Best Music Writing 2010
December 16, 2010 2:22 PM Subscribe
Best Music Writing 2010 - Links inside!
I recently picked up a copy of Best New Music Writing 2010 (ed. Ann Powers / Daphne Carr) and I quickly got deja vu - a lot of the pieces originally appeared online, and I read several of them for the first time via links here on the blue. Below is a roundup of those articles I could find still up around the web - so here's a partial look back at the year in music.
Greg Tate on Michael Jackson
Jason King on Michael Jackson
Sasha Frere-Jones on Tricky and The-Dream
Christopher Wiengarten on Twitter (video)
Hua Hsu on the end of White America
Robert Christgau on Brad Paisley
Josh Kun on Mexican cellphones
Geoffery Himes on BeauSoleil
Randall Roberts on Burma
Jessica Hopper on David Bazan
Nitsuh Abebe on Indie Rock
Timothy Quirk on his digital royalty statement
Evie Nagy on the Disco Biscuits
Barry Walters on Wendy and Lisa
Aaron Leitko on D.C. punk houses
Eugene Holley Jr. on Maria Schneider
Mark Swed on Gustavo Dudamel
Gregg Pratt on the NKOTB reunion
Chris Willman on Dylan's Christmas record
Nikki Darling on Guns N' Roses
Joe Caramanica on Chris Brown
Raquel Cepeda on Rihanna
Sean Nelson on the 1990s
Mary Gaitskill on Lady Gaga
I recently picked up a copy of Best New Music Writing 2010 (ed. Ann Powers / Daphne Carr) and I quickly got deja vu - a lot of the pieces originally appeared online, and I read several of them for the first time via links here on the blue. Below is a roundup of those articles I could find still up around the web - so here's a partial look back at the year in music.
Greg Tate on Michael Jackson
Jason King on Michael Jackson
Sasha Frere-Jones on Tricky and The-Dream
Christopher Wiengarten on Twitter (video)
Hua Hsu on the end of White America
Robert Christgau on Brad Paisley
Josh Kun on Mexican cellphones
Geoffery Himes on BeauSoleil
Randall Roberts on Burma
Jessica Hopper on David Bazan
Nitsuh Abebe on Indie Rock
Timothy Quirk on his digital royalty statement
Evie Nagy on the Disco Biscuits
Barry Walters on Wendy and Lisa
Aaron Leitko on D.C. punk houses
Eugene Holley Jr. on Maria Schneider
Mark Swed on Gustavo Dudamel
Gregg Pratt on the NKOTB reunion
Chris Willman on Dylan's Christmas record
Nikki Darling on Guns N' Roses
Joe Caramanica on Chris Brown
Raquel Cepeda on Rihanna
Sean Nelson on the 1990s
Mary Gaitskill on Lady Gaga
Wow. Wendy and Lisa did an album with Trevor Horn that's never been released? I'd love to hear that.
(Thanks for this post. Great stuff, and most of it I'd missed first time around.)
posted by hippybear at 3:16 PM on December 16, 2010
(Thanks for this post. Great stuff, and most of it I'd missed first time around.)
posted by hippybear at 3:16 PM on December 16, 2010
Excuse me, is this the right door for the Architecture Ballet?
posted by Herodios at 3:16 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Herodios at 3:16 PM on December 16, 2010 [3 favorites]
Great work putting this together! I have some reading to do.
That Nitsuh Abebe article on indie rock should be mandatory reading.
posted by naju at 3:16 PM on December 16, 2010
That Nitsuh Abebe article on indie rock should be mandatory reading.
posted by naju at 3:16 PM on December 16, 2010
So much interesting! Will take me some time to read all these, but thanks for separating out the links and for the post! So great to see someone writing about Maria Schneider as well. An under-rated composer.
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:20 PM on December 16, 2010
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:20 PM on December 16, 2010
Excuse me, is this the right door for the Architecture Ballet?
Funny, I just saw Alex Ross speak, picked up his new book Listen To This and the opening paragraph of the preface is about the "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" thing:
Writing about music isn't especially difficult. Whoever coined the epigram "Writing about music is like dancing about architeture" -- the statement has been attributed variously to Martin Mull, Steve Martin, and Elvis Costello -- was muddying the waters. Certainly, music criticism is a curious and dubious science, its jargon ranging from the wooden...to the purple...But it is no more dubious than any other kind of criticism. Every art form fights the noose of verbal description. Writing about dance is like singing about architecture; writing about writing is like making buildings about ballet. There is a fog-enshrouded border past which language cannot go...
