I finally convinced my wonderful and talented friend Jenny Tatone to start a blog. Named after a Sonic Youth song I don’t know (there are many), Jenny’s blog is about Jenny’s life, which entails working in the horribly pomo “virtual receptionist” field, listening hard and writing well about music, and seeing Marshall Tucker Band with her parents. Of all the music-related blogs out there, I’d say hers is one of the warmest and most human. Music and music writing do not take place in a cardboard box. Jenny’s wielding an exacto knife.
June 9, 2005
February 14, 2005
Very soon now TRMW will be moving over to Urban Honking (here), and I’m really really excited about it. UrHo, as they call it, is a local Portland blog community of sorts, which also includes a show calendar and message board. It’s a very special thing, with lots of great creative stuff going on. There’s talk of Team Tinnitus moving over there too eventually. My music will stay here on Metem, where it belongs, but this rambling all-about-me stuff will be gone. Stay tuned!
Just got around to reading this (it’s been shortcutted on my desktop for weeks) and quite enjoyed it. That last sentence is me to a T – it’s almost creepy. Probably the only blog that’s really managed the YobNik stance would be this one, which sets it apart from pretty much every other music blog out there.
Stuff like this is why I like blogs (well, one of them); serious thought about music and how it relates to society, totally divorced from release dates and totally, wonderfully pretentious.
fig 16: beatnik, guitar, she-beatnik
January 10, 2005
Trawling compulsively through the blogosphere last night, found some cool stuff:
This is an interesting post about some current grime-influenced dance music coming out of England, and it’s potential merging with circa-93 IDM melodicism, and how cool that could be. Yeah, this is obscure to the max, but isn’t that what blogs are for? I enjoyed the mp3 samples and descriptions of interesting music I would not have heard otherwise. I like blogs when they do stuff like this.
There is an interesting little meme going around regarding the roots of IDM, it’s “social content” and “sonic form”, and whether or not these are racist. Nice to see people talking about the social undercurrents underpinning various genres. This stuff is the meat that makes music fascinating for so many people, at least me, whether or not we’re conscious of it. Here you will find Jane Dark aka Felizitas’ original post, here is Philip Sherburne’s response, and here is Simon Reynolds’. This, also, is what blogs are for.
My friend and housemate and sometimes editor Mark Baumgarten has started a blog and another one dedicated to live reviews. I will soon be joining Mark in posting reviews of shows and stuff. Collective brains and reportage on things you won’t find in print = blogs.
So what is this one for? Hopefully the same things, and that bit about “music in context” or whatever I was babbling about a couple posts ago, but today we’re just pointing the way. I think I’m gonna post something like a year-end list soon, and maybe a round up of good lists I found elsewhere. Perhaps my top ten top tens? That’s also what blogs are for, and that’s kind of why they suck sometimes.
November 9, 2004
Just realized I’ve been linked over at the wonderful 20 Jazz Funk Greats mp3 blog. Thanks guys/dude! Seriously 20JFG is possibly my favorite of these newfangled mp3 blogs (blogs where people post mp3s and write about them), because it is most in line with my tastes (weird shit with energy to it, roughly).
I’ve been reading too many blogs lately, kind of going out of my mind with all the excess information they present. The others I’m digging are Fluxblog, probably the most famous of the bunch, focussed generally on Euro pop and catchy stuff, and the new Sticker Shock, a sort of blog supergroup (like Genesis!) curated by some mighty high profile critics. I also enjoy lacunae, the project of Douglas Wolk, a very talented music writer and fellow Portland resident (also one of the nicest people you will ever meet). Douglas selects music originally released on 7-inch vinyl in the ’80s and ’90s, and adds some endearing this-is-what-I-did-today commentary.
fig 3: new music
I love these things, because they help me sort through the constantly expanding mass that is new music, but sometimes they give me a kind of info vertigo. I realize I am struggling to keep up with what is actually just the tip of a very big iceberg, and I can’t keep up, and I’m the kind of obsessive person that gets upset about these things. Every now and then I’ll find something that completely blows my mind, and I’m like “YES! This is why I read these things!” But then I get to thinking about how for each of these obscure wonderful things I find, there are many more that I’ll never hear, not too mention the many mediocre things I will hear along the way. It’s too much.
Still, better this than porn, right?
I’d also like to post the flyer for the Halloween show, which I am so proud of.
fig 4: the REAL cum lazer
When Steve and I first came up with the name CUM LAZER, it was supposed to be our band, mostly because more than anything we wanted this wonderful name to infiltrate the local culture (remember, we are dorks). The band didn’t happen (yet) but we have managed to get these words into the consciousness. Seriously, here it is, CUM LAZER, next to two bona fide real bands, and good ones too! And we’re also DJing the Rogue Wave show this Friday, a truly amazing, VERY REAL, band. VIVA CUM LAZER!! Next up: MATT WRIGHT.
February 21, 2002
Mmmmmm, life tastes pretty good right about now. Just got back from Saint Pauls Cathedral, and my what a gorgeous building that is. Climbed up all 500,000,000 steps to get to the top (or as close as I could) and looked down on the vast expanse that is London. Wonderful views, probably the best you can get in the city. Also enjoyed the colorful mosaics that were put up by Queen Victoria and her posse (probably more her posse than her really). Worth a visit for sure.
In other news, I recently made a wee visit down to the lovely (I think England makes me want to use words like “lovely”…. also “quite”) city of Brighton, had some great nights out courtesy of Mr. Scruff and Warp Records, and ate a banana. You can see some pictures from these events (save the banana eating event) in the pictures section. The picture right above this is from the Warp event where, among other things, I met the legendary Aphex Twin. And the funny guy (the one with the glasses, not me) in the pictures section is none other than Metem‘s very own Contax. And what a nice guy he is.
Yesterday I read some articles about how weblogging (you are reading a weblog right now) is dominated by people who crave attention and feel a strange compulsion to document their lives to strangers. I suppose I fall into that category, don’t I? Why should anyone care about my life? But wait, that argument would have us believe that all art and communiction is a waste of time. As human beings we love to connect to each other, however possible, and many of our inventions are used specifically for this (like the internet). So there, I have justified the above ramblings. I’ll give myself a pat on the back and exit the computer lab. Thanks for indulging me.
