• Harry Fox Agency is withdrawing its proposed license for MusicNet that grants it the right to stream music online. The basis for the withdrawel is MusicNet's lack of proposal for a new rate in the pending Copyright Royalty Board proceeding. Billboard's Susan Butler outlines a worse case scenario: "Although not stated expressly in the letter, the failure to seal a licensing deal could lead to copyright infringement suits by publishers against digital services not covered by any license." Harry Fox Agency is America's largest agency for mechanical licensing, collection, and distribution agency on behalf of music publishers. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Fourteen layoffs at Verve Music Group today, according to a tipster.

• Robert Christgau's "Consumer Guide" is back...at MSN.

Posted by Glenn at 3:29 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing||Universal Music Group|

For a blogger that covers the music industry, it is particularly frustrating that the Bible (a.k.a. Billboard) has been locked behind a subscription toll booth. Another publication, Hits, requires Flash and a corny target practice excercise to allow entrance. In the case of Billboard, some articles have been available for non-subscribers, and a few are carried by Reuters. They've been stuck between a diminishing circulation and a need to seriously enter the digital age, and Billboard.biz has felt like a compromise.

Now Billboard.biz has been revamped. It's an improvement, no doubt about it. There are more articles available -- I linked to one this morning by retail guru Ed Christman -- and a better design. The site is still slow as molasses, though. I hope that improves.

In the past I wrote that the music industry has failed in one important online aspect: It has let technology writers tell its story. For years, Wired and similar sites have done a better job covering hot digital music issues than have free-of-charge music sites. The many Billboard op-ods and features have been seen by only the fraternity of industry employees who put their subscription on an expense report. As Billboard expands its free online offerings, there is a chance that online discourse will improve and bring greater objectivity to the debates surrounding the collision of music and digital entertainment.

Posted by Glenn at 12:42 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

• Here's a fun thread: "Do labels ever sign an artist just to shelve them?" Much of the thread is about whether or not Geffen screwed over Rock City Angels to protect Guns N' Roses. (Fun fact: Johnny Depp was in the band briefly.) On one hand you had a scruffy, bluesy rock band that arrived during the Guns N' Roses era. On the other hand you had a band not good enough to threaten Guns N' Roses -- and that's not just hindsight talking. (Read thread at The Velvet Rope)

• Veteran music critic Robert Christgau is doing just fine post-Village Voice. He was named contributing editor at Rolling Stone and as already mentioned is now a music critic for NPR's All Things Considered. His "Consumer Guide" archives will become editorial content at the Rhapsody online music store. (Via Idolator)

• Another day, another article about superstar artists going the independent route, another day of Terry McBride saying it's "the future" without explaining how artists because superstars without major labels. Nice creativity: Hall & Oates tackled their marketing budget problem by getting an exclusive deal with Trans World. (Read article at the Daily News. Thanks Frank.)

Posted by Glenn at 4:37 PM | Link
|Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Marketing||Music Criticism/Writing|

The title of the Fortune article is "Big Musicians Flex Their Muscle With Record Labels," but the tone of the article is evident in the title of the web page: Who Needs Record Companies? The answer should have been answered by writer Davin Leonard. Except for the superstar clients of management company The Firm, who have distribution and profit-sharing deals that allow them greater control and ownership of their recordings, most artists need record companies.

It's the latest in a long line of wrong predictions of labels' pending demise. Few artists can go it alone. For every Ice Cube, who achieved his musical notoriety on the back of major labels, there are thousands of artists dying to connect with a big label.

Over time more management companies will shepherd their clients' careers through a label-less album release. Record labels may end up looking like a hybrid of record label-management company-marketing firm. That's years away, and even then only established artists will be able to ditch their label and go it alone. They will be exceptions to the rule, just as they are now.

Posted by Glenn at 1:52 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

• MTV.com's James Montgomery got a preview of The Killers' Sam's Town and calls it "incredibly pompadocious," "voluminous," and the band's "bid for artistic legitimacy." (MTV.com, via Stereogum)

• SOHH is back with the rumor that Atlantic may have dropped Fat Joe. (SOHH)

• A guide to this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival. (Chicagoist, via Information Leafblower)

• Power pop fans take note: Not Lame Recording Company unveiled a new layout last night. Titles are broken down as "New Major Label/Larger Indie," "Reissues," "Indie Power Pop" and "More Indie Power Pop." (Not Lame, via Absolute Power Pop)

• San Francisco won't let dance fans wait 12 months: its Summer Music Conference happens September 27th to October 1st. "Where Music, Media and Technology Intersect" the headline says. (Summer Music Conference, via Danceblogga)

Posted by Glenn at 5:38 PM | Link
|Conferences||Music Criticism/Writing|

Yesterday in Hits' Rumor Mill:

"Audioslave’s third album, the Brendan O’Brien-produced Revelations, is slated for a Sept. 5 release, but insiders are saying this will be the band’s last, with Chris Cornell splitting for a solo career. A previous summer tour has already been canceled. 'Original Fire,' the first single from the album, was released two weeks ago to Most Added status at Rock and Alternative radio. Word is the three remaining members nixed a seven-figure offer from promoters to reunite as Rage Against the Machine with ex-lead singer Zack de la Rocha amid rumors of bad blood."

