HEY EVERYONE. I am going to start a blog about music.
I've wanted to start a music blog for some time, but I've had reservations. Allow me to list them now:
I'm really bad at dedicating myself to any genre. Anyone that knows me knows that I have a lot of trouble crafting a genre-specific mix CD, or even a CD for a person who has more selective taste than mine. This quirk translates to blogging (and speechwriting, I found out in a gen ed class) as an inability to develop a specific focus to talk about, and that is something I really, really need when writing. I'd just be ambling through a stream of consciousness about anything loosely related to music. That's not what I want to do. Weighing in on the entirety of music has always seemed to me to be too daunting of a task for anyone but Pitchfork (it received a 6.8). I keep track of a very select few blogs, podcasts, and music news sites, either because of their exclusive content, the unique angle they take, or the fact that they're run by friends, and sometimes all of these things. As someone who'd be doing this in his spare time with no intention of ever making a career of it, I have always questioned my ability to write something worth reading. But I think I've figured out a way to do it.
I'm going to blog about all-ages music. I talk enough about indie rock with my indie rock friends. Good metal is subjective, and I dunno if I'm ready to deal with the web-ire of the greater part of the metal community. I think that punk ("real" punk, anyway) is still thriving due to an attitude that is generally opposed to the concept of some guy giving opinions on the internet. The gray area between punk and pop-punk, the contention between screamo and metalcore, and the credibility of the indie rock end of all-ages bands (think The Hush Sound) are things that I can approach from a blog about all-ages music. It's the most versatile thing I feel like I can do from within the scope of rock and roll, without losing focus.
I've defended all-ages music before in this journal. It's a gigantic circle with Fall Out Boy at the center and very blurry edges. I really think that there's a lot of good within the genre, and the outside observer can rarely tell the difference. But I think there's an important distinction that needs to be made between Brokencyde and Bayside, because one uses insane technical ability to drive home punchy, frustrated songwriting, and the other one exhibits no ability of any type over GarageBand beats. Jim Suptic from The Get Up Kids recently said something in an interview with Drowned In Sound:
DiS: How do you feel about the 'emo' tag that Something To Write Home About led to? And what about that word, 'emo' - the connotations have certainly changed some over the years, pre and post-Get Up Kids.
JS: Honestly, I don't often think about the state of 'emo'. The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like glam rock now. We played the Bamboozle fests this year and we felt really out of place. I could name maybe three bands we played with. It was just a sea of neon shirts to us. If this is the world we helped create, then I apologise.
DiS: And what do you think of the myriad bands who have sprung up in your wake, often to far greater commercial success? Certain acts have been particularly vocal in acknowledging the debt they owe you...
JS: I think I summed it up in the last question. If a band gets huge and they say we inspired them, great. The problem is most of them aren't very good. What does that say about us? I don't know. Maybe we sucked. We at least can play our instruments.
I think that at the very least, this oversaturated genre deserves a group of people that don't belong to any scene to give real opinions on their experiences wading through the cess pools of uninventive bands to find the really good stuff. Maybe I will ultimately discover that the only bands worth listening to are bands that are already getting their fair share of critical acclaim (Thursday), or the bands that have credibility in other genres (Alkaline Trio). But I think it's worth a shot. I want to try to create a list of starting points for someone unfamiliar with anything but Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and all the bands that sound exactly like them. I think the best way to do this is to go band by band.
So my plan, as it stands right now, is to take five bands a week, and listen to their entire proper discographies all the way through (this isn't a huge undertaking for me). I'll write about their story, if relevant, and what each album does differently, and do all the good things that a comprehensive summary of a band's career should do. Then I'll assign the band a letter grade based on what I've listened to, which will allow me to keep a running, ranked list of all-ages bands. Extra credit will be awarded for an impressive live show, if I've seen it, but a dismal show won't take away from how I rate the band's records (you're getting off easy, Valencia). Every month or so, I'll pick a handful of bands that I've already evaluated and briefly reconsider their grade based on new releases, or if there's considerable new buzz or support in the comments.
So, without further adieu, my first OFFICIAL OPINIONS since committing to this venture. Following on the heels of great releases this year from The Dear Hunter and Sleeping At Last (and a great 90s cover album by Four Year Strong), here are my top ten most anticipated all-ages releases for the rest of the year:
drmanhattan - Jam Dreams
Brand New - Daisy
Motion City Soundtrack - My Dinosaur Life (produced by Mark Hoppus, I think)
Say Anything - Say Anything
Thrice - Beggars (don't download the leak!)
Nightmare of You - Infomaniac
As Tall As Lions - You Can't Take It With You
HelloGoodbye - not titled yet
The Matches - Rarities and B-Sides (I miss them already)
Moneen - The World I Want to Leave Behind
A.F.I. - Crash Love
Last Fast Action - Season 3
PS. maybe I should get a grown-up blog to do this instead of my usual Last.fm blog and a Livejournal that crossposts into Facebook notes. Thoughts?
