Today’s “yay, journalism!” topic: What’s the worst thing about this trend piece on the rise of music blogs, aside from the fact that it’s a few months late to the party? Give it a glance, try not to rip your hair out, and peruse our suggestions after the jump.
Is it the attempt to shoehorn the online magazine Pitchfork into the “blog” world? Might it be the fact that a living, breathing person actually uttered the sentence “If you’re a twentysomething in Brooklyn and love music, you’ll log on and talk about that TV on the Radio show you went to last night” with a straight face–and said sentence actually made it to print? Could it be the idea that the bloggerati are supposed to get psyched about the fact that they “broke” the Cold War Kids, and that the straight-up awful Ghostland Observatory is next on the list? Or is it the fact that I kinda looked up to Jim Farber as an aspiring rock writer, and articles like this are more proof that, despite his tireless anti-Bon Jovi crusading during the early ’90s, he’s just as susceptible to getting taken in by hype and puffery as the next music hack trying to crank out a living?
Bands’ net gains [NYDN, via mediaeater]
That Voxtrot guy should consider getting his own story straight. In one article, he reads all the blogs; in this one, he reads none of them. Make up your mind before I forget your band ever existed, pal.
Somewhat seriously, however, this Brooklyn place sounds just awful.
Call me crazy, but isn’t breaking a band like the Cold War Kids or someone like that basically the entire reason for painstakingly maintaining a somewhat comprehensive music blog in the first place?
I mean, no offense, Idolator.
I am glad Weezy F Baby said it for me…..
Oddly I just turned 30 and I live in Queens. Have I been found out? Is the internet talking to me directly?
The thing which tickles me the most is that it makes a reference to print media outlets like SPIN being behind the times and slow to break news, yet the article itself is behind the times….ah, sweet irony.
@hotshot: I’ll call you crazy. My favorite bloggers aren’t publicists. I like writers who examine music’s effects and meaning. That sort of thing helps me compare & contrast my own relationship with things I like and dislike. I’ll find my own music. (Granted, I’m always late to the game.)
I am a thirtysomething and just glad that someone out there feels the way I do about Ghostland Observatory. I’m from Texas, and down there they’re treated as though they’ve just hovered to earth from from Mt. Olympus. If the name and the onstage image isn’t cheeseball enough, get a load of their extremely underwhelming sound. I’ve been wrong before, but my instincts tell me otherwise.
As far as shoe-horning Pitchfork is concerned, I’ve noticed that it’s harder and harder to tell the difference between them and, yes, Stereogum, not to mention Gorilla Vs. Bear. I can’t speak to the former, as I rarely look at it anymore. As to the latter, I believe it is likely more a case of the Forkast spies picking what GvB’s putting down, generally without crediting him/them. I doubt GvB minds being the source of indie zeitgeist, though.
The problem with all the material on these kinds of blogs, for the most part, is that they only seem to perpetuate the safe concept of what is currently hip or acceptable to talk about in public with other knowing hipsters. However, GvB does ‘break’ its share of new talent, at least the way influential mags used to in the past, but much faster.
But to find someone out there who’s really got their radar tuned in to truly alien lifeforms, to sounds that have not yet broken into the collective cool, you’ll have to consult such oracles as 20jazzfunkgreats. These are guys clearly without any agenda who post out of a deep love for the strange and uncharted territories. And they don’t sell ad space. Good blokes.
what’s the criteria for “breaking” a band?? go see a band like voxtrot anywhere other than ny, austin, la or chicago and see how many people show up.
actually don’t see a band like voxtrot live… it’ll only make you mad.
I’m still hoping MetalSucks can break Putrid Pile.
And yes, I saw the Suck War Kids open for Muse on Monday, and they were indeed a putrid pile.
@maura, @janine:
OK, you can say that. I’m crazy-go-nuts. Fine.
I guess what I’m talking about isn’t Stereogum or Gorilla Vs Bear, but Joe Schmoe from Idaho who has a music blog (as if anyone cares) and is linked to on elbo.ws. His goal, without a doubt, is to just be the first on the block to say he digs the Cold War Kids b/c that’s the only way people are going to ever know his blog exists, right? It’s self-serving and it’s a conflict of interest. It’s why sales and edit departments are kept separate in the more legitimate fields of journalism.
I heard a great anecdote a while back (here?) about how music criticism is dead specifically because it depends too much on the bloggers now. And you just can’t trust a blogger. He/she could listen to three identical-sounding bands for three consecutive days and hate two of them and love the third solely because on the third day the cute girl in the coffe shop that he has a crush on smiled at him and put him in a good mood. But, of course, he won’t realize that’s why he loved that band. The fact that so much music criticism today relies on these nobodies’ opinions is hilariously embarassing.
