Blog Envy!

So when I travel, I sometimes get a chance to listen to satellite radio.  So as an avid consumer of that pitchforkmedia, top albums persuasion, and being the terribly over-the-hill at 29, I of course tune into Sirius XMU.  To all its credit, it is a great venue for independent musicians, or as what has become monetized as “indie,” like when I did charts as a college radio DJ (She & Him have several commercials now that bombard me when I’m trying to watch House).  But get this, I’ve listened to more unsigned bands on XMU in a day out in the field for work, than I have in all my time listening to the FM rock stations on the weekends of my youth where they did their local unsigned hours, even more than during my time at WMUC in College Park cause we had label distros…Anyway, part of the programming, that is part of the intro of this post, is a several hour program called “Blog Radio”.  This where some of the major music bloggers on the internet create a nice playlist of music they want to hear, and is often representative music often showcased on their blogs (but not always, and that’s cool!)…and I’m thinking, I’m jealous…and I miss being a DJ on college radio.  And yes, some of the personalities on the blogosphere are quite pretentious, or rather, they seem to extol the fact that they have clout and exclusive information and connections with the bands us indie-music lovers want to get to know.  But then…is the reason we want to know because this music their playing is the latest buzz?  Or is the reason we want to know is because this is the sound we’re craving and the sound we want to hear right now?  Regardless, a term that is thrown around with little consequence because its staying power is so fleeting is that of RELEVANCE, almost getting its meaning diluted as much as the battered term indie (but that word has a long way to go before it becomes as bruised and calloused as “jazz”).  As Heidi Klum says on Project Runway, “One day you’re in and the next, you’re out!”

So, I am jealous!  I don’t, or rather can’t, really blog on the most relevant music - Or so I feel.  I get my music sources from other, more connected people, who actually read their RSS feeds daily/hourly from people who actually have cell-numbers these underground deities of music on their smartphones…

Such is the way and the awesome power of the internet, where you have hundreds of millions of people, all contributing content, all contributing to our research.  Of course you have play your hand close to your chest to make it WORTH anything and so your voice on the internet sounds unique, and your valuable contacts and methods of information gathering aren’t sniped by the many other ambitious people waiting to make their mark on the blogosphere.  If that wasn’t bad enough, music reporting is already rife with pretention and exclusivity.  Fuck if I have Beach Fossils on speed dial, or at least sending me promos and CDMs of their singles for an exclusive remix.

The truth of the matter, or what’s the matter with me is, why blog?   It seems that there are a plethora of other music blogs on the internet that do a fantastic, if not much better written with more relevant content, cutting-edge and up to date with very exclusive information. 

Seems like I may be able to do the same thing with a team of bloggers, with feet on the street, money in their wallets, great contacts in their iphones and an ambitious attitude at being the coolest and hippest folks, in the know and on the internet so you, the reader, clicking on adds to pay for the blogger’s concert tickets, liquor, herbal and chemical bribes can stay up to date as well.  Then again, I’d rather take a daytrotter approach with live acoustic sessions in my amazing studio and fuck all care about what people think.  I guess that’s why they get so many cool people to do sessions there.  

There is a definite an idealization and romance to these star-music-blogs; like a movie scene where you want to be in it, blowing up the gas station, not looking back, getting in a $200,000 car with a supermodel and saying that memorable one liner that everyone will be quoting for years…basically it’s a way to make you want to care about their opinions in music.  And often to their credit, they are well researched and have probably listened to a lot of music, and probably have gone to a conservatory or college music program, or at least had some art appreciation curriculum.  And there’s a lot of them.  Going back to blog radio, a few to highlight in the wide world of music relevance is:

Gorilla Vs. Bear – Great tracks of indie rock, always seems to get the hot promo tracks off his cds before everyone else

Aquarium Drunkard – A little more high-tech than others, and often gets exclusive show presentation…so basically promotes shows and gets gigs for bands they like, which helps build relationships.  I like that business model.

Brooklyn Vegan – Well connected in the Brooklyn scene there in NYC and beyond.  His parties are apparently places where you "must be seen".

Hipster Runoff – I feel a kinship with him.  Often frames things in absurd and banal ways to where it seems just short of magical, cause indie artists are always just short of success and selling out.

The above all have shows on XMU :P

Brightest Young Things – Most amazing magazine out of DC, with great interviews, fashion etc…and an amazing street team.  Highly respected, though they can seem to speak with a very art-star voice that Karen O screamed about in that song she did in the early 00s.  Getting ahead of yourselves right?  But so cool, that any miss-step is easily brushed aside.

But with voices like this and much more already on the internet, I feel…washed out…

Personally, I’ve really gone through a lot of musical genres, specializations and explorations in my music consumption to get where I am today, blogging this blog.  However, I feel like I’m too slow.  Often the cutting edge of scenes is just crap that’s only going to last for a few fad-months: like crunk-kids perpetuated by the likes of Brokencyde and 2-Drunk 2 Drive.  Or to take it back to 99, the electroclash movement in NYC by bands like W.I.T. and Fischerspooner.  Much like the relevance, at the time of their height, they are all abuzz with this is the new-school, or this is the sound we were looking for.  They get a showcase at a dank Austin bar at SXSW, and a side-tent/café spot at Bonnaroo, or a space on a pavilion sidewalk at the Warped Tour and they're off!  So then, it’s what the kids want, and what the coolest underground DJs are playing (looking at you Will Eastman of D.C.), or the reporters on the citypaper are telling us to check out their show and it gets all sold-out in a day and the show is like some romantic-idealized situation that could be capitalized in a high-budget and sleek action film…like when industrial was cool in Blade and the vamps were sexily dancing to “Jukejoint Jezebel”, or when darkwave was cool in the “The Crow” and we were looking at well dressed, badass heroin junkies shooting up to “Golgotha Tenement Blues,” and bigbeat techno was cool in “The Matrix” like Propellerhead’s epic “Spybreak!” shootout scene in the building lobby.  Nowadays, there isn’t a stable goth-dance-night in the DC area (though I hear Europe’s holding on with the alfa-matrix label!).  Though I’m sure some cities are still holding on…

sic transit gloria mundi

(to quote Max from Rushmore)

The glory of the scene you were in…it fades!  It becomes irrelevant. 

But hopefully there will be some legacy left behind with genuine, amazing music…probably also left behind by the masses.

The reality of the situation is that the internet has created this amazing, albeit disparate community of people that can support this huge monolith of “indie” music.  If only we could get our act together…then we’d probably try to make it like a label…best we stay factioned, and continue to put on our airs of pretention.

But in a way, this narcissism is fun!  And I love writing about and listening to music.  So I guess…I am happy to call myself one of the internet’s music bloggers…and raise a glass to anyone else who’ll do it…just don’t expect my help…well much, unless you can get me an exclusive 2-month advance promo copy, or a white-label remix…