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Mike Barthel

@mikebarthelauthor.com

1.9K followers 810 following 3.6K posts

Writer/critic/researcher/musician in DC. Fiction lotsa places. Writing a speculative novel and a book for DUP “Singles” about “Party in the USA.” mikebarthelauthor.com Making music as APOPHRA https://apophra.bandcamp.com/

apophra.bandcamp.com

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 6d

As promised/threatened! More in a little bit.

bring on the headless horses @ihavethatonvinyl.com · 6d

today at IHTOV:

@mikebarthelauthor.com goes long and deep on billy joel in a beautiful, gorgeously written essay on being a joel fan. you're going to want to read this one. put a few minutes aside. it's good ihavethatonvinyl.com/essays/life-...

Life in a Glass House

All of which is to say that I loved Billy Joel because I loved my dad. I loved that he’d moved 300 miles away from Farmingdale to some little rural town (the Hudson River line would only take you part...

ihavethatonvinyl.com

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 4h

Gotta put the things in boxes on the computer

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 4h

It’s the software but also its Live, if that makes a deference? This one

Screenshot of Ableton live, all gray and boxy

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 4h

Spam text or writing prompt?

Text Message • SMS
Today 9:49 PM
Hi, I'm Emily Are you the "Coach David" who can teach freestyle swimming that Tina mentioned?

Reposted by Mike Barthel

Damon Agnos @damonagnos.bsky.social · 5h

Pale Fire (first draft)

Butter Terror @scrubby.bsky.social · Dec 14

bird hitting glass
you know how i feel
deer gettin shot in the ass
you know how i feel

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 7h

Gonna try out a demo of Ableton to see if I like it but…why does it look like it’s from a 90s macOS? Do bevels cost extra?

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 10h

“Fight Milk” was a documentary

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 10h

A number of popular protein supplements contain levels of lead that could pose health concerns, according to a new report that tested samples of 23 powders and shakes.

Report Finds Lead in Naked Protein Powders and Other Popular Brands

Experts said the levels were not high enough to cause immediate harm, but raised the risk of long-term health effects.

nyti.ms

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 10h

Great remembrance from Hanif Abdurraqib on D’Angelo: www.instagram.com/p/DPzCVgmkSf...

nifmuhammad on Instagram: "I am very sad, but also very grateful for the time and energy D’Angelo spent making things to share with us. None of that is promis…"

I am very sad, but also very grateful for the time and energy D’Angelo spent making things to share with us. None of that is promised, and no one has to do it at all. I am also thinking back, joyfully, to the spring of 2004, when I had a burned copy of Voodoo stuck in my car’s shitty CD player for two whole months, and the only tracks that could play without skipping were Send It On, Feel Like Makin’ Love, and Untitled (though OCCASIONALLY, also Playa Playa) and so any time I was out with someone it seemed like I was trying very intentionally to Set A Mood and I’d have to explain that I just couldn’t afford to get my CD player fixed. Anyway — every new ancestor gained is an opportunity for the living to honor them well.

www.instagram.com

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 12h

Nothing quite like seeing rich people excitedly pass around “how the rich avoid paying taxes” articles as instruction manuals for how to avoid paying taxes

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 15h

I always forget how absolutely bananas the production on “Turn You On” goes. So many kick drums!

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 15h

Yep yep bsky.app/profile/mike...

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · Sep 5

Dipping into tumblr and thinking about how, after Steven Universe taught its audience to be critical of various stereotypes common in other shows, the audience turned those tools on the laziest possible target: the show itself. This sort of thing keeps happening!

Reposted by Mike Barthel

Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 16h

Incredible interview with Tim Curry, with great stuff about his development of the Dr. Frank N. Furter performance, his father's early death, his explosively bipolar mother, and surviving a stroke. I wish nothing but the best for this amazing man.

Dr Phoenix CS Andrews @thatdocphoenix.com · 16h

I love him so much (same problem on mobile)

John Self @john-self.bsky.social · 17h

Good interview with Tim Curry but annoying format where you have to pause and read a couple of pull-quotes every so often before you can move on. (On desktop anyway.)

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 18h

Nothing warms an aging xennial’s heart quite like fresh footage of Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert hanging out and cracking each other up.

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

Well now my brain has decided to regale me with a metalcore cover of “We’ll Meet Again,” what the fuck

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

Very fun to see these old radio sounds coming out of an actual object (and a beast of an object to boot). youtu.be/dMEuibX4c04?...

We'll meet again performed on a Hammond Novachord built in 1939

YouTube video by BertsBytes

youtu.be

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

They finally brought a copyright claim on all the uncleared “Yakety Sax” samples.

performative male @milesklee.bsky.social · 1d

is Kevin just remastering it again or what. i’m in hell btw

Reposted by Mike Barthel

JVG 骨 @jasonv.bsky.social · 1d

LGBTQIA+ is rebranding as LGBTQIA MAX

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

If I wanted to read the internet I wouldn’t read a book

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

Oh right and here’s the piece www.stereogum.com/2270960/fier...

The Fiery Furnaces' 'Blueberry Boat' Turns 20

For a brief and spectacular moment two decades years ago, it seemed like every band could be the Fiery Furnaces. Every band could make music bursting with ideas, suffused with charm, willing to try al...

www.stereogum.com

Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

It is! I buy it.

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

Here’s the playlist I made to support that point, which is maybe needlessly obnoxious but there you go open.spotify.com/playlist/6ie...

Playlist showing

Oh Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Hea...
Sufjan Stevens
Empty Cans
The Streets
Jesus of Suburbia
Green Day
The Mariner's Revenge Song
The Decemberists
Where Is the Line
Björk
I Sit On the Ridge At Dusk
Dirty Projectors
Song Song Song
Owen Pallett
Welcome to the Black Parade
My Chemical Romance
The Past Is A Grotesque Animal
of Montreal

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

Oh man thanks to Laura Snapes for the shoutout to my piece—it’s great to hear the band’s reactions! This made my day.

As much as the Furnaces seemed like one-offs in the Oos, Stereogum's 20th anniversary retrospective on Blueberry Boat made the smart point that "high-concept, big-swing" records by the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Wilco, the Flaming Lips, even the Streets abounded at the time. They exchange various theories about why - breaking genre conventions, technology
- until Matthew lands on a conclusion. "I think people felt empowered to waste people's time in a more aggressive way," he says. "That's exciting."

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

The last video MTV plays should obviously be “Freedom! ‘90”—it’s even got an exploding jukebox! youtu.be/diYAc7gB-0A?...

George Michael - Freedom! ’90 (Official Video)

YouTube video by georgemichaelVEVO

youtu.be

Reposted by Mike Barthel

Jon Steinhagen @jonsteinhagen.bsky.social · 1d

The essential @xraylitmag.bsky.social has published one of my new stories today - enjoy!

“Everything you’re doing is perfect, Sam,” the voice says, aggressive and bright. “Now just go ahead and click on the link I just sent you.”

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 1d

One of the great things about Britney’s “Piece of Me” is how all the vocals are processed to boost the vocal fry—pitchshifted down and bitcrushed—making Britney et al sound like electrical currents & turning a signal of “unserious” femininity into a mortal threat.

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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 2d

There’s not! What is this country coming to