THANK YOU THANK YOU for this piece! Not only was it a fantastic read for a Thursday morning, but it hit some personal veins as well.
I want to be a musician; it’s always been my greatest dream. But a very strict religious upbringing in a small town held me back. I never had people to play with and I always had my future planned out, due to said religion (a mission for the church, marrying and having kids, etc.).
Now, I’ve left my faith behind, but I’m married, 24, and about to graduate college in said small town. I’ll be moving to Austin, TX next year, alongside my best friend and his wife, and we plan on starting a band. I worry constantly about whether it’s foolish to still hold on to the dream of making music and even trying to pursue it as a career. I worry about whether I’ll be too old to really matter.
But reading pieces like this, about musicians who stuck to their goals of just making music because they wanted to, and found success even a little later in life, gives me SO MUCH hope. So thank you Ryan Leas, and thank you The War on Drugs. The new album is incredible, and already means so much to me.

I’m only in hour 2 but this will likely end up in my top 10 siddhartha inspired jams

YES. THIS IS HOW AMERICA OPERATES NOW. CHOOSE YOUR SIDE OR MOVE BACK TO RUSSIA.

#truedetectiveseason2

When I was 19 I got high and drove home listening to the radio between stations on full blast. I don’t remember what station it was but it was mostly static with very few whispers of audible music, but I didn’t realize until I got home. I honestly thought it was supposed to sound like that at the time. The whole time I thought I was listening to grunge. People would stare at me from other cars and stare and I just thought, “man, looks like these people have never seen a Mexican dude listening to grunge before.” Anyways, that’s why I don’t smoke weed anymore.

PS. Feel free to cite me on your report.

Was Pharrell nominated for Best Short?

Sorry.

Here’s a .gif:

“I look at these paintings with a kind of passing happiness, surprised by how easily Da Vinci can still make me smile, vaguely saddened by the idea that a smile is probably the most complex emotional response he’ll get from me. Mona Lisa isn’t all that different in spirit from 1498?s The Last Supper, which is to say that it’s less jammy and long-winded than either Virgin of the Rocks or Adoration of the Magi but essentially the product of the same mischievous brain. Most of it looks sort of like ’70s guild paintings rendered as some kind of ergonomic desk toy: compact, brightly colored, unlikely to stir the depths of the soul but nifty nevertheless.”

Don’t blame me. Blame p4k.

Beck, I don’t like your hat (waaaaay too Amish) and I don’t like the reverb on your vocals. I used reverb on my vocals like that once for an album I did, thinking it sounded good. But I was on some kind of fucked up ego trip, just wanting to sound God-like. Stupid of me, really…

Who the fuck are all these names you people are dropping? Does that make you more informed? More hipster? Or just more American? Google Andy Warstar to find out!!!

EMA over Cloud Nothings on any list is a catastrophe.

isolation…. blah blah blah… sing about chemtrails again!!! oh wait, the zombties don’t believe in that shit, and it’s not profitable to be a rebel, so more songs about being lonely. here’s a good song lyric: “I’m ooooollllldddddd and it takes soooooo loooooooonnnnnggggg for the poooooop to come out of my buuuuuutttttttttttt…., I neeeeedddd prruuuuuunnnnneeeeessssssssss…:

One thing objectively worse than Coldplay’s music is commentary about Coldplay’s music. As we begin, consider following a few ground rules.

1. If you feel compelled to reference another artist, actually say why that’s relevant. “Coldplay sounds like (x), therefore (y).”
2. Explain why, after 15 years as a band but you still don’t have enough evidence to decide your feelings for Coldplay, why you’re still trying?
3. Enjoy.

i’m glad i’m alive so i can listen to this record