I can’t speak for others, but in me all it triggers is the belief that whoever uses it is probably an asshole.

Thanks, Rapty
Backlashes come and go, it’s impossible to stay ahead of the public perception curve unless you have an army of publicists and media trainers – or if you’re so terrified of criticism you just never run the risk of putting yourself out there – and even then it’s nigh on impossible

I went to a media trainer once, we looked over my interviews and her eyeballs started bleeding

The equation is pretty simple:
Interviews feel performative
Performance makes me nervous
Nerves make me drink
Drinking makes me drunk
When I’m drunk I feel like performing

I’ll figure it out one day

thanks for listening x

According to a website I read called Stereogum Yeezus’s influence could chiefly be seen in every other high profile album released from late-2013 through mid-2015.

i recently ended a relationship with a nice girl. she liked me because i’m very, very charming and handsome and i used those attributes to get her to like me. she was also quite pretty but obviously, as we know, women wield zero power when it comes to the laws of attraction. anyway, i ended things because it turns out we had very little in common. she’s ok, but i’m gonna take a break from commenting so i can reflect on how women can’t make decisions for themselves without being completely overpowered by manly charms. i’m so ashamed.

Downloading Utopia:

This is really ugly. Really fucking awful.
I look forward to supporting Alice’s music.

they use snapchap filters on the cover and they’re worried about the title?

Here’s an exhaustive list of why some people find her really problematic:

http://yourfaveisproblematic.tumblr.com/post/45822118430/lena-dunham

She’s said a number of really dumb, tone-deaf, or sometimes downright offensive things with regards to race and the LGBTQ community. For many also, she’s the quintessential cis-white feminist. So she receives hate from meninist/MRA types (not even going to go there), and she receives criticism from people who advocate for feminism which is more inclusive and affirming of POC and queer/trans people/experiences (rightfully). Those groups aside, there’s also a subset of social justice advocates who always have their outrage dials turned to 11, who feel the need to loudly take a shit on her in perpetuity until our whole existence is burned up by the sun absorbing our solar system because she has the audacity to be a fallible human who makes mistakes and has internalized biases as a privileged person which she’s trying to work through.

I’m like whatever about her. She’s problematic. She’s annoying. The version of feminism to which she ascribes is flawed. She says stupid things sometimes. She has a lot to learn. But at the same time I’m also a problematic, annoying, flawed feminist who occasionally says stupid shit and has a lot to learn about aspects of life in which I don’t face oppression. I feel that’s the case for most people. But I feel that deep down she has good intentions and tries to use her platform to help. Sometimes helpers help in the wrong way. Sometimes helpers hurt. But at least she’s trying I guess. So many people don’t.

So that’s why I don’t fault Katie for doing this at least.

♥ Bless

So when I was a freshman in high school, this psycho asshole named Alan decided that because I had made out with a girl he was really into (a girl who rejected his advances regularly) that he was going to bully me mercilessly in school. For a few weeks he’s catch me in the hall and take my head and slam it into the lockers hard. He was much bigger than I was, and a lot of my friends just couldn’t help me or didn’t want to for fear they’d receive the same treatment.

So one day, Alan finds me and he’s in a particularly bad mood and he grabs me by the neck and tells me he’s going to shove my head in a toilet. I’m almost unconscious when all of a sudden he lets go and the next thing I know he’s on the ground getting stomped by these scary looking dudes in Doc Martins. The one guy picks me up and tells me to “go ahead, fucking kick his teeth in,“ but I’m not a violent guy, and finally the one kid, whose name I knew was Steve, tells me to just “fuck off.”

Now I was into skateboarding when I was a kid, so I hung out with a weirder crowd in high school who all sat together at lunch. The next day I go to my lunch table, and there’s the five kids that saved my ass from a beating all sitting at my table. The one kid has a swastika tattoo made of battle axes on his forearm. They sat there and ate their lunch and didn’t really say anything to us. When the period was over, Steve came over to me and told me if any had any problems in the future, to come to him, and that no one would bother me any more.

I was completely freaked out. My anxiety about getting the shit kicked out of me was now replaced by a feeling of dread about what I’d done to warrant this protection. I was also concerned about the fact that my lunch table was multi-cultural and, as soon as these skinheads showed up, most of my friends wisely sat somewhere else.

I figured out quick that the reason Steve had taken an interest in me was my friendship with a girl named Jen. He’d started dating her, against my initial protests, and she knew about how hard things had been in the beginning of that school year. Steve, no doubt, looking to make an impression, with his lifestyle an obstacle to overcome, decided to show Jennifer that he’d protect her friends -that he was serious about his racist beliefs , but that no one would ever give her shit about it because no one would ever give her shit about anything ever again.