And today:

"Sources inside the Audioslave/Rage Against the Machine camp are saying that, despite our rumor-mongering, this upcoming album is not the band’s last, it is not true that Chris Cornell is ankling the group for a solo career nor that they’ve canceled their summer tour. Finally, Rage did not turn down a seven-figure deal because of bad blood between the ex-members and Zack de la Rocha. Well, at least we spelled Zack’s name right."

Posted by Glenn at 3:59 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

Who is feeding Fox News' Roger Friedman his information, and why can't he/she do a better job? Friedman all but declared the end of the recorded music industry in his column two days ago, starting off with, "The top 20 pop albums sold fewer than a total of 750,000 CDs last week." NOW 22, he wrote, sold only 220,000 (actual number was 397,000) and called the situation "a crisis that no one acknowledges in the record business."

The next day he corrected himself, sort of, and said the album chart really started at #2 because NOW 22 doesn't count as an "actual album." So taking out the nearly 400,000 NOW 22 disqualified sales, fe feels his numbers really weren't that far off. What?

For the record, the Top 10 titles sold 938,000, the best in the last four weeks. Sales were up 3% over the previous week and are down 5% over last year. In the Track Equivalent Albums method Soundscan uses as a broad measure (ten single downloads count as one album) sales are up 0.8% in the first half of 2006.

Continue reading "Friedman Gets Fed The Wrong Numbers" »

Posted by Glenn at 12:36 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

The USA Today's Elysa Gardner has a good article on the decline of "serious" women musicians. She writes that the beginning of the decade brought "a fresh crop of more independent-minded, creatively engaged role models" -- Dido, Norah Jones, Pink, Alicia Keys -- but recent years have proven more difficult for such artists. This year the top of the singles chart has seen a lot of Pussycat Dolls, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson and Cassie.

Gardner differentiates between women who at least share songwriting credit for their hits and women, like Beyonce and Gwen Stefani, who are part of collaborative machinations. Though Nelly Furtado is currently atop the singles chart and Dixie Chicks were recently atop the album chart, "the current Hot 100 boasts fewer women in the top 10, especially women who play dominant roles in crafting their tunes, than the July 20, 1996, top 10, which was led by Alanis Morissette and Tracy Chapman and included other songs by Morissette, Jewel and Mariah Carey."

Posted by Glenn at 2:36 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

Who dare rip Internet favorite son Sufjan Stevens, the singer-songwriter followed with near religeous fervor? AllMusic.com's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, that's who.

His article "A Case Against Sufjan Stevens" (look at the template John Pareles set with his anti-Coldplay rant) braves the inevitable death threats and flies in the face of near universal critical adulation. A relationship that started as "entirely pleasant" has been ruined by "pretension and childish preciousness."

As for The Avalance, a well received collection of outtakes, Erlewine blasts it as "further proof that Sufjan Stevens has been wildly overpraised for music that has deliberately limited appeal."

Posted by Glenn at 12:19 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

The press has spent much of 2006 celebrating the new music paradigm, the one without major labels, the one where MySpace and MP3 blogs are all a band needs to break. Some of the articles are hype, most mostly get the story straight and a handful are so far in left field one can only pray the writer doesn't go into artist management.

This article at The Age, "How To Become A Virtual Star," falls into the latter category. According to Darren Levin,

• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah sold 45,000 CDs with the help of Said The Gramophone. (Nothing against that fine blog, but Pitchfork had more to do with CYHSY's early success than any other single factor.)
• Arctic Monkeys used online hype to get a buzz, and in a matter of months they were playing festivals. (Any journalist that doesn't mention these two facts is irresponsible: First, the band's label is Domino, the home to Franz Ferdinand. Second, British radio was what turned online buzz into real world success.)
• The number of MySpace friends a band has is a measure of the band's popularity. (Not even close to being true. Trade pub Hits isn't helping things when it writes things like, "Speaking of MySpace, there are a couple of unsigned singer/songwriters based in Northern Cali who are posting some big stats on their pages." Oh please.)

