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It's the key to making the whole thing work -- listen to the album some guy you met in Ohio sent you; watch the short film that the 22-year old you met at KGB DM'd you; show up to the screening if you can. It can seem like a nuisance cuz you can't see what P4k rated it and Taylor Swift or whoever isn't involved and you'll have no reaction to lean on but your own. But it's the key to staying passionate and making friends and keeping this whole DIY ecosystem working.
Jan 30, 2024
Related Recs
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Finding people to collab is hard man. I feel like a lot of people are just in it to look cool, or for some short lived clout. That’s wack as fuck. Coming from hardcore and punk scenes, everyone is so stoked just to be involved. Sure, now and again the typical grifter comes along and leaves a sour taste in everyone’s mouth and creates music that I feel is disingenuous, but those guys are easy to weed out. You should create with people who are stoked as you are on a project. If the only thing y’all do for a minute is nerd out over whatever Blueprints you got laid out, that’s exactly what you want. Every band i’ve played in has just been with people who get excited hearing the words “hardcore” or “mosh part” in the same sentence, and that has always lead to some of my favorite memories when writing or recording.
TLDR: Find people who are excited, down, and show up and put in work. Those people are worth collabing with
Feb 1, 2025
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Growing up, my parents were divorced, so every other Friday my dad would pick up my sister and me, and we’d spend the evening shuttling back and forth between their houses—about an hour each way. He had a Sirius XM subscription, so the car rides were full of 70s on 7 and 80s on 8. He could hear the first few chords of a song and immediately dive into how it was made, the backstory behind it, or some random trivia about the artists. I still think about him explaining the story behind Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Just a Song Before I Go” or Eddie Van Halen’s solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”
It was such a fun way to think about music—not just as music, but sometimes as these tiny, collaborative moments of magic.
Not all the stories were fun, but they were always meaningful. Like today—I was listening to Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine, most of it for the first time. I now have this habit of reading reviews and learning about how an album was made after I listen—probably because of my dad being such a huge music nerd. This time, it led me down a rabbit hole about her partnership with Jon Brion, the fight with her label Epic Records over its
release, and all the b-sides/unreleased music and lore that I wasn’t expecting. It’s like discovering a missing piece to a larger cultural puzzle—context that deepens your understanding and appreciation, even if it isn’t necessary to enjoy the music. 😌
Jan 7, 2025
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my latest article for my music blog Fourth Best looks into the case of an artist that's putting out AI music and is taking the work very seriously. they prides themself in only using AI for the music making process and doing all of the marketing, graphics, video etc. himself. I don't feel good about it.
my recommendation for the day besides reading my post is to find opportunities to fit into a crew. you don't have to be a musician to have an impact on the music community if you've got writing, design, organising skills - it's true of most creative worlds. I don't think that like, everyone who makes bad genai music is going to transition to music journalism or whatever and feel good about it, but there's joy in being a background character sometimes. share the spotlight.
Feb 25, 2025
Top Recs from @matthewdangerlippman
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You can’t really repeat it of course but it was a nice moment
Feb 13, 2024
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I was playing Elliott Smith as per ush (uje? ushe?) and Bets said she couldn’t handle any more sad music so as a joke I threw on this 2016 Ye classic. Turns out it’s still the best song ever and I still know every word. Plus, what a lyric:
“When did I become A-list? I wasn’t even on a list.” Story of my life!!!!!!
Jan 31, 2024
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Nerdy-ass Columbia University student-run radio station. The most fire mix of jazz & classical, all the DJs are kinda awkward in the cutest way. My fav station these days.
Dec 21, 2023