March 2010
13 posts
Sorry. I’ll try again tomorrow.
a grammar: why we fight #1 →
Much-appreciated readers and Tumblr-followers! Some of you will have already noticed this, but: today begins an adventure in which I write a monthly column for Pitchfork. It’s called “Why We Fight,” and the first installment — about Joanna Newsom, Lady Gaga, and how indie might eat itself — is…
This whole column is essential and worth anyone’s time. I’m especially drawn to...
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Joanna Newsom, the Changeling →
Jody Rosen notes “Yet she is an indie-rock star: ‘The Milk-Eyed Mender’ and ‘Ys’ (pronounced ‘ees’), from 2007, sold 200,000 and 250,000 copies respectively, huge numbers for independent-label releases, especially in the anemic 21st-century record marketplace. But sales figures don’t tell the whole story; her popularity is a phenomenon of depth, not...
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“…I think people just have no idea how hard it is to make a living as an...”
– Laura Viers in the Seattle Weekly being asked if her thoughts on file-sharing have changed since she started running her own label.
Even before my actions (five years ago or more) reflected my conscience, I was never comfortable with the idea that “music should be free”. To me, it was...
maura:
The Hood Internet - Absorb The Lip Gloss...
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Lady Gaga - Why It's Time To Give The Fame Monster... →
richaod:
I would bet physical money that anyone agreeing with this either/both: a. Constantly makes broad generalisations about the perceived vacuity of ALL pop music or b. Has not listened to the Fame Monster, and enjoys passing off uninformed “commentary” as authoritative.
However, I do think Gaga really needs to speed up her promotional - that is, SINGLES - cycle - as good as it is, riding...
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Little Boots' catchy pop, "stuck on repeat" →
Over at TIG, I write about the inspiration for this blog’s title.
juggalos on law & order →
molls:
(via lookatthisfuckingjuggalo)
Because sometimes I need to be reminded that juggalos are members of somebody’s family. Fortunately, my juggalo brother hasn’t been featured here. Yet.
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Carly Simon Refutes Theory That “So Vain” Target... →
If “You’re So Vain” isn’t about David Geffen, who is it about? Back to the drawing board, I suppose.
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February 2010
29 posts
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Blue Lines Revisited: Promotional Message →
Stuff continues to happen in the Pop World Cup. Currently underway - i.e. you can still vote in them: all previous songs are accessible on the main site though - are:
Denmark v Holland: The Danes went for a Eurovision entry, Holland for an apparently jazzy pop singer-songwriter (“Tulip…
I had no idea just how excited and obsessed I’d be with the World Pop Cup, but every morning...
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Our long, national nightmare is over. →
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“Well, ‘gauche’ and ‘folk’ are more or less synonyms,...”
– Stephin Merritt, interviewed by my good friend Chris Estey for The Stranger. Magnetic Fields play tonight and tomorrow in Seattle at Town Hall.
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Free Viral Videos →
OK Go singer Damian Kulash explains why major labels refusing to allow fans of his band to embed videos hurts their album sales. I wonder if they’re trying to get dropped.
The Onion, 2007: Only 7 Band Names Remaining →
WSJ, 2010: From ABBA to ZZ Top, All the Good Band... →
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Folkie Peter Kasen Shuns Blue Moon in Favor of... →
“Don’t you know who I am?”
I jumped the gun a little bit and posted info on my World Pop Cup entry, thinking my match was going to go up at the same time as my post, but I was a little off (even with the time difference between London and Seattle). So I took it down and will repost when my match against Germany goes up.
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Emotional Lady Gaga sweeps Brit Awards →
Now that Lady Gaga has won handily at the Brit Awards, can we put a rest to the bitterness from her feminist fans (hi Jezebel!) who thought every award Taylor Swift won that Gaga didn’t was a step back for women everywhere?
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For some brief moment, I thought it would be a... →
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I’m watching the opening ceremonies to the winter Olympics right now and it felt appropriate for me to mention that the Pop World Cup also kicked off this week.
This is my first year participating and I’m fortunate to manage a country that has produced so much great pop music (Australia). I’ll update this further as the competition goes on, but for right now, I’m in...
I wrote almost 1500 words on the new Hard Rock... →
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The military says it's fine, they don't consider...
During the Super Bowl, I remember seeing the now controversial Air Force ad liberally borrowing the riff from The White Stripes’ “Fell in Love with a Girl” and noticing it sounded different from the recording I had memorized from White Blood Cells years ago. Now the band released a statement saying that the ad was unauthorized and they weren’t contacted for permission...
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“There’s a stigma around feminism that’s a little bit man-hating. And I don’t...”
– Lady Gaga.
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WatchAfter The Who’s mostly lackluster and uninspired Super Bowl half time performance earlier today (only some of which is the band’s fault), it’s fairly safe to say that this performance by Prince should be the gold standard for all half time acts.
My goal is to update this blog every day in 2010. Unfortunately, I moved today and haven’t gotten my Internet access straightened out yet. I’ll try again for a better entry tomorrow.
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Gawker clears up something that should of been painfully obvious from miles away. Maybe even from outerspace. Quite literally:
Oh Ke$ha! The faux-drunken pop star with rotting Jack Daniels-teeth has released a new viral video in which she and her slinky friends change the famous Hollywood sign to say Ke$hawood. And people think it’s real! It’s clearly not.
Alas, Curbed. Sorry,...
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Ok, so the Taylor Swift backlash is now well under way.
The blog The Fab Life had its top five reasons for hating her. Not five reasons for finding her mildly annoying or five reasons why she might be overrated, but five reasons why she should be hated. Number one is “Her ‘OMG! I can’t believe I just won this award! I mean, I’ve been nominated for over 87 awards and have won 59 of...
Country music gets squeezed out. →
chainofknives:
The Taylor Swift win last night reminded me of this NPR piece. I heard this around Christmas, and I found it pretty fascinating. It’s interesting to me that country is getting punished for the failures of other aspects/genres in the biz. Country mostly avoided the piracy problem, but big box stores are shrinking shelf space for CDs. That hurts country records the most, seeing...
January 2010
33 posts
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Amanda Palmer finds the common thread between Lady... →
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Last week I wrote about how the first two albums to hit number one on the Billboard 200 charts were made of more than half digital sales. That trend will continue with the third number one album with the Hope for Haiti Now, which was made of not just exclusively digital sales but only two days of sales (January 23 & 24) where it still racked up 171,000 units.
Before Hope For Haiti Now was...
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A few housekeeping notes
Without time for a proper entry today, let me indulgently link to a few items that involve me:
I profiled the French pop band Nouvelle Vague over at TIG, writing:
Nouvelle Vague has been very successful to date, especially for a band who play covers of songs, selling somewhere around half a million records worldwide. Yet, it would be unfair to dismiss Nouvelle Vague as a “cover” band. They are...
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"Tik Tok": make it stop
I was hopeful that Ke$ha’s reign at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 would come to an end soon with “Tik Tok” being usurped by Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. “Bad Romance” set a record for airplay last week, getting 10,859 plays and had good digital sales (currently eighth on iTunes). Now, according to Billboard, “Tik Tok” has broken that...
“It’s hard to find men who appreciate pop music as thoroughly as Chris does; he’s...”
– A dear and lovely friend who goes by ”Snotty McSnotterson” wrote some very nice things about me and asked me some questions that I answered over at her blog that was wonderful and essential reading long before my name was mentioned.