Best Writing About Music You Read in 2010
Inspired by this http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/134211-best-music-writing-2010-ed.-by-ann-powers/
What were your favourite things you read this year on DiS or elsewhere?
I'm gonna add some my picks to this list over the course of the week, from DiS and elsewhere. First up, Dom Gourlay's selection of one-liners http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15727/reviews/4141229
- Relevant artist taggings:
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This one really nailed the reasons that I love this band.
http://thequietus.com/articles/05111-british-sea-power-hebden-bridge-live-review
thank you, hadn't read that
although i've never been their biggest fan, the stuff they did for us was pretty exceptional in terms of content, one of my highlights of the year, for sure http://drownedinsound.com/lists/british-sea-power-takeover
It sure was.
Get them again, just for kicks!
This is so, so
true.
Great choice!!
re: Sleigh Bells
"Every hipster douche is tripping balls over this album and now, some songs are even in car commercials."
http://stuffandsuch.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/best-and-worst-of-2010/
I like that he's written about "Every hipster douche ... tripping balls"
in an article where he's named the Wavves album as the best of 2010.
one man's hipster douche is another man's.....er not a hipster douche I guess
Dude
c'mon, Wavves is WAY less full of hipster bullshit than Sleigh Bells. And the albums aren't in order to begin with. Ranking albums just kind of gets redundant and hard at points.
Gorkys_Forever, thanks man. I appreciate the shout out.
Sleigh Bells? hipster bullshit?
They've been called allsorts, I guess. Can a "metal Ting Tings" be hipster?
Whatever. Treats is boss. And I don't mind the Ting Tings either.
describes them perfectly
perfectly.
Fans cant like them for musical reasons, as the LP contains none.
big fan of the piece michael wheeler did on the demise of 6music
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4139255
witty, massively readable and it really highlighted what we'd be missing if 6 was cut.
I missed this 6 music piece first time round
just read it - really really great. Not the first time I've been impressed with Michael Wheeler
if you'd like to browse all his contributions, look here http://drownedinsound.com/users/michael_w/articles
i love the single of the week column on this website
Wendy Roby has quite a way with words.
Also this article on why the National are so brilliant is good, from the NME of all places
http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=146&p=9465&more=1&c=1
wendy is superb, you can find all her columns compiled here btw http://drownedinsound.com/lists/singles
My own writing of course!
Not to be conceited...but it's a treat to get to bring rather huge interviews to a mind-boggled group of readers, to be a small part of people's discovery of music they haven't been listening to much, or to find that detail that says it all one way or the other.
I'm a really "nice" writer. I very rarely write something negative about an act actively myself. I don't take up a lot of space in my own writing, with my own thoughts and descriptions of things. I'm not in the band, and when I write it's about them, not about me (which is rare in Swedish music journalism today -- where the writer is often left, right and centre in every piece -- and usually in a large picture next to it). I give the focus to the act that is in the article. But there are usually some things that writes themselves if you do an interview right. I'm pleased with most of it, from... Well, exemplifying, from quoting The Baseball's Digger saying that he loves the blues -- without being able to mention a single blues act, in January (you don't have to add anything to that, you just let people say what they will most of the time, asking a few good questions, and they will describe themselves), to following that piece up with an interview with fiery rockabilly music-lover Imelda May shortly after. And all else.
I'm afraid that I can't give a link as this is in printed media, but for those of you who are ambitious enough to tackle a foreign language AND get a hold of copies it's all in a Swedish newspaper called Tranås-Posten.
Best of DiS
I've started compiling some highlights of the year here, will certainly consider suggestions of stuff to add http://drownedinsound.com/lists/bestof2010
I've enjoyed a few things this year
Michael W's writing has been very good. As has some of the other forum users cum writers.
I loved that Quietus factory Floor live review too. I think it was them anyhow? Basically it totally 'got' the experience.
