Ep. 177: New Sincerity 2

This week, we’re picking up the thread of New Sincerity— the cultural disposition that championed earnest emotion over irony and cynicism— and declaring its second wave, signaled by mumblecore documentarians, grassroots anti-algorithm micro-platforms, and transcendent, truth-seeking young rockers. Beginning with Austin’s New Sincerity underground scene in the early 1980s, we move through Daniel Johnston’s McDonald’s tape recordings, David Foster Wallace’s anti-irony manifesto, the tender emo of the early 2000s, and the hyperpop/electroclash interregnum before arriving at the present-day convergence of Geese, Chanel Beads, laptop twee, Perfectly Imperfect, Zohran’s New York, and so on. We also discuss the uncanny historical parallels between Conor Oberst and Cameron Winter, the anti-fashion uniform of dirty jackets and unbrushed hair, and the civic reasons why Ridgewood is possibly the epicenter of this aesthetic climate.Links: “John Wilson on Anxiety, Ridgewood, and Rent” in InterviewThe History of Concrete viral Letterboxd review discoursePerfectly Imperfect on Instagram / PI.FYIsilknode on Instagram / silk.cxfriends& on Substack, laptop_twee playlist by friends& on Spotifyerrands.show on Instagram“‘Errands’ Should Be the Most Boring Show on the Internet” by Alex Vadukul in The New York TimesZohran Mamdani on Errands / Zohran Mamdani on Perfectly Imperfect“People Are Discovering NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s Rap Past” by Andre Gee in Rolling Stone15-year-old Zohran Mamdani defending his mother Mira Nair on film message boards“The Zeitgeist of 1985, Pt. 1” by Michael Corcoran on Substack“The New Sincerity” by Michael Corcoran in Spin (1986)“E. Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction” by David Foster Wallace in The Review of Contemporary Fiction“Mr. Sincerity Tries a New Trick” by Kelefa Sanneh in The New York Times“Is Cameron Winter Serious?” by Lindsay Zoladz in The New York Times“Toward a Working Theory of the Nu-Hipster” by Eli Schoop in <a tar