So began a hellish period of my life. These guys would tell me shit like “we’re going fishing” or “we’re picking you up and going for a drive,” and they’d make me go because Jen wouldn’t hang out unless I was there. At one point they even gave me a pair of boots and told me I could put different colored laces in them to signal I was not a racist. I kept making excuses as to why I wouldn’t wear them, and, thankfully, Steve told the other guys to lay off, and that I could do what I wanted.

School got very difficult. Many of my friends stopped associating with me, and I really couldn’t blame them. Teachers started giving me shit about stuff that in the past they would’ve overlooked because I was an excellent student. I was too afraid to ask my new “friends” to give me a break. Anything short of hanging out with this group would’ve been seen as disloyalty. I was depressed. I was miserable. I became in island to myself.

So, one day I’m hanging out at a friends converted church at a local punk show featuring a band called Plow United, and Steve, his friends and Jen show up, and they tell me they want me to go with them to rob the local pharmacy. I knew Jen worked there and, apparently, the plan was to go in and rob the place and tie Jen up with the pharmacist. That it was a full proof plan and it would work because Jen would get them into the locked safes and after they’d make it look like she had no idea. Later, she’d tell the cops some bullshit story about it being “thugs in from the city” and no one would get hurt.

I was absolutely paralyzed with fear. Now they had told me what they were doing and couldn’t possibly see me not going as anything but dangerous to their bottom line.

I remember trying to go hide in a back room and wait and hope they would just leave. Steve found me eventually and I was shaking and in tears about how bad everything was about to become. I was angry at myself for getting so deep into this bullshit. I didn’t hate anyone. I wasn’t a bad kid. I’d never felt like a bigger coward in my life.

Steve looked at me, handed me a beer and said “You don’t want to do this, do you?” I was afraid the wrong answer would get me fucked up, so I mumbled something about how I just planned to see this band for months and some other really obvious bullshit. He stood there and finally told me to “Go fucking home.” He said he would tell the other guys he thought I was too big of a pussy, and that I’d only get them caught or whatever. I left through the back door and walked through the woods back to my parent’s house.

They went through with it. Apparently the whole robbery was a nightmare. One of the kids brought a gun, and Jen was so obviously in on it that the police knew immediately who to pick up. There was even talk that Steve had to talk one of the other kids out of shooting the pharmacist. It’s hard to know exactly what happened and what was exaggeration in my home town.

The other three guys were picked up first, and Jen and Steve were arrested in the next town attempting to rob a gas station. They had some ill advised plan to get some money and run off together, but Jen panicked and gave herself up in the middle of the robbery.

We all had to be involved in the court case and it was a terrible strain on my family. Jen testified against the others (apparently Steve’s idea since she was, unbeknownst to me, pregnant, and Steve didn’t want her to have to go to jail). Thankfully for me, the prosecutor didn’t push me hard on what I knew, claiming they had all the evidence they needed.

I transferred to a different school because I felt like I’d never live to associations down. My friends ultimately came back into my life, saying they felt equally bad knowing how trapped I was in that situation. Steve and the others got something like 20 years for the guys who were 18, and some lesser charges for kids in the group who were still considered minors. It was a huge mess.

I saw Jen at a bar years later after not having contact with her since the incident. We didn’t really talk about what happened. That night she got blacked out drunk and I took her home. Her mother was smoking a cigarette and watching her kid. She told me I should leave, and that she didn’t want Jen to see me anymore. I didn’t see much problem with that on my end.

Even ran into Steve after he’d been paroled years later at the carnival in my parent’s town. We didn’t talk to much about it. He grew his hair out and showed me how he’d gotten his tattoos inked over. Even said that he was fixing remote controlled fire places now, and that it was weird because he’d just filled a work order at my parent’s house.

I don’t really relate this story to too many people, and folks in my town that don’t know all the details would probably give you a very different account of my involvement during that period. I stopped trying to tell my half of the story years ago. It is what it is, I’m sorry I let it get that far.

Anyway, I’ve not heard Reputation.

stereogum v arcade fire has been the surprise beef of 2017

Not a huge fan of the “what does it MEAN to be an indie rock act in 2017?” narrative for every indie rock act releasing an album in 2017. Y’all started repping artists working in other genres something fierce and act shocked that indie’s grasp on the culture is more tenuous now.

This is shaping up to be a monster based on the singles.

This is the kind of thinking that has given us 8 million grammys for past-their-prime veterans. This is the Supernatural thinking, the Two Against Nature thinking, the Herbie Hancock Joni Mitchell tribute album thinking. Throw this thinking in the trash.

when your woke genderfluid festival lineup announcement doesn’t adhere exactly to the Byzantine coded language and communication diktats of one member of the intended audience.

peak 2017

(ps. I am very in favour of advocating/raising awareness for these issues. But this shit is ridiculous and demeans everybody involved)

The cultural left NEED to shift the focus off policing language/communication, its reached absurd levels of Kafkaesque fuckery.

