Field Guide: Sylvan Esso Exits Spotify

I come to you this Friday with the week’s most interesting local culture story, via another news organization—Sylvan Esso pulled its entire catalog from Spotify, WUNC reports. 

The Durham band is not the only band to have made this ballsy move, but it is one of the more prominent ones to do so. In a brief statement, the band wrote, “We simply can’t continue to put our life’s work in a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines,” a reference to Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in Helsing. The band elaborated on the decision further in an interview with Jacobin. (On Tuesday, in an unrelated development, Ek announced that he was stepping down as CEO.) 

I find the discussion around streaming fascinating as both a cultural reflection of how we (do or don’t) value artists and the accelerated flattening of taste and entertainment experiences. History also maps onto the issue: When I profiled Tift Merritt last month, she spoke about how her research on jazz historian Rosetta Reitz has led to an awareness about the need for better copyright laws for streaming platforms and how marginalized musicians, often already written out of history, now have “digital afterlives and are being used to train AI without any compensation.”

If you’re interested in all this, Liz Pelly, author of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Cost of the Perfect Playlist, is doing a book talk at Duke on October 16. 

Thanks for reading! More below.

Durham band Viv & Riley has a new album out, performing as the band kissing other ppl with artist Rachel Baiman. Read all about it here, ahead of an October 5 Pinhook show. 

More music coverage: Ryan Cocca has a long interview with artist and producer Solomon Fox, who, incidentally, also has an upcoming Pinhook show on November 9. 

Have you heard of Artie Bars? A lot of people have, it turns out, thanks to a viral Wall Street Journal story about millionaire shortbread that featured the small Raleigh business, which was started by duo Artie and Nicole Januario last winter. I like this quote about the extremely decadent-looking layered bar: “You can eat the whole thing—if you’re not a quitter.”

Freelance writer Elliott Harrell bravely attended a 10 a.m. wine tasting at St. Pierre, a new wine and retail shop in Raleigh’s Iron Works, as the owners decided on new inventory. Read about it here! Elliott also has the lowdown on Lawrence Barbecue’s expansion to Cary, as it shifts from a shipping container space to a 4,900-square-foot space on Cedar Street. 

Movies to see this month!

Finally, Justin Laidlaw has a fascinating interview with interdisciplinary artist John Felix Arnold III, who has a show at 21C Durham through October 26. If you’ve had any curiosity about the lavish neighborhood going up on the former Mary Duke Biddle estate—or have nostalgia for growing up in a Stranger Things-esque Durham, or maybe if you just like art—read the interview here. Also, in case you missed it: A list of art exhibits to hit up this fall. 

This PBS documentary, about an all-girls high school team in North Carolina competing in the National High School Ethics Bowl, looks good. Raleigh Wide Open is this weekend! Here’s a festival map. For Durhamites, Missy Lane’s Block Party is also this weekend. Via the News & Observer, the short-lived restaurant High Horse is getting a second act. Big news for fans of Hatch Breakfast Burritos: The pop-up business is opening a restaurant on Mangum Street! GQ says Asheville band Wednesday has a plan to keep Southern rock weird. 

— Sarah Edwards —
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