There’s something magical about finding a new friend through an online forum on a music site. You may find that you both have similar music tastes, love the same type of movies, or in rare cases, form a cool pop-punk band remotely. That’s exactly what happened with Harsh Lights, a pop-punk band comprised of Kyle Simons (Patterns In Traffic) and Eva Driessen. Kyle and Eva met on this website and decided to pursue making music together, albeit in different parts of the world: Kyle lives in Maryland, while Eva lives in the Netherlands. This distance never distracts from the quality of music found on Watch The World Divide, a fun debut LP that pays direct homage to great pop-punk bands like Blink-182, Fenix Tx, and Mae, but with a modern twist and sheen to it that makes it a rewarding listening experience.
Read More “Harsh Lights – Watch The World Divide”AFI’s ‘Crash Love’ Re-Press
AFI’s Crash Love is getting a new vinyl pressing.
Eve 6 Re-Record “Anytime”
The Last Recording Artist
Jaime Brooks, goes into an in-depth look at the impact of large language models on music and recording artists:
It continues to be the case that in streaming era, recording income is much lower than in the physical music era. Many big artists can scarcely be bothered to chase after it anymore, preferring to refrain from releasing new music until it can be incorporated into a larger plan to promote tours or clothing lines. The platform model would need to do an enormous amount of heavy lifting just to make recordings appealing as a revenue stream again, and that’s assuming it wouldn’t also do irreperable harm to the other pillars of a traditional recording artist’s business in the process. That’s not an assumption I’d personally be comfortable making, because “artist careers” have been driven by scarcity since the dawn of the recorded music era itself. As a society, we simply did not care so much about individual performers until after recordings became the primary way we all engage with music.
The artist model and the platform model are not just incompatible, but actively corrosive to one another. They cannot co-exist. I’m not arguing that one is better than the other, I’m saying that no living person will be able to do both effectively at the same time. The artist-as-platform model isn’t an evolution of the recording artist concept as we currently understand it, but a completely different proposition that would change the sound and character of popular music just as much as recordings themselves did during the “great music shift” of the fifties and sixties if it ever becomes dominant. For Vocaloid Drake to thrive, Drake the “recording artist” would almost certainly need to be destroyed. This is what advocates of “AI” are pushing for when they call for established artists to “open-source” their names, voices, and likenesses. They don’t understand how any of this works, and they don’t want to. They’re just here to break things. It’s all they know how to do.
The whole piece is worth your time.
Foo Fighters Reveal Josh Freese As New Live Drummer
During the Foo Fighters’ recent livestream performance the band announced that Josh Freese will be the band’s live drummer for their upcoming tour and that Dave Grohl played on the upcoming record.
Liner Notes (May 21st, 2023)
This week’s newsletter has some thoughts on music I enjoyed, as well as some random other thoughts. And there’s a playlist of ten songs I think are worth your time, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.
If you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox each week (it’s free and available to everyone), you can sign up here.
Read More “Liner Notes (May 21st, 2023)”Alex Lahey – “On The Way Down” Video
Alex Lahey has released a video for “On The Way Down.”
Read More “Alex Lahey – “On The Way Down” Video”Matt Maeson – “Rational”
Matt Maeson has released the new song “Rational.”
Read More “Matt Maeson – “Rational””KennyHoopla – “You Need a Hit” Video
KennyHoopla has released the new song “You Need a Hit.”
Read More “KennyHoopla – “You Need a Hit” Video”Boys Like Girls – “Blood and Sugar”
Boys Like Girls have shared the new song “Blood and Sugar.”
Read More “Boys Like Girls – “Blood and Sugar””Albums in Stores – May 19th, 2023
If you hit read more you can see all the releases we have in our calendar for the week. Hit the comments to access our forums and talk about what came out today, what albums you picked up, and to make mention of anything we may have missed.
Read More “Albums in Stores – May 19th, 2023”Yellowcard Pre-Save Goes Live
You can now pre-save Yellowcard’s “Childhood Eyes” on your favorite streaming service.
PHNTMS – “Coastline” (Song Premiere)
Today is a perfect day to share the latest single from PHNTMS, called “Coastline.” On this electric-charged track, PHNTMS play off of their pop rock influences and bring something incredibly exciting into the mix. The band shared about the song:
’Coastline’ is a song about letting go of your current situation and moving on to what is best for you and your life. Taking a chance to be with the one you love forever. It was inspired by the story of how I left the East Coast to move to Los Angeles to be with my girlfriend, who ended up becoming my wife. It was recorded by producer Courtney Ballard (All Time Low, 5 Seconds to Summer, Grayscale). ‘Coastline’ is a part of a collection of songs to make an EP about moving to the West Coast. ‘Coastline’ was written by Adam Jessamine and April Rose Gabrielli, who sings on the track.
I was able to catch up with the band for a brief interview below.
Read More “PHNTMS – “Coastline” (Song Premiere)”Chloe Jane – “No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia)” (Video Premiere)
Today I’m so excited to introduce everyone to Chloe Jane, a pop singer/songwriter who has all the makings of a star. On her latest single and music video for “No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia),” Chloe Jane takes the best of a bad situation in a relationship, and pens a majestic pop single. Chloe shared, “‘No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia)’ is about losing patience with someone in a relationship. I gave someone so much of my time and energy and all I got in return was gaslighting and them lying to me. Eventually, I came to my senses and said ‘I gotta go, I don’t have patience for you this time.'” I was also able to cath up with this talented artist for a brief interview below.
Read More “Chloe Jane – “No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia)” (Video Premiere)”PVRIS – “Love is A…”
PVRIS have released the new song “Love is A…”
Read More “PVRIS – “Love is A…””
















