I’m frustrated by artists and labels who won’t do a CD issue but will do an LP run, but I know no one else cares.

― Everything's Blue In This Whorl (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, January 26, 2021 8:34 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I care, too! I was actually contemplating buying that Trees box and, in an unlikely turn of events, the very good Pitchfork review is what convinced me I needed to buy it, only to find that it's already sold out. Oh well

I would like to see more CD runs too. AIUI the profit margin on LPs is so much better that lots of labels see a CD run as a load of extra work for a reduced return, but the (apparently) artificially short print runs on CD issues is bewildering.

friend of mine who owned a small label once told me

if you press 1,000 you'll sell 400

if you press a 500 "limited edition" you'll sell out

also they end up with houses or apartments just filled with boxes and boxes and boxes of used CDs

i probably took like 600 cds to the dump of my old band

pitchfork loves to give "underrated workhorses" a 6.9

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

friend of mine who owned a small label once told me

if you press 1,000 you'll sell 400

if you press a 500 "limited edition" you'll sell out

I'll find out for myself next month...hope your friend is right! (My break-even point is somewhere in the 225-250 copy range, but obviously if I only sell that many I'll have a roomful left over, which will suck from a living-space standpoint.)

I mean, of course printing any run of physical media in 2021 is a gamble. I get it. And I totally can understand why a small label wouldn't want to take on the risk. It's fair. But in my experience, it's even mid-size labels that presumably have warehouses and distribution channels that are printing tiny runs.

My annoyance kicks in when I read or hear about an album that came out two months ago, only find out it's already out-of-print and going for ridiculous money on discogs on both LP and CD format. I just don't see how that serves any artist to have something go out of print that quickly. I'm not talking about some obscure record from 17 years ago that I can't track down, I'm talking albums that are still currently in their promotion period, getting published reviews, that are already completely out-of-print. I don't see how that works well for anyone.

it’s another case where the review is better than the score but peewee deserves better

xps

My annoyance kicks in when I read or hear about an album that came out two months ago, only find out it's already out-of-print and going for ridiculous money on discogs on both LP and CD format. I just don't see how that serves any artist to have something go out of print that quickly.

the cynic in me sometimes wonders if there are labels that do this on purpose to flip their own stuff at an OOP markup out the back door. the temptation has got to be there.

xpost - don't quote me on those numbers haha

My annoyance kicks in when I read or hear about an album that came out two months ago, only find out it's already out-of-print and going for ridiculous money on discogs on both LP and CD format. I just don't see how that serves any artist to have something go out of print that quickly.

think the secret here the artist/label might keep a few back and discog/ebay the records themselves wink wink

xpost w one eye open but yeah

anyway god bless all those putting out obscure stuff in physical form in 2021!

I'm not talking about some obscure record from 17 years ago that I can't track down, I'm talking albums that are still currently in their promotion period, getting published reviews, that are already completely out-of-print. I don't see how that works well for anyone.

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, January 27, 2021 8:41 AM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

was really hard recently to track down a new copy of Magik Marker's "2020" - a very well reviewed album that just came out, finally found one

friend of mine who owned a small label once told me

if you press 1,000 you'll sell 400

if you press a 500 "limited edition" you'll sell out

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, January 27, 2021 9:17 AM (one hour ago)

creating artificial scarcity is basically business 101

Yeah, that's a good example! It just feels so weird that in 2021 I'm doing for brand new releases what I was doing five years ago for obscuro weird shit - i.e. trawling various online shops and discogs until I hit on the magic one with stock. I guess the days of walking into a record store with a list of new releases you want to buy really are dead. And, as much as I love and utilize Bandcamp, I gotta imagine that's not helping local record shops either.

At this point the record store experience is very much “I’m here with no real expectations, let’s just see how lucky I’ll get.”

(Also glad to see there are others questing for CDs.)

At this point the record store experience is very much “I’m here with no real expectations, let’s just see how lucky I’ll get.”

Never a bad thing either! But I'm not going to lie, in the pre-COVID times I was still very much a, "hey it's Friday, I'm gonna hit the shop and grab some new stuff" kind of guy too.

(Also glad to see there are others questing for CDs.)

pre-pandemic, CD thrifting was one of my favorite activities.

It’s been a while - months? - since I last visited a physical record store, but for some time now it’s been more keyed to older items, used or not. You know, is there a copy of “No Pussyfooting” in the racks? And if so, awesome, fill in the blank with your own example.

The tough part comes with looking for something just released, because the store under ordered or barely ordered or the label was like “hey, we did a digital release Friday but physical versions come out in two months, probably.”

(I realize that this isn’t entirely a Pitchfork-related discussion.)

yeah sometimes with record stores I wish everything was disorganized like a new arrivals bin lol

I'm cynical but I think if any record store acquired a copy of No Pussyfooting in 2021 it would never see the sales floor

You’d think, right?

No Pussyfooting Blues

record stores really suck now, and I blame Discogs for a lot of these problems. Hell, buying records used to be a lot more fun than it used to. It's like collecting comic books/action figures etc now

otm

I mean, of course printing any run of physical media in 2021 is a gamble. I get it. And I totally can understand why a small label wouldn't want to take on the risk. It's fair. But in my experience, it's even mid-size labels that presumably have warehouses and distribution channels that are printing tiny runs.

And to my point. . . *purchasing* physical media has become somewhat of a gamble/horse race. The market is flooded with shit and reissues and Record Store Day stuff, who can keep up with it all. . . so much so that when *good* stuff gets reissued, it's easy for that stuff to slip by. Case in point here, I only knew this came out b/c some friends posted about it on Facebook. And it's like a lost Little Richard record??? WTF

https://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/southern-child/

Yeah, RSD has a lot to answer for. I don't want to rehash the argument again and I'm legit glad it helps a lot of stores stay afloat, but the effect it's had on record stores is going to be felt for a long time. I remember one day, shortly before the pandemic, I stopped in a small local bookstore that also sells a limited selection of vinyl and I swear half of their "new" section was RSD represses of shit you used to find in bargain bins for $2 a pop, but suddenly is worth $29 because it's on, I don't know, watermelon colored vinyl.

i'm just waiting for watermelon flavored vinyl.

"wow, i love this song! it tastes so fresh!"

Breakbot: 'By Your Side'
French producer / DJ Thibault Berland, better known as Breakbot, released a 2012 single 'By Your Side' that was noted for its animated music video directed by Irena Dakeva, but even more notable was the decision to issue a limited run of 7” singles pressed onto chocolate.

Only 120 copies were ever made and Ed Banger Records, Breakbot's label, issued the record along with the helpful advice “play it before you eat it”. Presumably it's quite a difficult thing to store, and it was only ever designed to be played once, but it does actually play back on a turntable and sounds better than you'd imagine. Still, we'd bet it tastes even better...

out.

standing.

I'll find out for myself next month...hope your friend is right! (My break-even point is somewhere in the 225-250 copy range, but obviously if I only sell that many I'll have a roomful left over, which will suck from a living-space standpoint.)

Your post reminded me, I just got my pre-order in for your first two releases this morning, so doing my part. Good luck!

I saw that - thanks! (The printer had a minor COVID outbreak and had to shut down for two weeks, so physical discs may be SLIGHTLY delayed, but they'll come out one way or another. I'm actually calling on Monday to get a status update.)