Of my own stuff, I genuinely think that my Rihanna album review was the one which got under the skin of the record best. But the ones I wrote about Arab Strap's 'Philophobia' and Phantom Band's 'The Wants' were by far the ones I laboured over most. I am quite pleased with the former still:
http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15620/reviews/4140852
And I've interviewed some great people this year; The Chap, The National, Nedry... but the best one was definitely Karl Hyde. Got to totally geek out with an utter hero of mine and ask him about stuff I doubt he's ever been asked before. A real gent.
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4141161-dis-meets-karl-hyde-of-underworld
This is very 'me me me'. Oh well...
I liked your Arab Strap review too, which is a nice link to...
what I think my best article was, being my Favourite 50 article on Monday At the Hug and Pint http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4140831-favourite-50--arab-strap-monday-at-the-hug-and-pint-chosen-by-neil-ashman?relevant-artist
I was also pretty pleased with my Dexys reissue review: http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15753/reviews/4141359
I thought Andrzej's Manics review was bang on: http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15682/reviews/4141092
I like William Grant's review of Villagers too: http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15398/reviews/4140012
Elsewhere, Resonant Frequency on Pitchfork is pretty consistently interesting and I loved this Guardian Blog article on 'The Day Before You Came' by ABBA: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/sep/30/abba-day-before-you-came
I liked your piece on that Arab Strap record too
Such an under rated record that. Should be in so many more lists about records of the decade.
And you're right about that Manics review, really got under the skin of the issue.
Most things written by Jon Savage, as usual.
off the top of my head...
the one bit of music writing that really hit me to the extent that i saved it on my memeory stick so i could have it on my laptop, is the factory floor piece by john doran that vamos mentions above..
http://thequietus.com/articles/04531-factory-floor
actually, i think it might be a different piece to the one vamos mentions...
anyway
I should visit The Quietus more often
http://thequietus.com/articles/04889-janelle-mon-e-the-archandroid-afrofuturism
don't spose there is a link for this?
your best bet is someone scanning in it. i would do but i don't have that copy with me at uni, alas.
I'll do a scan if I can find it.
Anyone know which issue it was in?
It's issue 314, from April.
In the meantime, and as everyone else seems to be posting links to their own stuff (and The Quietus)... I've been to Kinshasa and interviewed Konono No. 1, but sadly not at the same time.
My piece is here: http://thequietus.com/articles/04393-konono-no-1-vincent-kenis-congotronics-interview
Bit wonky, but the best I could do.
file:///Users/jazzmonroe/Desktop/Konono%20No%201%20Wire.pdf
Let me know if you can view this alright, never uploaded .pdf before.
you need to put it on dropbox or yousendit or something like that, the link you posted just went to your desktop, sadly.
OK, this should work
http://www.mediafire.com/?d68554hdhbnzv91
-
HTTP://DONTMAKELISTS.COM
SIGH
The funnies things to happen in 00s hip hop article
was easily my favourite thing I've read on DiS this year.
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4140980-the-funniest-things-that-happened-in-hip-hop-in-the-00-s
I noticed that quite a few people on the boards seemed to be getting excited about Company Flow reforming to play the ATP London event in July, so with that in mind, I'll grab this opportunity to link to my favourite 50 article about Black Mamba Serums by Bigg Jus. Its my favourite thing I have written on DiS or anywhere else in 2010 so if any Co Flow fans didn't catch it first time around please read to see why I think Bigg Jus is a better rapper than El-P!
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4140984-favourite-50--bigg-jus-black-mamba-serums-chosen-by-robert-ferguson
The other thing that has tickled my fancy this year has been Everett True's ongoing twitter war against Vampire Weekend...
http://twitter.com/everetttrue
Two mentioned above: Wire visiting Konono and Quietus' Factory Floor love-in
Also, there was a really good interview in Wire this month with Scientist which was really interesting.
There's probably loads more great stuff but I can't remember off the top of my head.
'Why We Fight' on Pitchfork
is hard to admit to, but very, very good
http://pitchfork.com/features/why-we-fight/7773-why-we-fight-1/
Cokemachineglow review of The-Dream's Love King
http://www.cokemachineglow.com/record_review/5555/thedream-loveking-2010
Seriously, read that.
came here to say this
still amazing
I can't think off-hand of a specific example...
