Much digital ink spills about bands that enjoy digital stardom, with mp3s circulated ad infinitum and ecstatic blog odes penned from every corner of the (English-writing) globe. Blog rock, as the thinking goes, can be a curse that binds idolized bands to the medium that crowned them king, where they're unable to transcend digital success into meaningful recognition or cash money.
And then there's the blogs responsible for these micro-stars suddenly making their own digital music.
Perhaps its because Astro Nautico is firstly an mp3 blog and now, apparently, a musical endeavor–a bubble inside a bubble–that a few of these tracks are so unequivocally 80's glamour 'n coke. Then there's Kuhn's two excellent instrumental hip hop tracks.
You could call this kind of line-blurring the erosion of “conflict of interest,” which is really just another way of signaling the death of traditional music journalism. Or you could compare it punk kids making zines back when that happened en masse, and it wouldn't feel so weird.
No pain, nor guilt, nor shame, in pop, as they say.
Or as they put it:
After much deliberation, procrastination, hesitation, frustration and some jubilation, we present you with the long-awaited (short-awaited?) Astro Nautico EP #1 – ATLANTICS. All in-house production, with two tracks each from Obey City, Kuhn and Al Gates (+weed). and the best part is…
(It's free.)
Astro Nautico, “All My Love” (By Obey City)
Astro Nautico, “Quiet Nights” (By Kuhn)
Astro Nautico, “Romantic Deathtrap” (+Weed)
Download it here.
