Where are the Music Critics?

So I’ve updated my blogroll, purging a few sites that seem to have died or that I simply don’t read any more, and adding a few more recent finds. Two that I’ve been enjoying lately are Grammar Police, an art blog that occasionally diverts itself with music posts, and the Existence Machine, which I find to share a similar perspective as myself—right down to the color choices for its design template. Richard Crary’s blog covers literature and music and like pgwp spends more time writing about music rather than simply serving up mp3s.

Which brings me to the rest of my blogroll updates. I added a bunch of mp3 blogs (mostly pilfered from Chromewaves’ blogroll) that seem to have tastes running parallel to my own. But there’s still something missing in all those music links—not just the new ones but nearly all of them. Where is the music writing? I love an mp3 blog as much as anyone—I wouldn’t have found Midlake, Okkerville River, or Margot & the Nuclear So-and-Sos without them—but the daily onslaught of the Next Best Thing is ridiculous. Worse though is that I get the distinct feeling that many of these blogs don’t even believe in the product they’re shilling half the time. Many posts might as well be press releases and one sheets, they’re so devoid of opinion beyond “They're sooooo good.” Big deal. Tour dates, profiles, tracklists—tracklists?—concert reviews, youtube videos. There’s a place for all of that, sure, but where are the critics? Where is the personality? The perspective? Is anyone writing about bands or albums in a broader context? Dear readers, please point me to them. I don’t need any more mp3 files; I want a conversation.

I read a lot of book blogs, and one conversation that comes up a lot is the effect those blogs have had on the book industry and on literary criticism. Witness the melodrama that was the n+1 vs. blogs dust-up from last month. Book bloggers, in addition to pimping little-known authors or giving news from the publishing industry, have taken on a crucial critical role, especially as many print publications cease to exist (witness the Los Angeles Times’ recent merging of its Sunday Book Review with the Opinion section). Literary critical blogs alternately have print critics cheering and jeering—but there’s a real dialogue going on no matter how you slice it.

But what about music blogs? No doubt they’re having a serious effect on the industry. Pitchfork, for one, is the Rolling Stone of our generation. Love it or hate it, it is the ultimate tastemaker for all things indie rock. The Shins and Arcade Fire would certainly not have debuted at #1 and #2 on the Billboard charts without their web support. And that’s great, but there is an element missing from music blogs that the book blogs have in spades—critics; opinions. To continue the Pitchfork/Rolling Stone analogy, mp3 blogs are the new NME. I go to them to find out what’s the new hot shit, but I have no hope whatsoever of reading anything truly thought-provoking about any of it.  You get nuggets every once in a while, but I’ve yet to find a blog that’s consistently engaging in this way.

And that’s too bad. Indie music is having such a moment right now, and it is almost entirely due to the grassroots anarchy that is the internet, with individuals all over the country acting as boosters for their favorite bands. And that’s phenomenal! To think that someone in their apartment in Indianapolis is actually shaping the content of the Billboard charts and Clear Channel’s playlist is amazing. That’s what I’m drawn to—individuals. There are webzines out there (Dusted, Urban Pollution, Coke Machine Glow, etc.), but they’re not individuals, and they’re often just as caught up in listing tour dates and news and reviewing albums straight off the press sheet. A unique perspective is subsumed by a masthead.

That’s where the bloggers come in. Certainly you can get a sense of a blogger’s taste just by listening to all the mp3s he or she posts, but there’s more to say about music than “If you like that, then you’ll like this” or “I like this, don’t like that.” Not to mention you can sniff out the bloggers that have gotten so popular that the record companies have begun coming straight to them, press releases in hand. In their crush to create daily content, I’m left with the distinct feeling that many of them are just selling something. They don’t actually care, let alone have any real opinion beyond “It’s good!” The serpent is starting to eat its own tail.

Nevertheless I do go to these blogs on a regular if not daily basis. They do serve a purpose and I don’t discount that. But there’s something missing. There are things to be said about the twenty-five bands broken per week on the internet—is anyone saying it?

Of course, I could be woefully misinformed. Have I simply overlooked the cornucopia of music writing on the web? Readers, let me know. Where do you go for insight on the web?

Comments

[frank]

I don't disagree with any of the points raised, but I feel like I should point out that if there's a relative dearth of negative criticism in the blogosphere, it's just as much related to the fact that folks don't necessarily have the time to bother writing about stuff that's fair to middling or just generally unimpressive. Better to just shunt that aside and spend the time writing about something that actually invites a genuine response. Of course, that can just as easily be a negative response as a positive one but speaking for myself, I have to really have a hate on for something to bother expressing it in blog (She Wants Revenge, take a bow).

Professional critics, on the other hand, may not have that luxury - they're given/assigned/whatever stuff that they have to turn an opinion on regardless of whether they like it or not. Of course, they also have the luxury of not having to work another day job so they, theoretically, have a lot more time in the day to dedicate to listening and writing.

But as for the one line, "this is great" M.O., well that works for some but I find it a bit frustrating as well. I don't download everything/anything, I prefer being given a compelling reason via the accompanying text to download something and listen to it. But that's me.

There was a point here when I started writing. I think.

[pgwp]

Thanks for the comment, Frank. I can sympathize with what you're saying (I'm posting from work right now! Shh!), but to my mind "criticism" and "hating" are not equal terms. I'm not really wishing for more negative reviews, just more thoughtful writing. "Genuine response," like you said, is the key.

