Why Do You Run a Music Blog?
I had a lot of fun last night playing with Boy Eats Drum Machine at the Wonder Ballroom, my first bass outing in a while. Dat’r, The Xploding Boys and Caves were the other bands on the bill reinterpreting classic songs from The Cure and Talking Heads. Dat’r re-imagining music from Talking Heads’ Remain In Light with their laptops and wii remotes was very engaging; I could imagine how Talking Heads 2008 might sound.
After the show I did the mingle thing with well-wishers and a question came up many times - “Why do you run a music blog?”
Good question. In an era where everyone can keep an “online diary” and blurt all to the world, where there are more than 70 million blogs with more arriving every day, why would one run a blog? Since December 2005 I have posted 1,549 times. That’s roughly two posts a day, every day through Aug 1st 08. There are no days off in the blog world…
To blog is an act of modest self-marketing; I can discuss my long career in music and hopefully give advice. I can write about the travails of a reformed Gang of Four and our lengthy tours. I can opine about the end of rock music as a cultural force, overtaken by rap, hip hop, pop and DJ culture. I can just write.
The biggest reason though is to have Pampelmoose act as a filter. There are so many amazing new bands and thousands of free MP3s that accompany them it is impossible to discover them all. Scouring the internet with Peel is one way, reading my favorite music blogs Stereogum and Gorilla Vs Bear is another. Submissions from record labels and bands fill my email box and The Moose mailbox fills up with brown, cushioned packages. Then I start to filter. Here’s this weekend’s selection:
Santogold - Starstruck [Diplo Remix]
Atlas Sound - Holiday
Peter, Bjorn & John - Inland Empire
Mt St Helens Vietnam Band - Dull Reason
Los Campesinos - How I Taught Myself To Scream
Dr Dog - The Ark
Marnie Stern - Transformer
I’d like to call what I’m attempting to do “acoustic regulation.” I care about music as an art form rather than merely admire it as an exercise.
August 17th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Because it’s gotten to the point if I don’t, I’d go mad.
August 17th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Oh, Los Campesinos.
I met them at IndieTracks festival, my mate was interviewing them for his student radio show, really friendly bunch.
They did a wicked set too.
August 17th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
This post does point to a very interesting concept–there are bizillions of blogs, but far fewer that actually get done well. I think the ones that are done well are much fewer in number—and the ones that are done well by individuals as opposed to larger companies are the real attraction 9at least for me). Sure, P-Moose and other blogs in the space have their contributors, but the central figure behind a blog is what makes it attractive.
The cult of personality is at work here. What would Ain’t It Cool News be without the fun rabid fanboy vibe of Harry Knowles? Where would the Drudge Report be without its blinkered, pig-ignorant conservative namesake? That’s is what drives the traffic, I say. Personality wins.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Wow what a great 3 minutes… here…
first I click on DR DOG…. new music, real music….as I listen… I click on Alex’s name and end up on his site to find out Neil Young is Touring more and returning to Toronto… with Wilco? I made it to all 3 of Neil Young’s shows at Massey Hal last Fall and just finished an evening with Eddie Vedder last week.
Why do I have a music blog?
I’m a concertaholic.
Jeff
August 19th, 2008 at 1:25 am
the “modest self-marketing” and the appreciation of music as an art form are the exact two reasons why i blog, as well.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:29 am
p.s. when i decided to move my blog over to my “band’s” official website, i sort of based it a little on the template of pamplemoose, as i think you have one of the best artist-run blogs on the internet, mr. allen.