I was recently on the youtube, and I happened to stumble upon a ‘very controversial’ video which may change the way we evaluate and read music websites for the rest of time.
You might have heard of ‘Bradford Cox’, the lead singers of the Atlas Sound Band and The Deerhunter (band), one of the most successful indie bands of 2k10. You also might have heard of Ryan “Pitchfork” Schreiber–CEO and Editor of pitchforksmedia.com, recently named by Time Magazine to be the Most Important Alternative Man Alive due to his significant impact on indie culture which will be eventually be adopted by mnstrmrs. I recently saw these two humans entertaining a room full of people while jamming on the piano, cultivating some sort of ’singalong’ chilling at some sort of ‘piano bar.’
They are singing the song ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun.’
I was initially shocked, because one of these bros is a media mogul, and the other one is an independent artist who is dependent upon media blogsites to cover his music to ‘get the word out’ about his musical endeavors + products. It seems like these two entities should not be ‘bro-like’ since they have competing interests. According to my perception of reality, there is a formal relationship which media and performers must always maintain and honor in order to keep the scene ‘pure.’
Not even sure if ‘music journalism’ even exists on the internet, or if it is just a bunch of men ‘recommending shit’ to consumers. Blogs might be a better long-term business model within the attention economy, leading tons of blogbros to ‘get egos’ since they think they are ‘gatekeepers of the scene.’ But I think a pure musical artist probably has a more fulfilling life, since he/she gets to experience the instantaneous feedback of a ‘live crowd’ as opposed to checking webstats and reading anonymous web comments.
It seems ‘unfair’ that an indie band can have an ‘inside track’ [via friendship] to today’s most relevant tastemakers and content providers. Sorta wish some1 could get me some sort of finite numbers on how ‘influential’ blogsites are in terms of generating sales + buzz marketing. Sometimes bands and publications can create ‘beautiful synergy’ if a the band creates a product that is ‘good enough’ to be ‘praised’ and universally accepted…but sorta scared that person2person relationships might be influencing the way music is accepted/panned.
Wonder if you can even ‘break thru’ on to relevant tastemaking sites if you’re not ‘in bed’ with them. This is kinda how it felt when I wasn’t accepted to an Ivy League School since I didn’t have any bloodline linking me to the school and I didn’t have minority blood in me, so I had to settle for design school. It is as if you can ‘become authentic bros’ with a website that recommends ‘kewl shit’, then they will eternally recommend ur art, even if you aren’t relevant any more.
This seems like a huge scandal.
Like finding out the CEO of Rolling Stone is bros with Lady Gaga.
Or that the CEO of hypemachines is in a band that is ‘trying 2 make it’ in the indie scene.
This would be like the CEO of HRO being bros with the CEO of Am Appy.
This would be like finding out that youtube sensation ‘FRED’ was the nephew of the youtube CTO.
Like finding out Ben Gibbard is ‘in bed’ with Zooey Deschanel.
Like finding out that Ashton Kutcher has a bro-ship with the CEO of twitter.
For all we know, Paul McCartney ‘chilled hard’ with the Pitchfork staff to ‘get this rating.’
Or that the band Interpol sent over an Edible Arrangement.
Wonder if this band only got a 0.2 because they weren’t bro enough with blog sites to get I.R.L. cred which could carry over to web-perception cred.
Feeling uncomfortable, like this huge scandal is ‘unraveling my entire life/sense of right+wrong’ in our universe. Wonder if many of the Greatest Indie Bands of all time sent ‘gift baskets’ to magazines and blogsites, attempting to get as much coverage, buzz, and praise as possible. Just wondering ‘who is in bed with who’, sort of like how Barry Obama is attempting to ‘get in bed’ with every1 possible. Wishing that Pitchfork could make ‘indie idol’, a new reality show attempting to find out who the next bloggable indie buzzband is. Not sure who I can trust any more.
The piano singalongparty seemed like a ‘fun time’ for every1 involved. Feeling sad that I am just ‘an internet website’, and I can’t interact with the bands. I have heard that blogging/journalism is sort of a ‘coping mechanism’ for failed creative types. Seems like if my blog gets big, I can perhaps one day ‘canoodle’ with tons of alt celebs within my industry.
Feels like deep inside of me, I wish I could have been at this event, enjoying it, embracing the moment. Not caring that it was going to be an alternative news meme. I would actually be chilling with my bros–the people who truly understood me, my lifestyle, and my interests. A group of core bros who were just as ‘in the moment’ as I was, without thinking about any other underlying ‘interests’ that required a promotion platform. Wish I could have existed within this moment–not as the CEO of a site that makes mad advertising dollars, or as a respected creative musician–but as a human. A human connecting with other humans.