...but The Quietus continuously has high quality features and interviews.
If I'd kept up doing the music writing (who know I may return to it yet) it would've been quite high goal of mine to write for them... Was never good across of course.
It's just a cut above, really, for mature and bold music journalism.
I guess my point was
that, without a specific example, it will without a doubt have been on the Quietus.
I'm tired, what can I say.
Honourable mention to DiS' very own Wendy Roby and her continually charming, enjoyable and surreal singles column.
still glad i used Murdoched money to launch the Quietus, pretty close to what DiS would be if we could have srarted much later, knowing more than a few folk off messageboards, etc. glad we birthed our older brother.
I thought this was a great review
http://thequietus.com/articles/05394-the-who-live-at-leeds-40th-anniversary-review
Has anyone read
Listen to This, by Alex Ross. I've heard good things.
yeah, it's good
maybe a bit unfocussed compared to The Rest Is Noise (what you;d expect from an articles compendium) but excellent, really. He's maybe a little too much like a teacher and less like an entertainer for my personal tastes (he's still bloody entertaining) but certainly the most important music writer of our times, I should say.
a piece he wrote about pavement always sticks out in my mind.
originally for the new yorker, i think it was included in the liner notes to one of the deluxe editions....anyway...he sums them up absoutely perfectly.
This
http://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/
in particular, this
http://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/7836-poptimist-31/
this
http://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/7760-poptimist-25/
and this
http://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/7783-poptimist-27/
Tom Ewing: best music writer around.
feel I should also point out that aside from the Poptimist column, I've got very little time for Pitchfork
really like Mr Ewing's writing too. He's often posting very insightful pieces on http://tomewing.tumblr.com/ and I like his Guardian columns too http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/tom-ewing
Don't mean to drag it up and derail, sean, but
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/ oughtta lead somewhere. I know about the developer issue, but all that's needed is one single page of text - a list of links to Topic pages.
bestof2010, album covers, glasgow, hallowe'en, NYC, ...come to mind off the top of my head, but there have been other great ones. Pages and pages of 'Topic' 'contents pages' floating out there somewhere.
Do you have a 'list of list-pages' somewhere? To browse through and jog our memories, and bookmark for future reference?
Such a resource of writing, but only findable via search (if you can vaguely remember what you're after, after reading it first time around), or by paging through the history of the In Depth tab.
frustratingly, the lists were tacked onto the site and are one of the things i've most wanted to find a way to add to the site but sadly, without a developer, this isn't possible. there's a page with them all on in the staff area and when i get chance i'll do an article with them all in and sling it in the sidebar. for now, i hope this mess is ok
http://drownedinsound.comlists/greatest-hits Greatest Hits greatest-hits
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/recent-recommended-reading Recent Recommended Reading recent-recommended-reading
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/2009-preview 2009 Preview 2009-preview
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/rough-trade-people-s-choice-relevant Rough Trade People's Choice Relevant rough-trade-people-s-choice-relevant
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/loves Loves loves
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/dis-albums-of-2009 DiS' Albums of 2009 dis-albums-of-2009
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/best-of-2008 Best of 2008 best-of-2008
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/discover DiScover discover
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/slowcore-week Slowcore Week slowcore-week
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/singles Singles singles
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/festivals Festivals festivals
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/mixtapes Mixtapes mixtapes
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/in-photos In Photos in-photos
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/dissection DiSsection dissection
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/label-profiles Label Profiles label-profiles
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/festivals-2009 Festivals Guide 2009 festivals-2009
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/radiohead Radiohead radiohead
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/sxsw SXSW sxsw
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/shoegaze Shoegaze shoegaze
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/metric-week Metric Week metric-week
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/greatescape The Great Escape preview greatescape
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/grizzlybear Grizzly Bear Week grizzlybear
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/glastonbury Glastonbury glastonbury
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/spotify Spotify Playlists spotify
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/armchairdancefloor Armchair Dancefloor armchairdancefloor
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/altcountry Alt Country Week altcountry
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/ismusicjournalismdead Music Journalism R.I.P? ismusicjournalismdead
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/mercury Mercury Music Prize 2009 mercury
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/neptune-music-prize-relevant Neptune Music Prize Relevant neptune-music-prize-relevant
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/mum Múm week mum
