Thursday, June 23, 2005
Music Criticism in the Press
1. From today's paper of record, "Sometimes Snarkiness Is Preferable to Sincerity"
"One of the funniest and meanest music-criticism blogs publishes no original music criticism at all. It's called The Shins Will Change Your Life, online at indierock4eva.blogpost.com, and it compiles excerpts from breathless or fawning articles about indie-rock albums and musicians."
2. Elsewhere, in living, breathing cyperspace, Simon Warner outlines the differences between
free papers in the UK and the US. He explains why it is he finds vibrance in the independent
press in the U.S.
Warner also recounts how it was the judges cast their ballots for the best music writing in the AAN:
"ANGLO VISIONS
Media Mainstream? There's Still an Alternative"
'The outcome was a splendid surprise…not only did the three of us broadly sing from the
same song-sheet when it came to identifying the outstanding writers, we also happened
to pick women for both of the awards. This was great news because the line of important
rock journalists has been so dominated by male practitioners that the prevailing
assumption is that only men can really grapple with the trajectory of the popular cultural
juggernaut. Obviously, such an assumption is plainly untrue.
In the small paper category René Spencer Saller of the Illinois Times proved a
worthy champion. I described her writing as "incisive, acerbic, opinionated, densely
packed and well-informed" While Melissa Maerz of the Twin Cities' City Pages, the
prize-winner in the large paper section, delivered "pen portraits of mayhem on the
Minneapolitan pop scene…quirky snapshots taken with a throwaway camera [which] fizz
with life even if the writer's cameos are mostly seen through a fish-eye lens or, just as likely,
the bottom of a cocktail glass".' ¶ 6/23/2005 06:36:00 AM
1. From today's paper of record, "Sometimes Snarkiness Is Preferable to Sincerity"
"One of the funniest and meanest music-criticism blogs publishes no original music criticism at all. It's called The Shins Will Change Your Life, online at indierock4eva.blogpost.com, and it compiles excerpts from breathless or fawning articles about indie-rock albums and musicians."
2. Elsewhere, in living, breathing cyperspace, Simon Warner outlines the differences between
free papers in the UK and the US. He explains why it is he finds vibrance in the independent
press in the U.S.
Warner also recounts how it was the judges cast their ballots for the best music writing in the AAN:
"ANGLO VISIONS
Media Mainstream? There's Still an Alternative"
'The outcome was a splendid surprise…not only did the three of us broadly sing from the
same song-sheet when it came to identifying the outstanding writers, we also happened
to pick women for both of the awards. This was great news because the line of important
rock journalists has been so dominated by male practitioners that the prevailing
assumption is that only men can really grapple with the trajectory of the popular cultural
juggernaut. Obviously, such an assumption is plainly untrue.
In the small paper category René Spencer Saller of the Illinois Times proved a
worthy champion. I described her writing as "incisive, acerbic, opinionated, densely
packed and well-informed" While Melissa Maerz of the Twin Cities' City Pages, the
prize-winner in the large paper section, delivered "pen portraits of mayhem on the
Minneapolitan pop scene…quirky snapshots taken with a throwaway camera [which] fizz
with life even if the writer's cameos are mostly seen through a fish-eye lens or, just as likely,
the bottom of a cocktail glass".' ¶ 6/23/2005 06:36:00 AM
