Idolator
I'd be shirking my metablogging duties if I didn't mention that the music issue of the Oxford American looks at the blog-band hype cycle through the prism of Annuals (remember them?), who were tearing up the MP3 blog world a little more than a year ago. Bill Wasik's piece traces the origins of the band's online popularity, and the way that the phrase "get ready to get sick of this band" could be used to describe any number of hype-torrent campaigns that have made their way around the Internet during the music-blog era:
"Get ready to get sick of hearing about this band"—it would be difficult to think of a more apt motto for indie rock in the age of the Internet. A loose genre defined not by any sound but rather by its opposition to (or exclusion from) corporate radio and labels, indie rock evolved out of the hardcore scene of the 1980s, at a time when finding out about important new bands depended much on whom you knew or where you were: News spread almost exclusively through word of mouth, through photocopied 'zines (often with circulations in three or even two digits), or through low-watt college radio stations.
Today, indie-rock culture remains an underground culture, basically by definition, in that its fans shun mainstream music in favor of lesser-known acts. But now, MySpace, iTunes, and Internet radio make location and friends irrelevant for discovering music. Blogs and aggregators enable fans to determine in just a few minutes what everyone else is listening to that day. What you know, where you are—these matter not at all. To be an insider today one must merely be fast. Once Mike found out that Pitchfork would be posting about the new band, one cannot blame him for his haste, because après Pitchfork, le déluge: Unknown bands become all-too-familiar bands in a month, and abandoned bands the next month. Get ready, that is, to get sick.
And as a companion piece of sorts, the proprietor of Pretty Goes With Pretty spun Wasik's piece into a must-read four-part series called "Can't Talk; Hyping," in which he discusses the churn of the music blogosphere and what he sees as the motivations of its writers:
You forget that half these blogs are outsiders in shitty apartments in Pensacola or Indianapolis, who likely started their little blogs because they loved music. Worse, they forget.
They post about multiple new bands per day with little articulation of what's worthwhile about them, aside from an audio clip, myspace link, a list of tour dates, and—not always—a perfunctory they're grrrreat! I guess they're assuming the music will speak for itself. Ultimately it does, of course, but rarely are mp3 blogs a true reflection of one person's tastes. There was a time when it seemed like most blogs were digging for new music. More recently, the passion seems to have been replaced by some kind of faux professionalism. At best they tell you what's good, not what's great. They're giving you all the dirt: you do the digging.
The problem of music blogs "[telling] you what's good, not what's great" has been a problem that I've had with the format—and its attendant charts—for some time. Especially now, with the increase of PR departments that promote their attendant bands' wares exclusively to blogs (which, as PGWP correctly points out, does so because it's interested in large part in "keeping its enemies close"), it's a lot easier for all those proclamations of "good" (or even "existent") to stack up in such a way that they sort of resemble the idea of "greatness." And what's most troubling to me about that, particularly recently, is the way those implicit declarations have fallen pretty much entirely in line with the e-mails that land in my inbox.
One of the earliest Idolator features was Track Marks, which traced bands' ascent on the elbo.ws charts via blog posts about them; over time, that feature became mostly used for figuring out how, exactly, music-related rumors got started, mainly because the narrative "this MP3 showed up in my inbox, then it sprang up everywhere" got kind of tedious to write. (Although we do reserve the right to go back to that feature's well again, if only because the Vampire Weekend "overheralded demo setting the stage for pre-first-album backlash" phenomenon seems to be replicating itself all over the place these days.) And I think the current state of the RSS feed outlined by Pretty Goes With Pretty—the lack of critical filters, the rise of the "promo MP3" and having to respond to that and only that if one is going to craft a post about a band, the symbiotic relationship between PR companies' aims and music bloggers' content—has also resulted in burnout on my end, with there being so much chatter and noise that I've gone back to only really trusting recommendations from friends and a few hand-picked sources in order to find out about new music. (Or I just tune it all out and watch TRL, even though it only shows full videos when it suffers from "technical difficulties.")
And really, when was the last time a blog "broke" a band beyond the one-shot promo MP3 catching fire? Sure, a large part of that is because the growth of the music-blog world has resulted in things becoming so diffuse that it's hard to have a "hit" beyond the most popular Usual Suspects Of Indie, but sometimes I wonder if the burnout as far as blogs, and music blogs, and the relentless torrent of new music, isn't something that's solely in my mind, and if there's just such a glut of bands and hypemen, you need to escape from it all by just going into another world for a while. Like TRL, for example. Or, as PGWP puts it:
... many of the bands proffered on hype blogs have no Genuine Listeners. For that we must buy albums, must sit with them, alone, undistracted, and hear them through our own ears, process them through the context of our own lives. For that, you've got to log off.
Pretty Goes With Pretty [prettygoeswithpretty.typepad.com]
Hype Machine [Oxford American]
Comments
For that, you've got to log off.
