I have an idealistic view of what it is to have a career. I like to imagine that people are careful about choosing a life's work. I like to think that pointless activities -- while key to recreation -- are banished from the world of work. Unfortunately there is a sharp rebuke to this idea. In a word: Politics.

It used to be easy to understand the difference between Pop Music and Art Music. Pop Music was awesome (but kind of slight) and Art Music was awesome (but kind of tedious).

I can attest to the fact that it's rough out there for recorded music. As some of you may know, I founded and run a record label. As of about six months ago I was running another one as well. And about two months before that I was still lending a hand on a third label.

When people say that the internet doesn't have any culture, I respectfully disagree. i.e...

Apparently it's the 90s nostalgia week here on Teenage Kicks. This month I published my first writing on paper in quite awhile, this brief(ish) review of 80s/90s rock figure Kristin Hersh for Bookforum's autumn edition.

I remember the underground pop culture of the 90s. Indeed, I prefer to think of that time as an archive now -- albeit one consigned to a series of digital files, not actual libraries. This recent Twitter stream from my friend Brandon serves as a good encapsulation.

Question: What do you do when you love a cover so much that you search out the original -- BUT YOU CANNOT FIND IT? That, my friends, is why YouTube was invented.

In the overmediated age we find ourselves in, I have a kind of kneejerk negative reaction to the entire notion of the recluse.

The short answer to that question is: "Yes, yes it is."

As a brief preamble to this piece of writing about The National's new album "High Violet," I should offer this full disclosure: I've worked in close association with the band since 2001 when I put out their first album on my label Brassland.