Make It, Don't Fake It

Check, check, 1, 2... 1, 2...

Seems like we're still on. Good. Ahem.

Pardon the silence. Your dear Snobs got a little... busy. But, in the words of the great Trent Reznor (or Joaquin Phoenix, or any one else who said this): I'm Still Here.

Through marriages, births, moves, migrations and anything else you could throw at a Snob, HQ remained operational, albeit somewhat in stasis. But no more! I, your dear Cuzomano, am back. You might also notice that the place is looking a little fancier. When I say a little, I mean a lot. You have El Mascarado to thank for that. Our masked legend went away and spent time realising a much, much more full-blooded vision of what we want Audio Snobbery to be, and with this glorious glow-up now complete (phase one of it, at least), it's time we speak up again. Notice the embedded playlists in the posts — oh, so glorious. We're like your ideal musical companion now, with strong opinions and curated audio experiences for your listening pleasure.

So what's new? I've got three things to tell you, because things are going to change a little round here — at least, most definitely from the Cuzomano side.

THE BAND

Probably the most significant development from my side is that I went from music blogger to music creator. I could (and might) write some lengthy post about what happened — ultimately, in spending so much time analysing, judging and listening to music, I became frustrated both with myself for not doing anything and also with the world for not giving me music I wanted to hear...

...and so The Holy Hour was born. Joshua and I released an EP last November as our debut. We've since grown over the past year into a four-piece, with Joshua on guitar, Rory on bass and Ryan on drums. We should have new music for you in the New Year, and you can expect to see me use Audio Snobbery to share what's going on in the world of The Holy Hour. The inside scoop, if you will. In the meantime, here's our favourite track from last year's EP:

LIVE PLAYLIST

I didn't stop curating playlists, either. In fact, I've continued to do it fairly meticulously in the shadows, like a kind of aural nosferatu. The result is the playlist after which this post is named, Make It, Don't Fake It.

Make It, Don't Fake It is a "live" playlist. This means you only need to follow this playlist (and keep it near the top of your application), in lieu of folowing multiple Cuzomano playlists.

Always 30 tracks, changing (approximately) monthly, Make It, Don't Fake It represents what I'm listening to at any given point in time. This particular flavour, which I am using to debut on our revitalised website, is actually Volume 30. You'll recognise some Audio Snobbery heroes in there, from Kendrick to a healthy smattering of early Depeche Mode. As with everything I do, it's been curated to be played in order—shuffling is for card dealers. If you're reading this in the not-too-distant future, the tracklist will already have changed and you'll have to go and dig out Volume 30 from my archive. That's how it's meant to work, innit.

Indeed, all my past curations are also laid bare for all to see (including from—gasp—the pre-Snobbery era). Each time that I update Make It, Don't Fake It, the previous chapter is added to my archive.

Incidentally, of course Audio Snobbery, the other snobs and I will continue to publish themed playlists, curated group playlists and more playlists we haven't even thought of yet—that's what we're all about. Make It, Don't Fake It, is a new addition to our formats, allowing me to blast unfiltered into your brains without needing to write a new blog post each and every time I change up what I'm listening to.

THE FUTURE

I mentioned "phase one" of our glow-up is complete. Our intention, with our shiny and sexy, swanky new website is to start allowing other Snobs to share their thoughts on Audio Snobbery. Kind of like if Pitchfork (RIP) were actually a community posting site. Or if your favourite '90s zine that published reader submissions were online.

We've actually encountered this several times at AS HQ. Several friends would approach us with drafted posts, asking to be published—and, of course, we did (we're snobs, not arseholes). The process to do so, however, was always quite cumbersome, and it got us thinking... what if it weren't?

It's a little early to share exactly what we're planning, and how we're going to do it — we still, ourselves, need to talk to some people, but consider this a heads-up that soon you, too, will be able to post and contribute to Audio Snobbery (however you see fit), and you might even be able to earn a little money from it, too...

Merry Christmas, dear readers. It's good, unlike Aerosmith, to be back in the saddle again. Here's to a great 2025.