Chicago: Beef, Love and Understanding

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It's like, "Wow, he actually made the special effort to take the five minutes it takes to scan Pitchfork every day."

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 15:51 (seventeen years ago) link

why I should read the writing of a music critic who I feel knows less about music than me? That's how I feel about basically all music writers at this point.

Uh, seriously? When I wrote for Stylus, I was constantly awed at how much more all the other staff writers knew than I did. I always told myself that my music writing could still succeed on the basis of it being good, intelligent writing that just happened to use music as its subject. (I think there are a lot of critics who are primarily music fans looking to parlay their obsession into something useful, whereas I consider myself a writer first and foremost.) (And there are a couple people who write singles reviews for Stylus that I think are totally uninteresting writers. I know the format is supposed to be casual, but what's the point of saying something like, "The music is energetic, but it doesn't really do anything for me"? Why bother publishing that??)

― jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link

So guess what? Sarah's flight to Memphis leaves at 5:45 AM tomorrow morning. Meaning we are aiming to get there around 4 a.m. Huzzah!

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link

"there" = the airport

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

I will say that M1ke P0well is one of the few music writers who consistently impresses me.

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

I scan Pitchfork, too... scan. Sometimes I read it. Most of the record reviews I read are blurby ones from retailers, strangely enough, like Boomkat or Other Music. Not like they don't have a vested interest, but I don't really want big opinions anyway. I want a description, a comparison or two, someone who sounds knowledgeable but not awfully proud of their knowledge beyond just wanting to tell me that this record exists. That's all I usually want to know: THIS RECORD EXISTS. I'll take it from there.

But I do still like feature-y music writing that tries to put things into social context or what have you.

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

Best people to recommend music to you: your friends. We should have some kind of Chi mix CD exchange.

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 15:59 (seventeen years ago) link

I am considering doing a jaymc-style year-end mix this year, since I'm actually keeping on top of new music this year for a change. Or I might do four mix CDs, one for every quarter. I don't know.

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:00 (seventeen years ago) link

For instance, I'd heard Berlinette before, but it wasn't until Jeff expressed his gaga-ness over Ellen Allien that I started really listening. That's something Pitchfork or Gregg Kot would not have convinced me to do.

Now I have dreams about her sometimes. :)

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:01 (seventeen years ago) link

And I just feel like this is something that someone whose entire job is knowing about music should not get 'extra credit' for.

He gets extra credit because the vast majority of daily newspaper critics are dumb. I mean, I guess I should couch it all in terms of "compared to other critics like him." And like I said, I do enjoy listening to him every week, too. He seems sharp, and he never falls prey to any of DeRo's juvenile faults (e.g., whenever Kot likes something that DeRo doesn't "get," DeRo will always accuse him of only liking it because of "hero-worship" or "hype" or, if it's a woman, because he has a crush on her. Kot isn't insecure.).

― jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link

I touched her once.

― Jeff, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Ellen.

― Jeff, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:05 (seventeen years ago) link

My favorite thing about good music writing is when a descriptive phrase gets stuck in my head, and then I hear the record later and think, "yeah, you know it DOES sound like that". Or maybe it doesn't, but I'm left wanting to hear (or make) music that sounds like what the words made me hear in my head.

― Jordan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, specialization is more important to me that eclecticism. I'm more likely to listen to the opinion of someone who listens to nothing but ambient drone about an ambient drone record than a professional reviewer who puts one ambient drone record in his yr-end list. Even if it happens to be a good record, how do I know that he knows his shit? I get like this on last.fm users, too... find someone who seems to specialize, and go down the list of their most listened artists.

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

I will say that M1ke P0well is one of the few music writers who consistently impresses me.

Yeah, I like Mike, too. I always get the impression that he really listens to music and that it affects him profoundly.

― jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Most weekly newspaper critics are dumb too.

― Jordan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

I touched her once.

ooh. Did you never wash that hand again?

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

I washed it but I saved the bath water.

― Jeff, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, specialization is more important to me that eclecticism.

I should've known you in late 2002 when I got into a big argument with someone about the fact that an employee at Tower Records had a top-10 list filled entirely with Def Jux releases. Certain someone thought that a good top-10 list should inherently be eclectic. I was like, whatever, I appreciate the fact that dude just listens to whatever he likes and is honest about it. And also, hello, this is a top 10 list by SOME DUDE AT TOWER RECORDS, it's not Rolling Stone.

― jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Night Ripper is probably my favorite album from the last 5 years.

― Jeff, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:11 (seventeen years ago) link

That's probably not true, but it's up there.

― Jeff, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Best people to recommend music to you: your friends.

Except if your friends have bad taste in music. You realize that we're all friends because we met on a message board that was originally exclusively about music? A lot of my other friends just don't really keep up with music anymore, or else are really excited about Pearl Jam coming to Lollapalooza or whatever.

