koganbot | Good musicwrite, 2010

In the comments (or if in Tumblr, reblog), please name the single best or your single favorite thing you wrote about music (etc.) this year.

Also, please name the single best or your single favorite thing that someone else wrote about music this year.

(I haven't yet figured out how I'll answer this, so you'll have to go to the comments to see my answer too.)

If possible, provide links.

Current Music: The-Dream "Abyss"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

petronia.livejournal.com

Unfortunately, that will almost certainly be the story I'm writing between now and the 20th, to be posted on Christmas Eve. XD;

From:

petronia.livejournal.com

Though if you want something actually written, this is the only concerted - if not disciplined - effort I made all year (toward the bottom there are what amount to reviews of Lungs and Heartland).

From:

edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com

Balls. Does something I wrote in December '09 count as this year?

From:

edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com

Okay, if tail end of '09 counts as this year, then my favorite thing I've written this year is my thing on Annie Lennox and the way we treat artists as they age: http://girlboymusic.tumblr.com/post/268448767/in-defense-of-annie-lennox If not, then IDK, something about Taylor Swift or Ke$ha.

My favorite thing someone else wrote about music this year is Jonathan Bogart's "12 Albums I Was Obsessed With:"
http://jonathanbogart.tumblr.com/post/520116227/12-albums-i-was-obssessed-with

From:

koganbot

Might count by me, but not by Daphne. (Of course, in Da Capo Best-Of Speak, 2010 is 2011, in which case 2009 is 2010.)

From:

edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com

Ah. Well, my T-Swift vs. Jezebel rant, then, maybe? Or my September 11th thing?

I didn't realize you were looking for these for Da Capo. As far as I'm concerned, Best Music Writing 2011 should carry the subtitle "The Collected Works of Jonathan Bogart" and call it a day.

From:

koganbot

Da Capo isn't my main reason, of course, but it is in the back of my mind.

From:

skyecaptain.livejournal.com

What do we have to do to get J-Bog a book deal somewheres, anyway? "Jonathan Bogart's Extensive History of Everything (with a foreword by Ke$ha)"

Actually, I think 2011 is the time for us internet peeps to get our shit together and propose some kind of Kogan-edited collection to a few publishing houses. I imagine it as half collection and half conversation, with requisite follow-ups according to gadfly questions/responses from the ed.

From:

talrose.livejournal.com

Easily the best piece of music writing I submitted this year was also the only opportunity I had to write something where word counts, editorial voice, or conceptual restrictions were of no relevance whatsoever. The piece is "Digital Killed the Video Star," and it was my long-form contribution to *The Stylus Decade*. Link's here:

http://www.thestylusdecade.com/digitalkill.html

The best piece of music writing written by someone else, undoubtedly, is Jonathan Bogart's Ke$ha piece, but I feel like everyone here knows that without having to even think about it. The second-best, in my opinion, is this profile of Ariel Pink by the overlooked (by this circle, anyways) M1k3 Pow311. Link's here:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-05-11/music/ariel-pink-gives-us-the-creeps/

From:

koganbot

Jonathan's written twenty-three Ke$ha pieces on Tumblr alone! But I'm guessing that the post I call "Keep Tickin And Tockin Work It All Around The Clock" is what you meant. But you may have meant "The Beauty Is There But A Beast Is In The Heart" (the advantage of the former over the latter, to my mind, is that I only discovered that the latter existed two minutes ago, and I haven't read it yet).

From:

talrose.livejournal.com

I am referring to "Keep Tickin And Tockin..." That's a piece on Ke$ha that I wish I'd have written because it expressed my thoughts about the album so perfectly. That's also a discussion I wish I'd have been a part of, but alas, I was in--ta-da!--Denver while it was taking place.

From: (Anonymous)

I wrote a few things this year that I don't hate months down the line, and, to me, that is definitely something. Chief among those is this last word I had in an argument about Speak Now (http://10listens.com/2010/10/29/disagree-to-agree-taylor-swift%E2%80%99s-speak-now-pt-4/).

The best thing I read about music this year was Miles Klee's piece for The Awl about the Sasquatch Festival (http://www.theawl.com/2010/06/an-81-hour-break-from-civilization-at-sasquatch-music-festival-2010). I revisit it weekly.

