bands/acts with significant fanbases who seem to be from a parallel universe

The world might heal a bit if people* stopped their everlasting memeing wrt Weezer or Cuomo. Then again the band have had 'fun' encouraging it.

*those under 40 at least. Do fans the age of the band care?

I tried to listen to Weezer’s emo-classic Pinkerton once but it turned out it was a Weezer album.

I think the Khruangbin thing is their self-assurance; they’ve offered a very specific thing from the get-go, if you want to appreciate that’s cool, but they don’t feel the need to change or seek an audience. It’s pretty charismatic.

'pretty charismatic' is some of the most high-quality damning with faint praise I've read of late, kudos

'pretty charismatic' is some of the most high-quality damning with faint praise I've read of late, kudos

― imago

you sure do love you some prog rock

i love a lot of the ambient, new age, and balearic vibes music that imago hates, but i agree with him that khruangbin sucks. i don't need things to happen in music, but they do the same sort of demographic-crossing blandness that cigarettes after sex does, only for when people want to feel that "life is good" rather than "i am cool and sexy"

He's been mentioned on ilm before and I've been aware of him for some time so perhaps not totally in the spirit of the thread, but I continue to be shocked by the size of Billy Strings fanbase. I did not predict a jam-adjacent bluegrass kid to reach such huge heights - he's playing two nights at Allstate Arena, around 18,500 capacity, later this year and I see he's got sold out two night engagements at a lot of other arenas and big outdoor sheds.

Love Billy Strings, not at all surprised by the huge leap in popularity. Deadheads were already well-primed by other jamgrass bands (Greensky, Yonder Mountain) but Billy's group and shows are next level

i saw him on tv at pithfork festival and i was surprisingly impressed! i had never heard him before. he really knows how to get a crowd going. and his blend of country/rock is one that i kinda always wished was more of a thing. not truck commercial rock welded onto country. bluegrass rock with power and good playing. i'm all for that guy. you go, billy!

Oh yeah, no shade at Billy. He's a talented dude that deserves all the success. I just never would have imagined he'd hit back-to-back sold out nights in basketball arenas big.

i can't say that i listen to him on my own or anything. but for that one moment in time i was a big fan! same thing happened when i saw japanese breakfast at that fest. so much fun! just a really good time. but not my thing really. but you can see why people like it so much.
i think its cool when genuinely talented people playing upbeat music get big. its kinda nice. there is a lot of dreck out there.

it WAS probably a bit of my old rockist side coming out. it does occasionally for sure. "hey, these kids can play. now this is REAL music..."

but they did just seem to being enjoying themselves and enjoying the fact that they were rocking a crowd. i couldn't be a grump about that.

This isn't really a parallel universe thing, but I'm always surprised at just how big Mitski is. It makes sense to me that her music is critically acclaimed and that she gets the amount of media coverage she does, but I don't get how that translates to the sheer number of Spotify plays her songs have -- "My Love Mine All Mine" has 833 million, and she has 11 other songs with more than 100 million. Basically, I don't know why an "indie" musician who isn't played on the radio (AFAIK) has ended up with so many teenage fans.

Yeah, Mitski was even on the Billboard 100. I guess people really love Teenage Dirtbag.

that's like, one of her less impressive songs too. i get the feeling that she encapsulates a sort of gnomic downer glam vibe that has accidentally connected with whatever it is tiktok is doing. and it's this vibe above all that's being celebrated, more than the songwriting

My students LOVE Mitski — she writes about difficult stuff they can relate to and also it sounds palatable.

She's about 3 times as popular as Phoebe Bridgers on Spotify

what the kids, who are wrong, not me, don't understand is that be the cowboy is peak

I don't get how that translates to the sheer number of Spotify plays her songs have

She's about 3 times as popular as Phoebe Bridgers on Spotify

Four out of five of her Spotify listener locations are in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Like, if Wikipedia population #s are right, somewhere between ~1 out of every 10 or 35 people in Jakarta listen to her.

There's an article about Khruangbin in the New York Times this week. (Gift link.)

This Jacob Collier person keeps showing up in guitar trash youtube shows I watch. I have no idea who he is, but popularity is implied.