I'm also suspicious of many blogs writing about what they "like." Sometimes the endorsement is so minimal that I think people are just searching for content. To me, that's even worse than being negative.

The other pressure, which I didn't really go into in my post, is the need to stay of-the-moment. Sometimes the "conversation" on the web about a band or album is over by the time I've even managed to purchase, listen to, and process the record. I can only guess the same is true for many other bloggers.

[frank]

yeah, I think my mind got sidetracked from your request for criticism to another conversation a while back on the topic of whether bloggers are too positive. Similar, but not the same topic.

I would love to be able to get really in-depth on certain songs, albums, what have you, but as I mentioned initially, it comes down to time. striking a balance between forming an informed, considered opinion and if not keeping up with the joneses then at least keeping them within view is tough. As it is, I'll almost never be the first to discover an act - promo CDs can go weeks without being opened, MP3s even longer - whereas I see the same music being posted within hours of receipt on other sites. Go figure.

And regarding blogs writing about what they like - that's basically my M.O. and I guess it comes down to the fact that only the writer knows for sure if they're being sincere or not but I like to think that readers are savvy enough to tell if someone means what they're writing or if they're just phoning it in.

[Jeremy]

my favorite mp3 blog belongs to a couple friends of mine from college days - gentletyrants.com. Unfortunately, I can't really say that it is what you are looking for. It isn't so much "criticism," not at all actually, as much as it is what "blogging" was initially all about. These guys just post songs, and talk about how much they like the band and why they like the band. It is like a journal, about music, accompanied by mp3s. Sometimes witty, sometimes containing good music I haven't heard before. All in all, I like it.

[marc h.]

Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but I just recently started a blog for my non-p4k self-indulgent rantings and ravings, mostly music-related.

Even better places to look would be Status Ain't Hood, Marathon Packs, Clap Clap, Bliss Blog, etc.

[pgwp]

Thanks jeremy, thanks marc. Some of these are new to me and bookmarked.

I was waiting for someone to bring up either blissblog or k-punk in response to what I wrote... but I guess my taste in music or philosophers is not on the same track as they are. I appreciate what they do but I find that I'm pretty much never interested in their content. That's just me though.

[Eric]

Thanks for the add. I have to echo some of what Frank said and also some of what was initially written. As a former touring musician for who (apart from his daughter) focuses a great majority of his energy on music, I feel that music and MP3 blogs have become digital fanzines or sorts. Places for people to find out about new music and discover older stuff they may have missed along the way.

I (like Frank) don't write about things I don't really enjoy. There is too much good music being made for me to focus on negative reviews. And while I feel like I'm pretty up to date on what's new and hot, I don't and never will be able to keep up with the GvB's of the world in that department. I'd rather listen to an album. Spend some time with it and determine if it truly is a keeper before writing about it.

As for the writing... I don't know how many bloggers I speak for, but with a 1-1/2 year old running around my house and a full-time job it is hard (if not impossible) to find the time to write 500-750 words on every great new album I hear. If that was the case, I'd probably have to pack up and quit blogging tomorrow. The point is, that without simply saying "I like it" or "This record is great" I try to give those that read a good idea about the music I post. Blogging is a labor of love, but I can't and won't make it a 2nd full-time job.

[frank]

some related thoughts from catbirdseat, keying off a comment from a Pitchfork rep at the EMP conference

http://www.catbirdseat.org/catbirdseat/archives/000712.shtml

[Ryan Catbird]

...And some more related thoughts from me:

(and BTW, Great post-- frankly, I'm surprised that more people aren't pointing this out)

Thing is, there is some truth to Frank et al's comment about people not wasting time posting about things they don't like-- that is indeed the case in many instances I think, but as an overall view, that's a very rosy view of things. The fact of the matter is, whether consciously or unconsciously, there are quite a few music blogs (and I'm not talking rinky-dink ones) that are almost surely motivated just by the struggle to stay on top, get super-high traffic numbers, and, by extension, get higher and higher ad payouts, side-deals, perks, swag, etc.

I mean, I'm not talking about $20 here or there, there is BIG FUCKING MONEY going out via ads to blogs. Thus, it becomes all about making sure there are many posts regularly throughout the day, *GUSHING* about everything (I mean, Christ, how can every other post be about THIS IS DEFINITELY A CONTENDER FOR TOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR?), securing "exclusives" and "premieres", etc. etc.

I'm not gonna throw out figures here, but if you're curious, go to blogads.com, click on "choose ads a la carte," look up some of the blogs you want to find out about, note down their current number of ads and their rates, and then multiply that out over the course of a year. You might want to figure in a few hundred, upwards to an extra thousand per mo., if the site has other, non blogads ads running too (banners, etc.).

When we're talking about thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars.... is it still just "all about the music?" I highly doubt it.

[pgwp]

Ryan, I saw your post this morning and it's spurred me to write more...

Very good point about the ads - I hadn't even thought about that.

As for why more people aren't linking here? Dude - y'all got blogs! Link to me! ;)

[pgwp]

Just added a followup post. Hope you all are still tuning in and will have more to say, here or on your own blogs.

In that post I respond to some of what was said here - Eric, Frank, Ryan, I don't mean to call you guys out--I like your blogs!--you just raised a couple points that I think many bloggers share.

[Richard]

Hey, I've been away from my computer for a while, and I'm still catching up. But I wanted to say thanks for the nod and the kind words. I may have more to say about the actual content of your post when I've settled in. Thanks again!