Random Rants
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When my wife and I go to a new place, we often end up checking out the local shops to see what’s what. I’m not into knickknacks or bullcrap, so I’ll most likely look at the clothing stores and see what they have for men.
We were in eureka spring Arkansas last week and there was a store with north face, howler brothers, Patagonia, Kuhl, and some other fairly pricey for typical clothes brands.
I couldn’t believe how thin and cheap the shirts and pants felt. I know I’m biased for heavyweight gear, but I feel like these brands may be slipping to the save money side.
Anyone else seeing similar things from the outdoor focused Rei/mall brands?
Edit: I don’t know why I had to tell the whole story, but instead of cutting it down I added this last bit.
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@jordanscollected Yes, I have been cleaning out my closet and going pretty minimalist. I had amassed a huge amount of 'cheap' clothes over the past decade. I never get rid of them unless they're shredded. Now, I'm so spoiled that when trying these clothes on, and they don't fit right, I just put them in a bag and chuck them in the clothes bin at the dump.
The whole reason I found IH was because other "Premium Mediocre" brands' quality has been failing. I was tired of blowing through stretchy jeans and never felt like they fit right, or had a good 'wash'. Every other brand letting me down led me here. -
Yeah it's pretty wild. I feel like Patagonia still holds up pretty well, although it's nothing compared to Iron Heart quality. Companies everywhere are cutting corners, and I don't mean to be too cynical here, but I feel like it's all just for favoring shareholders vs consumers. Seems like all the inflation stuff scared investors so much that the reaction was "oh dear, we can't let them lose any money!" followed by raising prices (permanently) and lowering quality.
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Totally agree. After all, businesses are only in business to make money. The only businesses (in my experience) that have meticulous quality, guarantees, and are product enthusiasts, are the small micro-productions. This goes for motorcycles too, since we're in the Random Rants section. Another place this is happening is music. It's been said a thousand times before, but rock-and-roll is dead. There are practically no new rock productions ending up in "Pop Media" with any kind of frequency remotely approaching that of 10 years ago, or maybe closer to 15 even. Maybe I'm missing something?
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I don't think Rock n' Roll is dead, but I do think it's having a sort of out of style moment right now. That'll change, and then it'll change again — totally cyclical. I know that growing up in the 90s, I had this idea that rock was going to be the big thing forever, but then I realized that it was sort of a fluke, that most of the time there's some kind of pop boy/girl band dominating.
I'm rambling, but I think there will always be underground punk, garage rock, heavy rock etc — and that's the way I prefer it. As long as there are bored, ostracized kids out there feeling the need to get some shit out
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@popvulture I meant strictly speaking in pop media. It's def out of style and its weird to me whats popular right now. I'm sure it will change again, it always does. There will be a revival. I personally dont care if its popular, i rock it anyway. It's more popular with me than it's ever been, and I even started playing in the past decade.
I like when people ramble, dont let it stop you hahaha
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Haha I appreciate it, man — and goddamn I can definitely ramble, so no shortage there
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with music it seems like there is a few really popular bands and everything else is a blip on the screen that fades quickly. There's so much new music and with how streaming goes you don't buy a cd anymore. I often peruse new releases to see what's what and I can decide in like 30 seconds if it's for me or not. move on to something else if it's not. We aren't forced to like anything because we invested in a cd or online album purchase. this is an aside from rock specifically, but I'm "tired" of all my favorites from back in the day and nothing new has piqued my interest.
Currently trying to give the new Black Pumas album a chance but I don't think it'll stick around my rotation.
Pony Bradshaw is my new favorite country artist and I hope he stays relatively small.
world tours:
888 Fat guy chocolate WT
Mad Red x2
Wabidashery -
Music fads have become as disposable as fast fashion too with this streaming music industry. This is partly why I've gotten more into instrumentals. Many of them are 10-20 minutes long and require a bit of patience to listen to. You don't have that hook shouting for your attention every 30 seconds. It's more of a vibe than something catchy and repetitive. I've also been listening to more country music than I ever have though. I think this old-timey throwback country is going through a revival right now. I've probably leaned more towards country since there's been less rock going around lately.
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I find myself doing the instrumental thing a lot as well — the time we live in is such a constant assault of attention-grabbing spew that I find myself not in the mood to even bother with music with lyrics. I've always been all over the map in terms of what I like, but I've ended up listening to tons of jazz and electronic music over the past couple years, I think because it often just feels more meditative and is a nice break from the norm. Also as a musician myself, my brain is so songwriting oriented that it's nice to listen to stuff I don't particularly know how to make, because I'm not constantly thinking "oh, what pedal did they use there, or ooh I could use that chord progression."
I think more than anything though, it goes back to tuning shit out. It's a fucking howling din out there, haha. I need a break.
And I def agree about some of the country stuff out there — big Jason Isbell / Sturgill / Tyler Childers fan over here. Commercial country is the epitome of corporate schlock to me, and I love it when I see people rubbing against that in any way. Rant worthy!
WTB
IHSH-IHG-BLK XXL
Sugar Cane Coke Stripe SS L charcoal -
@jordanscollected check out Luke Bell. He only had one album. And sadly he passed away very young and very recently. But that one album is a masterpiece of Americana country. I have it on steady repeat myself.
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@popvulture I get you, dude. This is how I've been going with my own music too. It's just 'jazz', but more like Doom/Stoner jazz lol. We just jam. Nothing fancy, just for ourselves and our own entertainment. Most of the time I just layer my own shit. But it's a bit of everything.
...Sounds like we're thinking pretty much the same on a lot of the music stuff, especially country. Except maybe the Doom/Stoner rock, idk, not a lot of people get into that haha -
Oh I dunno, I definitely have been known to partake in a bit of Pallbearer, Boris, Inter Arma, etc. It's been a while since I've really kept up with any current doom — last thing I bought was probably that Thou/Emma Ruth Rundle albumm, which ruled. Throw some good shit up in the music thread if you ever feel like it, always into getting some new recs!
WTB
IHSH-IHG-BLK XXL
Sugar Cane Coke Stripe SS L charcoal -
@popvulture i didn't know they did a collab. I'll have to check it out. And I'll make sure i post stuff on there more
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@T4920 that made me laugh. Woody had good taste!
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@IrishHeart I’m pretty sure that shirt was nicknamed “The Woody” when it originally came out.
