Your favorite piece of music writing in 2005

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What was it?

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

I'm having a vision of an ugly, ugly future...

Best American Rock Crit 2005, ed. J deRogatis

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

Esteban P Buttez's Babyshambles review.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

Just ahead of when Ace on 4Text described Alkaline Trio as being "for fans of the Foo Fighters or Rooster".

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 15 December 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

Memoirs of a Music Man
A former rock critic reflects on his lifelong quest for the ultimate Live Concert Moment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/23/AR2005082301229_pf.html

"You can, of course, fake your affection for bands like Blink-182, but it's hard to do that for long, and the people that stay in this line of work aren't faking. I remember reading a rave review in the New York Times of an album by Korn, a crew of goth metal heads who make grim and furious rock for disaffected 14-year-old boys. The review was written by Jon Pareles, the head pop critic for the paper -- and a man in his fifties. He went to Yale, where he majored in classical music. I thought to myself, "This guy must be kidding." How many middle-aged Ivy Leaguers in this country would even listen to, let alone rave about, the new Korn album?"

Sure enough, Pareles loved the new Korn album.

Or this Sigor Ros review:
http://www.75orless.com/?/archive/2005/11/sigur_ros_takk.php

― pinder (pinder), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:01 (twenty years ago)

I'm working on it right now. Boo-ya!

― brettino's bounce, Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:28 (twenty years ago)

If this is my favorite piece of work by a writer..i'm not sure, yet...

my favorite thing to read was the This Heat (Cold Storage/Camberwell Now/etc) article in The Wire...

― bobby.lasers (bobby.lasers), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:33 (twenty years ago)

lots of stuff i read in decibel was great. everything i wrote was great. i didn't read anything else.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 15 December 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

armed forces by franklin bruno. a gymnastic feat of note-by-note, word-by-word music criticism. it's basically an investigative report on the album as seen through a pop critic's eye. he looks behind and beneath every note and every word in every line of the song and reports his findings. it's obsessive almost to the point of ridiculousness, but also quite irreverent.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 15 December 2005 02:27 (twenty years ago)

Scott OTM

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Thursday, 15 December 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

STLYUS MAGAZIEN DOT COM AM I RIGHT FOLKS?

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 15 December 2005 03:08 (twenty years ago)

But seriously I really liked Turn the Beat Around.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 15 December 2005 03:18 (twenty years ago)

Probably Woebot on neu deutsche whatever it was.

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 15 December 2005 03:21 (twenty years ago)

actually, the Da Capo book this year is being guest-edited by Mary Gaitskill. Daphne Carr is the new series ed.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:09 (twenty years ago)

Also: Gutterbreaks on great form this year.

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:15 (twenty years ago)

That Segal article is 5,579 words long! Jesus Christ!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:21 (twenty years ago)

1. kogan's book
2. reynolds' book
3. shapiro's bool
4. chang's book
5. woebot

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:26 (twenty years ago)

that said, it's not a bad piece at all, just loooong

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:31 (twenty years ago)

6. ethan's dayton fam post on g&w

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:35 (twenty years ago)

I'd suggest some Buddyhead gossip post, but there's always that part about how much they love Primal Scream.

― 'Twan (miccio), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:38 (twenty years ago)

7. anthony's cmt rumors post

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:42 (twenty years ago)

i'm blushing!

― 'Twan (miccio), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:44 (twenty years ago)

Returning the compliment. XO

― 'Twan (miccio), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)

(Me too)

― Red Lorre Yellow Lorre, Thursday, 15 December 2005 05:01 (twenty years ago)

links plz

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 15 December 2005 08:13 (twenty years ago)

is the kogan book jess mentioned the one that amazon says doesn't come out 'til next year?

― running in circles (running in circles), Thursday, 15 December 2005 09:35 (twenty years ago)

That thing Eppy did on that M.I.A. track.
K-punk on Joy Division.

― Omar (Omar), Thursday, 15 December 2005 09:37 (twenty years ago)

did k-punk write that joy division piece this year? i think he did, that one was awesome

― Rizz (Rizz), Thursday, 15 December 2005 10:07 (twenty years ago)

hah Omar OTM

― Rizz (Rizz), Thursday, 15 December 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

Probably Woebot on neu deutsche whatever it was.

Link/reference please?

