What is music writing 'cool' today?

[version]

Bring back the hubs.

 

[version]

The last piece of current music writing I remember enjoying was the big feature RA ran on Honest Jons. You don't seem to get much stuff like that these days, and even that had huge graphics inserted to make it look longer than it was.

 

[version]

That's something that's very noticeable actually. You open up articles expecting something substantial and a lot of the page is taken up by huge photos and designs each interspersed with a couple of paragraphs.

 

[luka]

That's not true

There's been plenty of good, occasionally even great, writing in the last couple of decades

And people do still do negative take-down pieces - perhaps not so much within incestuous dance scenes, it's true.

The problem with the good writing is that it is scattered across this huge field of discourse, so it's harder for writing to create sparks with other writing

There aren't really hubs as such, where people either violently take issue with a rival viewpoint, or build on it

The Wire has had that in the past, not so much nowadays - but i think the monthly nature of its publication always made it hard for debates between writers to sustain, because of the gaps between issues being just a bit too long c.f. the weekly music press, where you could counter-attack or pick up on what was written by someone else the previous week.

The disappearance of magazine-vibe is a problem too - caused by the isolating nature of digital communications - contributors will write for a magazine, emailing in their copy, and might never have met the editor in person, let alone any of the other writers. That kind of collective personality that a magazine could have, and the useful friction of viewpoints and personalities within it, has gone - because people never hang out.

What great stuff have we been missing?

 

[version]

kevinoak's album reviews.

 

[chava]

And people do still do negative take-down pieces - perhaps not so much within incestuous dance scenes, it's true.

Somebody needs to start a negative dance/electronic review blog. It's obvious there's a silent majority of Autechre haters out there for instance. The same is probably true of AFX, Jeff Mills, BC, Burial and what have you. About time somebody says the truth!!

 

[firefinga]

Somebody needs to start a negative dance/electronic review blog. It's obvious there's a silent majority of Autechre haters out there for instance. The same is probably true of AFX, Jeff Mills, BC, Burial and what have you. About time somebody says the truth!!

Richie Hawtin needs to be included in this list. And Squarepusher.

 

[luka]

There's a very very funny story about two of our posters and resident advisor but sadly I'm not allowed to tell it. It all starts when our very own thirdform whipped up a racism Twitter storm over an article they'd published. After that incident RA got completely paranoid.

 

[chava]

Richie Hawtin needs to be included in this list. And Squarepusher.

No they've been ridiculed enough already. We need to move on.

 

[entertainment]

Did electronic music ever have polemics like rap has beefs and rock has unabashed alpha-male vitriol?

Should it? Scene-splitting disputes and controversial statements. That antagonistic fire as a drive for revolt and renewal.

 

[slackk]

Paul Thomson is really good. A rap writer really though, so maybe not what you're all talking about

https://www.thefader.com/2019/08/21/the-brief-exciting-run-of-phillys-most-wanted

 

[luka]

Paul Thomson is really good. A rap writer really though, so maybe not what you're all talking about

https://www.thefader.com/2019/08/21/the-brief-exciting-run-of-phillys-most-wanted

It's very American that style of journalism. Story telling. Using the techniques of short fiction. "it was a dark and stormy night". Not knocking it, although like anything it's usually done badly, and when done badly it's bad.

 

[version]

There's a very very funny story about two of our posters and resident advisor but sadly I'm not allowed to tell it. It all starts when our very own thirdform whipped up a racism Twitter storm over an article they'd published. After that incident RA got completely paranoid.

Wasn't that like two months ago? The comment they made about some jungle set then hurriedly edited?

 

[luka]

Wasn't that like two months ago? The comment they made about some jungle set then hurriedly edited?

Yeah that had some very funny repercussions

 

[sadmanbarty]

i've got one final-ditch effort to try with them and if that doesn't work then i can spill the beans. it's a bizarre story. a microcosm of the current age. i felt in that moment i was a vector for something larger and more profound than myself.

 

[Corpsey]

I can't imagine such a naughty maverick livewire as barty working for the staid berlin corporate monolith Resident Advisor

 

[sadmanbarty]

I can't imagine such a naughty maverick livewire as barty working for the staid berlin corporate monolith Resident Advisor

my hunch is that they were in the middle of a shift in editorial policy. they knew it had got the reputation for being dry and dull and were trying to make it more exciting. i wonder if that's how the offensive jungle review got published; they maybe knew it would be seen as edgy and provocative and that's why they went for it (underestimating the backlash it'd lead to).

 

[version]

I think they were just clueless tbh.

 

[version]

Another thing I've noticed re: RA is they started writing about pop acts and stuff they'd never have covered at the start of the decade.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

There's a very very funny story about two of our posters and resident advisor but sadly I'm not allowed to tell it. It all starts when our very own thirdform whipped up a racism Twitter storm over an article they'd published. After that incident RA got completely paranoid.

tell it to me next we're up the hill, dude