Wonder how much direct effect MP3 blogs have on a typical favorite? Coolfer has checked the numbers, and Soundscan's database is filled with blog favorites who have sold less than 5,000 albums -- many less than 2,000. There's just too many factors other than blogs and MySpace that go into CD sales and concert attendence-- the true measures of popularity. Anybody can collect MySpace friends. Anybody can get a bit of attention by giving away free MP3s of songs done in a very blog-friendly genre. Creating an actual demand for your music is much more difficult.

Posted by Glenn at 11:37 AM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

• In case anybody cares, Andy Pemberton has "resigned" as editor-in-chief of Spin magazine. (Gawker)

• Troubled music company Sanctuary predicted a loss of between £17m to £22m in the year to September 30...and its stock nosedived 30% on Friday. (The Guardian)

• Two items on the new Toshiba Gigabeat S, which has got good reviews: An unboxing at Engadget and a ten-minute user interface video at Google Video that shows the owner clicking through various screens, playing songs, playing videos and viewing photos.

Posted by Glenn at 6:45 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

A continuination of my thoughts on the negative affects of keeping industry trade articles behind password- protected and subscription-required doors. This is from Slate's slide show that looks back at its ten years. In 1998 it tried to go to a subscription model. It failed.

"Charging for Slate was a noble experiment but a doomed one. Even in the pre-blog, pre-Google era, it quickly became clear that if other sites couldn't link to our stories, Slate would be left out of the national debate. We watched our traffic, and our influence, fall."

Slate's influence is greater because it's not closed off. People can email links. Bloggers link to articles.

Now, there aren't an incredible number of music industry bloggers right now, but there will be more in the future. Beyond that small group of information filters, others interested in the thoughts of labels, executives and journalists -- such as the technologists who blog daily for a painful death to the RIAA -- would be able to get a different viewpoint.

If the music industry wants its viewpoints to be part of the national debate, it needs an open model online. No registation. No subscriptions. Open it up.

Posted by Glenn at 10:29 AM | Link
|Internet||Music Criticism/Writing|

Sorry for that Spinal Tap reference. Given the state of the magazine, it seemed appropriate to use a line from a fake documentary that follows a hapless, aging rock band.

Anyway, a post at industry gossip board The Velvet Rope has a picture of Spin magazine's new look. And new content. Beyonce and Busta on the cover? Have young, middle class emo kids really given up on reading magazines, or all they all reading Alternative Press?

Spin has been going through quite a few changes in recent months. Check Gawker's Spin archive for a list of posts on the events as they've unfolded.

Mostly unrelated: Team Clermont's comment on former Spin editor Sia Michel's Tapes 'N Tapes review for the NY Times: "While I think there might be some bloggers out there overly sensitive to criticism, it would be hard to hear complaints of an undeveloped live identity on the part of Tapes 'N Tapes from someone who presided over a cover issue of SPIN featuring Fall Out Boy." Zing!

Posted by Glenn at 2:13 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

It was bound to happen. Whether they would admit it or not, music journalists must realize their role as gatekeepers has been eroded by music blogs. And since bloggers have for years taken shots at journalists, we were due for a reaction.

Minneapolis band Tapes 'N Tapes played NYC's Bowery Ballroom earlier this week, and it was the perfect setting for a fight. Here's a band that quickly rose to underground prominance through music bloggers and an endorsement by Pitchfork. It signed to XL Recordings and is playing larger venues.

There's enough going on for music critics to check it the band on its curren tour, but rather than talk about Tapes 'N Tapes, the real topic was the blogosphere that has been the band's primary support network. That would be fine if it was for putting the concert in context, but this was more than just context. The writers have a bone to pick.

Sia Michel's review for the NY Times exemplifies the attitude carried by some writers. "When the record labels came calling, bloggers got to feel good about themselves," she wrote, "as if they had saved nice guys from a sad life of dive bars and bowling alleys." At the end of the article, she noted that the band "still lacks the confidence to develop a complex live identity of its own" but that such a shortcoming "will make some bloggers like it even more."

The New York Sun's Martin Edlund was more concerned with talking blogs than bands in his review of the Bowery show. "If the Internet has democratized music criticism, it seems it's also spread its penchant for uncritical hype." Edlund ridiculed the "blog-suckled fans" he spoke with at the show, showing great disdain for the young music fans' enthusiasm for the bands on the bill (which also included two other bands covered by music blogs, Cold War Kids and Figurines).

Continue reading "Music Critics, Bloggers Trade Jabs" »

Posted by Glenn at 3:54 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing||Weblogs|

Ice Magazine's founder/owner Pete Howard posted a message at the magazine's website notifying the public that the music magazine has closed its doors for good. Ice walked a line between an industry trade and a resource for record-collecting store owners and industry employees. There was nothing else on the market like it.