Feel like I might never be bros with an indie music superstar, since I don’t ‘respect music/art’ enough, and my blogsite might be ‘too poisonous’ for an indie celeb who is in touch with ‘the arts/humanity’ to ever want 2 like me as a blog.
Maybe I am reading into this scandal all wrong. Maybe they are just building a new concert model, built around ‘piano bars’, where people can huddle around the musician, and singalong.
Srsly feel like Piano Bars might be the alt new place to see a ’show.’
Photo/meme hijack via DailySwarm
Piano bars look like a ‘fun time’ according to this painting, like you can really connect with the performer and other concertgoers on a micro-basis.
Maybe if I add more micro-connections, my life will have more macro-meaning.
Sometimes I wish digital cameras didn’t exist, so that moments could just be moments, instead of moments that u re-live onDemand. h8 youtube + hi speed internet.
Should I invest in a piano bar instead of opening a ’sweet ass nite club’?
Do u think that indiegates happen everyday?
Will INDIEGATE add 0.5-2.3 points to the Atlas Sound album review?
Who can u trust in the bloggisphare?
Have u ever had an Edible Arrangement or other creative gift basket, and how did it make you feel about the person who gave it to u?
Please define the guidelines for a blogger-to-meme relationship.
Should a ‘content provider’ really get to know a meme on a personal basis?
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IAmCarles.com
36 Comments
‘phirst’
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scared, yall…
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are ‘jazz clubs’ officially kewl now (via pianos)?
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this is the 2nd chapter of ‘indie apocalypse’.
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the internet is one giant deceptive marketing cesspool
loves it
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//////////Reply by bryon
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
@brittany,
@ Please define the guidelines for a blogger-to-meme relationship.
First: band-meme relations:
As the internets, ease of entry, copypasta blogs, alt-cred, etc. introduce more noise into the market, the signal (brand) of an entity (band) can easily become distorted or lost [see signal to noise (SNR) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio. As the amount of 'signal' is generally constant through traditional marketing methods, we see a SNR trend that deprecates over time. In order to combat this, drastic measures are taken to achieve the peak signal-to-noise ratio (hype) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_signal-to-noise_ratio]. This is accomplished through concentrated, high value/intensity ploys, known to some, and indicated by HipsteRunoff as “meme”. One should note that excessive use of these techniques may induce backlash by the consumer, particularly if they are transmitted through the ‘mainstream’ media or induce saturation of the ‘tween’ demographic. It is a band’s goal to achieve the highest quantifiable amount of “authentic music meme” which is loosely defined as the careful balancing act of increasing branding/meme with the undefined and illusive goal of identity retention**.
** This is often considered to not be profitable or realistic in common application.
Now: blogger-meme relations:
Step 1: View / Transmit Meme
Step 2: Social Commentary on said Meme
Step 3: ?
Step 4: Profit!
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I was there! it was alright. The festival ended and everyone just gravitated to this piano in the middle of the hotel. It was completely organic, not just some viral marketing ad campaign. I liked this web-based-site more when Carles would get all esoterically insigtful on some abstract concept.
oh yeah…MORE BBEBBEEBBEEBBEEBBEEBBEE!!!!!
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//////////Reply by d00dz
//////////Posted September 22nd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
@all tmrws pptys, nver trust ne1 who uses the word “organic” without quotation marks..
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@doox2, hot meal
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ne1 hear abt ‘up dog’?
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//////////Reply by tricksterX2
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 11:47 am
@trickster, is it next 2 the ‘buttfor’?
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//////////Reply by Alex
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 2:14 pm
@tricksterX2, I think its similar 2 ‘dikfore’
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//////////Reply by brobro
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 8:45 pm
@trickster, No, I haven’t.
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//////////Reply by generk witty cmmnt
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 9:38 pm
@brobro,
WTF IS UP DAWG?
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//////////Reply by tricksters pr rep
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 10:04 pm
@generk witty cmmnt, nmu?
hehehe, ‘cox.’
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feed me plz
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Is it some white ethiopian dude?? Feed him, pleeez!!
Wish Michael Jackson was still alive so him and Lionel Bitchie would write “We Are The World” part 2 featuring Kanye West… “US for Bradford Cox”..
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//////////Reply by kowzilla
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 4:42 pm
@FrenchGuy,
See, it’s funny cuz he has a genetic disorder and shit.
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//////////Reply by Anony
//////////Posted September 22nd, 2009 at 2:59 am
@kowzilla, Yeah. Whatever…… The truth is that people are insanely jealous because he’s more authentic than any of them could ever hope to be and just doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks. But then the same could be said about many others.
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Payolla all over again!