I'm really bad at dedicating myself to any genre. Anyone that knows me knows that I have a lot of trouble crafting a genre-specific mix CD, or even a CD for a person who has more selective taste than mine. This quirk translates to blogging (and speechwriting, I found out in a gen ed class) as an inability to develop a specific focus to talk about, and that is something I really, really need when writing. I'd just be ambling through a stream of consciousness about anything loosely related to music. That's not what I want to do. Weighing in on the entirety of music has always seemed to me to be too daunting of a task for anyone but Pitchfork (it received a 6.8). I keep track of a very select few blogs, podcasts, and music news sites, either because of their exclusive content, the unique angle they take, or the fact that they're run by friends, and sometimes all of these things. As someone who'd be doing this in his spare time with no intention of ever making a career of it, I have always questioned my ability to write something worth reading. But I think I've figured out a way to do it.
I'm going to blog about all-ages music. I talk enough about indie rock with my indie rock friends. Good metal is subjective, and I dunno if I'm ready to deal with the web-ire of the greater part of the metal community. I think that punk ("real" punk, anyway) is still thriving due to an attitude that is generally opposed to the concept of some guy giving opinions on the internet. The gray area between punk and pop-punk, the contention between screamo and metalcore, and the credibility of the indie rock end of all-ages bands (think The Hush Sound) are things that I can approach from a blog about all-ages music. It's the most versatile thing I feel like I can do from within the scope of rock and roll, without losing focus.
I've defended all-ages music before in this journal. It's a gigantic circle with Fall Out Boy at the center and very blurry edges. I really think that there's a lot of good within the genre, and the outside observer can rarely tell the difference. But I think there's an important distinction that needs to be made between Brokencyde and Bayside, because one uses insane technical ability to drive home punchy, frustrated songwriting, and the other one exhibits no ability of any type over GarageBand beats. Jim Suptic from The Get Up Kids recently said something in an interview with Drowned In Sound:
DiS: How do you feel about the 'emo' tag that Something To Write Home About led to? And what about that word, 'emo' - the connotations have certainly changed some over the years, pre and post-Get Up Kids.
JS: Honestly, I don't often think about the state of 'emo'. The punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It's like glam rock now. We played the Bamboozle fests this year and we felt really out of place. I could name maybe three bands we played with. It was just a sea of neon shirts to us. If this is the world we helped create, then I apologise.
DiS: And what do you think of the myriad bands who have sprung up in your wake, often to far greater commercial success? Certain acts have been particularly vocal in acknowledging the debt they owe you...
JS: I think I summed it up in the last question. If a band gets huge and they say we inspired them, great. The problem is most of them aren't very good. What does that say about us? I don't know. Maybe we sucked. We at least can play our instruments.
I think that at the very least, this oversaturated genre deserves a group of people that don't belong to any scene to give real opinions on their experiences wading through the cess pools of uninventive bands to find the really good stuff. Maybe I will ultimately discover that the only bands worth listening to are bands that are already getting their fair share of critical acclaim (Thursday), or the bands that have credibility in other genres (Alkaline Trio). But I think it's worth a shot. I want to try to create a list of starting points for someone unfamiliar with anything but Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and all the bands that sound exactly like them. I think the best way to do this is to go band by band.
So my plan, as it stands right now, is to take five bands a week, and listen to their entire proper discographies all the way through (this isn't a huge undertaking for me). I'll write about their story, if relevant, and what each album does differently, and do all the good things that a comprehensive summary of a band's career should do. Then I'll assign the band a letter grade based on what I've listened to, which will allow me to keep a running, ranked list of all-ages bands. Extra credit will be awarded for an impressive live show, if I've seen it, but a dismal show won't take away from how I rate the band's records (you're getting off easy, Valencia). Every month or so, I'll pick a handful of bands that I've already evaluated and briefly reconsider their grade based on new releases, or if there's considerable new buzz or support in the comments.
So, without further adieu, my first OFFICIAL OPINIONS since committing to this venture. Following on the heels of great releases this year from The Dear Hunter and Sleeping At Last (and a great 90s cover album by Four Year Strong), here are my top ten most anticipated all-ages releases for the rest of the year:
drmanhattan - Jam Dreams
Brand New - Daisy
Motion City Soundtrack - My Dinosaur Life (produced by Mark Hoppus, I think)
Say Anything - Say Anything
Thrice - Beggars (don't download the leak!)
Nightmare of You - Infomaniac
As Tall As Lions - You Can't Take It With You
HelloGoodbye - not titled yet
The Matches - Rarities and B-Sides (I miss them already)
Moneen - The World I Want to Leave Behind
A.F.I. - Crash Love
Last Fast Action - Season 3
PS. maybe I should get a grown-up blog to do this instead of my usual Last.fm blog and a Livejournal that crossposts into Facebook notes. Thoughts?