"It's with careful consideration and a heavy heart that ICE magazine has decided to close its doors, after 19 wonderful years," he wrote. "In the very near future - perhaps just a few days - we will post a URL here which will lead to a Q&A blog in which I’ll attempt to answer all of your questions regarding ICE’s closing and its 19-year history."

Billboard will take over the magazine's subscriber list starting with its June 17th issue.

Posted by Glenn at 1:38 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

Sometimes it's not easy editing and writing a blog that covers the music industry. If Coolfer were just a technology blog with a slight music slant, there would be far more information to share with readers, and accordingly more opinions and more discourse on the subjects. If this were just about posting MP3s there would be no problem.

But there is a problem with finding music industry news online. It's rare, harder to find that it should be. Trade news in the music business is locked behind the media's version of DRM: It's mostly available in print. Billboard is the industry's Bible, yet it puts out very little online to non-subscribers. (Some articles are carried by Reuters but most of what's available online free of charge is pretty lightweight.) Hits has some news (that requires a free registration), but it too clings to its pulp-based beginnings and is too gosippy for the common Joe. It's very frustrating because Coolfer does not want to discuss items that can't get referenced via a hyperlink. Mentioning an article in a print publication goes against the whole point of blogging. (Though I do occasionally quote from the Wall Street Journal and give no hyperlink. That's my exception, because I subscribe only to print and not online.)

That lack of accessible information has helped the music industry lose the online battle of opinion. By being unseen, industry trades have handed over the telling of their story to some of its biggest detractors. For most connected people, their knowledge of the music business comes from sites like Wired, Blog Maverick, CNET's News.com and the neverending stream of Mac-related sites. Objectivity can be hard to come by in these RIAA-hating quarters. Want news with a music background and/or perspective? Better pony up subscription money.

Continue reading "The Trouble With Blogging Music, The Trouble With The Industry Trades" »

Posted by Glenn at 11:00 AM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing||Weblogs|

Slate's Jody Rosen picks up the rockism debate torch, which has been a popular music critic theme for a couple of years.

Rosen's piece follows the rockist debate and the movement's reactionary counterbalance, the popist movement, which contends "Pop (and, especially, hip-hop) producers are as important as rock auteurs, Beyoncé is as worthy of serious consideration as Bruce Springsteen, and ascribing shame to pop pleasure is itself a shameful act."

Danceblogga, which is where Coolfer found the link, has thoughtful commentary.

Previously: Coolfer called Sanneh's article, "The Rap Against Rockism," "the best music-related article of the year."

Posted by Glenn at 5:15 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

Mixtapes a popular topic with the New York press this week. The Village Voice's Robert Chrisgau has an ode to the mixtapes he's been listening to lately. "Explorations in Mixtape Nation" is about the "illegal" mixtape, "an unofficial recording you can buy for seven bucks both online and in clandestine geographical locations." He later adds, "Need I add that the RIAA has no idea what to make of them?"

What Christgau's article misses in policy analysis, it makes up for in enthusiasm for the format. To get an idea as to what the RIAA makes of mixtapes, read this op-ed by record store owner Alan Berry in today's NY Times (seen here at the International Herlarld Tribune, which may go live at the Times' website later today): "Meanwhile: The Tale of the Tapes," which tells of Berry's arrest for selling mixtapes at his Indianapolis store. He asks some very good questions about mixtapes, the position of the RIAA and how law enforcement can penalize the sellers of items that are obviously important to and endorsed – though not explicitly -- by virtually all hip hop labels.

"But under the current system, the only people who risk punishment are the retailers. I know about this firsthand. In August 2003, police raided my Indianapolis record stores and seized thousands of dollars worth of mixtapes. I was charged with 13 felonies, spent a night in jail and ultimately lost my business. Ten months later, I pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge: selling CD's that did not conspicuously display the address of the manufacturer. If the industry truly wanted to stop mixtapes, record companies should simply stop providing tracks to DJ's. The industry knows, of course, exactly who's making these tapes; the industry needs these tapes to be made. Why, then, are tax dollars being spent on arresting people who, by distributing mixes, are doing nothing but promoting upcoming hip-hop releases?"

Great question.

Posted by Glenn at 4:08 PM | Link
|Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Music Criticism/Writing|

(Occasional Coolfer contributor Alec Hanley Bemis started writing about the Village Voice's firing of music editor Chuck Eddy on an email list. Coolfer offers an expanded version.)

