Comments on: Heartbreak No. 3: The Blogosphere As The New Status Quo http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com Sat, 26 May 2012 21:05:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: LiquidHeaven http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793332 LiquidHeaven Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:52:23 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793332 <P>No there aren't. We've all heard everything. Everywhere.</P> No there aren’t. We’ve all heard everything. Everywhere.

]]> By: T'Challa http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793462 T'Challa Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:00:28 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793462 <p>@<a href="#c9416740">Lucas Jensen</a>: I'm picking up what you're putting down, sir.</p> <p>I was just making a year-end 'best of' list, and realized that it matched about 99% of every other list I've seen, from Rolling Stone down to hipster blogs (does it kill me just a little bit to see every pub in the world deciding that my fave band, TVOTR, is now 'the American Radiohead'? Yes, a little).</p> <p>It caused me to make a reactionary list that didn't include TVOTR, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, etc just to be able to mention some music that hadn't already been beaten into the ground. Not that it was so super-obscure (Alice Russell, Black Milk, etc), but still...</p> @Lucas Jensen: I’m picking up what you’re putting down, sir.

I was just making a year-end ‘best of’ list, and realized that it matched about 99% of every other list I’ve seen, from Rolling Stone down to hipster blogs (does it kill me just a little bit to see every pub in the world deciding that my fave band, TVOTR, is now ‘the American Radiohead’? Yes, a little).

It caused me to make a reactionary list that didn’t include TVOTR, Fleet Foxes, MGMT, etc just to be able to mention some music that hadn’t already been beaten into the ground. Not that it was so super-obscure (Alice Russell, Black Milk, etc), but still…

]]> By: Lucas Jensen http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793342 Lucas Jensen Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:36:40 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793342 <p>@<a href="#c9436925">DocStrange</a>: There are plenty of new artists out there that you just haven't heard. This kind of myopia is exactly what I'm talking about here!</p> @DocStrange: There are plenty of new artists out there that you just haven’t heard. This kind of myopia is exactly what I’m talking about here!

]]> By: T'Challa http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793352 T'Challa Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:02:01 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793352 <p>PS: I heart Idolator.</p> PS: I heart Idolator.

]]> By: T'Challa http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793362 T'Challa Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:00:08 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793362 <p>@<a href="#c9424093">Michaelangelo Matos</a>: Well, maybe just a little...</p> @Michaelangelo Matos: Well, maybe just a little…

]]> By: DocStrange http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793372 DocStrange Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:40:36 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793372 <P>@<A href="http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo#c9432978">Thierry</A>: what? christ. There really were no new new bands this year. Except White Lies. But then they were called Fear of Flying for like two years. Um...who else....Noah and the Whale and..um...</P> @Thierry: what? christ. There really were no new new bands this year. Except White Lies. But then they were called Fear of Flying for like two years. Um…who else….Noah and the Whale and..um…

]]> By: Lucas Jensen http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793382 Lucas Jensen Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:37:01 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793382 <p>@<a href="#c9423111">Mike Barthel</a>: I am not saying that no blog rock is a bad thing at all. It's not really about individual artists. It's about independent artists on not-so-obvious labels if any at all. As a former independent publicist I worked tons of great records that we struggled to get placed, like a lot of other publicists. There is a lot out there that people don't know, and the blogs were an exciting place for new bands to gain some press foothold. If the blogosphere as a whole is seen as me-tooing Pitchfork or SPIN then there is a problem.</p> @Mike Barthel: I am not saying that no blog rock is a bad thing at all. It’s not really about individual artists. It’s about independent artists on not-so-obvious labels if any at all. As a former independent publicist I worked tons of great records that we struggled to get placed, like a lot of other publicists. There is a lot out there that people don’t know, and the blogs were an exciting place for new bands to gain some press foothold. If the blogosphere as a whole is seen as me-tooing Pitchfork or SPIN then there is a problem.

]]> By: Thierry http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793392 Thierry Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:47:38 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793392 <p>@<a href="#c9432978">Thierry</a>: The '59 Sound is their third release (an album in 2007, an EP and an album in 2008).</p> @Thierry: The ’59 Sound is their third release (an album in 2007, an EP and an album in 2008).

]]> By: Thierry http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793402 Thierry Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:44:40 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793402 <p>@<a href="#c9426882">DocStrange</a>: The Gaslight Anthem's album is at least their second - if not third (haven't been able to check yet) - record.</p> @DocStrange: The Gaslight Anthem’s album is at least their second – if not third (haven’t been able to check yet) – record.

]]> By: Michaelangelo Matos http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793442 Michaelangelo Matos Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:22:20 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793442 <p>@<a href="#c9418874">T'Challa</a>: If it makes you feel any better, I called them "the Williamsburg Radiohead," not the American one.</p> @T’Challa: If it makes you feel any better, I called them “the Williamsburg Radiohead,” not the American one.

]]> By: LiquidHeaven http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793412 LiquidHeaven Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:40:30 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793412 <P>@<A href="http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo#c9423111">Mike Barthel</A>:</P> <P>And now I'm picking up what you are putting down. SIR.</P> <P>Well said.</P> @Mike Barthel:

And now I’m picking up what you are putting down. SIR.

