January 2010
29 posts
My Top 100 Albums of Last Decade List...
expresso2222:
…was some bullshit. I wish I’d never done it, or at least limited myself to pop or rock or world or jazz or metal or whatever. Combining them all was too hard, and I never should have done the “one album per artist” thing, and I left some things out because I already had too much in certain categories, and argh.
However, inspired by this, I guess I should repost the link to the...
Sometimes it matters that people don't write their...
All of these things retroactively get to point to the same conclusion because the conclusion is more important than the process of reaching it. In this sense “they’re too ‘white’/privileged/whatever” is about as useful a criticism as “they don’t even write their own songs.” The end goal has to be “Artist X is unacceptable,” a somewhat inchoate stance not fully formed by any particular (one) issue,...
The Rules of the Game: A Fuller Thought on J....
natepatrin:
cureforbedbugs:
One problem I’ve had with music criticism is how doggedly it refuses to pay attention to the music and favor the story around it. And it’s not even a very interesting story — we’re already getting this story from ourselves, from the judgments and opinions we have already deemed correct. We’re not getting the story from the music. I don’t mean to downplay the...
The Rules of the Game: A Fuller Thought on J....
agrammar:
Yesterday I posted a fairly peeved note concerning Jessica Hopper’s Chicago Reader article about Vampire Weekend. (She’s responded to that note, very graciously, on her blog, but that seems to have vanished.) My note led to a spike in traffic, which was unexpected: if I’d realized it’d catch much attention, I might have explained myself more carefully. The essay below is an attempt to...
“All the things you said all the things you said,
Running through my head...”
– Remember t. A. T. u., those Russian faux lesbian schoolgirls? I didn’t until like 30 seconds ago. (via morninggloria)
I did because Pandora really likes to play it on every station I create. I swear it’s even infiltrating Amy Winehouse.
(via sparklepants)
I have always loved TATU and honestly...
Hearting Mike Barthel is not enough in this... →
tomewing:
maura:
“V*****e W*****d’s whole “appropriation” thing is a marketing technique. They are deliberately baiting you. If what you want is for them to not be successful, you should stop talking about them.”
There is more! Go read it!
The time is clearly right for me to realise my long-held dream of making an album of Kipling poems set to Balinese Gamelan! The live shows will...
My favorite bit from the SOTU
“House Republicans…I’ll see you in my office. After school, Monday. And every Monday after that.”
thevidsarealright asked: What do you think of this lot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYtBAr1SfyY ?
Half-Asked →
Hopping on the “ask me a question” bandwagon. I’m not a genie in a bottle, so feel free to rub me the wrong way.
Hope for Haiti now
barthel:
Why do we turn to music in sad times? Why do we react to sad events by listening to sad music? The top-selling single of all time, after all, is a commemoration of death. The uncharitable explanation is that consuming sad pop music somehow legitimates sadness and grief. By listening to the same thing others are listening to, our grieving is equalized, smoothing out differentials...
“Widespread groupthink and the straw man of “indie elitism” have eviscerated the...”
– From Matt LeMay’s excellent essay A Totally Sincere and Heartfelt Look Back at 2009 on the MBV group site. It gets even better when he starts talking about how critics (a term used rather broadly) discuss art by “naive” young musicians. (via perpetua)
Frankly, my yardstick for criticism is just...
P&J's #1's and #2's, 1990-2009
Below are the percentage of voters who voted for the #1 and #2 P&J albums since 1990. It should be noted that the sample size increases over time, from about 300 to close to 800. Commentary after the lists.
The 90’s:
1990: 1st: 36%, 2nd: 30%
1991: 1st: 45%, 2nd: 29%
1992: 1st: 38%, 2nd: 20%
1993: 1st: 35%, 2nd: 30%
1994:1st: 41%, 2nd: 26%
1995: 1st: 43%, 2nd: 26%
1996: 1st:...
The Year of Too Much Consensus →
rocketsandrayguns:
tomewing:
rocketsandrayguns:
Why would anyone expect anything other than consensus, especially as professional critics become more and more digitally connected? In fact, I’d assume the more talk of audience fragmentation, the more consensus we’d get from career critics. If critical fragmentation matched audience fragmentation, wouldn’t that only support the perception that...
Lone wolf (not She Wolf)
I was the only person to vote for VV Brown or Crazy Cousinz This Is UK Funky House Vol. 1? All late bandwagoners to UK Funky shamelessly trying to cover their tracks for the Where Were You in [insert year] history books shoulda had that on their ballot!
As for VV Brown — wow. I mean, I’m not just imagining that that album is really good. (Not a question, just saying it.) And...
RIYL
From the P&J stats:
Album:
Electrik Red · How to Be a Lady, Volume 1
Related:
0.250 Gucci Mane · The Burrprint: 3D
0.229 Rihanna · Rated R
0.207 The-Dream · Love vs. Money
0.182 Taylor Swift · Fearless
0.127 Mariah Carey · Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Cue Richard Dreyfuss: “This means something…this is important…” (Means the Singles Jukebox crew is...
“Let me see if I have this straight. You have to replace one of the most beloved...”
– Jon Stewart (via soupsoup) (via ericmortensen) (via mikehudack)
Argh. Look, I’ve said it before, and I will keep saying it until people get the picture: George W. Bush got very, very little done through Congress. Mainly it was No Child Left Behind, the PATRIOT Act, the 2 (extremely vague) war...
futuredadsociety:
heylikeluke:
a quick mix i...
The Simpsons: 10 Classic Episodes →
[Re: “Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie”] At one point, a focus group informs Itchy and Scratchy’s creators they want “a realistic, down-to-earth show that’s completely off-the-wall and swarming with magic robots”.
I never realized that this is an excellent description of Futurama!
Good riddance, Tumblarity.
aceterrier:
cureforbedbugs:
My grandfather always said “don’t take inventory every day” — Tumblarity was taking inventory every four seconds.
It’s coming back; it’s too useful (and unique) a content generator not to.
That’s good — my first thought upon posting that was “damn, my Tumblarity will go through the ROOF with that one.”
Good riddance, Tumblarity.
My grandfather always said “don’t take inventory every day” — Tumblarity was taking inventory every four seconds.
Via tumbledore, turns out that Miley’s been...
GATEKEEPER MEME
Via Josh Langhoff, a few friends have been sharing their Top Ten Lists of 2009 along with how they found each album/song (recommendation, conversation, radio, website, etc.).
Great exercise — I discovered (shock) that I discover most of my music from about five people whom I’m internet-friends with.