- May 2023
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daily.bandcamp.com daily.bandcamp.com
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My (Entirely-Unsolicited) Thoughts on the most Casual Crue™'s 10th:
Ya know, my memory isn't so great anymore, but I remember my then best friend and most respected music authority resting pretty confidently in an argument about this sound, and those who peretuated it: that it was by nature/declaration substanceless, and therefore, those invested in it were either just superficial or.. idek anymore. Ingenuine, maybe?
I don't think I was even placating with him when I mostly went along with it - it did seem important to invest in more abrasive (read: edgy bs) pursuits. I thought I was resisting "nostalgia" and even invested most of my twenties trying to start an online culture/electronic music magazine in direct editorial opposition to regurgitation. Imo, though, any actual exposure to self-described "vaporwave" makes it very plain how utterly useless it is to cry nostalgia because - crucially - whatever form of it that may or may not be an established marker of this voice is completely devoid of the illness that has absolutely pervaded, destructively, throughout all manner of expression and exploitation in the past 10 years.
It is just not a constraining or negative force, here. I would propose, even, that it's been made, here, into the most powerful form of critique there possibly could be.
And the grief!!! and the mania!! In any sort of ... worldly-participatory context, it should not be some gargantuan leap for even the most cynical, repressed, bitter 50-something white music writer army to make the connections, here. Our tears are fucking digital, idiot.
...ANYway, sorry. I don't actually have any business talking about music, but I can express my big, soppy as hell appreciation for the nigh-inconceivable amount of quantitive life force for which this milestone is a handy opportunity to reflect.
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