I’ve long been a fan of disinformation in regard to my own projects, but today I discovered a totally inexplicable internet artifact that goes far beyond any prior misstatements, errors, untruths and lies involving my work. As part of a Vibes Magazine (VBMGZN) article called “Lost in the Playlist: 41 Music Magazines to Re-educate / Refresh Your Ears,” item #4 cites a music blog authored by me, focusing on experimental music! If you are reading this blog right now, you know it is not about “experimental music”–except as it relates to my own music production–but about my own “misadventures” in various types of self-publishing. This Vibes Magazine blog article has to be one of the weirdest self-publishing misadventures I’ve ever been involved in. And I’m not even sure I’m involved!

It is true that I used to be a music writer, with publications including the Washington Post, Option, Washington City Paper, and others. And it is true that I once edited and published a fanzine called Mole Magazine. And it is also true that I “curated” a concert series for experimental music, called Electric Possible. All of those projects ended a long time ago. Because I have already done these things, and know what a thankless pain in the ass they all were, I would NEVER do any of them again. And I certainly wouldn’t write a blog about music of any kind.

This Vibes Magazine segment gets weirder. It claims that my “experimental music blog” focuses on Texas music. It’s true I live in San Antonio, but I know next to nothing about the contemporary music scene–let alone the experimental music scene–here or in the state of Texas. The article says some very nice things about my “work.” For instance, that my blog “treats experimental music with scholarly rigor typically reserved for classical music.” That’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said about any of my writing; I only wish it had some basis in reality!

The statement “experimental musicians respect Bagato’s reviews because he understands the creative process from inside” is also very nice. It’s astonishing because I have never received such praise from any musicians I’ve ever known!

It’s also weird that the article links to my fictional blog, sending readers here. As you can see, this page is not actually a blog about music. It does list a bunch of music groups–but these are only projects I have been involved in, most of them now defunct. And all of them were Washington, DC based projects.

No information about the Vibes Magazine blog (not to be confused with VIBE magazine, LOL) seems available on the site, and no author is listed for the article in question. Where does it originate and who writes and publishes it? The answer may lie in the photo (below) leading the article; the image shows a spread of music magazines, but the garbled titles point to an AI origin. I must assume the article itself was compiled using AI and then dumped on the blog as filler.

It doesn’t really matter. I just wished such glowing praise actually focused on something I actually did!