the marvel theory of 2024 music fandom
plus new music from decius, vampire weekend, mk.gee, needy beast, and hana vu
I spent a bunch of yesterday reading Ted Gioia’s State of the Culture piece, and a follow-up piece from Ryan Broderick/Garbage Day about the state of entertainment. TLDR; it’s bleak! But also it finally helped me figure out what’s really been bothering me about the way music fandom (and fandom in general) has been doing in the last few years.
Every major artist and/or IP is now trying to keep you inside their world for as long as possible. Beyond hours spent and “deeper engagement” and whatever metric their brand managers would use, it’s also shredding the interconnectivity of art. Have you talked to anyone who is deeply into the Marvel movies? By sheer hours of attention, they go outside the walls of their favorite IP less and less, and are encouraged by the thing they love to obsess over what’s in the world they love, not to stray.
This is also the trick of Taylor Swift or Harry Styles: from lyrical easter eggs, to re-released albums – this is a world that doesn’t create references or connections to a wider world. And now, armed with an “always on” content approach, there’s a constant reason to explore less, to venture out less often. I think a lot about how to find out about Nirvana was to learn about the Melvins, Seattle, Sub Pop, the Screaming Trees, Flipper, L7, the Vaselines. The machinery of fandom is now focused on people spending time with less art. It’s the Boss Baby tweet, but it’s not a punchline: it’s a strategy.
Anyways. On to the new tracks! You can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
Decius – dumbdumb
Exactly the sort of grimy, so stupid it’s stupid live hardware afterhours music you’d expect from a side project of Paranoid London and Fat White Family. To be clear: that is all a compliment, as the bassline pattern is so brilliantly simple it’ll make you think you should go ahead and buy that expensive TB-303 clone. Forget it pal, leave the idiocy to the pros.
Vampire Weekend – Gen X Cops
Incredibly on-brand Ariel Reichstag production here – his ability to pull apart a normal rock song and make it sound like it’s been ripped up and reconstituted is unparalleled, and it’s put to great use on “Gen X Cops.” The song’s searing lead lines and gentle choruses feel like they’re from different planets, but the negative space lets the track’s gentle light through nicely.
Needy Beast – Me & My Minerals
Adam Moerder (Needy Beast) is a friend whose music I admired before meeting him – his instincts are really funny because he loves oddball concepts and inside jokes for his lyrics, but his ear favors austere and crisp sonics and textures. The contrast between the two is his hallmark, and his latest EP Don Forever is a perfect example: it’s a four-song ode to his departed cat Don (RIP large king!!), but the songs are sharp, minimal synth-pop. The whole record is endearing, but the closer “Me & My Minerals” feels the most like a final goodbye.
mk.gee – You got it
I really love mk.gee’s new album Two Star & The Dream Police, which I found via Adam Offitzer’s excellent Hear Hear newsletter. “You got it” shows off the album’s appeal, which refracts Sign O’ The Times Prince through a Blonde-erizer, resulting in a fractured, dense modern pop/R&B record. There are so many ideas in each track, and the musicality is enhanced – not marginalized – by the album’s lo-fi intimacy.
Hana Vu – Care
“Care” marries a charming and beautiful song with a wild murder-in-reverse video – they go together like peanut butter and extremely disturbing jelly!
throwback
Level 42 – Something About You
High winter days require heavy, heavy doses of Spago Rock positivity to counteract the low serotony. Warmest February on record? Sorry! Can’t hear you over the sound of my hard as hell blazer-and-jeans fit.