It's Not You. It's Me.

Guilty

I need to admit something. I've got a case of the backlashes. The first symptoms showed up late last year.

A Canadian band of which I've, historically, been quite fond began a massive marketing campaign for their upcoming record. The faux-guerilla nature of the the band's marketing tactics coupled with the group's ubiquity on mainstream outlets like Rolling Stone and Saturday Night Live left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. I listened to their album when it arrived, even enjoyed some of the songs. Overall, though, the hard sell turned me off to such a degree that I had to force myself to try and enjoy the record. I, mostly, failed.

For a couple of other bands who released "big indie albums" last year -- a nerdy group of literate, New York Ivy Leaguers and a bunch of Brooklyn via Ohio Debbie Downers who like to dress up -- I had a delayed reaction. The marketing didn't bother me that much in the run-up to the releases, but something changed as the songs got into the world and started appearing on every SiriusXM station listed under the "Rock" heading, from XMU to Alt Nation to The Loft. Sometimes, I'd even just switch off the radio.

In 2014, two acts for whom I've often expressed my unadulterated adoration -- a reverb-y, laid back act from my home state and an idiosyncratic guitar virtuoso from Texas -- have started doing something similar. It feels smaller scale, but the ratio of the "bigness" (at least in my eyes) of these two acts to the scale of the pre-release marketing seems similar to what that Canadian (via Texas and Haiti) band had going on at the end of last year.

Both utilized the "little pieces of artwork released over several days via Instagram that eventually form the album cover art" tactic. Both have the special, deluxe, limited edition, colored vinyl packages up for pre-order. One, whose album release is a little closer, is already getting the NPR / Pitchfork / Rolling Stone / Spin feature treatment; and I'd expect the other to follow suit soon.

There's, obviously, nothing wrong with this. Artists deserve to make a living making their art if it's at all possible. And it's gotta be hard to sell stuff if nobody knows about it. For me, though, each little event in the pre-release cycle for both of these acts pushes me further and further away from actually being able to enjoy the albums when they finally appear. That's silly, I know. And it's my problem.

One of the records is streaming now, for the week before its release. I'll give it a listen, and maybe it will blow me away. I don't know, though. I feel like I'm already biased going into it. Not sure what bothers me more: The realization that several of the acts I enjoy are part of the "Big 'Indie' Machine" or that it has such an effect on my ability to appreciate their music.

Maybe I should get help.