Sasha Frere-Jones notes the laying off of a music reporter at the Times. He makes the argument that music reporters are almost more necessary these days than music critics–the business is free fallin' (ugh–a Petty joke), bands are coming up with new ways to earn a living, no one can figure out how to get [...]
In the comments, the folks at Smash Records mention that tomorrow night, June 12, the store will host a screening of Vinyl Scrapyard. The film, a documentary about the decline of the indie record store, is directed by Billups Allen, a former Smash clerk and Darkest Hour bassist. John Metcalfe profiled Allen in City Paper [...]
For a few days, I was tasked with researching the life of Christopher Savage. Savage had moved to D.C. from Bakersfield, Calif. in the hopes of starting a new life. After five days in the District, he ended up dead. The cause of his death remains a mystery. His life is a different matter. He [...]
A friend just pointed out this post from Jessica Hopper's blog, in which the blacklist-happy music writer goes after Chicago black-metal band Nachtmystium. The problem? Well, Hopper thinks they're racist and homophobic.
Now, I loved Nachtmystium's last album from 2006, an arty slab of psychedelic metal called Instinct: Decay. But I don't go around doing due [...]
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, [...]
Man. The New York Times has a pretty depressing story today on the state of the indie record store. Here's the nugget you all should take away:
"Some 3,100 record stores around the country have closed since 2003, according to the Almighty Institute of Music Retail, a market research firm. And that’s not just the big [...]
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.
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 [...]
