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So Patrick, your position is basically if you're a music critic your opinion should be invalid to musicians/is worthless unless you yourself have created good music?

100%. 

None of us would listen to a bricklayer critique a space shuttle. 

Without a body of work to give weight to your opinion, you’re just a zerson letting air coming out of ze’s lungs in the form of noise. 

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Will always be one of my fave movies.

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Pat- Are you poor? I remember you writing once that you only have $3 a day for food. Do you still live with financial limitations of that nature or are you in a better situation. I honestly cant say I'd build a Dunkin Donuts where you are, man. Money is awesome. Really.

Creature comforts don’t appeal to me. The only reason I don’t sleep on a yoga mat is because women generally won’t fuck you on those. I can eat the same food for a month. I had to force myself to buy new pants. I’d rather walk 30 blocks than pay for a cab. 

Right now all my resources go towards my goals. When I get what I want, I’ll spend that money on fake tits and travel. Fuck a nice pillow. 

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what do you think of APs review of Try Me? 4 stars not bad, eh?

Didn’t see it. 

I know the same sort of infant who came at me the other day for not being polite will probably jump all over this:

Reviews have no value to me. 

Musicians are too intent on kissing each other’s asses to give honest reviews. So they leave it to people who have nothing to lose.

This is good and bad. On paper, it prevents quid pro quo backscratching and ‘bro bias.’ Perhaps it does. But it also allows for petty crusades and reviews based in zero expertise. 

The question a reasonable zerson would ask is: Why do I care what this reviewer thinks? And then, Has ze done anything I respect? 

Why would you ever listen to someone who has never done anything of note in the field they’re offering critique to? Where did that individual get their authority? 

Understand, I’m not suggesting a critic with no expertise has no right to speak. They have every right in the world. But why would you give them any more credence than the guy on Twitter? Or the guy yelling about Jesus on the subway? 

You should also know that many media outlets are paid for reviews. Almost all are ‘soft paid’ in the way of advertising money. But some are straight-out given money in exchange for positive reviews. 

Another thing to consider is the lack of cohesion in reviews from individual outlets. They’ll hail Deafheaven at the beginning of the year, then call the band ‘OK’ in December. They’ll say Touche Amore came with an ‘meh’ record this year, then sponsor their tour. Most media is walking a line between ‘seem cool’ and ‘get clicks’ and that’s a messy thing that offers nothing to credibility. 

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Along the lines of first love guy, I've been in a similar situation that went down at the beginning of summer. I've tried not to become jaded, but I'm still very angry sometimes and even the sight of my exes name upsets me a lot.

Yeah, it’ll be like that for a minute. Particularly if ze’s got a new partner and you don’t. 

All those feelings are natural. And eventually they get you an understanding of how life works. It has value. 

But when you’re in the middle of it, it just sucks balls.

Remind yourself that only an asshole hangs on to negativity. You can either turn it into motivation (Michael Jordan) or walk away from it entirely (the Buddha). Sitting on it like it’ll change is just foolishness. Lift; learn a new language; make some money; plan for the future; pick up a new interest; love a new partner more openly and honestly; express yourself; whatever. Just don’t be the sour little asshole who lets negative shit dictate who ze is. 

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Patrick. I'm not kidding myself about making a career out of music & see no problem with working a day job alongside playing music. I'd like to be at a similar level to SDF where I'm not just playing gigs to no-one, can pull a decent crowd or get a good support slot. A lot of what I do is similarly potentially alienating as my world view & approach aren't obviously inviting (ranting/joking between songs. Often viewed as negative). Any thoughts as to how to get growth without dumbing things down?

Crazy that anyone should want our level of success. We are a very small band.

I shouldn’t shit on it though, as our level of success keeps it at a very fun place. Not overlooked completely, but not hyped so much that unwanted expectations are placed on us. 

Here’s your options:

Stunts. You can be a gimmick act. Throw a monitor at a bouncer or blow fire on the front row. Anything that makes a young, dumb kid think “this is craaaaazy”. This is what’s called planarchy. 

Sucking dick, balls, and eating asshole. You can shmooze your way to visibility. Align yourself with the cool kids and make sure everyone knows what table you sit at during lunch. This is called being a future executive. 

Drown them in content. This is the lane Self Defense fell in. As End of a Year, we were essentially dropped from Revelation. We didn’t share that with people. Instead, when our association with that label motivated smaller labels to offer us 7”s, we took them up on every one. We continued to put out records as if nothing had happened. In this way, there seemed like no loss in momentum between our time on Revelation and our relationship with Deathwish Inc. If we had taken that time off to ‘figure things out’ Deathwish wouldn’t have been so keen on working with us. They appreciated that we work. And the releases on small labels never got us waves of attention, but it did move us forward in some small way. Even on Deathwish, who has a nice reach, it would be possible to go unnoticed by music fans. But we’ve released records on metal labels, screamo labels, pop punk labels, emo labels, and probably some others that escape me. If you’re a fan of subculture music stemming from hardcore, there’s a good chance we’ve crossed paths on a label’s webstore or physical distro. We’ve put something in everyone’s face. They can still opt to ignore it, but they have to make that a conscious choice now. I feel more kinship with hip hop artists than I do guitar-genre musicians. Guitar people want every song to be precious. They want praise for every LP as though it’s a masterwork we should all recognize. Hip hop people know you’ve got to keep content coming. Nothing is precious. Releasing 20 records a year has 20x more value, both longterm and immediate, than releasing one and hoping for the best. 

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I've been living with a girl for the last 2.5 years. The relationship is coming to and end because of her dishonesty and my reaction. This really fucking sucks. Pay, say something inspirational.

You had a good time. Now you pay for that ride. 

The cost of having shit is not having shit. You had shit. Now comes the other part. 

It is normal to feel stung when you’re losing shit. Feel it. 

Then recognize that freedom is cool too. You have more options as a single zerson than you ever did as a couple. Use the opportunity to pursue shit that interests you and better yourself. In time, feel excitement with a new partner. 

Cycle of life. Circle of life. Hakuna matata. 

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how do i prove to my family that i'm not a fuck-up without sacrificing my emotional stability?

Is this feudal Japan? Who the fuck cares what your family thinks?

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Girlfriend of two years basically told me She doesn't know if she has feelings for me anymore, wants to discuss more on Monday. Should I attend?

Go to a themepark or get a massage instead. Skip that waste of your time and eat cotton-candy.

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Fucking hell.

A man and his dog on the Overhanging Rock in Yosemite National Park, May 1924.Photograph by Educational-Bruce Photograph

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My man Danny Agger.

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Four boys bob for apples in Martinsburg, West Virginia, 1939. Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic

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 fight club (1999)

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My band is playing our first show ever tonight. Any sage words of advice?

Life’s a fucking joke. You can’t fail because there is no criteria to define success. Kill the bear.