Anyone with mystery will eventually reach a critical mass of hype and popularity. Basically he dropped one song, a lot of people liked it a lot. “Who is this guy?” “Has he got anything else?” “Is he coming out with something?” Silence. Then time passes, he drops another track, and everyone likes it a lot too. But still no concrete details about what he’s going to do.

This is the first time we’ve heard anything full, like finally opening the door after gazing through a keyhole.

Yeah, if we count people playing an instrument on someone else’s album or coming up with certain parts as “featuring,” then a LOT of albums would have features. This kind of collaboration is surprisingly common when you look at any random band’s liner notes & credits.

Still excited though. Wonder what a cool drum machine part sounds like.

Haha, perhaps! I haven’t examined my intentions that deeply.

it’s cool I’m not mad you guys forgot to vote for Alice Glass

Yep. Very Rolling Stone.

I was mostly aware of the DJ after realizing that the people had to keep dancing/celebrating for the cameras for a long time while they waited for Romney to concede and then Obama to speak. No wonder he ran out of songs. If I was picking music, I’d be freaking out about how to keep these clearly tired people swaying.

I think artists dislike Spotify because the idea that it’s taking away paying customers, that no one’s buying albums because they can just listen to it on Spotify, and then they get mere pennies. But people are stealing music anyway. So if we approach it the way some artists approach illegal downloads — that is, using free music as a marketing tool to grow an audience that will hopefully become concert goers, t-shirt buyers and loyal fans — then Spotify is better than putting an EP on Megaupload. A curious potential fan who heard about your band on a blog isn’t downloading your EP on The Pirate Bay anymore, they’re checking it out on Spotify, and in that instance pennies > nothing.

It feels like Spotify wasn’t designed not to be your income, but a compromise between the free-for-all-eat-everything download culture and the labels that wish radio still made them bank. It feels like they want this to become the 21st century radio, except instead of 50 different songs being played every day, it’s now an infinite number of songs, and so they hope to aggregate the pennies from those plays into a decent payoff.

Also I feel like in all of these debates I have to put the disclaimer that I buy art all the time and I bought the new Grizzly on release please dont hunt me down oh god

But I did buy their album why are they getting mad at me

I’m guessing that’s the result of different word jockeys commissioned to write different patches of the piece and the introduction writer wasn’t really sure what the overall theme/message was supposed to be because they just wanted to do something provocative and easy (“HIPSTERS! Am I RIGHT?!?”)

But even within their own blurbs it’s confusing. They equate fun. with Arcade Fire, Death Cab with Weezer, Beach House with Massive Attack and Stereolab. It’s all so… huh?

I’ll never understand the point of provoking people at an attempt of being edgy and counter-counter-cultural. Other than pageviews.

Here’s my issue with the Lowery piece: I don’t recognize the type of downloader he’s describing. The person who buys “fair trade” coffee and american made clothing aren’t the type that download with reckless abandon and no regard for the artist. At least, not in my experience. It seems to me the typical digital music geek, that is concerned with fairness and support, downloads a lot, and then pays for the stuff they really love in legit downloads, pre-orders, concert tickets, and merch. I know a lot of us go the extra mile to support small artists. As weird as it is, there seems to be an emerging self-sustaining community of artists and consumers who will pay out of the social/ethical pressure to do so. It doesn’t work every time, but it has also worked in times when the old model wouldn’t. I don’t like the way Lowery paints a generation as hypocritical in the way they treat their beliefs and their music fandom.

I’m also uncomfortable when he veers towards getting Google & AT&T involved in restricting their ad network and search results.

Come down to what, making clothes? Is fashion really a strike against artistic integrity?

It’s a peripheral interest. Some people make comedy duos. Some people make comic books. Some people make fashion lines.