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Year-end Analysis: “Blender” Would Like To Remind You That It Really Enjoys Lil Wayne’s Music

[snip]

Sure, of course “indie” has its own branding in press releases to bloggers/journalists. And I feel your concerns about people being boringly “tasteful” (and possibly dishonest). But it’s a false equivalency to compare the branding of, like Of Montreal vs. the branding of Beyonce or Nickelback or Hinder— just look at the iTunes store, or just ask a regular person if they’ve even heard of Pitchfork. I don’t mean to be getting up in arms, either, although maybe that’s just my style… more like, if you’re saying music writers liking indie rock is “the bad” because it’s some kind of monolithic establishment, I’m saying other establishments are much more powerful and monolithic, and if I’m going to be a super villain somebody had better starting giving me the money and nuclear arsenal I deserve. (Knowing you I think you wrote those words because you believed in them, not just “as a way to spark discussion on a blog”— you’re the person who wrote a beautiful post on your Tumblr about how words matter and we need to own our words!)

(via offnotesnotes)

No, I do believe them 100%, I just don’t think of myself as a “freedom fighter.”

And I’m not even talking about Beyonce or Nickelback when I’m thinking about albums that are out there. I guess maybe part of what I’m also trying (clumsily) to say is that I miss the days of the lost major-label gem? The good album that wasn’t by a megastar (either major-label “celebrity” level or Jenny Lewis “covered by every music publication” level — you can sub Lucinda Williams in for JL if you want) that was still worthy of recognition? That middle seems to have been lost in the great polarization between “music-related celebrities” and “people who really mean it, man,” and it’s a shame, because there are still tons of worthy albums out there that could have used the boost. (Maybe I’m drawing too much on personal experience here, but I do think these lists have some power, still, in this every-ear-for-itself age.)

Perhaps this is really just another sign that the Big Omnibus List Of The Best Things From A Particular Time is something of a relic, because consensus really is an impossible thing these days.

(And just FYI, I think the Usher record is just as “safe” of a pick. Also, it’s really awful.)

(via maura)

This isn’t my fight, but the artists that most interest me as an editor are the ones that are part of the machine, as it were, but have none of the clout a machinist usually has. Outliers in the system, basically. That’s something we always try to do at work, point out the midrange and hope to illuminate the greatness. (Obviously not talking about cover artists here.) That said, it’s the music industry. We’re all marginalized this decade.