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WOW now I don’t want to imagine the level ‘intimacy’ with the likes of The Arcade fire :-S
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He looks like he weighs as much as a 2 year old.
Two year old indie gods have a nice ring to it though.
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I like edible arrangements yall, but the honeydew is always the last fruit to be eaten. h8 u honeydew.
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//////////Reply by honeydew
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
@Herpesterrunnoff, h8 u 2
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//////////Reply by Panda
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 4:58 pm
@Herpesterrunnoff,
Cantaloupe is the $$$ melon ne ways
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Well goddamn, Bradford Cox isn’t the prettiest thing to look at, but if his new Atlas Sound album sound half as good as the single off of it with Panda Bear, then I have high hopes. I predict it will do better than his 2k8 album.
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//////////Reply by monster
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
@Noraa, It is one of the best of 2k9
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//////////Reply by spokentroll
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 3:15 pm
@Noraa, it’s leaked. find it.
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i like ur poison, crls
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The “New” Twilight soundtrack is a music scandal.
Twilight is a fucking scandal all together.
Provocative.[Period]
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moar podcastes plz
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//////////Reply by d00dz
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 10:26 pm
@nondairy, plz plz plz more podcasts
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The afore-referenced video is from All Tomorrow’s Parties, an “authentic” music festival held @ an atavistic resort in the Catskill Mts. I’m pretty sure what transpired erred more towards spontaneous late-night shenanigans and less toward ten point 0-attempting influence. More suspicious, however, is the P4k fest, where Pitchfork-courted bands stroll hand-in-hand into the sunset, to the sounds of “best new musics”
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//////////Reply by Anony
//////////Posted September 22nd, 2009 at 3:01 am
@arnie grape, Indeed, I believe we have a winner.
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The next step to move from Hipster to “Authentic Person” is to get your music tastes from as wide a variety of sources as possible, and not to be too influenced by whatever indie publication/celebrity/etc is trying to sell it to you. Just because they may reference one of your favorite bands does not make you obligated to like them. Just because some indie movie star puts them on their iTunes music store celebrity playlist, does not require you to think they are as good as people say they are.
It probably goes without saying, but being authentic means not only seeing through the mainstream hype machine, but also the hipster hype machine as well, keeping in mind that your impressions of indie and mainstream acts are completely clouded and influenced by the media cloud you are already breathing in on a day to day basis.
This is why some people stick to only “classic” bands that have been established for a long time… it’s not so much that they are better than what is out now, but they are beyond their own “hype” days so it’s much easier to listen to and enjoy their work without second-guessing if you like them because they are truly talented, or because some indie people said they liked them and you want to stay relevant. That stuff tends to cloud judgement.
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//////////Reply by abeewon
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
@RJC,
The next step from “authentic person” to “pompous dickwad” is to post long winded nonsense about getting familiar w/various musics
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//////////Reply by RJC
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 5:58 pm
@abeewon, Is this blog anything BUT long winded nonsense by pompous dickwads? What is the average word-count for one of these blog entries? And why are you criticizing people for contributing, when you yourself are a part of the problem? You are the reason this stuff exists to begin with.
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//////////Reply by Anony
//////////Posted September 22nd, 2009 at 3:04 am
@RJC, Like.
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The History Of Western Philosophy
Socrates-”I’m gay.”
Plato-”I wrote down what my boss said but it might just be what I said.”
Aristotle-”I’m so old-fashioned. Fuck!”
Jesus-”I don’t know why I gave up so easy. My philosophy is weak.”
Seneca-”It will be okay, I think, or maybe not.”
Augustine-”I’m Christian, but I am a serious philosopher.”
Aquinas-”Me too!”
Machiavelli-”I’m the dude who is the favorite philosopher of every dumb bro.”
Descartes-”I think therefore…..whatever.”
Pascal-”I believe in God because I don’t want to go to hell.”
Spinoza-”We need to start pissing people off.”
Locke-”I’m a racist.”
Hobbes-”I’m a douche.”
Rousseau-”I want to go on a walk.”
Voltaire-”Shit sucks.”
Kant-”I will explain everything but you will learn nothing.”
Adam Smith-”I love money!”
Mill/Bentham-”Sex is good; so is reading a book.”
Schopenhauer-”I hate life, I think. Maybe not.”
Hegel-”I am going to kill you and then steal half of your clothes.”
Marx-”It is impossible to misinterpret my philosophy.”
Dostoevsky-”I write really long books.”
Kierkegaard-”God is alive, I think.”
Nietzsche-”God is dead, pretty much.”
Dewey/James-”We’re American.”
Weber-”Bureaucracy!”
Freud-”There’s something I really want to say but I’m staying silent.”
