music from the heart
maybe i'm just being paranoid, but i feel like the following comments from the post's going out gurus chat today were aimed at DCist music coverage as well as several other music blogs i enjoy:
Logan Circle, Washington, D.C.: Do you guys read the D.C. music blogs that are out there about the "scene"? There are a bunch and they all seem to contradict each other. Are there any you recommend for either good information, good taste or pure humor whether intentional or not? Links please!!!Al Gore
Rhome: You know, I've never really read them. Care to toss out any specific ones? The few I've seen smelled faintly of being driven by an agenda, that clique'ish type vibe. I'm a big fan of staying up on the calendars of the local venues and going out regularly to check out stuff you've never heard. Most bands have websites with mp3's, or you can always preview material at washingtonpost.com/mp3. And if you stay tuned to this space, you might just see a new blog. Hmmmm...
Joe: Not a blog really, but I regularly amused by the discussions in the 9:30 club's forums page - especially when they are all bashing each other. The one problem I have with many of the local music blogs I've read (I won't name names) is the obsession with indie rock...and only indie rock. Gets boring pretty quickly.
hmm. i'm not sure what to say about rhome's comments - i don't understand why he would think any DC music blogs are being driven by agendas or being cliqueish. how can a blog be cliqueish, anyway? but i guess i should take this opportunity to say that no agenda drives DCist's music coverage except my personal taste - in order to do my picks, etc, i just browse though listings from several different sources and choose bands that i'm either sure will be good or that i've heard good things about. and as for any other music blogs besides the music coverage on DCist - well, they are personal blogs, done for fun. the authors aren't paid to write (neither am i, fyi) and aren't required to cover anything they don't want to cover or recommend diverse types of music. from the sites i read, i feel like their picks and recommendations are always very genuine.
joe's comment is, as far as i'm concerned, pretty true. the music blogs i'm aware of, including what i do on DCist, are always writing about indie rock except for a couple of exceptions here and there. i'm not sure exactly what to do about this in regards to DCist - i do want to expand the types of music we cover, but i don't want to do it just for the sake of trying to be more diverse. i wouldn't like to feel forced to include country or r&b listings every week or do one jazz show review a month, because a) i wouldn't really enjoy it and b) it wouldn't be very good as i'm not very well-informed on those kinds of music. that would be a concern for me if i wanted to be a music journalist-type for life, but i really really don't. this is just something i do for fun. additionally, i feel like the audience of blogs in general is, as of now anyway, the sort that really listens to an awful lot of indie rock. mid-twenties, hipster-ish urbanites. i don't think i have too many classical music fans checking in, and there aren't a ton of blogs out there writing exclusively about country music or what have you. but at the same time, i eventually would like to have people who enjoy non-indie-rock stuff looking to DCist for some musical information. we always want to expand the readership and all.
i suppose the answer right now is to try to find a co- or semi-regular music writer for DCist who is knowledgeable about music that is absolutely not indie stuff. i loathe the idea of turning to craigslist to get somebody, though - too many unreliable freakshows who think they are god's gift to terrible singing/songwriting. so, does anyone out there have a recommendation or think they are such a person? or does anybody have suggestions in general about DCist's music stuff? i am determined to be as non-cliquey and inclusive as possible. because that is what blogs are all about! right?
Comments
Apple: So what do you think of oranges?
Orange: Dunno, but I don't think I like them. So unappley!
I was actually pretty deeply invested in the DC dance music scene when it was, well, more fun. I could provide listings, though certainly not coverage of any sort. Not my thing anymore. And I'd be more into the local hip hop if it weren't so amazingly clique-y. Its all based out of Howard and, frankly, its not that great. Oh, and I hate go-go...
to the DCist's defense, how could you not just report on indie rock shows? Never mind the major venues that cater to larger touring indie bands like 9:30, Black Cat mainstage, DAR, etc., you then have all of these smaller venues (Black Cat backstage, DC9, Velvet Lounge, Warehouse Next Door, Galaxy Hut, Iota, DC Arts Center, etc.) catering to smaller touring bands and the growing local scene.
