๐ฅ๏ธ
Have been thinking recently about how thoroughly Tumblr's value and uniqueness was destroyed by Yahoo (and ultimately, Automattic, its current/also WordPress owner).ย
Back in the day, there was a group of four music industry friends all living in Manhattan who would play a game called "Music War!" when they had been out all night sloshing around Max Fish and other LES dives -- you'd stumble to someone's apartment (everyone lived in the same East Village 'hood) and they'd play you a track they thought you'd never heard before, essentially "stump the experts." This drinking game moved to Tumblr as Music War! and thus begat a really cool site -- post single tracks of music you love, explain why, pass the baton to the next person.
Membership in this little rotating musical book club came and went but basically pivoted around three key players (Mize, Witz and CB) who were there at the creation. I joined later, after the gang had all scattered from NYC and a "Meet Me in the Bathroom"-era scenester DJ had also been part of their mix for a year.ย
Occasionally one of these posts would strike gold among the Tumblr cognoscenti (I linked to Leslie Gore's "You Don't Own Me" and the LGBTQ community lit it up for a minute) but for the most part it was just a lovely little online extension/expression of our slumming-it-Saturdays game.ย
I miss the old Tumblr. ๐ I also miss the gang. Music War! was the virtual bar where we met for drinks and a listen.
Feb 20, 2024
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We miss chronological feeds. We miss forming community through internet friends and groupchats. We miss being fans and spending our lives obsessing over our faves. In an attempt to bring these things back to the surface, we're spending more time on open forums and less time with algorithms. So...... neocities blogs (brittany's here & sameera's here) and discord and perfectly imperfect. And more than anything, we're trying to spend time reminiscing about these days of early spirit and community. Maybe if we talk about it enough, it'll work its way back into existence. There's a reason why everyone misses it so much.
- Brittany & Sameera
Oct 1, 2024
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used to spend hours digging for set rips, fan theories, and remakes. met some URL friends that later became IRL friends, got signed to a record label made up of other fans where i released some god awful dubstep, still keep up with some folks on socials that i met on there. ended up shutting down like 8 or so years ago and everyone just went to r/Skrillex on reddit which is how i got on reddit. very influential place for my online experience and this site def brings me back to the energy that site had, just a bunch of nerds with niche interests who just wanna talk about it with other nerds
EDIT: looks like they got a bunch of captures of it on wayback machine, big nostalgia trip looking at these
Apr 9, 2024
๐ป
I guess you had to be there but I still recommend it.
Jan 28, 2024
Top Recs from @coreydubrowa
The man responsible for dozens of Teenage Symphonies to God
"Sad songs about happy things" (the first time, as a kid, I can recall the sweet/sour combo of melodies that could make you cry attached to songs about endless, bottomless love)
I've long since lost track of how many weddings and funerals I've attended that have featured this song; suffice it to say, "a lot."
God only knows what we'd been without him ๐๐ป
Jun 11, 2025
May 22, 2025
Hey tyler hopefully this doesnโt violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I canโt wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! โค๏ธ
Mar 27, 2024