Ben VanderHart

OK, Music Twitter: Who do I follow if I want to make friends with people who like The Innocence Mission, John Barry, Built to Spill, and Yasuaki Shimizu? *arms open expectantly, but, like, not in a rush or anything* Do your thing, universe!

These skinny jean shamers are crazy, I tell ya. If you gave them a chance to time travel, they’d go back to see The Beatles on Ed Sullivan just to tell them that they should’ve worn Carhartts instead. 

First track off a new project that I mixed is out today. “Feed Babylon” by @joelinspace is a real gem of a song. Hope you dig it! open.spotify.com/track/7tieJmp0…

iPhone transcription error actually turns out to be quite accurate.

It’s a humbling thing for every musician to consider: you can’t objectively evaluate your own art. It’s possible you’re really terrible and no one will ever tell you. All you can do is keep making things that are meaningful to you and hope it connects with another living soul.

Haven’t watched American Idol since HS, but what terrified me about that show was realizing you could go through life thinking you were a real diamond in the rough - that you had something special to offer the world through music - but in reality, you might just plain suck.

@Komaniecki_R Also, empanadas are from Spain so…

Lmfao what even is this take, it makes you mad when white people prefer non-European food?

@World0fEcho Hurry Up was such a disappointment after Before the Dawn and Saturdays = Youth.

@arvofart I opened a record store 3 years ago, kinda hoping it would give me more opportunities to make music, but now I’m working so much just to keep the thing going, I have even less time for creative expression than before. Now I’m just trying to survive.

I’m getting a lot of “we should become a Bruce Hornsby cover band” energy from the rest of the band right now.

@trevorpowersss Beautifully stated.

@funkentechno One of my all-time favorites.

Psycho was unsurprisingly great! kinda funny how it slipped by me for 41 years, but I feel like I appreciated it a lot more now than I would've half a lifetime ago.

Just started listening to @indiecast and chuckled hard at this gem from @en_cohen: “Rock and roll needs to be about cars, sex… or hobbits. Led Zeppelin had it right the first time.”

@AlexYoung @consequence I appreciated the perspective. Well said.

My connection to Pitchfork has always been on the outside, as a competitor. But I'd be insincere to deny Pitchfork's immense impact on music — and the media landscape, @Consequence included. I felt compelled to write a few words about it.

@_jennydeath Not even as a komodo dragon??

reincarnation is whack i don’t wanna do this shit again

For reference, see “Creep” by Radiohead, “Loser” by Beck, and “Self-Esteem” by The Offspring.

Young people want to bring back the 90’s (and pay obscene amounts of money for the relics), bc they think the art/music/style was so cool. But a lot of them don’t realize one of the coolest things you could do in the 90’s was just to hate yourself. And you can do that for free!

@Komaniecki_R Happy birthday to ya! Thanks for keeping me laughing.

It’s my birthday! Feeling extremely lucky this year. If you want to help me celebrate, leave a nice comment below and I’ll read them all at once and probably get weepy because I’m a big baby.

Anyone have any tips on how to get better at music? (Not interested in any answers that involve hard work or discipline.)