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How to Become a Music Blogger
To be a music blogger don’t you just post music on your blog? Yes. So that’s it? No. Am I an expert? Are you kidding me? Gorilla vs. Bear or Brooklyn Vegan, are more “experts.” What I know is from my short experience, and from my communication with other bloggers. This post is intended to be a forum, not a lecture, so I encourage you to give feedback. Building an AudienceWhen I started this blog, I spammed my friends. Rea…
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Just a Name: Interview with Akron/Family
Photo of Seth Olinksy by Victoria Smith The musical process is unique for every band. As a journalist, often we’re asked to explain, or conceptualize a band’s sound within a context (genre, comparison, etc). In truth, there is nothing worse, because no artist strives to make music like someone else. When speaking with Seth Olinsky of Akron/Family, this couldn’t be more true. Seth told me when people ask about his style of music…
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We’re Indie! Who F’in Cares?
“Indie” is both a genre and an artist’s statement. During the 70s, 80s, and 90s, “indie” was a style of grunge/punk/garage rock, and a cultural style of music and listeners. These days it may mean an artist has an “alternative” sound, though “alternative” is no longer actually “indie,” or literally, the artist isn’t signed to a major label. Recently, SFCritic noticed on a bl…
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Music and the Moment
The right song can make any moment perfect. This notion is so accepted that it’s cliche to point out that Marvin Gaye is great music for moments of romance. If you’ve ever been to a professional sporting event in the US, it’s likely you’ve heard in some form Queen’s song, “We Will Rock You.” At some point, society seems to accept the usage of songs with certain activities. Unfortunately, music is critiqu…
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[Interview with] Dan Deacon After Kitchener Waterloo Symphony
…Francis Ford Coppola’s newest movie, Twixt Now. It’s a personal growth that was necessitated from a realization he gained during a lecture by Meredith Monk who at the time suggested contemporary listeners no longer desire new music. In a phone interview with SF Station, Deacon explained that with the early 20th century “everyone was trying to be the first to do this or that, and there were a lot of great ideas that came up, but were not perfected…
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Interview with Lenka: “Pop” Feels Right
… became clear that pop for her doesn’t mean diluted (as many indie/underground fans might argue), it means reaching out. With a bubbly style that is positively lifting through sweet melodies, and her childlike vocals, Lenka’s music is affectionate like warm tea on a cold day. Sitting in her home outside Los Angeles, Lenka spoke to SFCritic about making music, and the growing process of creating her self-titled debut. SFCritic (SFC): When you sign…
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[SOTD] Paper Diamond’s “From Now Till…”
January. It’s stuck with me since, unlike the other tracks, because it keeps you engaged. Yeah, the rest is still worth a listen and tops many up-n-coming electronic artists, but eventually fell into “background music” for me. His style is similar to Pretty Lights, retrofitting great voices from the past into a new world, electronic sound. If you wanna cop his full 8-track EP, head over to PL’s Record Label and take a l…
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Beats Antique Breaking Barriers in 2012
When the clock struck twelve, we hope Beats Antique looked back on this past year and smiled. What should have come to mind was playing to their largest crowd ever (13,000 fans) alongside two of the biggest names in bass music, Pretty Lights and Bassnectar. And if that was not enough to coax a grin, surely this should: their fans are thanking them after shows for breaking cultural barriers. It’s not surprising that if any band could break these…
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In and Out of Control: An Interview with The Raveonettes
The Raveonettes emerged in 2001 from the acclaim of Rolling Stone’s editor, David Fricke, and were later described by the magazine as the “Next Wave” of contemporary music. Four albums later and a bad record label situation, the Danish duo of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, are now touring in support of their new album, In and Out of Control. The lo-fi sounding group, have never been afraid of comparisons, as their name is a …
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Valuing Music: Returning To “The Core”
Do you value an album less if you choose to download it for free rather than purchase it? If you purchase one album at $7.99 and another album at $3.99, do you value the more expensive album more? Jessica Suarez, formerly a writer at Stereogum, recently wrote a piece on the notion of album prices and their construed values for New York City public broadcast company, THIRTEEN, entitled “Remixing Metaphors: Music and the Value of Cost.” The art…
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