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Hi - this episode was very fun to make and I rediscovered so much fantastic music while making it, but, since the topic here is very close to home, I feel like I need to explain a few things.
I’m pretty sure “Pitchfork Indie Rock” is not a commonly used grouping, but it’s a handy term for me—particularly because it makes me chuckle. And if it sounds sometimes like I’m making fun of this scene, it’s only because, as a member of the Walkmen (and a guy who wears boat shoes), I guess I’m a part of it.
Anyway, as we all know, “scenes” are just dumb groupings that have nothing to do with any of the actual art being made so, while I enjoy mocking the idea of “the indie scene”, I obviously take a lot of its music very seriously.
And just to clarify terms here: I think the term “indie rock” (a term I’ve always mocked and ran away from) probably means something different to everyone, but to me it means independent music (mostly stuff championed by Pitchfork) from around 2002 until around 2013. I guess that’s because that’s the period in my life when I first made a concerted effort to search for interesting, current music.
And, like a lot of people—whether they admit it or not—Pitchfork was a very useful resource for me.
Also a namedropping warning: Watch your feet because names are dropping constantly in this episode since I know many of these people. My mentioning of names and personal stories is just an effort to make you laugh and make you understand that the music world is small and (mostly) filled with nice, interesting, funny people.
Lastly—as I explain in the episode—I’m very good at separating my personal relationship with a person from my love of their art. So I can say with confidence that all the feelings I express for the music in this episode come from a place of pure untainted music fandom.
And if you’re one of the people who I heap praise on here, and we know each other, please don’t bring it up if you see me—just pretend you never heard it, thanks.
Ok. Enjoy!
-walt
The Walter Martin Radio Hour airs Sunday nights at 8pm on WEXT 97.1/106.1 upstate NY. New episodes appear here every other Friday and update on all podcast apps. Link to Apple Podcasts from my Substack for all new episodes.
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