So why has the idea taken hold that there is something peculiarly inexpressible about music?
posted by mediareport at 4:30 PM on December 16, 2010
Funny, I just saw Alex Ross speak, picked up his new book Listen To This and the opening paragraph of the preface is about the "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" thing:
Writing about music isn't especially difficult. Whoever coined the epigram "Writing about music is like dancing about architeture" -- the statement has been attributed variously to Martin Mull, Steve Martin, and Elvis Costello -- was muddying the waters. Certainly, music criticism is a curious and dubious science, its jargon ranging from the wooden...to the purple...But it is no more dubious than any other kind of criticism. Every art form fights the noose of verbal description. Writing about dance is like singing about architecture; writing about writing is like making buildings about ballet. There is a fog-enshrouded border past which language cannot go...
So why has the idea taken hold that there is something peculiarly inexpressible about music?
posted by mediareport at 4:30 PM on December 16, 2010
He admits that although the lyric I mentioned is not a good example, there are plenty of “goofball lyrics” on the disc. It’s something he feels the band didn’t really think about: people might not want to hear a 39-year-old man singing about being “your boyfriend.”
That is so funny. I have to find NKOTB comeback lyrics now.
posted by anniecat at 4:41 PM on December 16, 2010
That is so funny. I have to find NKOTB comeback lyrics now.
posted by anniecat at 4:41 PM on December 16, 2010
My Instapaper was already overfull. Thank you for adding to my backlog.
posted by immlass at 6:55 PM on December 16, 2010
posted by immlass at 6:55 PM on December 16, 2010
So why has the idea taken hold that there is something peculiarly inexpressible about music?
Mu.
posted by Herodios at 7:27 PM on December 16, 2010
Mu.
posted by Herodios at 7:27 PM on December 16, 2010
Fantastic post, much to read. I've gotten through a few so far - liked the Indie rock article but my favorite at this point is the Mexican Cellphones piece.
"“Feeling like you’re close to home is so important for Mexican audiences,” said Leila Cobo, Billboard’s executive director for Latin content. “In recent years it’s stopped being taboo to be Latin or Mexican. Assimilation is not the only option. For the younger fans it’s cool to like these artists and be proud of where you’re from.”
That phone companies and ring-tone providers are paying attention to this trend is a change from what many in the Mexican music industry characterize as years of willful, often culturally biased neglect from marketing and advertising agencies. Despite their commercial success, few norteño or banda artists — with their cowboy hats, horses, accordions and tubas — typically end up with the kind of major marketing and advertising deals that go to artists like Shakira or Enrique Iglesias, who embrace a more cross-cultural look and sound."
posted by mannequito at 9:44 PM on December 16, 2010
"“Feeling like you’re close to home is so important for Mexican audiences,” said Leila Cobo, Billboard’s executive director for Latin content. “In recent years it’s stopped being taboo to be Latin or Mexican. Assimilation is not the only option. For the younger fans it’s cool to like these artists and be proud of where you’re from.”
That phone companies and ring-tone providers are paying attention to this trend is a change from what many in the Mexican music industry characterize as years of willful, often culturally biased neglect from marketing and advertising agencies. Despite their commercial success, few norteño or banda artists — with their cowboy hats, horses, accordions and tubas — typically end up with the kind of major marketing and advertising deals that go to artists like Shakira or Enrique Iglesias, who embrace a more cross-cultural look and sound."
posted by mannequito at 9:44 PM on December 16, 2010
But I also agree with Zappa's assessment that most rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read.
As a former rock journalist, it is my sad duty to report that this is 100% true.
posted by Rangeboy at 9:53 PM on December 16, 2010
As a former rock journalist, it is my sad duty to report that this is 100% true.
posted by Rangeboy at 9:53 PM on December 16, 2010
Pointless? Maybe. But there's some damn fine writin' up there.
posted by alvarete at 2:35 AM on December 17, 2010
posted by alvarete at 2:35 AM on December 17, 2010
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posted by docgonzo at 2:56 PM on December 16, 2010 [5 favorites]