Cigarettes After Sex have been blowing up. Two years ago, they played DC at the 9:30 club (1,200 capacity). Last year, they upgraded to Anthem (6,000 capacity).

I knew this band had a sizeable fanbase, but I was shocked to see the listing for their upcoming show at Rogers Arena in Vancouver (19,000; other upcoming shows there include Olivia Rodrigo, Pearl Jam, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg...)

Was also kind of surprised when The 1975 were at the same venue last fall.

I feel like ILM voting Real Lies AOTY and them having zero coverage anywhere else is our own microcosm of this phenomenon

feeling this way about Chappell Roan who seems to be everywhere right now, and I still have no idea who she is. my stepkid listens to some band called The Neighbourhood who also seems to have a weirdly massive fanbase.

then there's former youtubers like Conan Gray who I've been aware of for years but have never knowingly heard a note of their music, and it's mostly because he always seems to be hanging in the background around other bigger popstars.

Roan got a big popularity boost for opening the first half of the Olivia Rodrigo tour, but I knew about her because she already had an ILX thread!

This Jacob Collier person keeps showing up in guitar trash youtube shows I watch. I have no idea who he is, but popularity is implied.

― 145 feet up in a Jeffrey Pine (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 12 April 2024 05:18 (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Nor did I until a few years ago when a few close friends had already, passionately, settled on him as the absolute worst. So much so that it drove me to hear his latest album at the time (Djesse Vol 3). I didn't think it was up to much but nor did I quite hear why it/he angered my friends so. But he gets nominated for Grammys a lot right?

I don't hate or even dislike him. Maybe I don't know him well enough. But he dresses like Pauly Shore and pulls out multiple name guitars which were custom made for him, yet I have no idea who he is. The stuff he plays while noodling around on said trash guitar youtubes is pretty, and he seems to know what he's up to.

He's a favored disciple of Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock because of his grasp of harmony and virtuosity (and probably because he made himself a youtube star through being conventionally virtuosic), made a bunch of videos playing all the instruments, and makes fucking terrible music. Sort of the apotheosis of the Youtube-era virtuoso musician who has been able to absorb a huge amount of musical information, but without the unique aesthetic of a Louis Cole or Domi & JD Beck, or respect for minimalism and funk of a Vulfpeck.

For me it's when I think I've discovered some deeply obscure or underground act only to find they're bloody huge, verging on mainstream. Happens a lot with Afrobeats stuff especially.

xp ok, guitar youtubes make sense theb. To clarify, he dresses like Pauly Shore would dress in colder weather. If there's a movie where Pauly lands an internship in the Big City or must face mountain nature.

so many hip hop people i've never heard of with 50 zillion views. but they can also come and go pretty fast.

can't believe nobody's mentioned ICP yet

never heard of them

haha I think most ppl have accepted ICP as part of the consensus reality universe

people cutting Jacob Collier a break now? ILX really is losing its touch

Shakey Jake Collier

that's a roundabout way of admitting you like Pauly's style

Why has no one mentioned Juggalos?

I learned yesterday that several of my siblings are big Noah Kahan fans. I'd never heard of him in my life.

This guy's headlining two (2) nights at the Hollywood Bowl this summer... I had also never heard of him, tho he and Olivia Rodrigo are releasing a split single (for RSD) covering each other's songs.

(thread fave Khruangbin are also headlining two nights at the Bowl)

its a new world order.

What we are looking at is good and evil, right and wrong

You guys are thinking of Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga Concert Experience, a two-night extravaganza at the end of August (You may think you’ve seen these stories before, but never like this. Join the Los Angeles Philharmonic as we embark together on a live concert and cinematic journey through the Marvel Infinity Saga – beginning with the Tesseract being hidden on Earth by the Asgardians all the way to Tony’s ultimate sacrifice – from an all-new perspective.)

It’s a Ring Cycle for the 21st Centiry!

Tony's Ultimate Sacrifice is the name of my No Doubt tribute band, btw

i don't know that fans of the extremely popular marvel movie franchise count as being from a parallel universe

Earth 619

the bad earth

Billy Strings has gotten pretty popular but he is playing two nights at Rupp arena in Lexington in June, which I found surprising.

(Thought Khruangbin's Coachella set was fantastic on the livestream, but I won't try converting the unconvertible.)