By all reports Chuck Eddy was an extremely responsive, communicative editor in an era of hands-off, light-touch, blog-style rubber stamping. Eddy is also a great writer and rock intellectual. If you doubt that I'll refer you to his piece on Detroit's recent triumphs on America's album charts. (Makes a nice twofer with Robert Christgau's essay on why Eminem is one for the ages.) Some fancy glossy should sign him up to a lucrative writing contract. Now that even uptown mags like Vanity Fair are putting Paris Hilton on their covers, it's time that they get someone like Chuck to do some real analysis.

That said it's hard not to acknowledge Chuck's departure from the Voice doesn't come out of left field. For anyone making a career as a pop writer, it's clearly a bummer on a personal level. (I believe he's a single father with kids.) His departure is also cause for alarm if you believe in the lasting import of public intellectuals. Eddy is original. Where most music critics are sheep, he has a POV as bold as that of Richard Meltzer. The style he encouraged and the range of coverage he allowed into the paper was unique.

However, the capitalist/market-satisfying individual in me says it was inevitable that he got axed. He edited the section for himself and people like him. Rock critics, geeks. An audience that gave a shit that he was a contrarian, or even understood the dominant stream of thought & taste he was revolting against. The problem: A paper like the Voice needs to be read and understood by regular people. That's how newspapers survive, folks. The Village Voice's music section has long been the premiere venue for music crit, yet it long ago turned up its nose at a general audience. Furthermore, it intentionally nipple tweaked its natural readership of hipsters and fuzzy, culture loving liberals.

Here's an anecdote that might provide some insight. A few years ago I taught a NYU graduate j-school class about youth culture. About 1/4 of the students were aspiring music/culture writers. The other 3/4 couldn't give a shit about any musician not in the top 40. I had them read some Voice stuff and could tell from their reactions that the section was in trouble. The aspiring music/culture writers hated it because it covered Toby Keith and random boogie rock, while ignoring or underplaying lots of cult, music faves. The other 3/4 of the class were mainstream "non-music" people. Normally they might be interested in a story about artists who shifted units (a mainstream country or rap musician, John
Meyer). Unfortunately, the section was equally inaccessible to them because of its dense thickets of self-referential prose.

Two leds from recent articles picked at random from the Voice's website. First a review of west coast rappers Keak the Sneak and E-40 -- an example of how the paper covered "popular" hip-hop.

The prodigal coast has returned. Banished from rap since Tupac's shooting, the Pacific sensibility -- ranging from the barbecued grooves of G-funk to Mobb music's electro picaresques -- has hemorrhaged cred since the mid '90s, while surrendering Billboard real estate to young blood in the Bible Belt. New scenes have been flashing in the pan at strobe pace, with a spate of geo-genres springing up along the nation's rim: crunk, screw, trap, and snap. Add hyphy to the list—maybe. It promises to finally restore balance to hip-hop's lopsided map. Kindled by native wordsmiths, a Bay Area renaissance has been simmering, simmering, simmering. E-40 might finally bring it to a boil.

Questions for those Coolfer readers who spend less than two hours a day websurfing AllMusic.com: What "Mobb" are they referring to? What the hell is "hyphy"? Did you understand the writer is saying California hip-hop is back after a period of Southern rap dominating the charts and the popular imagination? Well, no, because it doesn't come out and say any of these things in plain English.

Continue reading "Guest Blogger: One View on the Chuck Eddy/Village Voice Situation" »

Posted by Glenn at 3:49 PM | Link
|Guest Blogger||Music Criticism/Writing|

• Well, music execs, you may have it bad these days but not as bad as music critics. Says writer/critic Chuck Klosterman, "I think the music industry is in trouble, but I would say people who write about rock music are in more trouble than the artis. Ten years ago people read rock magazines to be introduced to new bands. Now, you don’t need a rock critic to tell you what’s good." That's funny, because next to no music critics actually use adjectives like good or bad, or verbs like rules or sucks. (Red and Black)

• Big Boi hasn't delivered a whole lot for Virgin yet, so how will his four new ringtones perform? The ringtones were taken from the modest selling Big Boi Presents...Purple Ribbon-Got Purp? Vol.2, a comp released on Big Boi's Purple Ribbon label that goes through Virgin. (SOHH.com)

• Michael Jackson plans to have a new album out in 2007. Which label will release it? A newly formed entity, so says a statement released today, that's a joing venture between Jackson and a member of the Bahrain royal family. Fifty bucks says the record's horrible. (Reuters)

• An LA Times writer talks to network executives, historians and a comedian to find out why Americans are obsessed with "American Idol." (LA Times)

Posted by Glenn at 9:11 AM | Link
|EMI||Music Criticism/Writing|

As much as Coolfer would like to keep this a family blog, some news items are too hilarious to pass up.