Wittgenstein-”Why should I say anything?”
Jaspers-”I’m random but I fit in somehow.”
Husserl-”I’m important.”
Heidegger-”I’m a Nazi.”
Arendt-”I am a Jew but I think Heidegger is cool.”
Jung-”I am indifferently opposed to Nazis.”
Lacan-”You probably can’t understand anything I say.”
Sartre-”We’re totally free and this makes total sense!”
Camus-”We’re totally free and this makes no sense!”
De Beauvoir-”We’re free because I agree with Jean-Paul a lot.”
Althusser-”We’re not free.”
Foucault-”Yeah, we’re not free.”
Derrida-”Yeah. I hate myself. And you.”
Adorno-”Everyone is so critical.”
Rorty-”We got to get back to how shit used to be.”
Rawls-”We need to help the poor.”
Nozick-”Fuck the poor.”
Habermas-”What the fuck did you say?”
Peter Singer-”I think he’s talking shit about my animal friends.”
Baudrillard-”Fuck it.”
Zizek-”Youtube me!”
Clancy Martin-”Google video me!
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//////////Reply by Hung Fa Lo
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 5:58 pm
@Andrew,
Carles-”Ur probably not sure if I’m being serious or not and neither am I.”
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//////////Reply by generk witty cmmnt
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 9:46 pm
@Andrew,
hand clap. hand clap.
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//////////Reply by d00dz
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 10:28 pm
@Andrew, Tao Lin – “Oh”
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//////////Reply by Molly
//////////Posted September 22nd, 2009 at 1:23 am
@Andrew, Geniusss.
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//////////Reply by Anony
//////////Posted September 22nd, 2009 at 3:07 am
@Andrew, like.
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good material; ‘indiegate’, i like it.
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//////////Reply by al x
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 6:55 pm
@curt, Dick Nixon is Carles.
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“micro-basis” is my new favorite non-word
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sometimes I comment
sometimes I don’t comment.
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//////////Reply by ripples
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 9:25 pm
@frog / tadpole,
sometimes I rock and roll
sometimes I stay at home
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wonder how many .1ths of a p4k point bjs are worth? Plz help.
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//////////Reply by b4hc
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 9:05 pm
@brobro, .3ths
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//////////Reply by ripples
//////////Posted September 21st, 2009 at 9:24 pm
@b4hc, damn. I could probably write a 4-pitchforks album and 20 bjs wouldn’t be that difficult.
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It’s 1942 Auschwitz calling they want their walking corpse Deerhunter bro back
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//////////Reply by FrenchGuy
//////////Posted September 22nd, 2009 at 5:55 am
@Ja3on,
Dats meeeen!! Actually l thought he was some white ethiopian dude… So he’s corpse stolen from Auchwitz remnants??
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bahahahahha ah! I love this new hipster runoff, it feels like you’ve found a bit of a footing in taking semi-serious shots at the world again. i have always loved you and will continue to do so though, so no pressure.
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things are getting personal and it is scaring me making me excited. really glad with what was said about this.
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pitchfork is full of shit, so what’s new? and what the fuck is going on with that bro!? someone throw him some fucking food stamps or box of waffles [via food bank donations at the next 'the deerhunter' gig]
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weak post carles
bashing on p4k is like perez hilton drawing drool on miley cyrus. every1 knows they both suck, move along now.
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I’m left wondering if the comment quality is rising or I’m too drunk to notice the difference.
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Can i get ‘into bed’ with HRO? I have a brand to promote, and a fledgling rcrd lbl and everyone knows record labels are no gold because evryone gets their music for free. I would like to make an indie media outlet electronic music production marriage to raise noses above seas of sludge. I can play the piano a bit but i don’t like to sing 80s classics or don’t much like the Nazi music that Girl Talk mashes together in such a clever way. Maybe there’s another way.
Ima gonna post a link anyhow: http://www.myspace.com/svetlanaindustries
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its like finding out that the HRO bro is friends with the VEGA/Neon Indian bro IRL.
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fuck that shit. i wanna snap those white fggts in half. singing ‘tiny dancer’ and feeling soooooooooooooooooooooooo “authentic”
good post carles.
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pitchfork sets the standard for indie music, and if you have ever noticed, it’s really fucking low, and the people that write the reviews don’t know shit about music, and hide behind there well written rhetoric. every once in awhile they try to convince music lovers, and themselves that they care, and aren’t exploiting the underground on day-to-day basis by inviting bands such as slint, and the jesus lizard to play their festivals. all while chocking the rest of the slots full of shit, and ignoring smaller bands of similar importance to get back to what they do best and that’s fuel the masses with well rated reviews of terrible music.
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