friends&: folx

"What if the next No. 1 album didn't come from the industry? What if it came from all of us? Unfortunately, 'all of us' is never as simple as it sounds, and the crowdsourced Everybody's Album—which did not chart, because of a technicality—was not simple in the slightest. Somewhere in this bloated, gestating glut was a topography of internet music, all bitcrushed MIDI and fried Focusrites."

"its blending of 'hyperpop's futurism' with 'millenial optimism' represented a soundtrack for a generation of conflicted artists, who 'receive their most meaningful platforming from a crypto company while they vote mamdani into office.'"

"a 112-track concept album about capitalism, autism, copyright law, corporate labor, Mark Fisher, My Little Pony, and 'the contradiction between my belief in marxist ideas and my impulse towards accelerationist cultural production.'"

"If 'laptop twee' exemplifies his love of innovation, it's chiefly by reinterpreting 2000s indie pop—a bastion of 'millenial optimism,' reborn in Zoomers with sample packs and situationships. But beneath this bliss lies rot, and not just brainrot, which folx caricatures, but capitalist rot, which folx aims to critique."

A crowdsourced album project attempted to create a No. 1 album through collective participation but failed to chart due to technicalities. The project exemplified internet music's aesthetic of bitcrushed MIDI and experimental production. Meanwhile, 'laptop twee'—a term coined by musician jc—blends hyperpop's futurism with millennial optimism, reinterpreting 2000s indie pop through contemporary sample packs. A 112-track concept album explores themes including capitalism, autism, copyright law, and the contradiction between Marxist beliefs and accelerationist cultural production. The project reflects a generation of conflicted artists receiving platforming from crypto companies while engaging in political activism, highlighting tensions between artistic innovation and capitalist systems.

Read at Pitchfork