The NY Daily News had a piece on the sexual harassment lawsuit against VNU, the owner of Billboard magazine. The papers were just unsealed and include pictures and tales of a battery-operated vibrator that was allegedly "brandished" in the Billboard offices. Seems that Billboard executive editor Ken Schlager kept the vibrator on his bookshelf until management took it away.

Here's the best part: VNU claims Schlager was given the vibrator by a record label as a promotional item," and adds that the judge has already dismissed this particular vibrator claim. Coolfer's question is what album's promotional budget had a few thousand dollars earmarked for this kind of item? People must be tired of handing out branded rolling papers, right?

Posted by Glenn at 11:15 AM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

Vice Magazine goes against the grain in its new "food issue." In the album review pages, Vice writers rip the new Liars album Dream's Not Dead and gives it a big fat goose egg, then gives a maximum ten rating to the music media's current whipping boys, the Arctic Monkeys.

But it's not just the contrarian points of view that makes these reviews worth repeating -- they're also really funny. The Liars' Drum's Not Dead has been getting some rave reviews around the media and blogosphere. (It has a 7.2 Metacritic score -- which would be higher if not for the 1.0 given by Filter -- and a whopping 9.7 user rating.) Of the album Artie Filie wrote:

"The overblown bullshit balloon that is Liars has finally begun to deflate, and recorded here for your enjoyment, may I present the gentle farting sound of its demise. And what a pathetic eulogy the band has written for itself: A sad attempt at a concept album complete with fictional characters named Drum and Mount Heart Attack (not kidding) that apparently speak to each other in tuneless droning and clumsy ambient noise. In short: With no more Entertainment! to scrape from the barrel, Liars are now aping the Residents. Poorly. Well, you had a good run, guys. Now please take the rest of your lives off."

The Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not has been well received (an 8.2 at Metacritic and a 7.0 user rating) but in recent weeks the backlash has taken hold in the media. Mort Sneed isn't hopping on that bandwagon:

"It’s big news that these guys sold 120,000 albums within 24 hours of its release, making them the fastest-selling debut in Britain ever. And the thing is… it’s like, a really good album. Why does this make me feel profoundly uncomfortable? Like maybe I should read "The Da Vinci Code" after all?

Good ol' Vice. Always going against the grain, and making music criticism bearable if only for a few seconds.

Posted by Glenn at 1:15 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

The world of music criticism got its own scandal last week when Village Voice senior associate editor Nick Sylvester was suspended for fabrications in a cover story he wrote for last week's Village Voice. The article was a lightweight piece about New York men who use the Neil Strauss book "The Game" as a how-to manual for picking up women. Sylvester has admitted that a meeting recounted in the article, in which he wrote he met with three Los Angeles television writers who came to New York to test the strategies in "The Game," never took place.

Sylvester primarily writes music reviews and articles for the Voice, and he an associate editor at indie tastemaker Pitchfork. It has been reported that Sylvester was asked to resign by Pitchfork. (His name was quickly removed from the company's masthead.)

Gawker has kept the Sylvester posts coming and now has a Nick Sylvester category to compile the news and developments.

For a time "Nick Sylvester" was one of Technorati's most searched phrases, and a quick glance at the posts written about the scandal shows a blogosphere that's disgusted by The Voice and Sylvester. The comments at Gothamist are harsh as well. His annoying speech at the recent Plug Awards didn't exactly endear him to New Yorkers not already chafed by his cocksure writing style.

All that aside, Sylvester's music writing was often a rare bright spot for both The Voice and Pitchfork, a culturally significant website with a roster plagued by mediocre writing skills and shallow music knowledge. Sylvester has as good a talent for dissecting the heart of a matter as he does a tendency to create a new hipster lexicon with each assignment.

The Nation's Christine Smallwood, in a blog post titled "Liar, Liar, Pants of Fire," ripped Sylvester's ethics and "pretentious, garbled, mumbo-jumbo name-dropping music reviews," and finished with a prediction that shows how difficult it is to undo one's career these days: "He's more famous than he was before, and in the long-run, his career will be just fine.... He'll still get a book deal."

Posted by Glenn at 3:41 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

Writer Jason Newman has a good article in URB Magazine called "The Out Crowd," one of the rare articles on the gay hip hop scene in a mainstream publication. Based around the film "Pass The Mic," which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, the article also gives a brief history of the reclusive sub-genre that's also called queer hip hop and homohop.

Newman also touches on the differences that exists within the scene.

"While there is no outright hostility within the community, an ideological divide does exist with regard to the role one's homosexuality should play within the realm of hip-hop. As Miss Money succinctly says in the film, 'I'm a hip-hop artist who's gay. I don't do 'gay' hip-hop.' ... 'It’s bullshit,' says Juba Kalamka, when asked about the debate. 'The fact that you are not heterosexual is the fulcrum of that conversation. It’s a shtick. This is show business.'"

