pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

Most great new music doesn't even get reviewed though :(

I get many suggestions from Joshua Mins00 Kim, to whom deej linked upthread (Glockboy most recently).

there's gotta be an old thread for this topic.

i use a combination of bandcamp, instagram, DJ sets posted online, spotify, and ILM to find music, almost none of it algorithmic, mostly through specific curators. on IG i follow artists, labels, and record stores, along with curatorial groups that are in some nether zone between label/artist collective/music blog. on spotify i check out new music by artists i follow and i use other people's playlists to find stuff

I check things out if the sleeve art looks cool on discogs

I find it amazing (in the best way) not just that I am constantly being introduced to new (to me, not just contemporary) music, but sometimes entire strains or sub-genres or categories of music that I'd missed. The shame is that I recognize I don't have the bandwidth to give it the attention it deserves, but I like knowing that it exists.

A) You can understand why guys like Kevin P0well (and me) find the act of "finding out about new rap" somewhat alien these days and B) My point stands somewhat because combing through 7,000 IG accounts still counts as more "work" than turning on Rap City and seeing the Busta video everyone else is seeing.

i'm not sure why point A matters. seems like a personal problem and not a cultural problem to me. at what point has contemporary rap ever been concerned with whether 40 year olds were finding the music? that a 40 year old could open XXL or vibe and keep up w/ rap was accidental, basically. and all that access never seemed to convince old heads that the new music was worth a damn anyway. sounds like you tbh!

as for point B, this pretty much has already been said but my point is that if you engage w/ rap culture online (aka being a fan of rap music) veeze's social media ubiquity is essentially akin to turning on the rap city and seeing a new face next to jay z in his videos enough times that you detect the signal that you should be paying attention to this person, eventually you check for the music etc. i would agree w/ the statement that the degree to which rap culture and rap music flows thru IG, tik tok etc is really bad for a number of reasons, but you can still map the rise of a lot of contemporary breakout rappers thru the bigger artist they are attached to. playboi carti's artists are huge right now for example. rylo rodriguez is another prominent example from this year -- lil baby has been posting on his IG story for 2-3 years that rylo was his single favorite rapper. lil baby has 23 million IG followers, rylo had a top 10 album this year. for all the ways things have changed w/ music discovery, the concept of a rapper saying "you like my music, well here are my new artists, you'll like them too" still carries a lot of currency. it's just that the cosign may come first in the form of an IG follow, which is noticed by fans etc. i'm not arguing that the lay person should care about IG follows or that such knowledge is integral to enjoying the music, just that i don't think fan behavior has changed on an intrinsic level all that much, only that technology has.

ultimately the thing i don't get is that you want to stand proudly athwart popular music culture but also, for some reason, are constantly complaining about how it isn't made/marketed directly for your consumption. but that's a separate discussion.

the quietus, RA, foxy digitalis, unperson’s columns, ILM

i also have a filter for bandcamp emails, and i go through those every two weeks or so

the concept of a rapper saying "you like my music, well here are my new artists, you'll like them too" still carries a lot of currency.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIV5tkdk64c

I just hallucinate new music, in that you are all a subset of my shifting reality.

i exclusively listen to music ned buys on bandcamp

i have 1 billion songs to go

I just hallucinate new music, in that you are all a subset of my shifting reality.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, November 7, 2023 1:31 PM

i. . . am grateful to be here? in that case. thanks for thinking of me.

With hindsight, it’s clear that Up was a transitional record, the pivot point between R.E.M.’s reign as the biggest band in the college-rock underground and their subsequent act packing arenas.

I might be misreading this but isn't he like 3-5 albums too late with this observation?

otherwise, I'm shocked a reissue of a 2nd or 3rd tier REM album is getting lead review placement on pfork in 2023. As an REM fan I'd be pleased but can't help but feel it's a direct reflection of the decreasing prominence of reviews in their brand

Yeah that’s a weird sentence… Erlewine must know his R.E.M. timeline, so I assume it’s some kind of glitch in phrasing.

I like the review a lot, btw… he makes some nice observations.