Funny how we're all starting to figure that out.
I always tried to avoid pimping a band that was currently on the press release rounds -- but yeah, when the "promo mp3" started to equal the "radio hit" and even the Forkcast was just reposting press releases (which, natch, they got before the rest of us peons -- because, don't you know, PITCHFORK BREAKS BANDS!), I had to give it up.
The good thing is, some of the best and longest-lived music bloggers are still out there, doing what they do best. Eventually, one hopes, the press-release and promo mp3 posters will move on, and the stalwarts will persist. In other words, the bubble will burst eventually. It has to, right?
I'm much happier since I stopped being a slave to the new release; I can listen to old Shakira, or The Joshua Tree for the 9 millionth time and not feel bad about it. I can spend more time with Neon Bible, and say, "Hey, this record was actually pretty good, not just merely adequate."
It's true -- deciding what's great as opposed to what's good takes time, something that the Culture of the Blogs does not allow for. Snap judgements will only get you so far -- and you know what? They're usually wrong.
Wha, did you say something, Maura? Sorry, I was busy downloading 4,968 random mp3s from 3,988 blogs (all contenders for "SONG OF THE YEAR," I'm told) to add to that collection of 16,948,441 other mp3s that I'll never even bother listening to.
I just went through a serious "blogger burnout" for over a month and I think these are valid reasons as to why.
There's just not always a million "great" new records coming out from bands every week, and it seems pointless to update when there's nothing moving your fingers.
I could sit down and cut-and-paste every promo email I get and probably drive my page rank higher or or my readership up, but for what? I'd rather have my feelings about the music I like be taken with some degree of reasonable belief precisely because I'm not doing that.
If that's not good enough, oh well. Go buy the new Britney Spears and jam it in some orifice of your body where it can be appreciated and forget about the bloggers.
I think this fits into a larger indie trend, which I've noticed since my college radio days earlier in the decade; cool = brand new, and unheard (of). It's like every indie fan wants to be that really cool record store clerk who can say, "If you like [popular band], you should check out [obscure band]." On a mass scale, though, this means that the second you're familiar with something, you're over it, and "indie" becomes as much about novelty as anything else. If indie is hip hop, we're in 1986.
Totally agree with the Oxford Essay. I will also add that the increasing volume of blogs, and the volumes (upon volumes) of hyperbolic praise they attach to each song they post is rapidly driving down their cache. Used to be if Stereogum or Pitchfork was gaga over something, chances are it was probably pretty decent. Now, I won't even listen to it unless I've seen the name three or four other places.
It's even clearer on the other side of the equation: a lot of people in bands are surprised to find out that blog coverage doesn't really amount to a whole hell of a lot on its own.
Well, I'm a publicist, and I agree with a lot of this, but I will say that I find no difference between the symbiosis of bloggers and PR people and print media and PR people. Plenty of publicists bring content to magazines pre-written that is then printed. It's really not much different; it just doesn't move as fast.
That's right, come to Grandma Janine! I'll throw "Joe's Garage" on the Victrola!
@DavidWatts: Ah, you speak of the High Fidelity effect.
Blah blah blah, you guys just keep on talking amongst yourselves... and all the mp3 blogs will just keep on ignoring you, so long as the ol' ad revenue checks, high Technorati rankings, and show/festival/VICE afterparty passes keep rolling in.
Several of you make the very valid point in that much of the motivation behind blogging about music of the indie variety is achieving that status of trendsetter, the proverbial "cool older brother" with killer music collection. Obviously, this can only get you so far. And as several people have said here, even in the most banner-iffic of banner years, there is not a monumental album released EVERY day.
I know for our site it began as a sort of "hey this is what we're into" and check us out every day if you dig. I'm proud to say we haven't veered off too far from that angle, if you can call sharing real actual opinions an "angle".
The problem, in relative terms to our insignificant existence, is when that drive to share intense burning passion dissipates and it becomes a chore. IMO, the cardinal sin to alleviate the need for content in the absence of inspiration is cut and paste jobs from PR emails that flood the inbox. God forbid a day goes by without a new post! I don't deny there is pressure to post something (exacerbated in times of drought), but at the end of the day self-compromise is a weak out.
it's just that (no offense to you or to any publicist or band out there) i try to listen to everything people send me. if i didn't write about it or email you back, do you really have to keep emailing me over and over again about that same thing as if i'm going to write about it because you did?
i could have more horrible problems than getting 12 emails from you (like getting none). but can we keep an open line of communication where if i'm interested i write you back or i post up what you send me? your job is very difficult and complicated, i've done your job, and i know.
please don't take my slice of joy and turn it into a job.
because of certain music blogs, i have found some new favorite bands, or were able to hear what is being hyped, and decided whether or not i like it. all we need is that small filter. I have months and months of mp3 from this year hat i haven't even touched yet, all trying to find music that I like, but I am a bit obsessive. I was checking at least 12 blogs a day to find new stuff, then decided this is crap, found three or four i really like (idolator being #1), and no longer feel exhausted ot jaded by the lack of anything interesing. in small doses, a lot of things can be interesting, and then i can open my mind wider to the sound of something new.
