In just under one generation, we moved from appreciating albums as cohesive works to consuming individual tracks, and then to music becoming reduced to muzak: background noise for gaming, viral videos, or endless scrolling. Disappearing is music as an art in its own right, which commands sustained attention and deep engagement. A song’s success is... See more

The “art hoe” aesthetic of 2015 and 2016 did nothing but encourage young people to start buying records soon enough, virtually every teenager’s room contained Mac Demarco albums and a Crosley record player.