January 2012
“ALL WATERS: Why are straight women always walking with their hands in the back...”
– Matador Records | Perfume Genius Biography
Mike Hadreas’ song-by-song explanations of each song on the new Perfume Genius record are amazing and incredibly thoughtful. This may be the best bio I have ever encountered, actually.
Paper Trail: Everybody Loves Our Town →
I interviewed Mark Yarm about Everybody Loves Our Town, his terrific oral history of grunge, for Pitchfork. This one has been in the can for a while, and some bits got cut out — I might end up posting a few good outtakes. Mark is a really bright guy and we went on some interesting tangents.
1 tag
lookingformyshadow asked: What do you think it needs a good review? How do you do to convince someone to listen or not listen to an album? Do you have a like a basic structure and from that you start writting or you just start writting whatever you want? Is it difficult for you to express yourself? Another question that has nothing to do with this: how imporant is for you the live performance of a band or artist?
“Aren’t Oscarbatory films like The Artist, Hugo, and Midnight in Paris the high...”
– Todd Serencha makes a very good point.
Aziz Ansari Prepping Introspective New Stand-up... →
I talked to Aziz about comedy, Louis C.K., and his angst about the possibility of settling down and becoming a father.
1 tag
“We were also asked to write a song for Crown Royale Liquor several years ago....”
– The National Honored to Be on Academy Awards Best Song Shortlist | Music News | Rolling Stone
I interviewed Matt Berninger of the National, and kinda regret not pushing him to recall those “awkward sexual references.”
“It’s fun to viciously insult people,” he says. “And it’s...”
– FX’s bawdy spy series Archer returns | Rolling Stone
I interviewed H Jon Benjamin — that’s a quote from him above — and Adam Reed about Archer, one of the funniest shows on tv. The third season premiere airs tonight, and this post contains a clip from that episode featuring...
“No, the Lana Del Rey imbroglio points at something potentially worse: an...”
– Lana Del Rey Lights Up the Internet
Tom Ewing makes a very important point. Theatricality and reinvention are crucial parts of music and the arts — demanding “authenticity” is reactionary and mostly poisonous to creativity.
“tuneyards?!?!?!?! are you fucking kidding me?!?!?! I’m starting to wonder...”
– Pazz & Jop 2011 results announced (tUnE-yArDs wins)
The Brooklyn Vegan commenter mentality, in a nutshell.
“The head-spinning end result is an indie-rock world that feels like a place...”
– Confuse the Market: Post-Crossover, Indie Retreats
Scott Plagenhoef is ruthlessly on point in his Village Voice Pazz & Jop essay, particularly in this paragraph where he perfectly articulates something I’ve been trying to say since, like, 2005.
2011 Pazz and Jop Albums →
Good news, everyone! The best album of 2011 won the Pazz and Jop critics poll! This is exciting and wonderful and unexpected. Here’s my ballot!
“Given how rich Alwaleed is, it’s not surprising to hear that his life is...”
– THE DWARF-THROWING BILLIONAIRE WHO’S BUYING UP AMERICA: Tales Of The Mysterious Saudi Prince Alwaleed
Stop what you’re doing and read this totally insane article in Business Insider!
“The thing that [Jennifer] Egan does that no other American writer I can think of...”
– Richard Rushfield makes a very good point about Jennifer Egan, who I agree is probably the finest literary novelist working today. This point is really crucial for most all writing — I think it’s very important for writing to engage with a wider audience rather than to self-consciously...
hellohazel asked: I wanted to ask about your thoughts on the idea of "indie music." I am confused by people thinking indie music is a genre because, to me, the word indie is not a genre but a label assigned in the music world to musicians who are currently signed to independent musical labels. So, indie music has no sound or style. The "indie world" has criticized Lana Del Ray for trying to...
“BrooklynVegan is the worst, it just becomes like a rating board for guys to have...”
– Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, interviewed by Pitchfork’s Larry Fitzmaurice.
I’m glad she said this. I think more people need to talk about this, to call it out, because I think there’s this assumption that the indie world is full of nice guys who have evolved beyond sexism,...
WatchReal Estate “Easy” Tom Scharpling and Rob Hatch-Miller continue their music video hot streak, this time with a great performance from Videogum’s Gabe Delahaye. Also: This song is incredibly pleasant!
everywhereforever asked: What's the most you've changed your mind about an album after reviewing it? Are there any albums whose ratings you would change by 2 points on pfork or by a whole star in RS if you had the chance? On another note, are there any albums you reviewed that were given a rating by an editor that you strongly disagree with? I'm assuming that since you've become a more prominent critic...
alexwhines asked: Do you think spotify is going to have an impact on the economics of the music industry? Do you think spotify will be around in three years?
michpalmer asked: I'm in love with concert photography and have been lucky to take some photos for an independent blog a couple times. What is your relationship with photographers? Do they normally work more directly with the editors? Do they typically contact you, or do they get contacted for specific jobs? Are photographers typically writers as well?
silenceissilver asked: If you could pick a band to reunite and tour in 2012, whom would you choose? (All band members have to be alive.) Thanks for the great blog.
ryanb asked: How hard was it to start out as a blogger and then go on to write for Rolling Stone, Spin, and other publications?
nicholasboyd asked: What's your favorite NYC venue?
I Welcome Your Questions
Ask me stuff, but please keep it relevant to the general subject matter of this site, and avoid “what’s your favorite?” type questions. If I have a good answer, I will post it over the weekend.
Best-Selling Digital Artists, 2004-2011
Sales figures for digital tracks according to Nielsen SoundScan, 7/4/2004 - 1/1/2012 1. Rihanna (47,571,000) 2. Black Eyed Peas (42,405,000) 3. Eminem (42,290,000) 4. Lady Gaga (42,078,000) 5. Taylor Swift (41,821,000) 6. Katy Perry (37,620,000) 7. Lil Wayne (36,788,000) 8. Beyoncé (30,439,000) 9. Kanye West (30,242,000) 10. Britney Spears (28,665,000) No big surprises here, though the emphasis on...
Top 10 Albums of the SoundScan Era
These are the Top 10 best-selling albums since Nielsen SoundScan began recording sales data in 1991 up through 1/1/2012. It’s amazing to think that it wasn’t very long ago that records could still sell on this level. These days it’s a miracle to sell a million records. (See also, for contrast.) 1. Metallica - Metallica [1991] (15,735,000) 2. Shania Twain - Come On Over [1997]...
The Top 10 Vinyl Albums of 2011
This is according to data for U.S. sales from Nielsen SoundScan. As Ben Sisario noted on Twitter, this is the third year running in which Abbey Road has been #1. (It was #2 in 2008, behind Radiohead’s In Rainbows.) It’s the only Beatles album in print in the format, and if the other Beatles records were out, it’d just be a top 10 list of Beatles albums. Aside from that, well,...
December 2011
“Then there was “One,” the song around which the album was built. A...”
– 20 Years After ‘Achtung Baby ’ | The Awl
Elmo Keep’s essay about U2 on the Awl is amazing, so great that I just want to quote the entire damn thing because she has so many sharp/accurate observations about the band and their work, and what they were and what they have become....
2011: The Return of the Sax →
I kinda forgot that I made this video gallery of notable songs featuring saxophone from the past year, it only just went up today! Sorry in advance to “Mr. Saxobeat” fans.
