Ben Sisario's NYT article about indie record stores was quite a bummer, but Sasha Frere-Jones blog post from last Friday got me thinking that the demise of 3,100 record stores since 2003 isn't such a bad thing.
SFJ writes: "There are many educating angels out there, and I owe several kind people a lifetime’s tuition, but, [...]

Baltimore gets "Best Scene" in the new Rolling Stone "Best of Rock" issue. Does this mean that the Baltimore scene is officially over?

Yesterday, in the A-section, the Washington Post ran an article about DJ Kool Herc and his efforts to save the Bronx apartment building in which he invented hip-hop back in 1973.
The developer who is trying to buy the building, where DJ Kool Herc spun in the rec room, would, presumably, turn it into something other [...]

Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein seems to think so. Of course, what he's really talking about is consumer criticism–telling people how to spend their time and money.
I tend to agree more with Robert Christgau, who says–and I'm paraphrasing here–rock criticism isn't for fans of rock music, it's for fans of rock criticism.

I know. I know. It's only April. Way too early to be making predictions about Album of the Year. Plus, it's a metal record we're talkin' about and few will believe that a metal record–even a really catchy, accessible metal record–could ever be, you know, the record. (Those who already worship this album should just [...]

People don't seem to get this, so let's put it in cable-television terms: the reason that album sales are down is because albums used to be a monopoly of sorts (like cable packages) and once consumers had the option to pick-and-choose the songs they like, overall sales went down (which is why some stations like [...]

The D.C. area grindcore trio Pig Destroyer doesn't play here–or anywhere–all that often. But, when it does, it plays on some pretty amazing bills.
The band's label, Relapse, just announced a new four-date world tour which includes the band's first-ever stop at the Black Cat:
PIG DESTROYER will first perform a local Washington, DC show on April [...]

I can’t really disagree with Anne Midgette, who reviewed the Washington National Opera's new production of "The Flying Dutchman” in the Washington Post. It’s a mixed bag (Senta, who was played by Lori Phillips last night, was excellent). But I will say this: the most Wagnerian elements of the opera—the creepy ghosts, the enormous bass [...]

Ballrogg, a Norwegian duo, is coming to Blues Alley for two sets on Wednesday, April 2. The band's bassist, Roger Arntzen, is a member of In the Country, a Keith Jarrett-esque piano trio that records for one of my favorite boutique labels, Rune Grammofon. I wrote a piece about the Oslo indie and two of [...]

Eric Alterman has an article in the New Yorker this week about the state of the newspaper industry. He makes some great points, but also makes a statement that is more a wail of liberal anguish than a prediction that can be supported by history: the newspaper is in its death throes. (If that were [...]