Well if was asked before, where's the link?
More importantly, I bet there are lots of subtle facets to my question that you just didn't get :-) and that make it quite different from the previous, superficially similar questions. (That's a challenge to prove me wrong btw. ;-)
― phil, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dave q, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
As a result of being here, I've realized that the real problem with music writing (ie. what's so mindbogglingly tedious about 95% of it) is that print (almost by definition) is not conducive to facilitating the exploration of any given thread. That means that even the best writers out there (and they are few) are only ever capable of *posing* questions. ILM, by its very nature, has the ability to at least (attempt to) answer them.
I think the fluid process of arriving at that answer (ie. solidifying, contextualising, defending) is really the essence of what critical writing has always aspired to be - ILM reminds me of that. For those reasons, it's completely indispensable.
(Except when it's totally and utterly dispensable, natch...)
― Mark, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
Indeed, do you think you could publish these threads as they are and call them full blown criticism?
― Dom Passantino, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
The strength of this forum (right now, in my head) is the relaxed, casual atmosphere - trying to present the ideas offered here in a more professional, rigid manner misses the point, I'm afraid. The in- jokes and silliness are just as important as the critical thinking and the philosophical banter.
― Daver, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
haha "joshing"
I like mark not-s's answer
― Josh, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nathalie, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
As a corollary to the recent lament re: the ever-depressing lack of decent music mags, I wonder if there'd be a place for a publication whose stated mandate was to aim for the type of back and forths that have become so native to ILM. So, rather than, say, a straightforward Wilco piece (complete with the requisite fluffer PR bit about how they done stuck it to the man and YHF is a triumph and blah blah blah), you arrange for a simple back and forth between music critic #1 (wilco fan), music critic #2 (wilco skeptic - the recent village voice review comes to mind), perhaps a wholly disinterested but nonetheless insightful third party (mark s - you busy?) and, say, Jeff Tweedy.
Now, have a conversation. Level accusations. Discuss. Defend.
I don't know if it would work, but it certainly sounds like a more interesting read.
― dleone, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
I think artists would only be deterred if they sensed a continual ambush, which really needn't be the case. It doesn't even have to be an us vs. them thing, really.
In a very utilitarian sense, one of music media's abiding allures comes down to simple matters of access. Imagine what access could yield if used properly...
Also, don't Chicago-based crits Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot do a Siskel-and-Ebert-style rock-crit radio show? I read a transcript of one show once and it seemed like it'd be a bit of a jack-off party, but I've never heard it, so I really couldn't say.
― Lee G, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― adam, Friday, 21 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
I think where ILM scores over this kind of thing, is in the sheer number of people available to comment. It isn't n reviewers forced to talk about whatever comes up. Here we have a pool of hundreds (maybe tens of thousands) each of whom pile-in and discuss *only* when they really care.
― phil, Saturday, 22 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
― mark s, Saturday, 22 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link
http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/culture-editor-at-creative-loafing-atlanta/JobPosting?oid=7639873
Creative Loafing Atlanta, the 42-year-old award-winning alt-weekly that shares a home with OutKast and the world’s busiest airport, has an immediate opening for a Culture Editor.
Applicants must be accomplished writers/editors with at least three years of experience working in the journalism industry.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 24 April 2014 01:25 (ten years ago) link
"world's busiest airport" is an oddly sad phrase
― Doritos Loco Parentis (Hurting 2), Thursday, 24 April 2014 01:28 (ten years ago) link
How does this position compare with that of Dalkey Archive intern?
― Kilgore Haggard Replica (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 24 April 2014 01:31 (ten years ago) link
That ad specifically doesn't mention music as part of the job. CLATL has a separate position for music.
Or maybe I am missing the point here.
― alpine static, Thursday, 24 April 2014 07:37 (ten years ago) link
oh
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 24 April 2014 11:58 (ten years ago) link
A meditation on the present state of things, with a lot of familiar names quoted:
http://ajr.org/2014/11/13/music-critics-role-changing/
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 13 November 2014 14:59 (nine years ago) link
http://www.quotecollection.com/author-images/dame-edna-everage-2.jpgCling on!
― Junior Dadaismus (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 15 November 2014 13:58 (nine years ago) link
Sorry
― Junior Dadaismus (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 15 November 2014 14:29 (nine years ago) link