death of a critic

I guess the outpourings of grief surrounding former NME/Guardian/football (etc) critic Steven Wells' untimely death all have something in common.

1) We'll never see his like again.

2) We would like to see his like again but we won't.

3) Fuck, we miss those days of the taste-maker critic and isn't the NME (etc) a weaker publication for the passing of them?

Obviously we're talking a certain demographic here - specifically the people who grew up reading Steven Wells - but there's a hell of a consensus going down here. Not one of the hundreds of comments and blogs I've read in the 24 hours since Steven Wells' death has indicated that this perceived change in critical approach might be in any way considered a positive. And yet, considering the occupation of many of those posting (fellow critics working within a taste-maker-free environment), surely they must? Surely, they must.

isaac, just turned 4

In an argument with his mother the other morning: "Nothing is true."

See, you don't need a degree to understand post-structuralism.

the pinball effect

Reprinted from Wired March 2005, p 73:

Help! Free Music Has Taken Over My Hard Drive

[Music's] transaction cost can be as low as free ... so there's no inherent pressure to listen to it all. Repeat this a bunch of items and all of a sudden my hard drive is full of music that I've never heard, and the "digital photo effect" starts to kick in. So what do I do? I listen to the same old albums over and over, because I know I like them."

(Posted on www.rootburn.com, Rajat Paharia, former co-director of software experiences, IDEO)

Has this knock-on effect of music's accessibility on the Internet been acknowledged, or is everyone too cool to admit the same happens to them? It's what I call the "pinball effect", from when I used to drink and play pinball in American bars regularly.

the fall and rise of the taste-maker critic

Some see the demise of the taste-maker critic in music journalism as a positive - "I have a secret to tell...it's okay to like ANYTHING!!! The age of the tastemaker is OVER. It's all yours. Now go explore!" writes one embittered prog rock fan on Facebook (8.43pm, 21/6/09), "P.S. Don't listen to old farts whose opinions were given to them back in the late 70s by punk bores. You can make your own choices. Trust yourselves."

Thank Bangs that folk haven't entirely given up on taste-maker critics in games journalism, then. This link is genius (thanks Lloyd). Some great insights from Kieron here.

Look out for a forthcoming web 2.0 series based around "the death of the critic", curated by myself and featuring Kieron, that bloke from Mogwai, possibly Simon Reynolds, a couple of university academics and numerous ex-Plan B sorts, among others. I'll keep you posted.

hidden in plain sight

I was just thinking about my role as gatekeeper over at my music blog - and in web 2.0 that means pointing people in the immediate direction of good stuff (via direct links), as well as explanations - and it occured to me that tons and tons of incredible art/music/whatever is hidden in plain sight (particularly when it comes to a site like YouTube).

mark mordue

Interesting article on rock criticism here, from an Aussie. Thanks to Julian.

traffic

I've managed to get my hits on my music blog up to around a thousand per day, over the last three days.

Interestingly, being linked to by The Guardian website hasn't make the slightest bit of difference to my incoming traffic. Most of my referrals come either from Twitter, Facebook, the live Nirvana forum or the UK music site Drowned In Sound.

To put all this in perspective, when I published my own fanzine in the 80s I was selling over 2,000 copies per issue, hand-to-hand.

remix theory

Remix Theory

whoa

From Wired, August 2005, p79 (article on Electronic Arts, written by Duff McDonald).

"Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment recently added a quality clause to its licensing deals. If a game doesn't receive ratings of 70 or better on sites like Metacritic.com, royalty rates are opened for renegotiation. It's not trivial language. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone and Catwoman, both made by EA for WB Interactive, received a 56 and a 46, respectively."

Whoa! Does anyone know anything more about this? Any leading games critics been offered payola to up their games rating? (Kieron, where are you when I need you?) Now this - this is what I call power.

abdication of responsibility

Thanks to Lloyd, once more.

...taken from Pop Matters.

Critic-turned-screenwriter and director Paul Schrader (“Taxi Driver,” “Affliction”) has argued that, as a society, we have become so afraid of being branded elitists that we are loath to judge films according to artistic excellence.

In an essay modeled after Bloom’s book, Schrader says academics and journalists have abdicated their role as arbiters of taste. He argues that film profs are more obsessed with analyzing the political subtext of movies, while the media churn out best-of lists defined by money and celebrity, not aesthetics.

Schrader argues that the “great middle” of film criticism — serious yet accessible film discussion — has disappeared, pushed out on one side by jargon-filled academic studies, and on the other by mass-media film reviews that are little more than consumer guides.

death of the critic (reprise)

There are some really excellent arguments around the whole 'death of the critic' argument (particularly when applied to web 2.0 and what some commentators are calling 'the death of print') posted right here. The blog comments are equally as incisive.

P.S. Equally, much of the most interesting stuff on this blog is contained within the comments.