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/reading2009 Reading & Leeds '09 reading2009
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/kraftwerk Kraftwerk Re-Issues Reviewed kraftwerk
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/best-of-2009 Best of 2009 best-of-2009
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/albums-of-2009 Albums of 2009 albums-of-2009
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/2009 2009 Year-End Coverage 2009
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/lost8of08 Lost 8 of '08 lost8of08
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/lost9of09 Lost 9 of '09 lost9of09
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/2010 2010 Preview 2010
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/nordic Nordic Day nordic
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/lostprophets Lostprophets Weekend lostprophets
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/loscampesinos Los Campesinos! Takeover! Week! loscampesinos
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/recommended-records Recommended Records recommended-records
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/albums-of-the-year Drowned in Sounds Albums of the Year albums-of-the-year
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/liars Liars Week liars
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/local DiS Local local
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/columns Regular Columns columns
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/ambient Articulate Silences, Ambient Sound ambient
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/emo My Name is Emo emo
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/rufus Rufus Day rufus
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/65daysofstatic 65daysofstatic Week 65daysofstatic
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/greatescape2010 Great Escape 2010 greatescape2010
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/sky-larkin-takeover Sky Larkin Takeover sky-larkin-takeover
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/10-years-of-dubstep 10 years of... Dubstep 10-years-of-dubstep
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/dis-is-10-favourite-50 DiS is 10: Favourite 50 dis-is-10-favourite-50
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/arab-strap-day Arab Strap Day arab-strap-day
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/everything-everything-day Everything Everything Day everything-everything-day
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/beats-week 10 years in... Beats beats-week
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/solo DiS is 10: Ten years of... "Solo" Artists solo
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/british-sea-power-takeover British Sea Power Takeover british-sea-power-takeover
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/no-age-takeover No Age Takeover no-age-takeover
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/10-years-of-nordic 10 Years Of...Nordic 10-years-of-nordic
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/subliminal-transmissions Subliminal Transmissions subliminal-transmissions
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/glasgow-day Glasgow Day glasgow-day
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/ninjatune Ninja Tune ninjatune
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/new-york-week New York Week new-york-week
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/the-phantom-band-halloween-takeover The Phantom Band Halloween Takeover the-phantom-band-halloween-takeover
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/artwork-day Artwork Day artwork-day
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/leedsleedsleeds Leeds Day leedsleedsleeds
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/lost10of10 Lost 10 of '10 lost10of10
http://drownedinsound.com/lists/bestof2010 Best of DiS 2010 bestof2010
Woot.
Thanks muchly, sean! Genuinely appreciate ^this. Consider it Delicious'd.
Loads of stuff:
Another shout for the always hilarious Adam Johns. I'd go for his 'Crunk and Not So Disorderly' piece. Has there been a better line on the site this year than: "Not saying we condone Chris Brown either, but, like many awful human beings, he happens to have made some great R&B songs."?
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4140940-crunk-and-not-so-disorderly-when-sultry-melodics-met-rap-histrionics
Grinderman gave tons of ace interviews, but none more so than to Sam Kinchin-Smith of this very site: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4141143-dis-meets-grinderman--we-re-just-perverse-old-guys-really
Further back, there was Daniel Yates' stunning deconstrution of Broadcast at Queen Elizabeth Hall: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4139791
Also, Mark Ward on Bonnie Prince Billy was very, very good:
http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15316/reviews/4139761
Elsewhere, I'm a big fan of Dorian Lynskey at The Guardian, especially doing more political stuff. This piece on the Last Poets and the Black Panthers is great: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/sep/02/black-panthers-last-poets-pop-politics
As for the seemingly obligatory Quietus mentions, I'd go for Lewis Parker on why Eminem is the new Edgar Allan Poe: http://thequietus.com/articles/04918-the-curious-similarities-betwixt-edgar-allan-poe-the-rapper-eminem
And, while not writing, an honourable mention to Simon Price getting Nicky Wire and Tony Benn in the same room: http://thequietus.com/articles/04946-tony-benn-and-nicky-wire-of-the-manic-street-preachers-in-conversation
Excellent choices
A lot of these I missed. Although Simon Price is, for me, an unquestionable bell-end, this is a great opening line "One of them is Britain's most outspoken Socialist in pop, the other is Britain's most popular outspoken Socialist". Great stuff thanks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/rapp.htm
The comments to that KoL review are mind-numbingly stupid
"Your opinion isn't what I want to hear- this review is really shit and you can't write."
