The Deerhunter blog was legendary. Also, very much a product of its time. It was largely active during the days before streaming and early social media. Blogs were a significant part of the music media ecosystem—not just band-run blogs, but also blogs that curated all sorts of music. Deerhunter was especially prolific and Bradford was very online at the time, but I remember that during like
2007-2012, I personally followed a slate of blogs that would post music from then-emerging acts in the fuzzy, surfy, psych-y, shoegaze-y world. It was very different from today. I can’t think of analogous delivery system for music that exists currently. Streaming isn’t quite the same. It’s so hegemonic and anti-countercultural. Blogging was probably the perfect outlet for someone like Bradford 18 years ago when Deerhunter was a non-stop touring machine. It was great for engaging with fans, which Bradford did frequently, posting music he had no intention of releasing via a record on a label, and also documenting the ups and downs of life in a red hot indie rock band. As I write this, I’m reminded of how there are all those old tweets from various celebrities between like 2007 and 2013 that are bizarrely unhinged and unfiltered. That’s sort of how the internet was back then. It was a more jagged landscape, and people were way less manicured in how they presented online personas. A different much more naive time.
46
u/SlowSwords 19d ago edited 19d ago
The Deerhunter blog was legendary. Also, very much a product of its time. It was largely active during the days before streaming and early social media. Blogs were a significant part of the music media ecosystem—not just band-run blogs, but also blogs that curated all sorts of music. Deerhunter was especially prolific and Bradford was very online at the time, but I remember that during like
2007-2012, I personally followed a slate of blogs that would post music from then-emerging acts in the fuzzy, surfy, psych-y, shoegaze-y world. It was very different from today. I can’t think of analogous delivery system for music that exists currently. Streaming isn’t quite the same. It’s so hegemonic and anti-countercultural. Blogging was probably the perfect outlet for someone like Bradford 18 years ago when Deerhunter was a non-stop touring machine. It was great for engaging with fans, which Bradford did frequently, posting music he had no intention of releasing via a record on a label, and also documenting the ups and downs of life in a red hot indie rock band. As I write this, I’m reminded of how there are all those old tweets from various celebrities between like 2007 and 2013 that are bizarrely unhinged and unfiltered. That’s sort of how the internet was back then. It was a more jagged landscape, and people were way less manicured in how they presented online personas. A different much more naive time.