Well said.

]]> By: Mike Barthel http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793452 Mike Barthel Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:00:17 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793452 <p>2 alternate explanations do suggest themselves:</p> <p>1) Blog rock got picked up something fierce this year? Bon Iver, Likely (I refuse to type that out accurately), Santogold, Cut Copy, MGMT...all these are people who would have been blog stalwarts a few years ago, but now everyone likes them, and that's good, right? If these acts aren't seen as owned by blogs, maybe it's because the need for high posting volume watered everything down and tastes degraded so that these all got mentioned but not enough to catch on--always hadded to post new content from new acts to be 111st11!!! But it's not that blogs got big--the mainstream got small. With blogs representing one of the few demographics that still pays for music, their preferences become more important.</p> <p>2) There just wasn't any good blogrock this year. The phenomenon is still going strong, but there wasn't an Arcade Fire to champion.</p> <p>Maybe both of these are true simultaneously, somehow?</p> 2 alternate explanations do suggest themselves:

1) Blog rock got picked up something fierce this year? Bon Iver, Likely (I refuse to type that out accurately), Santogold, Cut Copy, MGMT…all these are people who would have been blog stalwarts a few years ago, but now everyone likes them, and that’s good, right? If these acts aren’t seen as owned by blogs, maybe it’s because the need for high posting volume watered everything down and tastes degraded so that these all got mentioned but not enough to catch on–always hadded to post new content from new acts to be 111st11!!! But it’s not that blogs got big–the mainstream got small. With blogs representing one of the few demographics that still pays for music, their preferences become more important.

2) There just wasn’t any good blogrock this year. The phenomenon is still going strong, but there wasn’t an Arcade Fire to champion.

Maybe both of these are true simultaneously, somehow?

]]> By: moomintroll http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793422 moomintroll Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:02:47 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793422 <p>You know what's interesting about the homogenization of "indie" blogs is that somewhere in there it became O.K for serious music snobs to like really poppy pop music, and have an opinion on it.<br> It sort of worked both ways. Not only did blog rock become mainstream chart fodder, but mainstream chart fodder became the subject of hipster blogs.<br> It's not generally a bad thing, it seems that music is being judged more on its merits rather than its genre. Mainstream pop isn't being shut out of serious music discussion, and some quite obscure indie is making it onto the charts.</p> You know what’s interesting about the homogenization of “indie” blogs is that somewhere in there it became O.K for serious music snobs to like really poppy pop music, and have an opinion on it.
It sort of worked both ways. Not only did blog rock become mainstream chart fodder, but mainstream chart fodder became the subject of hipster blogs.
It’s not generally a bad thing, it seems that music is being judged more on its merits rather than its genre. Mainstream pop isn’t being shut out of serious music discussion, and some quite obscure indie is making it onto the charts.

]]> By: DocStrange http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793432 DocStrange Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:52:20 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793432 <p>@<a href="#c9423111">Mike Barthel</a>: Yeah. This year's championable (not a word? screw it, it is now) new bands is a pretty small list (for me anyway) and are mostly bands that had at least an album or an EP or two out before coming onto the American hipster radar (Los Campesinos!, Midnight Juggernauts, Fleet Foxes, Why?), and actually genuine new bands (White Lies, The Gaslight Anthem) were few and far between.</p> <p>@<a href="#c9416301">2ironic4u</a>: I like two songs by Animal Collective: "Peacebone" (which played last night during my local alternative/college station WBRU's Jazz After Hours late night program, which has been recently sneaking in stuff by Broken Social Scene, Regina Spektor and Arcade Fire into its rotation of Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock) and "Water Curses". And I liked that "Rat is Dead" song by CSS.</p> <p>I also still use elbo.ws, but only to get semi-legal free mp3s that I won't get sued for downloading. Running a blog does not get you as many free MP3s as you think (I do get a few, maybe about 3-5 a month, but it's mostly by labels who believe Hawthorne Heights qualify as indie rock)</p> @Mike Barthel: Yeah. This year’s championable (not a word? screw it, it is now) new bands is a pretty small list (for me anyway) and are mostly bands that had at least an album or an EP or two out before coming onto the American hipster radar (Los Campesinos!, Midnight Juggernauts, Fleet Foxes, Why?), and actually genuine new bands (White Lies, The Gaslight Anthem) were few and far between.

@2ironic4u: I like two songs by Animal Collective: “Peacebone” (which played last night during my local alternative/college station WBRU’s Jazz After Hours late night program, which has been recently sneaking in stuff by Broken Social Scene, Regina Spektor and Arcade Fire into its rotation of Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock) and “Water Curses”. And I liked that “Rat is Dead” song by CSS.