I did like the review but noticed that sentence as being a bizarre statement

maybe an editing thing? STE definitely seems like a writer who knows his REM

In other words, he's old.

do older millennials like REM? what's the cutoff?

as a mid millennial I don't dislike them they were just never on my radar for some reason (unlike many of their contemporaries). despite all the talk of generational niche partitioning in the era of streaming it's still relatively rare for a single artist to be *this* much of a generational shibboleth. I don't know what the equivalent for my age group would be - do any kids still listen to neutral milk hotel?

xpost ha I mean I didn't mean that as an insult he just covers a lot of "classic alternative"

The review does a great job of analyzing the album’s artistic deficits (IMO), putting them in the context of its creation.

I was hoping the reissue would get an 8.0 - I mean I'd go higher personally but Up feels like an album whose stature has risen (at least a bit) over the years.

Left, I was born in 84 and I was absolutely fucking obsessed with REM in like 99-2000. I didn’t know any other kids who were, mind you, but alas.

R.E.M's American cultural cachet in 1999-2000 remained considerable.

Oh for sure, but not among many 15 year olds

Reminds me of watching the video of "All the Way To Reno" with a friend when it was new. It shows the band playing in a high school, and my friend said all the kids must be going, "who are these guys?"

this baldy is way less funny than fred durst

Cuter.

hmmm

https://prabook.com/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2743019

https://resizing.flixster.com/-XZAfHZM39UwaGJIFWKAE8fS0ak=/v3/t/assets/67446_v9_bb.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1271530504827875331/3Ka8BTK6_400x400.jpg

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/29/02/46026027-9837449-A_new_look_Fred_Durst_looked_nearly_unrecognizable_in_a_selfie_t-m-137_1627522319616.jpg

I have to admit he is pretty gorgeous maybe I should check out his band

Pretty funky iirc

Gotta admit, Durst is aging well

#dadvibes

https://scontent-den4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/391678937_637184325259633_4281669757391491422_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=5f2048&_nc_ohc=hkQrkd2fNU4AX8FJlx3&_nc_ht=scontent-den4-1.xx&oh=00_AfBEvkDTe7dtoofWu1sU3vvIbMTgm0-KVcDMkJPUaBvH_A&oe=65560893

yeah i mean part of Stipe’s appeal for me from the beginning was that he was an obviously queer, good-looking weirdo poet.

that was billie joe for me (well not sure about "poet") - I feel like I missed the boat on this one

what's the one everyone likes? murmur?

yeah that or reckoning

I like them all in varying degrees through NAIHF.

yeah i mean part of Stipe’s appeal for me from the beginning was that he was an obviously queer, good-looking weirdo poet.

I remember in high school, when there were rumors about Stipe being queer, a friend of mine reacted (in all seriousness): “Michael Stipe? No way!” …As if he was, like, the last celebrity you’d possibly expect, lol

this is pretty good shit would have loved it when I was 15

it's like if the byrds could actually write songs

When he remarked in a Details interview, "I'm an equal opportunity lech" it was as if Jesus had said he enjoyed Henry James.

Alfred always boils things down to their essences.

I have never listened to early R.E.M and this thread has finally convinced me. All I really have to add to the conversation is 'oh this* is really good innit?' but there we are. Happy Sunday.

*Reckoning.

do older millennials like REM? what's the cutoff?

I'm Oregon Trail Generation so I guess as old as millennials get, REM had a very sharp peak with my peers. The first radio hits were kind of there in the cultural background but Monster was absolutely huge in my junior high, fuck yeah that "Losing My Religion" band can rawk. "Crush With Eyeliner" was a necessary cover for every band whose shitty solid state practice amp had tremolo included.

I don't recall New Adventures making an impact but then Up was beloved by the kids who didn't gel with the butt rock turn of late '90s radio.

That’s cool to hear…

Old millennials were probably the last micro generation to be radicalized/partially radicalized by R.E.M. because I don’t think ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’ and ‘ Up’ were bringing in new recruits.

Is the perception/reality that REM's rep has fallen with younger generations who "weren't there"?

As opposed to Pavement who I think have maybe grown in stature with people who "weren't there"?

Radicalized by REM? They were the coffee table band of my teenage listening experience but tell me more

Interestingly, “Leave” from Hi-Fi might’ve been some manner of formative experience, but I’m not sure; amazing album tho