"With respect to that thing about not needing drugs: you really don't. It's the freedom of doing them in the open, I think, the not needing to impress or deceive anyone, which goes along with not showering, facepaint, unselfconscious dancing, costumes, advanced stages of nudity, etc. You are your body odor and bloodshot eyes. You are just an atom in a stew of atoms spiraling toward entropy, and nothing is so miraculous as recognizing an atom you bumped up against the day before."

From: (Anonymous)

Fuck, forgot Livejournal had "rules." If you would like to easily click on things, here is an efficient reply for you!:

Mine: http://10listens.com/2010/10/29/disagree-to-agree-taylor-swift%E2%80%99s-speak-now-pt-4/

Miles Klee's: http://www.theawl.com/2010/06/an-81-hour-break-from-civilization-at-sasquatch-music-festival-2010

From:

tahs.livejournal.com

it's because I'm anonymous isn't it

screw you livejournal

One more time:

Mine: http://10listens.com/2010/10/29/disagree-to-agree-taylor-swift%E2%80%99s-speak-now-pt-4/

Miles Klee's: http://www.theawl.com/2010/06/an-81-hour-break-from-civilization-at-sasquatch-music-festival-2010

From:

katstevens.livejournal.com

My best thing alas is only in print at the moment, and I'm loathe to put it online until issue 2 comes out (fledgling mag in need of a boost etc). I may email it to you though, Frank - remind me at the weekend.

From:

koganbot

Yes, please send!

From:

skyecaptain.livejournal.com

Hm, best idea I had this year was Taylor Time, but that piece was a little rushed. If I'd ever finished it, my post about 2004 would probably be the best thing I wrote this year.

The phrase I remember writing the most was: "On one street, 'all of the people wearing black' means nothing really; on another it’s a funeral."

I guess I'll nominate this conversation I had with myself about the new Taylor album, which wasn't quite "finished" but got out most of the ideas that were kicking around in my brain about it. Unfortunately I haven't returned much to Speak Now, its musical pleasures not being enough for me either to ignore or relive that internal conversation.

Hm, best music writing of the year...I remember reading lots of good music writing this year but I'm not sure exactly where it came from. I was a little bit in a whirlpool -- my reading has transferred almost completely to feeds, dashboards, and other accumulators. But I'll try to think of a few and post 'em.

From:

koganbot

It's not too late to finish 2004!

From:

joshlanghoff.livejournal.com

As the months go by I grow fonder of my O.A.R. review.

Enjoyed Christgau on Vampire Weekend. (Now that I think aloud about it, the silly carpetbagger-or-whatever rap against VW isn't much different than my argument against O.A.R., with the exception that the latter suck.)

And this Bogart quote, which is NOT part of his excellent long review, has haunted me since I read it:
“At the very least, there’s a lot of violent, visceral hatred of Ke$ha’s music out there which is interesting in itself; I’m starting to think that AutoTune may be the new jazz/rock&roll/hip-hop — the dividing line beyond which a certain vocal segment of the listening/chattering public will declare everything ‘not music’ and eventually be swept away by the tides of history.”

From:

skyecaptain.livejournal.com

Some pieces I remember that jump out from my Tumblr feed:

I enjoyed this straightforward depiction of life in Hawaii with Kanye while recording his album, but it's more for the tourism than the writing.

Amy Andronicus (from the band Titus Andronicus) wrote a piece about media representation of women and its connection to women's expectations for themselves (the piece is less good the more it generalizes but I like her direct observations a lot), based on an experience flipping through a random Rolling Stone issue at a gas station.

And from the "huh..." files, UK company presses your ashes into vinyl when you die.

From:

chuckeddy.livejournal.com

""Keep Tickin And Tockin Work It All Around The Clock" was definitely the first thing that came to my mind when you asked for my " single favorite thing that someone else wrote about music this year." So...that, I guess. Though I'd probably come up with runnersup if I gave more thought.

Favorite thing I wrote this year is either (1) my "Prog On The Prairie" essay for emusic; (2) my Jamey Johnson piece for the Voice; (3) the Voice essay I did on 2009's Pazz & Jop poll; (4) my Eric Church, Kings of Leon, and/or Gil Scott-Heron reviews for Singles Jukebox; (5) one or more of the chapter introductions I wrote for my own best-of book, which comes out next year; or (6) a few blurbs about old albums I've posted on the ILM "Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010" thread; or (7) something else I'm not thinking of. (Lots of folks seemed to like the April Fool's Rhapsody blog post I did about Ted Nugent running for president.)

