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Shoegaze has reached critical mass and it’s time for your band to pivot— I swear this is free money. Find someone who speaks french and buy a Moog and whats left of Pitchfork will give you a 8.6 BNM for your debut EP.
Jan 21, 2024
Related Recs
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in particular this review of belle and sebastian: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/631-fold-your-hands-child-you-walk-like-a-peasant/
real cultural criticism ....
Jan 15, 2025
this isn't a particularly rare vinyl release at all - it's still widely in print and very affordable. it's an album very very widely considered a classic. but it is, I think, the moment when I realised what makes buying music more satisfying of an experience than the lifetime of piracy I'd built up to that point.
it comes with a handful of prints and illustrations that really expand upon the feeling of the album. the record itself isn't even labelled, there's no tracklist, the sides are engraved with their descriptions "nervous, sad, poor" and "bleak, uncertain, beautiful". but most notably of all, each of these releases comes with a penny flattened on train tracks behind the studio it was recorded in. I've heard stories of copies of this album coming with handwritten notes of thanks from the label.
it was the first time I think I realised the love and the immense effort that goes into putting music out independently like this, even long after the recordings are done. I mean, I get that this one's a very special case - a lot of high-effort touches to really drive home the art, and to keep doing them decades after the album released. but I think picking this up is a big reason why I'm still buying vinyl ten years later.
the album still absolutely rips, of course.
Jan 10, 2025
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Literally album review by Sam Sodomsky on Pitchfork is worth reading
Jan 30, 2024
Top Recs from @caardamom
There’s a lot of Internet Archive talk on here (shoutout MJ Lenderman) but i haven’t seen many people mention the Wayback Machine, which to me is far and away the sites coolest feature. You can just throw in any old URL and explore the early internet. Amazing web design and fantastic informational resource.
My favorite thing to do is look up the websites of old defunct bands. I’m linking to one of my favorites from Geoff Farina’s (Karate) band The Secret Stars, where he and his bandmate Jodi Buonanno chronicle their time spent renovating a 19th century Grange Hall into a recording studio/art space.
Jan 23, 2024
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I saw them in Paris this summer and they were unbelievably good. They have a choir that basically acts as a live version of the echo/delay on their vocals which was an amazing touch. It was truly an entrancing performance in a way that I had never experienced before.
Feb 4, 2024
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Like once a week just give urself a little bit of an adrenaline shot. Makes you feel alive.
I just bet $2.50 on a 4 leg parlay. what can you even buy for $2.50 any more y’know. might as well throw it into the void for a chance at $30 and the feeling of pure ecstasy.
Jan 23, 2024