We should have some kind of Chi mix CD exchange.

We should have a mixtape party like the one EZ's old housemates hosted! That was fun.

― jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:20 (seventeen years ago) link

YEAH!

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah that would be awesome.

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Best people to recommend music to you: ~~your~~ my friends.

fixed.

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, I forgot to mention -- there was a woman on the el this morning who was wearing...

a) chartreuse tights
b) chartreuse scarf
c) leopard-print coat
d) black Crocs

Also e) cat's-eye glasses, which made me think she was going for some purposefully outre look, like she was just waiting to be spotted for a role in the next John Waters film, but the whole ensemble was just really unappealing.

― jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:26 (seventeen years ago) link

So the rule of the previous mixtape party was everyone brings two copies of their mix and puts it in a box, and then at the end of the night, you reach in and take two mixes. Some of the fun was in the anonymity of it -- I still don't know who took my mix, and I don't know the person who made one of the mixes I took -- because we were at a party with lots of different people from different circles. So we won't have that, but still -- new music.

― jaymc, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link

That would be fun.

― Jordan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link

I say we do it. It'll be easier for me to make a mix if it's all anonymous anyway, and I'm not trying to cater to any specific tastes. When I make a mix for someone in particular, I always want their approval.

― kenan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link

I wore bubble gum-pink fishnets yesterday, but with proper heeled boots and not with my red Crocs, that would be unspeakable.

― Laurel, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:32 (seventeen years ago) link

Ugh. I just sent out an e-mail about the two shows coming up (to a broader list than you guys), and I accidentally put everyone in the "to" line instead of the "bcc" line. Not the end of the world, but embassing, since I want to keep folks' e-mails private.

I like music critics (bloggers included) who discover music outside of the new-release PR machine. Tim Perlich in Toronto has a column where he writes about whatever he finds in record stores that week, whether it's old or white-label or whatever. It's no mistake that he was one of the first critics anywhere to write about Beck, Devendra Benhardt, Nirvana, The Ponys (before they got any attention at all in Chicago) and many others.

Greil Marcus and Christgau are that way too - if they miss a record when it's released, they'll still write about it a year or two later, and I admire that.

Anders Smith-Lindall (freelancer with the Sun-Times, Harp, etc.) writes especially good profiles and live-show reviews.

Reader critics are informative and/or enjoyable in different ways.

― Eazy, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:33 (seventeen years ago) link

A mix-CD-exchange TTs would be fun.

― Eazy, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:36 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm going to encase my mix cd in black velvet.

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link

Mixtape exchange second/third/fourthed.

Sendspace is aight but it's slow as shit in my experience.

― dan m, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link

I am listening to Laurel Aitken.

― dan m, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:40 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm listening to Laurel achin'.

― Eazy, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:43 (seventeen years ago) link

I would like a delicious salad for lunch.

― n/a, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:52 (seventeen years ago) link

i would like a gazelle for lunch.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:54 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm going to go home and have a veggie burger, maybe burn some mixes that I owe people.

― Jordan, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:55 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm going to have a substandard turkey sub.
i'd really like about 2 1/2 lbs of garlic mashed potatoes and biscuits and gravy and some green beans.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 9 March 2007 16:57 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/mag/images/articles/24319.gif

― Jeff, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:05 (seventeen years ago) link

kev, I can show you where to get gr8 mashed potatoes in the East Village when u get here.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Who is this other Laurel person getting all the press? I demand to know.

― Laurel, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:06 (seventeen years ago) link

whoo hoo!!

― chicago kevin, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:06 (seventeen years ago) link

3 weeks from today i will be hungover in brooklyn. as opposed to hungover at my desk.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Laurel Aitken

[quote]Laurel Aitken (April 22, 1927-July 17, 2005) was a singer who was known as one of the originators of Jamaican ska music in the late 1950s.[\quote]

― dan m, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Gah, I made the quote tage into LaTeX

― dan m, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:11 (seventeen years ago) link

And misspelled "tag"! I'm going home.

― dan m, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:11 (seventeen years ago) link

from the van halen wikipedia entry:

The most widely reported alcohol-related performance issue occurred during the band's first night in Chicago at the United Center when Eddie, staggering about, repeatedly tripped on his guitar cable, causing his guitar to become unplugged eighteen times. As a result, towards the middle of the set, Hagar asked Eddie's guitar tech to come onstage and follow Ed around to keep re-plugging the guitar. Also notable was Eddie stopping in the middle of his Eruption solo, laying down on stage and telling the audience in a slurred voice, "I'm sorry folks, I done run outta gas." He lay there for several seconds before standing back up and continuing.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:33 (seventeen years ago) link

lol

― Jordan, Friday, 9 March 2007 17:36 (seventeen years ago) link

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