After writing, posting and then deleting various reactions to the Deerhunter blog drama, the bands main man Bradford Cox has pulled it together and offered up a proper response. Following this weekends Mediafire mishap (which you can read about here and here), Cox has shifted to an apologetic tone and taken full blame for the incident, which found unreleased Deerhunter and Atlas Sound material leaking online way before their sell date.
In Coxs response, which is cut and pasted below and now up on the Deerhunter blog, he has apologized for his wave of emotions over the episode, stressing the whole thing was by no means a publicity stunt and confirming he does plan to finish Atlas Sounds forthcoming and now publicly available Logos album. He also gives some insight into Deerhunters now leaked Weird Era Cont. album, which says is a sister album to the bands new Microcastle full-length and describes the two being a "fall/winter record sort of thing. To see what he means or at least partly you can now legitimately download Microcastle, which went up for sale on iTunes Tuesday (August 19) a whole two months before its physical street date of October 28.
Here is Coxs posting, where he is "seriously ending all bad vibes here and now:
I accept my mistake. I apologize for my reaction, especially since it was misinterpreted so widely to be directed at fans. I appreciate and am very grateful for the fact that people want to hear my music and the music we make with Deerhunter. I don't take that for granted. My anger was very much directed at dickwads who mock the dead. And my anger was directed at myself. Sorry for projecting.
I have researched it and am not going to make excuses but the fact is that Mediafire has made several upgrades recently when I was taking a break from blogging. In all seriousness, I AM THE ONE WHO FUCKED UP by not realizing that without creating an account, Mediafire has been archiving my uploads "for my convienience" via my "browser chache (!?!)" and that as part of their new "convienient" features they offer automatic "folder sharing," which must be turned off. I don't blame anyone for, and am not accusing anyone of, STEALING things. How many songs have I given away on this blog? I have always uploaded the same way and copied and pasted the link from the same place. I didn't expect this to be any different.
TO ACTUAL FANS, SUPPORTERS, AND FRIENDS: I don't blame you for my mistake. I'm NOT pissed if you download the stuff. Please don't apologize. I'd probably do the same thing. I feel like a hypocrite for making people feel guilty on that end. I will finish Logos, but for now I'm taking a quick break to get away from this weird glowing box that makes me insecure and feel like i have to defend myself all the time. Please enjoy Microcastle and Weird Era Cont., and the Logos demos that I probably would have posted for free here anyway AFTER the album was finished.
Please keep in mind that these records are made possible by our record labels, Kranky and 4AD. Microcastle was released today on iTunes. If you downloaded it in advance through the leak and you can afford it I urge you to support those labels and us by downloading it legally.
Also, although I am grateful, please do not send paypal donations. I have refunded the ones that I received.
I also want to make something very clear and I'm going to keep it short: I don't sit around scheming up ways to get publicity. Nobody affiliated with us our any of our labels leaked Microcastle. I had no intention of leaking Weird Era or Logos. When I make records by myself or with Deerhunter, I enjoy taking into consideration LOTS of aspects about the WHOLE RELEASE. I wanted Microcastle and Weird Era to be a Fall / Winter record. That might sound stupid to some of you but its the whole truth. I don't blame you for listening to it now that its widely available, but its just another part of the project that was taken out of my hands by someone not associated with the band or label. Weird Era, I reiterate, was MY MISTAKE.
I have disabled the comments on this blog, not for fear of negative feedback, but because several of my friends and band mates urged me to do so. I apologize to our friends and fans that will no longer be able to communicate here but there is always the Deerhunter forum maintained by Oliver, Madeline, and Gaurav. My intention is not censorship. I despise censorship. But friends and family come before politics for me.
I am seriously ending all bad vibes here.
Cox
In Coxs response, which is cut and pasted below and now up on the Deerhunter blog, he has apologized for his wave of emotions over the episode, stressing the whole thing was by no means a publicity stunt and confirming he does plan to finish Atlas Sounds forthcoming and now publicly available Logos album. He also gives some insight into Deerhunters now leaked Weird Era Cont. album, which says is a sister album to the bands new Microcastle full-length and describes the two being a "fall/winter record sort of thing. To see what he means or at least partly you can now legitimately download Microcastle, which went up for sale on iTunes Tuesday (August 19) a whole two months before its physical street date of October 28.
Here is Coxs posting, where he is "seriously ending all bad vibes here and now:
I accept my mistake. I apologize for my reaction, especially since it was misinterpreted so widely to be directed at fans. I appreciate and am very grateful for the fact that people want to hear my music and the music we make with Deerhunter. I don't take that for granted. My anger was very much directed at dickwads who mock the dead. And my anger was directed at myself. Sorry for projecting.
I have researched it and am not going to make excuses but the fact is that Mediafire has made several upgrades recently when I was taking a break from blogging. In all seriousness, I AM THE ONE WHO FUCKED UP by not realizing that without creating an account, Mediafire has been archiving my uploads "for my convienience" via my "browser chache (!?!)" and that as part of their new "convienient" features they offer automatic "folder sharing," which must be turned off. I don't blame anyone for, and am not accusing anyone of, STEALING things. How many songs have I given away on this blog? I have always uploaded the same way and copied and pasted the link from the same place. I didn't expect this to be any different.
TO ACTUAL FANS, SUPPORTERS, AND FRIENDS: I don't blame you for my mistake. I'm NOT pissed if you download the stuff. Please don't apologize. I'd probably do the same thing. I feel like a hypocrite for making people feel guilty on that end. I will finish Logos, but for now I'm taking a quick break to get away from this weird glowing box that makes me insecure and feel like i have to defend myself all the time. Please enjoy Microcastle and Weird Era Cont., and the Logos demos that I probably would have posted for free here anyway AFTER the album was finished.
Please keep in mind that these records are made possible by our record labels, Kranky and 4AD. Microcastle was released today on iTunes. If you downloaded it in advance through the leak and you can afford it I urge you to support those labels and us by downloading it legally.
Also, although I am grateful, please do not send paypal donations. I have refunded the ones that I received.
I also want to make something very clear and I'm going to keep it short: I don't sit around scheming up ways to get publicity. Nobody affiliated with us our any of our labels leaked Microcastle. I had no intention of leaking Weird Era or Logos. When I make records by myself or with Deerhunter, I enjoy taking into consideration LOTS of aspects about the WHOLE RELEASE. I wanted Microcastle and Weird Era to be a Fall / Winter record. That might sound stupid to some of you but its the whole truth. I don't blame you for listening to it now that its widely available, but its just another part of the project that was taken out of my hands by someone not associated with the band or label. Weird Era, I reiterate, was MY MISTAKE.
I have disabled the comments on this blog, not for fear of negative feedback, but because several of my friends and band mates urged me to do so. I apologize to our friends and fans that will no longer be able to communicate here but there is always the Deerhunter forum maintained by Oliver, Madeline, and Gaurav. My intention is not censorship. I despise censorship. But friends and family come before politics for me.
I am seriously ending all bad vibes here.
Cox