DC in itself is starting to really create a deep indie scene, in terms of the plethora of bands. Outside of the larger regional/national bands (Q And Not U, Trans Am, Carlsonics, Was Soc Club, Beauty Pill, Travis Morrison, Mary Timony) you have have a strong PF/hardcore/punk contigent in bands like Del Cielo, A Day In Black & White, Intersections, Navies; add that to the growing shoegazer moody-glitch rock scene in Phaser, The Facory Incident, Fatales, city-state, 302 Acid, Soft Complex, Cartel, Alcian Blue, Bellflur; then add the indie college rock crowd in Monopoli, Palino, Rotoscope, Motive, Laura Burnhem, Andy Zipf, Juniper Lane, Bicycle Thieves; along with the other niche-less indie rock bands in The Cassettes, Metropolitan, The Positions, Medications, Weird War, Gena Rowlands Band, Garland Of Hours, Jenny Toomey, City Goats, Alice Despard Group, Faraday, Semaphore, Exit Clov, Meredith Bragg, Pash; it's a pretty wide swath of good to great bands locally to keep tabs on.
(This is not even counting the "not so great" and fairly new bands just getting off the ground)
Are the other scenese in DC that deep? I wouldn't think so.
Maybe those blogs write about indie rock because they like indie rock, and they make no bones about what their aim is. Bitching about it is like reading Vibe and complaining that they write about rap too much.
Not sure how to do a trackback (or if phpnuke even CAN), so here's my thoughts on this:
http://www.heresahint.org/portal/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=111&mode=nested&order=0&thold=0
I think it's weird that Rhome is saying these blogs have hidden agendas. I mean, isn't he the one who's both a producer for mp3.washingtonpost.com and a "Poem-cee"? And then at the end he leaves a teaser for a new blog! So tell me, who's got the agenda?
Blogs are opinions made readable. It's sad that the person asking the question is upset when they contradict each other. Wow. It's almost as if objective facts in art are hard to come by. My DC yuppie brain is going to explode!
DCist, if it's trying to be a "real news" source, could probably add to its stable of writers... but I agree with you that the "blog-reader" and "indie-rock listener" universes overlap a lot, and none of this should be any big freakin' surprise. It appears that the Post lives by its own marketing slogan: "If you don't get it, you don't get it."
(Also, wahoowa.)
yeah, the part i found most annoying was rhome saying, "oh, blogs are cliqueish and agenda driven....but we're going to have one too!" so what is going to make their blog any more inclusive or less agenda driven? bah. whatever.
and wahoowa right back atcha!
actually, i changed my mind. the most annoying part of the whole exchange is this: "There are a bunch [of local music blogs] and they all seem to contradict each other."
god forbid there should be people out there with DIFFERENT OPINIONS!
Mature black female xxx sex mpeg movie trailers Mature black female xxx sex mpeg movie trailers [ http://wife.lovely-mature.com/mature_black_female_xxx_sex_mpeg_movie_trailers/ ]
Slut wife lover Slut wife lover [ http://wife.lovely-mature.com/slut_wife_lover/ ]
Amateur sex movie Amateur sex movie [ http://wife.lovely-mature.com/amateur_sex_movie/ ]
1792 premium readers wives world wide 1792 premium readers wives world wide [ http://housewive.ynottgp.com/341_readers_wives_world_wide/ ]
1261 undeground free white wife fucking blacks 1261 undeground free white wife fucking blacks [ http://housewive.ynottgp.com/1517_white_wife_fucking_blacks/ ]
Housewife nude breast Housewife nude breast [ http://housewive.ynottgp.com/1077_housewife_nude_breast/ ]
1998 hardest naughty housewive 1998 hardest naughty housewive [ http://housewive.ynottgp.com/392_naughty_housewive/ ]
1474 total exclusive milf car sex 1474 total exclusive milf car sex [ http://housewive.ynottgp.com/1848_milf_car_sex/ ]
Research, cartoon, precious, old lady Research, cartoon, precious, old lady [ http://housewive.ynottgp.com/1160_research_cartoon_precious_old_lady/ ]
Post A Comment