Your allies are not your enemies just because they made a faux pax.

Educate them politely and move on to dealing with the very real issues that face you on a daily basis.

Oh, awesome! I didn’t even know he had a new one coming out!

We’ll see about that.

Ah, the type of deeply shared artistic vision that only comes together when an upward-trending rap act phones in a guest verse for a downward-trending pop star at their label’s behest.

I have to respect that poptimists are moving closer and closer to just admitting, “I like it BECAUSE it’s bad.”

I am hearing rumors that poptimist voters were encouraged to cross over the border and vote. Anyone else hearing this? Anything to it? That might explain the 30% turnout higher than population percentage. Just reporting the rumor.

This is what happens when you cut funding for music education in elementary​ school, everyone.

With the veritable cavalcade of sexual abuse stories pouring in throughout 2017 I’ve kinda been wondering when we hit the one that made me immediately think “huh?” Ding ding we have our winner

Huge fan of this band but this is ridiculous. Two consenting adults that enter into a relationship is not something you need to apologize for. He speaks to a power dynamic. Evan, you are in a moderately popular band. Engaging in consensual relationships with fans could maybe be considered as unprofessional by some, but not illegal or anything you need to apologize about. You did nothing wrong!

If your “male privledge” argument puts you in a position of power and you believe a relationship started by using this power is wrong, 90% of relationships in the world are wrong.

You are guilty of entering into a relationship with an immature girl who didn’t know what she wanted. The only ones suffering are your fans.

I’m kinda doubting the authenticity of their music when at least one half of the band (allegedly) isn’t even a bottom after all.

• Slowdive’s reliably dreamy self-titled comeback album
• Mac DeMarco’s jokey, but more serious than usual, This Old Dog
• At-The Drive In’s rainbow spazz outin·ter a·li·a
• Chris Stapleton’s determined and haggard From A Room: Vol. 1
• Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s Merle Haggard touching tribute Best Troubador
• Cayetana’s bloc doesn’t know this band New Kind Of Normal
• Forest Swords’ swirling and compressed Compassion
• Joan Shelley’s “I’m not Byron” self-titled album
• Blondie’s somebody should stop this Pollinator
• The Afghan Whigs’ heroin-y In Spades
• Jesu / Sun Kil Moon’s dreary and doomed 30 Seconds To The Decline Of Planet Earth

can’t even bone my favorite musicians anymore, dark times indeed

Also got applaud Stereogum’s decision to post a billion Arcade Fire roll-out stories yesterday, then switch it up and spend all day today shitting on the new song. Infinite content!

Finally someone had the guts to make Gwen Stefani’s version of Yeezus.

oh god, now you’ve got me thinking about my brooch

Posted at 3:11pm??? Hmmm…

First off, thank you Scott for reaching out, offering this opportunity and making this a reality. Here I thought I was banned from doing Stereogum content after the Coachella debacle of 2012. Extremely thankful I am not! Thank you Gabriela & Mikey Nels for assisting Scott & myself with making this interview happen and making it look good in its final form.

I know I was confused on whether or not I had thanked him, still am, so let me do it now. Thank you again to Nick Hexum for talking to me while driving his car. He was extremely sincere and genuine the entire time. You have to give it up for someone that’s been in such a big band for so long to still be able to run with something like this. When he picked up on what I was doing with the band puns, my smile couldn’t have been bigger. So thank you Nick, and thank you 311.

Last, but most certainly not least, thank you dad-dad-don-ta-tas for quite literally planting the comment-seed four years ago that grew into this flower-interview. Thank you d-tits for writing the opening paragraph to this article. Thank you donald-tila-tequila for pointing out those revealing observations in the 311 press photo. Thank you don-don for being a truth warrior, leading the rest of us on the front lines.

If only dad were here to see us now.

#311TRUTHNOW

Pence is more likely to pass a law making it illegal to spell Churches with a v than do anything about gun control.

I don’t know, I think We Didn’t Really Understand The Whole Men’s Rights Thing is a pretty legit album title.

LOL

___b ∑ R N ʇ ∑ vv∞u1d ha◊3 #WON (circle)_____

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s how you write an apology.

She voted for Trump.

Finally, you’ll have time to comment

Never forget: Ted Nugent covered himself in his own shit to appear crazy so he could dodge the draft. Keep that in mind next time he starts his “I Love The U S A” bullshit. Hey Ted……….I served. Fuck you.

Weird. Filters and chainsmoking usually go together great.

i guess i just don’t like country music

No Fans Go

I’m gay and my best friend is also gay and he dealt Molly for the better part of three years, LOL. We each came out to each other while rolling bawlz.