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Thursday, 15 December 2005 11:28 (twenty years ago)

what was the cmt rumours post, i dont even remember it

― anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 15 December 2005 11:32 (twenty years ago)

Miss AMP interviewing Kevin Blechdom, Plan B magazine.

― Frances May (kate), Thursday, 15 December 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

"the month in techno"

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 15 December 2005 13:31 (twenty years ago)

miss amp reviewing the her space holiday album in plan b

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 15 December 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

That "So Many Snares" piece everyone links to from wayne n wax.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 15 December 2005 14:16 (twenty years ago)

Woebot's November 18, 2005 post on German post-punk is called "Underground NDW 1980-1983" (NDW=Neue Deutsche Welle). He's also had some interesting posts on bhangra(if anyone know where in the U.S. I can order that Dr. Zeus UK/bhangra cd he highlighted as one of the best cds of the year, let me know)

http://www.woebot.com/

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 15 December 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

http://wayneandwax.blogspot.com/2005/08/we-use-so-many-snares.html

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 15 December 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

i have no idea when the kogan books comes out, actually. i read it in the summer of 2004. you should buy it, however, whenever it comes out.

― u saved me (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 15 December 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

Playing God With Whatever: The 90s Pop Culture Box by Andrew Unterberger

Swells on Blitzkrieg Pop by T Raumschmiere

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 15 December 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

That Blitzkreig Pop piece is great! :)

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Thursday, 15 December 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

The best post-Melody Maker writing.

http://cookham.blogspot.com/

― if i were Allan Jones, i would reconsider, Thursday, 22 December 2005 12:59 (twenty years ago)

Oh lord, I have no idea, but some that spring to mind are Hillary on Trapped in the Closet and William B. Swygart on "Rasputin" by Boney M. There are lots of things I'm forgetting by Sean and Carl and Abby and Matthew and like that.

― Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 22 December 2005 16:41 (twenty years ago)

Oops, that first link doesn't work anymore. Try this one.

― Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 22 December 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Brown's piece is really good.

― save the robot (save the robot), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

oh yes, definitely marcello.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 22 December 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

this post on Beat Research by jess made me laugh harder than anything all year. there's hardly any writing in it (it's mostly photos), but it's so great.

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

upthread, yo

― 'Twan (miccio), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:28 (twenty years ago)

That Blitzkreig Pop is basically the same reason why everyone pretends to "hate" Pitchfork!

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

Hillary's piece is definitely the best I've read about Trapped.

― 'Twan (miccio), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

I almost forgot but the real gem on Beat Research is Vahid's piece on Urban Tribe (far more interesting than the album itself really.)

― Omar (Omar), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

Y'all think I can write off my English grad school textbook costs as a music writing expense?

― Hillary Brown (Hillary Brown), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

and tim's long thing on the rule of law on beat research too

― cozen (Cozen), Thursday, 22 December 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

Hugo Wilcken's 33/3 book on David Bowie's "Low" (I was invited to pitch one, got them interested in a book about Laurie Anderson's "Big Science", but decided not to pursue it because of other commitments) and David Toop's Epiphanies piece in The Wire about the use of silence in Korean classical music. Oh, and Simon's "Rip It Up And Start Again", bien sur.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 22 December 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

Yeah well I got invited to pitch two 33 1/3 books, got them interested in a special multi-volume series called Nabisco Fever wherein I write one book each about my own songs, and then decided not to pursue it because I was too busy curing cancer and turning down dinner dates with Maureen Dowd.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 22 December 2005 21:08 (twenty years ago)

I'd actually really like to read a Momus-penned book on Big Science.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 22 December 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

No one thing comes to mind (there's a lot of good stuff), but if I had to pick a "writer of the year," it'd be Tom Breihan for what he's been doing on Status Ain't Hood.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 22 December 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

I totally agree that Hillary's bit on R Kelly was fantastic, as is most everything she's been writing at Flagpole and on her blog.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 22 December 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

no shit:

Rolling 2005 Country Thread

― xhuxk, Thursday, 22 December 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

That Sigur Ros review might have been classic had he picked on people other than douchebag standbys like Bono and Thom Yorke.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 22 December 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

Vahid on Urban Tribe.

― a, Thursday, 22 December 2005 23:01 (twenty years ago)

nabisco OTM

― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 23 December 2005 00:15 (twenty years ago)

Keith Harris clarifying what I like about Sleater-Kinney

― don weiner (don weiner), Friday, 23 December 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

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