To read about the movie, the music and gay hip hop artists, see also:

• The website for "Pick Up The Mic."
• The "Pick Up The Mic" blog.
• GayHipHop.com is a resource with a lot of links and podcasts.
• PeaceOUTFestival.com scanned and posted the article.

(Pictured: Aggracyst. Photo by David Findlay.)

Posted by Glenn at 9:03 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

A music article in the most unlikely of places is always a pleasant surprise, so reading "That's Good Enough for Me: Cookie Monsters of death-metal music" in the Wall Street Journal (of all places) was like a vacation from normal music writing. If published by a metal magazine, the article wouldn't have had the same journalistic curiosity.

Jim Fusilli wrote about Cookie Monster singing in death metal music, the style of growling that characterizes a particularly morbid and punishing music. The nonprofit behind Sesame Street claims not to know of the term, and original Cookie Monster voice Frank Oz said he's never heard of it. Fusilli captured the essense of the vocal style in this paragraph:

"The term is considered derogatory by some metal fans, but it's an apt description. Issued like machine-gun fire, death-metal vocals are low, guttural and aggressive, with no subtlety, no melody and very little modulation. But unlike the garbled sound emanating from the lovable and occasionally frenetic Cookie Monster, death-metal vocals seem to come from a dark spot in a troubled soul, as if they were the narrator's voice on a tour of Dante's seventh circle of hell."

Monte Conner of Roadrunner Records had good advice on how to attain the Cookie Monster style. "It's got to be really, really guttural. It should sound like they're gargling glass." But Angela Gussow of Arch Enemy (pictured) insists the sound originates in the abdomen. "If you use the right abdomen muscles, you get a lot of power."

A few years ago Will York wrote a piece about Cookie Monster vocals for the SF Bay Guardian. He explains the genres that use the style of singing (only death metal and grindcore) and that the type of growl is a good indication of the subgenre. As for why so many bands use the style he wrote, "For most, it's a mixture of several factors: habit, time-honored tradition, unoriginality, and necessity, in varying degrees."

Posted by Glenn at 9:22 AM | Link
|Music||Music Criticism/Writing|

• The Artic Monkeys are big alright, and the superlatives are flowing from Kelefa Sanneh's article in today's NY Times.

"The debut Arctic Monkeys album, 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' (Domino), has been instantly — and accurately — hailed as a modern classic, even though it was only released a week ago."

Yes, it's a great album, no doubt about it, but let's give it at least seven days of hindsight before the word classic is used, shall we? Premature hyperbole is more of a British sport than an American one.

• Yahoo Music has put together an official Grammy site that will host unique content for the February 8th awards show. It was Grammy-related news, information on nominees and video streams of nominated songs. And there's a special "Great Grammy Moments" section for trips down memory lane. (Via Digital Music News)

• Billboard.com has its own Grammy section, with news, category profiles, a list of nominees and an article that reveals the secrets of Grammy voting.

• There's a lot of talk about the possibility that Google will open a music store. Coolfer would happily take just a music player from Google. That alone would surely be an improvement over all others.

• Listen to Belle and Sebastian do their first Mark Radcliffe session in years today on BBC Radio 2, between 10:30pm and 12:00am GMT. You can listen online later as well.

Posted by Glenn at 8:47 AM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

At the end of 2005 Coolfer commented on the lack of music reviews given to online-only albums. How is an e-label going to work when critics are conditioned to write about only those albums that come on free shiny discs mailed by publicists?

Then, just like that, there were a few signs of change in the first month of 2006. First, Pitchfork wrote reviews for two online-only live albums, by indie rock staples Belle and Sebastian and The Pixies. Two days ago The Onion dedicated a small section of its A.V. Club to online albums (two of which were the two reviewed by Pitchfork).

It's a small step forward, but it's an important step. If digital music is to surge further into the mainstream, the press is going to have to play a big part.

Posted by Glenn at 8:49 AM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

Hopefully this will be the last 2005 list Coolfer will mention, but it's a good one. As he has done in the past, Jason Gross of Pefect Sounds Forever compiled a list of the best music writing of the year.

Gross looks for good writing in many locations. One honoree was an album review from San Francisco's Aquarius Records. (The store's new release emails are great reading, though they're lengthy.) An article at the satiric The Onion made the list. And Damian Kulash's op-ed for the New York Times (seen at Coolfer first) got a nod. Very nice.

And since there's always bad to go along with the good, Gross has a list of the worst music writing of 2005. He ain't kidding. There are some terrible articles on that list.

