Ludicrous press releases on Bandcamp

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

Is it only me who finds some of the writings that go with new releases on BC to be ridiculously pretentious?

Just an example off the cuff: the essay about Actress’ forthcoming album (or really every one of his albums.) His music is funky and lovely, but no way does his new album “[pay] dividends to meditate on an instrumental facet of its creation: game theory. Indeed, deep strategic thinking – more readily associated with economics and chess than artistic practice – was fundamental to Actress’ process as ‘LXXXVIII’ was channelled into existence.” It almost makes me not want to listen to the damn songs.

Some of these PR wankers should take a page out of someone like Autechre’s book and just release the thing, and maybe have a chat online with fans later about the details of it. Not that album credits and a little context about the tracks is bad, but Jesus Christ, how some techno artists can just go full Deepak Chopra …

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#2

lol his music is defo more than funky and lovely but “…readily associated with economics and chess than artistic practice …” sound like the writer is trying hard to be something or to take it somewhere … I usually skip the writing and go back to it after a listen…just bought the record ( digital)

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#3

lol, that’s f*kin horrific waffle :joy:
wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole.

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#4

Compensatory wankage.

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#5

Haha, I haven’t really listened to him that much, but I sometimes get the feeling that his concepts are more fledged out than his actual tracks. But I will check his discography out more.

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#6

I know what you mean

#8

M6fJm46XtR7HqYN9a5DSpc-1200-80

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#9

I thought/was hoping that this was about the hip-hop artist :wink:

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#10

Haha. Sorry.

#11

I’m aware of how hard you need to sell yourself these days to make even an inkling of a living as a serious artist. I just felt the need to bitch a little about seeing all these writeups that try so hard at mixing dance music with philosophy. It’s often not that complicated.

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#12

that’s what happens when you let AI do all the work.

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#13

I really don’t see much issue with this. At the end of the day, you don’t have to read these bios or marketing pieces.

And posts like this seem to snowball and drum up unwarranted hate for an artist.

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#14

things that are awful to write: artist descriptions, press releases, resume cover letters. and probably personal profile descriptions on dating sites (never had the pleasure).

just let AI do that part. plug in as much data as you need until it reads reasonably.

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#15

It’s not really hate, just embarrassment and irritation.

Edit: It’s only when I see this kind of stuff with artists that I actually like that I care. But of course, it’s no big issue and I can just enjoy the music. Which I will :slight_smile:

#16

That must be it. I’m so naive.

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#17

There’s some unbelievable bullshit being written for recent electronic albums … I typically don’t bother buying it if it’s excessive

One recent one was a massive blurb about using a bass drum to make a track , quite a well known artist ,… drivel .

Perhaps this level of nonsense is a new way to make the launch memorable … which in some way works … but not in a positive way.

But what do I know - I’m just a forum twat who’s never released anything ( music wise )

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#18

When we were 18, me and my best mate lived on my other mate’s farm while he was living in Australia. We basically spent six months smoking copious amounts of weed and watching MTV Base (when we weren’t at work, obvs).

I still know every single word to what’s your fantasy. Absolute banger.

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#19

I travel in the visual and performance spaces, and there’s that mix of “artist’s statement” and PR fluff, marketing hype meets academic jargon.

I enjoy a bit of pretentiousness and high concept, sometimes the conceptual stuff can add to a piece, sometimes (no matter local or international famed gallery) the conceptual is so divorced from what is visible that it detracts or is laughable.

Sometimes the statements are so goddamned pandering to commercialism and broad financial appeal that i haaaaate their “voice” without knowing anything about them as a person. There was a guy with local fame in Miami who had his offensively inoffensive designs puked all over with statements about fun and happiness, I’d bring one up if they wouldn’t bring down the collective IQ of any internet discussion.

Anyway, I can’t say I’ve ever read any new album PR beyond when I was in college radio and labels would send out oddness in their packages, I got a gold-coated chicken foot for some santero metal band. Hollywood Records sent out all manner of weirdness, Disney Corp shipping colleges bongs to promote ICP :stuck_out_tongue:

Anyway, it’s a hustle.

The label may write this stuff up for the artist based on a casual interview, and massively hack it together. Indie labels make fuck all money usually, and I’m happy if they don’t implode and the artists can thrive. I don’t expect the artists to write their own promotional material, and the content generally isn’t for me.

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#20

I’m somewhat curious what would happen if I took all of the random patterns that I’ve created on my various Elektrons, staple them together and release an album. And then pay the PR folks to talk it up.

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#21

You’d be pushing the abstraction of contemporary rhythmic cyclism homogeneous landscape escapism.

Or something

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