Jeez, aren’t you being a tad bit elitist Maura? I mean, I think the guy wrote a pretty decent article explaining and even promoting this community to a group of people who aren’t experts. His audience isn’t just you and other music bloggers, it’s a bunch of people who are flipping through the paper on the subway who don’t really know anything about this stuff, let alone spend hours a day trolling through myspace pages. He has to site bands that people may have heard of, like the Cold War Kids, even if you don’t think they’re good. The fact is, they’ve become successful because of blog buzz and that’s all he said. You pick on that, but who would you have mentioned instead? You’re also being a little bit over picky with the whole Pitchfork thing. First off, he points out that Pitchfork is an online magazine and not a blog. And secondly, as much as you apparently think Pitchfork has no business being mentioned in an article about music blogs, the fact is pretty much every music blogger checks in on that website daily (even if it’s just to see what it is that pisses them off about it) and it’s influence on the blog community is substantial. He’s not “shoehorning” them in to the discussion, they’re already pretty close to the center of it. It kind of just sounds like you’re pissed about being excluded. Why else would someone get want to rip their own hair out unless they feel hurt on a personal level. That’s just how it seems anyways.
@maura: while both those bands are terrible, they both pale in comparison to DAN FUCKING DEACON
Ghostland Observatory must suck, because both Rolling Stone and Idolator have said so. Now that’s what I call a consensus.
Growing in Queens I too looked up to Jim Farber in my younger years. He fell off hard!
@hotshot: It would be different if the Cold War Kids (and Ghostland Observatory) weren’t utterly fucking terrible, you know? Being proud of that is like a being proud of a kindergartener who figured out how to eat with a fork for the first time, only the kid’s eating paste.
If you’re a twentysomething in Brooklyn and love music, you’ll log on and talk about that TV on the Radio show you went to last night.
Ummmm, I know when I usually go to a great show, I usually talk about it to my friends. Bloggers do have actual friends right?
Yes, music blogs “break” new bands. And by “break,” I mean you can throw up 20 gushing posts about 20 different bands every day ad infinitum, and when 1 or 2 of those bands finally hit, you can take credit for breaking them. The other 9,998 bands you posted about? No one cares, no one remembers, no one’s gonna take you to task for foisting some truly awful shit upon them. My gist– it’s not too hard to hit a bullseye when you’re using a machine gun.
@maura: Agreed. Can we add Tapes ‘n Tapes to that list? (And aren’t journalists legally required to mention Tapes ‘n Tapes, Lily Allen and Midlake in these shitty trend pieces about music blogs? Or did that law expire last summer?)
In trying to put my finger on the worst thing about this piece, I just can’t get past the idiotic timing. There’s barely anything in this story to indicate it wasn’t written in August 2006, and even then, it wouldn’t have been particularly hip or timely.
It’s also pretty silly that the lede has Ramesh Srivastava claiming he doesn’t really read blogs, when he himself is the author of a popular blog. It’s not exactly hard to find. It’s his #1 Google hit.
@fileundereasylistening:
His audience isn’t just you and other music bloggers, it’s a bunch of people who are flipping through the paper on the subway who don’t really know anything about this stuff
All the more reason why he should be accurate, up-to-date, and more interested in discussing what’s actually good than what everybody and their uncle is doing.
He has to site bands that people may have heard of, like the Cold War Kids, even if you don’t think they’re good.
To respond to what I think you meant to type, promoting small bands is not a virtue in and of itself, no matter what sophomore college radio hosts say.
as much as you apparently think Pitchfork has no business being mentioned in an article about music blogs, the fact is pretty much every music blogger checks in on that website daily (even if it’s just to see what it is that pisses them off about it)
Most bloggers check CNN every day too (I hope!), but that doesn’t make it a blog.
Why else would someone get want to rip their own hair out unless they feel hurt on a personal level.
Oh honey, Maura gets paid to complain about things.
So many things to say:
1) If anyone wants to haterate about Ghostland, please form a line to the left. I told Chris GvsB about them. Ooops. I kind of still like them, but in an old-school local pride kind of way. That feeling also informs my love of Voxtrot. But in the end, I wouldn’t like them if they weren’t good; and I know I had the distinct luck to get to know them and watch them grow BEFORE bloggers made the rest of you sick of them. Sorry about that.
That being said, I can’t assess if either band is just “local music for local people” (thanks This Is Fake DIY, for that one) that got too big too fast or what. What I do know is that the people involved in both projects are really talented, and that’s a fact that seems to get lost in the onslaught of burnout-inducing blog hype.
2) @Vince Neilstein: Wait, you actually LIKE Muse? Ugh.
@ Dick Malone
*Side note, usually people who start sentences with the phrase “oh honey” are typically condescending douchbags, but that being said you have some good points, even if I don’t agree with them.
First off, I think the aim of the article is to let “everyone and their uncle” know that mp3 blogs exist and that they should go check them out to find out about new music. I don’t think his article is intended to give props to M.I.A. I think you guys just got hung up on a couple of details and missed the big picture of his article.
Secondly, I have no idea what you mean when you say “To respond to what I think you meant to type”. I typed what I meant. Cold War Kids is fairly recognizable name that he uses as a point of reference. I don’t know how I could be more clear.
And third, yes I agree, lots of people check lots of sites daily. I’m not suggesting that just because many music bloggers check CNN everyday, that should be included in the article. That would be pretty stupid. My point was, you wouldn’t write an article on internet search engines without talking about google or yahoo, you wouldn’t write an article about modern news outlets without talking about CNN, and you really can’t write an article about the influence of online music outlets without bringing Pitchfork into it. I was just kind of surprised by Maura’s “how dare they” reaction to that. And as I said earlier, he identifies Pitchfork as a magazine and not a blog, so what’s the problem?
your blog is very well, benefit from you