Molly is gayest drug there is. 😂

This is a nice reminder that most people on earth have never seen 4chan or Reddit and don’t give a shit about red pills, MRAs, pepe the frog, or any other teen nerd nonsense that has mysteriously become mainstream.

Meanwhile Win Butler is still reeling from the rap accusations made against him.

I was told there would be motherfucking craft…..?

Tom,

Sorry the record didn’t do it for you. I clearly didn’t do a very good job of setting this record up for people in advance, partly because I’d consider too much blogosphere-facing narrative control to be pageant-ish, and partly because I wanted listeners to come to it without too many preconceived notions as to what exactly it was. That said, I obviously let the “successful band dude goes to college” thing metastasize into a louder storyline than it should have been, by virtue of there being nothing else provided to frame the album around. Truthfully, my short time at college didn’t have much to do with this album. All the arcane lyrics you mention (which are really only found on three imagistic songs) were written before I went back to school. I picked up a couple music theory tricks that helped with arrangements, but most of the brainstorming as to what this record would be was done in 2013, including the title, and college mostly just served to delay its making and release.

Also. Speaking as a Straight White Male music listener, I’d say, generally speaking, that the Straight White Male is the last voice of “cultural relevance” that I’m actively looking to, or sympathetic to, in this particular cultural moment. Just, who cares, you know? This obviously creates a problem for the Straight White Male artist who still desires to make relevant art – do you attempt to gentrify the landscape, White Savior yourself, and demand through inference or testimony that your voice is that of a leader for these times, when your phenotype is culturally inert if not malignant, and that even presuming to have something genuinely important to add is arguably an invocation of privilege? This approach seems like a fool’s errand to me. I instead mostly took the tack that I was using my particular set of cultivated talents to make a Use Object, something useful, a balm, something experientially or aesthetically moving, a reprieve. If you think I should be trying to muscle my way into a position of cultural relevance that I don’t deserve, in a culture that is currently filled with far more interesting and sympathetic perspectives than that of the Straight White Male, then I can’t really help you, because I am a little too self aware to have tried to do that. I can still comfortably and with a clear conscience make music that is beautiful and useful to people who are receptive, but I don’t do so from a sage-like position at all. You obviously care enough about music to place musicians in positions of veneration, and I do too, but I’m sooner doing so with Frank and Kendrick and Solange at the moment than I am with any straight white male artist currently in the landscape, and obviously (duh) I’m not alone in that, as they are enormously successful, beloved, and influential artists.

That said, this record is more present-aware than you’re giving it credit for, it’s just more from the perspective of an observer, or participant, than it is from that of one sent from on high. “Cassius” is explicitly about participating in protests following the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile last summer, as well as the death of Muhammad Ali. “If You Need To, Keep Time On Me” and “Crack-Up” are about post-election confusion and anxiety, alternative facts, as are portions of “Third of May” and “I Should See Memphis” – how are references to the American Civil War not also relevant to 2017, and how is an album title like “Crack-Up” not obviously a reference to our current political climate as much as it is a reference to any personal psychology? If some of the lyrics are more imagistic than explicit, they’re still more engaged in the present world than anything on our first album, where the lyrics were just pure RPG fantasy, and they are at least more graceful than “If I had an orchard, I’d work till I’m sore.”

It always confuses me to read reviews that focus on biographical details and lyrics. In the taxonomy of concerns relating to music, biography and lyrics are the two I personally find least interesting, as both a listener and as an artist. I’m most moved by and interested in chords, melody, dynamics, structure, texture, arrangement, flow, scale, invention, instrumentation, mood, contrast, depiction, et cetera. If the things that excited me in the making of this record didn’t do anything for you in the listening, I completely accept that. But I’ll say in conclusion that recording this album was the first time in my creative life that I really felt in control, and like I was making something very closely aligned with my values and my own listening predilections, that I couldn’t write off to myself as pastiche, trend-hopping, genre exercise, or a bald-faced attempt to crack 9.0 on Pitchfork. Buoyed by this feeling, I would often then have the competing thought that this self-assurance was a bad sign, as the insecurity and desire to please others that often guided me in making music before had also payed off in the pleasing of the arbiters of the blogosphere. It was a gamble then, and I lost that gamble with you, Tom, but thanks for listening and giving it a chance in the first place.

rain drop/ drop top/ I’m troubled by the persistence of homophobia in hip hop

“ i have been flirtatious with fans and on a few occasions been intimate with people that i’ve met on tour. i’ve reached the conclusion now that that’s not ever appropriate—even if they initiate it”
Uh, that absolutely is appropriate and a complete misunderstanding of power dynamics and how they work. This whole statement is one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever read.

Not a big Beyonce fan huh

They hit RCK BTTM pretty damn quick.