New Monthly Listening is out for September! Our round-up of new albums we enjoyed this month, from omeme tenten, mei ehara, and more thissidejapan.substack.com/p/monthly-li...

4x4 for the week! A lot of art rock and krautrock this time as well as some recent releases to fill out the grid. Only two more batches until I'm finally out of the Seventies.

Georg Baselitz, Five Times Titmouse, 1988-89 https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1136921

LIGHTNING BOLT

Vétheuil - 1901 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/1222167

why are you all talking about ai slop walmart

Accepting nominations overnight for this so keep them coming!

Very helpful piece by @ryandombal.bsky.social - start here to understand what’s involved for labels and artists in trying to separate Spotify from the rest of digital distribution. And go here to urge regulation of ALL streaming platforms for the benefit of artists: weareumaw.org/make-streami...

Anyone with even a passing interest in retro TV owes it to themselves to check out @blippo.plus . It's such a weird, wonderful love letter to late 80s/early 90s cable and local access TV. (Funny enough, my only real complaint with it is there's not enough commercials. 😅)

Houses in the Snow - 1895 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/10595

Another 5x4 this week. More jazz, more folk, more art rock... but also: a dash of reggae and Brazilian pop. Not pictured though is Larks' Tongues in Aspic, thanks Topster.

Miroslav Sutej, Bombardment of the Optic Nerve, II, 1963 https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1135340

Once & for all, let's specify what "poptimism" was & wasn't, and why many people can't stop blaming it for every cultural change of the past 20 years. Most recently the esteemed Kelefa Sanneh, who's often (wrongly) said to have started it! Today in @slate.com slate.com/culture/2025...

Can't believe I've gone this long without owning a single version of "Pressure Drop."

5x4 this week featuring a considerable amount of folk/singer-songwriter, some jazz, some art rock, and even a bit of salsa!

The Rocks at Pourville, Low Tide - 1882 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/9840

Since people have asked (narrator: no one asked) here's a bit of the cursed mashup I found of "All Along Watchtower" and "Locked Out of Heaven" by Bruno Mars

Been waiting on this book from the mighty @barrywalters.bsky.social for literally years here, and it’s up for presale, release date next May. Do yourself the biggest favor.

hey, i'm broke again thanks to a $400 ticket and $400 i owed to the oil company that came due. i'm sorry to ask again, but if anyone can help me out, i'd be grateful. i have some money coming to me in november, but that feels like a long way off

Gonna start listening to radio

At this rate if I ever record music again, it’s going to consist entirely of vibraphone, organ, reversed guitar, and synthesizer drone backed by two drum machine loops playing in polyrhythm.

Richard Hamilton, Glorious Techniculture, 1961-64 #artbots #moma https://botfrens.com/collections/14377/contents/1134881

4x4 for the week. Continuing my journey with more jazz, folk, and avant-garde/experimental records, this time from 1969. Next week: '70 and '71!

Here's Morris to cleanse your timeline.

Ken Loach’s contribution to the September 11 omnibus collection of short films made by great directors. I saw the premiere of this and the only two I thought were useful were his, and Shohei Imamura’s www.dailymotion.com/video/x415e

The Mount Riboudet in Rouen at Spring - 1872 #artbots #monet https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/7792

Sept 29 in DC join us!! @umaw.bsky.social

This, from Jaime Brooks, is the best music-related writing I've ready in a long time.

Okay... one more. The US top 20 best-selling video games on the PS1. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service

hot rats more like hot shit (complimentary)

'Crash Bandicoot' was released on the PlayStation 29 years ago today.

My biography of Justin Townes Earle will be released on January 13th, 2026, the week after what would’ve been his 44th birthday. It’s called ‘What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome’ If you’d like to support a debut author, you can pre-order here: www.hbglibrary.com/titles/jonat...

“So many people depend on musicians—including engineers, producers, lighting directors—so if that domino falls, it affects everyone around them. If the artists don’t get paid, we don’t get paid.” – UMAW member and mastering engineer Heba Kadry

massive, extremely well-curated PCRF benefit compilation from @heavenlypophits.bsky.social. just outstanding curation here. make a donation and send a confirmation email screenshot to [email protected]

5x5(!) for the week: an assortment of folk, jazz, Brazilian pop, classical, and experimental/avant-garde stuff. A pretty good week, in other words!

Gonna link back to this but just start a Ghost blog or something at this point, its never been easier. aftermath.site/website-musk...

Nikon FE2, Kodak TMAX 400

One more day! I'll be closing the form for submissions tomorrow night. If you haven't voted yet, please do so!

Early 4x4 this week. Sixties jazz classics with Ravi Shankar and Françoise Hardy on the side.

Just found out about this: a few months ago someone unearthed a complete soundboard of a Beatles show from Essen in 1966. Not their finest hour on stage, but obviously invaluable historically for 500 reasons youtu.be/mVoHWSFJE6I

8 weeks from publication - link to preorder here yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

🛹

Happy National Dog Day

the Eno diary has been building up to this entry all year. 26 August 1995:

if you want to do something for my birthday, you can contribute to the IHTOV writers fund because it has run out of money