While we’re on the subject: roughly 10% of you have signed up for my record club. What would make the rest interested in giving it a try?

Best Music Writing, an actual physical product written by grown-up professionals who make a living with their keyboards, only asked for $15,000 in their Kickstarter campaign. I’m just saying. #seacrestout

They are asking for money presumably so that they don’t have to chase pageviews for advertising revenue by running news/gossip/Hypem bait. This is a noble cause and one that will serve a readership.

It is also not a cause explained on their Kickstarter page, which makes that $33k look pretty greedy.

Here are some things that’ll set Ad Hoc apart from other music publications out there:

• If you send us your music, we will actually listen to you.

• We won’t reduce your album to a numerical rating.

• We’ll cover emerging artists and musical movements from ALL OVER THE GLOBE— not just Brooklyn.

• We bring you a holistic view of the underground music world at large, breaking down the boundaries between “writer” and “subject” to bring you fresh opinions from the actors all across our global grassroots community. . 

• We’ll engage you without hype-writing. We won’t publish traffic-baiting, tabloid-esque news posts, but instead focus on bringing you the music we truly think is ACTUALLY quality. 

• We will work to reconcile blog culture with criticism in the traditional sense, moving beyond distinctions of “good” or “bad” to focus on what music can tell us about the artistic, technological, economic, and political present from which it emerges.

Look, I don’t want to poop on anybody’s cash-grab here, but this entire mission statement boils down to “We will be a blog… from 2005!” 

or you can just know people and get on lists. everyone i work with says you don’t really need a badge to see good shows. also a ton of good shows are unofficial (like ours!).

Yeah, you don’t, at all. This is mostly covered in my guide, though. 

Getting bored of the #menswear feed. Oh look, selvedge denim and expensive shoes (without showing the entire outfit so no one can judge your actual taste)! You are a style rebel. 

cassuhsasser asked: Was reading your entry about SXSW.. wondering how you can get into shows with a ridiculously expensive badge... Suggestions please?!

Well, some shows — official ones at night — are badge-only, but in most cases, you can pay $10 or so at the door and if there’s room, you’ll get in. Badge and wristband holders just have first priority. 

The point is so that the press and industry people can actually see the official showcases instead of having them be flooded with teenagers on spring break, which I don’t have a problem with. 

Unless I’m misreading this and you’re asking how you can get into shows with a badge, in which case the answer is “Smile and walk in.”

Gloria Estefan Happy Hardcore Rmx

I listened to every “Video Games” cover/karaoke-with-vocals version on Spotify. All of them are bad. The Kick Back Ohio version is the least painful, if only because it hints at what Hem’s synth-free version of the song might sound like.