Lucas: if it really is true that print media outlets are merely regurgitating press releases word for word, than those "critics" need to be stripped of office. Print outlets typically have editorial standards; blogs often do not. I'm not defending the old guard, per se, but I believe in the value of media filters not expressly comprised of self-aggrandizing zealots with little insight and/or writing ability.
Honestly? It's rare for me to discover new bands through MP3 blogs. I've discovered an amazing amount of older, hopelessly out of print material in various genres. And that's the primary function MP3 and Rapidshare blogs have in my life: they provide a curatorial function without having to splash out for box sets or import reissues. I don't care about the next hyped buzz band. But the chance to finally hear Judee Sill? Or out-of-print soul 45s? Or power pop rarities that used to clog up the bargain bin but now can't be found? Hurray for the Internet, then.
The basic argument here, and elsewhere, seems to be: blogs are best at breaking new bands, not sustaining existing bands, therefore creating a cycle of cheap musical gratification that lasts only as long as it takes to download the next batch of Elbo.ws fodder. There's some merit to the argument but I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be. Yes, a band's first album gets a bit of a pass, and yes, its second album is met with skepticism. But if a band consistently puts out good, interesting, surprising material, blogs will cover it. Look at Grizzly Bear or Animal Collective or Feist or any of the other dozens of acts that are two (or more) albums deep but still get regular wet kisses from blogville. You can bemoan the passing of CYHSY or Menomena or whoever from the microscope, but you have to take a hard look at the music the band is actually making. And frankly, it's usually not that good. Basically, blogs = giant marketplace. Marketplace = good, in the long term, at sorting out what is great and what sucks.
The part of this whole "blog overload" argument that holds up the most is the fact that a hundred new bands are announced every week, each with a shitload of unwarranted fanfare, and it's obnoxious. I'll throw my chips in on that one too. I love them dearly but there's no denying blogs have created (or simply given an unwarranted platform to) this whole caste of "good enough" indie rock music. It's competent, it's not obnoxious, it features a delay pedal or a french horn, the lyrics are obtuse, yadda yadda. Basically, it passes the test of having enough superficially interesting or cool qualities to be considered post-worthy, but there's nothing really there beyond good intentions and a lot of reverb. It's why I'd rather turn on Z100 than scan Hype machine. The material there might be sort of unfulfilling on a spiritual level, but there's usually a reason why a song passes through all the gates it has to pass through before it ends up on the radio. Try as I might to fight it, my iTunes play count does not lie. Kanye is currently killing Le Loup. Just murdering them.
The problem of music blogs "[telling] you what's good, not what's great" has been a problem that I've had with the format...for some time.
Not to be too harsh, but lately I think Idolator has been a little too much about what's not good and/or great. I enjoy snark as much as the next dude, and I know you're a Gawker entity, but I could use some genuine loving on something other than '80s nostalgia trips. You know it's bad when I'm watching the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors the other night and automatically thinking "what bad would Idolator have to say about this?"
@TheContrarian: Oh, I totally agree and I never said parroting press releases word-for-word was happening in print, but I'm talking about pre-generated content (top ten lists, etc.) that is shopped around to different magazines beyond press releases (where do you think front of the book stuff comes from?). I've done it myself. The amount of fact-checking that comes from big mags is always a breath of fresh air because I get none of that from anyone else. But let's not be naive and act like publicists have nothing to do with content in print media.
You know the way I find most of my music? By asking people--friends even!--I trust what they like. That still works for me most of the time.
@mike a: Exactly. When it comes to music, I've never been one for cult of the new. I still find myself facing a century of recorded music (78s are an option for me). There's so much awesomeness in the back catalogs that that's where I find myself feeling a sense of urgency.
@Lucas Jensen: The sad thing is, mp3 blogs at one point were like a trusted friend. And now, increasingly, they're not. Bummer.
@Catbirdseat: Ryan, your sarcasm (?) confuses me.
@therichgirlsareweeping: Perhaps this will help explain?
[tinyurl.com]
@Catbirdseat: I'm not sure if I should feel insulted at your increasingly juvenile attitude in this thread or just ignore you. Obvs, the latter is winning out right now.
AHHHHH MAHHHH GAWWWW BOOOOOYS! by Molly Lambert Indie Rock and Comedy go together like Pinkabet and Bagoog Monamon. First Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster teamed up with Monk creator Tom Scharpling to create longform call-in improv brilliance on The Best Show on WFMU (more on them later this week).
That Human Giant sketch with Tapes 'N' Tapes said it all
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