(Link via Music Filter)

Posted by Glenn at 3:13 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

The NY Times' Jon Pareles does not like that people enjoy safe pop music. The critic who made The Cast Against Coldplay ("the most insufferable band of the decade") recapped the music of 2005 by tearing into its music and the people who bought it. Last year, he wrote in Pop Comfort Over Ambition, the public put comfort over ambition.

"Yet through the years, the most memorable blockbusters have aspired to something beyond popularity. They set out to inspire, to startle, to define an era or to defy it. For the likes of Nirvana, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Eminem, Alicia Keys, Metallica or Bruce Springsteen, catchiness has been a means rather than an end."

There is one undying truth to music criticism. Critics forget just how mediocre best-selling albums have been each and every year. They write about the music of the past as if was better, more authentic and untouched by the ugly hand of business. As they do this, they ignore the tens of thousands of forgotton albums that comprise the ash heap of music history.

On the other side of the coin, some of the legitimately great music of any year takes a few decades of hindsight to enjoy critical favor. Madonna is far more respected now than she was in her heyday. She released her debut album in 1983, but the hometown girl didn't make that year's Village Voice Top 40. Like A Virgin, released in 1984, didn't make that year's that year's poll either. Metallica's first two albums, Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning, were released in 1983 and 1984, respecively, and were instant metal classics. Neither made either poll.

Every year there's a glaring gap between what is popular and what is critically accepted. Here's some perspective: In 1985 the Village Voice's Robert Christgau voted Franco & Rochereau's Omona Wapi the top album of the year, and the Voice's vote went to the Talking Heads' Little Creatures. The American public, on the other hand, kept the "Miami Vice" soundtrack at the top of the album chart for 11 weeks and Phil Collins' No Jacket Required for seven weeks.

Given the last two, it's ironic that Pareles described the industry's perfect 2005 album as one that "will also do double duty as a commercial or a TV-show soundtrack: something noticeable but not too demanding." (Collins' "Tonight Tonight Tonight" happened to be featured in a Michelob beer commercial, by the way. It was the ubiquitous song of 1987. )

But the consumer-critic disconnent wasn't born in the '80s. In the '70s, an era that is today romantisized as an era of the more genuine pop star, the top albums were no more daring or epochal that today's favorites. More after the jump.

Continue reading "The Case Against Pop Comfort" »

Posted by Glenn at 7:07 PM | Link
|Music Criticism/Writing|

For the last post of the year Coolfer would like to talk about the odds and ends. A few albums (Rogue Wave, Cut Copy) and worth a mention, as is the year's most underheard album (Ringside).

First, some albums that were not on my top nine of 2005 but deserve a mention. One is the last great album I heard this year, Rogue Wave's Descended Like Vultures. Also worth a mention is Cut Copy's Bright Like Neon Love. And though I don't include compilations with my lists of favorite albums I need to mention Golden Afrique Volume 1, a tremendous collection of West African pop that's well worth the high price tag.

Biggest Disappointment: Big Star's In Space. Sometimes people are disappointed by an album because it didn't live up to the pre-release hype. It's a different story when a band doesn't live up to the proven potential of its members. In Space is a sloppy bunch of half-thoughts and shouldn't-haves.

This Album Could Have/Should Have Been Huge: Ringside. The album with the most popular appeal that went nowhere in 2005 was Ringside's debut on Flawless/Geffen. The duo's credentials are enough to sink its prospects. Singer Scott Thomas is a well known clothing designer and programmer Balthazar Getty (of that Getty family) is an actor. But get past the names and zip codes and you'll be surprised. Thomas' tortured, troubled persona and Getty's beats make Ringside far more than a Los Angeles vanity project, and the entire album is as dark and ingenious as any other pop album of the year. All Coolfer heard of this band was the use of their song "Struggle" in a Pontiac commercial. What a shame.

Favorite music blogs: Danceblogga, Tuning Fork, Chromewaves.

Favorite music news blog: Digital Music News.

Favorite music writer: Jeff Leeds of the New York Times. Music critics are a penny a dozen. Good music writers, who understand the business and dare to investigate a story, are a rare breed. Without Leeds a lot of important stories would be exactly what they tend to be when Leeds doesn't break the story: Press releases with bylines.

Posted by Glenn at 9:19 PM | Link
|Music||Music Criticism/Writing||Music Industry|

Damian Kulash is in good company. Not only was he a guest blogger at Coolfer, but yesterday he was sandwhiched between retired general Wesley Clark and Nicholas Kristof on the New York Times' Op-Ed page. The OK Go frontman wrote "Buy, Play, Trade, Repeat," a piece on CD copy protection for the Times that was a remix of a post he wrote for Coolfer.

Not surprisingly, the Internet was all over it. Boing Boing and Slashdot both posted a link to t