I also still use elbo.ws, but only to get semi-legal free mp3s that I won’t get sued for downloading. Running a blog does not get you as many free MP3s as you think (I do get a few, maybe about 3-5 a month, but it’s mostly by labels who believe Hawthorne Heights qualify as indie rock)

]]> By: scott pgwp http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793472 scott pgwp Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:03:47 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793472 <P>I think it goes, as Maura and Ryan Catbird and myself and many, many others have said, back to the "professionalization" of blogs that are, in truth, run by hobbyists. That's not a dis - I'm a hobbyist too. In fact, it should be seen as a compliment. I'm personally really saddened when I read a blog that I know is run by some dude in his dorm but is clearly being fed press releases by labels large and small. To me it just goes completely against the spirit of what indie rock should be about - genuine enthusiasm and a little old-fashioned crate digging and bin sifting! At least in the early days of mp3 blogs, MySpace kind of worked like a virtual record store. People could lose hours of their lives sifting through page after page of unkown bands. Now it's largely delivered to your inbox by those bands' representatives.</P> I think it goes, as Maura and Ryan Catbird and myself and many, many others have said, back to the “professionalization” of blogs that are, in truth, run by hobbyists. That’s not a dis – I’m a hobbyist too. In fact, it should be seen as a compliment. I’m personally really saddened when I read a blog that I know is run by some dude in his dorm but is clearly being fed press releases by labels large and small. To me it just goes completely against the spirit of what indie rock should be about – genuine enthusiasm and a little old-fashioned crate digging and bin sifting! At least in the early days of mp3 blogs, MySpace kind of worked like a virtual record store. People could lose hours of their lives sifting through page after page of unkown bands. Now it’s largely delivered to your inbox by those bands’ representatives.

]]> By: LiquidHeaven http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793482 LiquidHeaven Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:52:10 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793482 <P>I know this really cool small blog, the guy who runs it must be really fucking awesome. It's not the most obscure but those podcasts are great! <A href="http://livingears.blogspot.com/">[livingears.blogspot.com]</A></P> <P>Wonder if a site that cool will ever get real eyeballs.</P> <P>I wonder.</P> I know this really cool small blog, the guy who runs it must be really fucking awesome. It’s not the most obscure but those podcasts are great! [livingears.blogspot.com]

Wonder if a site that cool will ever get real eyeballs.

I wonder.

]]> By: Lucas Jensen http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793492 Lucas Jensen Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:45:06 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793492 <p>@<a href="#c9416301">2ironic4u</a>: I'm not disagreeing, but remember that the major labels were very anti- until a couple of years ago. Now they're throwing MP3s out there or at least looking the other way and voila! Britney Spears on the elbo.ws charts. Sure, this might not even be anybody's "fault," per se, but it can be a source of disappointment, which it is for me. I'd say that the press release repeaters certainly do bear some of the responsibility.</p> @2ironic4u: I’m not disagreeing, but remember that the major labels were very anti- until a couple of years ago. Now they’re throwing MP3s out there or at least looking the other way and voila! Britney Spears on the elbo.ws charts. Sure, this might not even be anybody’s “fault,” per se, but it can be a source of disappointment, which it is for me. I’d say that the press release repeaters certainly do bear some of the responsibility.

]]> By: Anonymous http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793502 Anonymous Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:31:08 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793502 <p>@<a href="#c9415700">Lucas Jensen</a>: In terms of a new medium being squandered I think it's just another example of a certain platform being over-saturated. Ever since the "Blog boom" of the 2004-05 era there have just been way too many blogs toting way too many different bands which means no one can get any traction. Plus, I'd really enjoy life without any mention ever of CSS, Animal Collective, Dan Deacon, etc.</p> @Lucas Jensen: In terms of a new medium being squandered I think it’s just another example of a certain platform being over-saturated. Ever since the “Blog boom” of the 2004-05 era there have just been way too many blogs toting way too many different bands which means no one can get any traction. Plus, I’d really enjoy life without any mention ever of CSS, Animal Collective, Dan Deacon, etc.

]]> By: Lucas Jensen http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793512 Lucas Jensen Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:19:45 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793512 <p>Haha. I crossed posted myself. I thought the first one got deleted. Synthesize these two!</p> Haha. I crossed posted myself. I thought the first one got deleted. Synthesize these two!

]]> By: Lucas Jensen http://idolator.com/5107354/heartbreak-no-3-the-blogosphere-as-the-new-status-quo/comment-page-1#comment-793522 Lucas Jensen Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:19:13 +0000 http://fba2283c972f98a6a951e7297e840f26#comment-793522 <p>@<a href="#c9414031">2ironic4u</a>: Hmmm. I don't see how you can infer that from what I wrote. My wistfulness also acknowledges the problems that blogs had in the beginning. I don't want a world where Annual Arcade Weekends dot the landscape. What I want is an active, creative, music-seeking third way: something that's not print, but it's not Pitchfork.</p> <p>And if something is four or five years old, how can it even be possible for me to make "remember when" style arguments? I'm bemoaning lost potential.</p> @2ironic4u: Hmmm. I don’t see how you can infer that from what I wrote. My wistfulness also acknowledges the problems that blogs had in the beginning. I don’t want a world where Annual Arcade Weekends dot the landscape. What I want is an active, creative, music-seeking third way: something that’s not print, but it’s not Pitchfork.

And if something is four or five years old, how can it even be possible for me to make “remember when” style arguments? I’m bemoaning lost potential.

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