Porches er et enmandsprojekt bygget op omkring New York City’s Aaron Maine og hans take på synthbaseret popmusik. Tredje album The House er netop blevet udsendt og derfra har vi den nye single ‘Goodbye. Vi lader undtagelsesvis The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas introducere den. Han blander i et nyt interview i magasinet Vulture Porches ind i en større diskussion om den systematiserede manipulation af forbrugerne, der skuffer ham voldsomt udfra det åbenhedsløfte internettets muligheder oprindeligt gav. Casablancas mener, der ikke er nogen grund i verden – udover altså aftalt corporate business – til, at f.eks. den bredt ukendte Ariel Pink ikke er mindst ligeså udbredt som…Ed Sheeran. Samt at mere kvalitetsspændende bands/artister ville have et langt større publikum, hvis ikke corporate-propagandaens nøje tilrettelagte tæppebombning, algoritmer, playlists og andre medievindende tricks dikterede hvad mainstream skal være, samt hvor meget dens udbredelse fylder i vores hverdag. Her er hvad han i samme åndedrag siger om Porches:

– I just thought of something. There’s a song by Porches that just came out. I think it’s called “Goodbye.” The end of that song is really powerful. The beginning almost sounds like Coldplay but from, like, a minute-thirty on it’s very, very cool. In my opinion that’s a song that would be more popular if we lived in a world where quality was being accurately peddled.

Casablancas m enenerdvidere, det er de samme mekanismer han oplever i musikken, der forpester og kaster grus i den demokratiske politiske proces i disse år:

– Let’s say the water in a town was being poisoned, and all the people wanted the water to be clean. In a democracy, everyone in the town would vote for a leader who also wanted the water to be clean, and he or she would get elected and help clean the water. Simple. But right now we have a situation where the same people who are polluting the water are so heavily influencing the democratic process with their money that they can figure out ways to not allow the person who would fix the water to get elected. What do you call that? Is that democracy? I wouldn’t say so.

Is this it?!