It's been quite a while since I've nominated anything for the Da Capo collection, though. When I was at the Voice, my nominations of other people's work (frequently pieces that I had edited) almost always seemed to be ignored, and Voice pieces that I thought weren't as good regularly were picked instead, and eventually I gave up. And I've never wound up in the book myself, even as an honorable mention in the back I don't think, which frankly makes me a little cranky.

From:

chuckeddy.livejournal.com

Prog On The Prairie

http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/2010_201007-essay-prog.html

Jamey Johnson

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-09-15/music/jamey-johnson-sprawls-out/

Pazz & Jop

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-01-19/music/the-year-of-too-much-consensus/

Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=41&threadid=77771#unread

Ted Nugent

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2010/03/nugent.html

From:

koganbot

Final choices are made by whoever is the guest editor for the particular year, so the stuff you nominate would have to please that person. The stuff goes through screeners first, since there's no way the guest editor could read it all. The series editor (which also used to change a lot) was probably a major screener. In any event, I think Daphne's been the series editor since about 2006 or so, which means you probably never made any nominations when she was doing it. Obviously, Daphne'll know who nominates what, but I doubt that the editor actually making the choice does.

My taste obviously doesn't match a lot of other people's, but two pieces that I nominated have gotten in over the last five years.

From:

koganbot

OK, here are my own choices:

Best thing I wrote, maybe, though I don't really remember what I wrote this year:

"Ke$ha Day 2"

As for someone else, I endorse the Jonathan Bogart writing that others have named, can probably come up with some equally good Jonathan writing over on Bilbo's Laptop, his Latin hits blog: maybe some of his posts about Ana Gabriel or Selena or Yuri.

But here's a good one by a non-Jonathan, Katherine St Asaph over on the Singles Jukebox talking about Dev's sampled vocals in Far East Movement's "Like A G6":

She distills thousands of voices plucked from bars or clubs or apartments littered with Solo cups, and I imagine that this — not the blips, not the booze — is why it's connecting with so many people.

From:

dubdobdee.livejournal.com

I've really enjoyed contributing to to the singles jukebox, not least because I find responding to pop in (more or less) real time, not to the established conversation but to the thing itself, absolutely incredibly difficult to do, and it's good discipline for me to force myself to attempt it

Seven that I like (others be bein better judges)
Crystal Castles (Celestica): http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2351
Gyptian (Hold Yuh): http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2527
Justin Bieber (U Smile): http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2760
Lady Gaga (Alejandro): http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2340
Princess Nyah (Butterflies): http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2497
Tensnake (Coma Cat): http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2752
Trey Songz ft. Nicki Minaj (Bottoms Up): http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2792

Stuff by others (others?) will have to wait as FT seems to be down at the moment...

From:

soundtime.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)

I pick this as my best piece of the year: http://soundtime.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/revenge-of-the-nerds-einstein-on-the-beach/

And this as the best piece by someone else: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/arts/music/18varese.html

From:

anthonyeaston.livejournal.com

http://lefthip.com/albums/1319 this is my best peice this year, aside from some class work in congreational singing.

best by other people: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/09/rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-nominations-who-got-overlooked.html Anne Powers, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nods, or Alex Ross' review of Bernstein in the New Yorker

From: (Anonymous)

Oh wow. I meander through and I'm being nominated. I should meander through more often. (Or make a Livejournal/post-resuscitation Tumblr.) (That isn't the one I had when I was 16.)

I'm guessing things on economic development and text adventures (no, not together) don't count. I haven't written a tenth of what I planned to in *any* sphere. Maybe Sleigh Bells ( http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=2850 )? But then it's still a sliver of what I really wanted to say about. It's 2010-albums-wrapup time, maybe I'll write it then.

As far as other people, the requisite Jonathan Bogart post: http://aceterrier.com/?p=1689 -- Ke$ha might overtake this, actually, but everyone's said that.

A bit tangential, but Marisa Meltzer's review of Kristin Hersh's memoir _Rat Girl_? ( http://www.slate.com/id/2265545/ ) Or maybe just Rat Girl.

From:

freakytigger.livejournal.com

Missed this completely due to being trapped in Germany! The best thing I wrote this year was "Shiny Shiny" - http://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/7772-poptimist-26/ - not in terms of style (bits are inevitably awkward) bur in terms of bringing together loads of the things I was interested in.

From:

freakytigger.livejournal.com

And the best things I read where whoever it was on Tumblr who first "got" Sleigh Bells (Erika I think), and some of the general conversations on Tumblr, which seems to be working well for me at the moment. Nomad energy ftw.