🔗 Why We Quit Spotify:

So what finally pushed us over the edge? Well, a lot of things. For me, chief among them was music journalist Liz Pelly’s incredibly damning—and incredibly well-reported—recent book Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist. It details all the ways Spotify has devalued music through the years, helping to turn the most powerful art form we’ve got into another frictionless commodity controlled by tech oligarchs. Like how Spotify created an entire program—ominously dubbed Perfect Fit Content—in which they pushed more and more faceless muzak onto their popular in-house playlists because it was licensed by the company under cheaper terms, taking money and placements away from genuine artists. Or how its hyper-personalized algorithmic playlists forced listeners to burrow deeper and deeper into their own musical comfort zones, dulling the opportunity for personal exploration. Or how their Discovery Mode introduced a shadowy pay-for-play scheme that all but required many independent artists and labels to lower their own royalty rates in order to surface songs on the platform. Every chapter—practically every page—of Mood Music offers revelations on how Spotify purposely undercut music makers in order to bolster their bottom line. I don’t know how any ardent music fan could read this book and not be moved to cancel their subscription.

🔗 The compact disc isn’t going quietly - Chicago Reader:

CDs have DIY appeal too. Chicago postpunk band Blush Scars just self-released their new album, Summoned, and front man Sean McCormick made runs of 50 CDs and 50 cassettes at home. “I did all the CDs within one day, and now I’m on day three or four with these tapes,” he says. Burning CDs didn’t just give McCormick an inexpensive way to release his band’s music on physical media; it also reminded him of when he used to burn his own mixes on CD. “I think there’s kind of a nostalgia factor towards it,” he says.

I found this one on Chris’s weekly list of new metal releases, and when I saw the “death/flamenco” descriptor, I knew I had to check it out.

Friends, this album DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. While the band does not go overboard with the flamenco part, it is definitely there and adds a really interesting layer to the songs. I like this one a lot; it is a contender for my list of favorite death metal albums so far this year. Strong recommend.

I hate running early in the morning, but if I wait until any time in the middle of the day, it will too miserably hot.

And if I run in the evening, I will not be able to sleep through the night.

I guess maybe the way to look at it is that if there is no good time for running, I can run at any time. And also that I will fell better when it is done.