“You have to listen to the notes she’s not playing,” urged Lisa Simpson, rebutting a man who doesn’t get jazz violin. “Pssshhhh,” he sniffed, “I can do that at home.” Have you had a convo like this? Which side were you on? In fairness, ‘challenging’ music is defined by enjoyment. Whether you’re into any number of Johns, Cale or Dillinger, may suggest a litmus for something that is too abstract or in-yer-face on a personal level. Either can be stultifying. However, even Lisa might have a problem with the third option: music that is not there at all. Songs that have been recorded and sealed away, or tossed into the soup of the internet like a carrot shaving.
It turns out that Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist are staying schtum about their YouTube project – an album of indeterminate length that was released sometime in 2020, directly on the platform, under a false name and account. To date, no-one has found this record. Twitter sleuths have come up empty-handed; YouTubers fear insanity. “I can’t even really say anything about it,” said a blase Alchemist in September this year on The Needle Drop. “I’ve been sworn to just leave it alone. It was just one day of madness.” He keeps turning left and right on his chair, his whole body saying no.
