Canned Dragons - Noise

Jay Peters reports for The Verge about the year-over-year rise in the number of CDs being purchased.

The data suggests that “the CD has been recontextualized from a functional audio format into an affordable collectible,” Luminate says. “This behavior underscores that for younger generations, the act of buying physical music is as much about aesthetic ownership and direct financial support for the artist as it is listening to the music on the product itself.”

The surprise here is that approximately half of the Gen Z and millennials buying CDs don’t even own a device on which to play them. It’s still about that connection, though. I admitted the other day that I sometimes listen to a CD even when I could just as easily (more easily even) stream the album.

⌘ 8:53 PM, Jul 17

Dave Kendall, creator and host of MTV’s 120 Minutes, has passed away.

The British-born Kendall conceived 120 Minutes after joining MTV as a producer, pitching the network a dedicated program for the punk, post-punk, goth, synth-pop, ska, and other underground sounds largely ignored by corporate rock radio. 120 Minutes debuted on March 10th, 1986, and Kendall later served as its host from 1989 through 1992. “By far the most important thing about 120 Minutes was that it acted as a distribution channel for organic musical produce, if you will,” Kendall told CONSEQUENCE in a 2016 interview. “The only other outlet for non-mainstream music at the time was a few local college radio stations.”

Apparently, Kendall was the force behind getting the show greenlit. You know he must have had to push just to get a terrible time slot like 12am on a Sunday night. I think I learned how to program my VCR just so I could record 120 Minutes. It was a school night, after all.

Matt Pinfield, the last to host the show, offered a tribute on Instagram.

⌘ 9:26 PM, Jul 15

Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra & Avin Omar

<a href="https://gorankajfes.bandcamp.com/album/goran-kajfe-subtropic-arkestra-avin-omar">Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra & Avin Omar by Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra</a>
One problem with posting your listening habits on a periodically updated Now page is that those habits can literally change overnight. A couple of days ago, I updated my /now page, only to get deeply into a Swedish jazz EP very shortly after.

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⌘ 7:07 PM, Jul 13

Bandcamp Downsizing

Details are scarce, but a Bluesky post has people once again wondering about the fate of Bandcamp.

my 13 years at bandcamp are coming to an end - i’ve been laid off along with most of the remaining engineers. best job i’ve ever had, working with the best people you could ever work with. unceremonious end to quite a ride.

drew https://bsky.app/profile/grmnygrmny.bsky.social/post/3mpgvo7l2v22t

Some are speculating that Bandcamp’s owner, Songtradr, has enough engineers to fill in the gaps and keep the service running. I would not be surprised if that were the case, and I don’t think this piece of news is necessarily an indicator that the service is shutting down, but nevertheless, it’s not a good thing.

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⌘ 11:54 AM, Jul 3

I Set My Face to the Hillside

Tortoise - I Set My Face to the Hillside (YouTube)

Last year, I bought TNT by Tortoise on CD from a Discogs seller.¹ I should tell you, this sort of activity is as sure a sign of my devotion to a particular album as any. After all, I’ve got access to high-quality digital copies of albums like this through streaming. I don’t need to seek them out on an online marketplace, where, let’s face it, you don’t always know the quality of the merchandise.²

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⌘ 4:50 PM, Jun 27

A Room You Can't See

Terry Godier might be something of a genius, as evidenced by his masterfully crafted RSS reader, Current, and the ideas behind it. So when I saw he created a short documentary about musical formats, one of my favorite subjects, I had high expectations.

Godier hits upon a lot of the problems intrinsic to streaming media in the video. When he discusses the limitations of physical media, he’s able to make them sound like desirable features.

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⌘ 8:22 PM, Jun 24

Forgotten Favorite

Some good news came this week in the form of more Velocity Girl remastering. This time it’s a compilation of non-album tracks from various places being released by Slumberland Records. The collection is called 1989-1992 and the contents are precisely what it says on the tin.

The first available track from the release is my favorite song by the band, “Forgotten Favorite.” Even after the remaster, it’s still a bit muddy, but I’m not sure if there is anything more the band could do apart from rerecord the track completely. It’s still a stellar song through, with a shoegaze-worthy crush of guitars that’s as propulsive as anything put out by UK pedal hoppers. Despite some muck still on the recording, the vocals are pristine, and Sarah Shannon sounds heavenly.

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⌘ 8:30 AM, Jun 20

Wired Magazine has the success story of the Anti-Spotify, AKA, Qobuz.

Qobuz now has 1.2 million active monthly users, and its streaming revenue shot up 45.7 percent in 2025, compared to 8.8 percent growth in overall paid music streaming. Around a third of its revenue now comes from the US, its biggest market. Those are still teeny numbers next to Spotify (293 million paid subscribers) and Apple Music (more than 100 million).

People who have Qobuz typically have little but good things to say about it.

The newest differentiator is the refusal by Qobuz to provide AI slop on their platform. While Spotify has become inundated with AI music and even impersonators, Qobuz has taken a firm stance against it.

If anyone is interested, I have two free months of Qobuz studio to give away.

⌘ 6:41 PM, Jun 18

We Might As Well Be Strangers

The last few days have brought with them some serious nineties nostalgia. So it’s fitting that Weezer released a video for their new single, “We Might As Well Be Strangers.” The song represents a return to the form for the prolific but not always consistent band. Perhaps the best part of the song and the video is the inclusion of guest Karly Hartzman of Wednesday. Hartzman brings her punk rock sneer and pout to the breakup song.

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⌘ 6:00 PM, Jun 13

Chemicals Make You Small

When I read that Hammock had collaborated with The Flaming Lips on their song “Chemicals Make You Small,” I was a bit shocked. Wayne Coyne and The Lips are brash, experimentally noisy, irreverent, sometimes goofy and often oversaturated. They seem to have almost the opposite of Hammock’s ethereal, slow, quiet and completive approach.

Echoes and Dust features an interview with the lads from Hammock in which they discuss the influences for their new album, The Second Coming Was A Moonrise. In it, they explain being inspired by American Head by The Flaming Lips.

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⌘ 7:42 PM, Jun 6