^This post
could use a few laughs
There’s no excuse for not having this landmark review in your collection.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/b8zb
I love this review so so much, not only did it inspire me to go and buy "The Shape Of Punk To Come" the next day on vinyl but I also quoted it when I was making that 'Heavier Music genres' thread which turned out to be an utter beast and I've since added a whole bunch of masterpieces to my music collection.
arbobo review of Sufjan (but it's in french) :
http://www.danslemurduson.com/archive/2010/11/12/album222-sufjan-stevens-the-age-of-adz.html
Don't read my part in this please, this is probably the worst writing about music in 2010...
The DIS review of the Lightning Bolt LP
So evocative of the music plus very amusing
this one...
http://drownedinsound.com/releases/14764/reviews/4138200
I loved this article about people's favourite Mogwai gigs
http://thequietus.com/articles/04954-hunted-by-a-freak-noise-mogwai-war-stories
This is brilliant from Dorrian Lynskey.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/nov/23/kanye-west-fantasy-critics-hype
Quietus piece on British Sea Power
is brilliant; summed up the band perfectly for me! They are one of those bands where the essence of the band isn't just built from the music they make. The articles they put out on DiS when they ran thow show were superb as well.
Comparison of Eminem and Edgar Allen Poe
http://thequietus.com/articles/04918-the-curious-similarities-betwixt-edgar-allan-poe-the-rapper-eminem
or
http://thequietus.com/articles/04877-the-libertines-reunion-forum-review
Yes I'm throwing my own hat into the ring. B O N G !
Ha ha
I came here to give Lewis the nod but seeing as he's beaten me to it.
I loved KP's piece on Konono no.1 for us but the WIRE's cover feature was a joy to read. Some great old school new journalism right there.
"The nod"
Cheers man. I see none of us made it into the Da Capo book of music criticism this year, which is pretty much universally dominated by American writers. Not that America doesn't have way better writers than the UK--it always has--but for it to be so homogenous is a little annoying. Not that anything from the mainstream UK press would get a look in, but the likes of the Quietus and a few bloggers in the UK are well worth an inclusion I'd say.
And DiS's
Funniest things that happened in hip hop... And Dorian Lynskey's blog on Common People by Pulp...
And
Kev Kharas on Salem in Stook Pigeon; Jamie Thompson on Municipal Waste in the Guardian (was that this year?) Frances Morgan on Red Square in Loops; Joe Stannard on horror movie aesthetics in the latest WIRE and anything at all by Taylor Parkes.
late entry... enjoyed this
http://www.theawl.com/2010/12/at-the-end-of-the-world-with-gauntlet-hair
like Mr Perpetua's Tumblr too. He's like the American Tom Ewing.
So much love for this
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/music2/
i liked this piece on salem
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2010/12/the_20_worst_so_14.php
theres even a link to a 79 minute anti-salem mixtape
thats great
they really are terrible, and when you hear the sped up version, it is just very bad hip-hop slowed down.
As much about the world and where we're at in it
as it as about music, it's good sharp writing by someone who knows and loves his pop stuff.
http://misterchristrout.com/i/#posts_2010_10_paid-cluelessness
(Includes a long and hilarious account of touring around Europe in the nineties:
http://misterchristrout.com/pages/europa-intro/)
derek warmsley's interview with mark ernestus
in the wire, february.