Another ‘response album’ from Marc Weidenaum's blog minions, this a collection of recordings that use a human sigh as their source material. The response is to the grumpy, narrow-minded art critic Richard Dorment, who questioned the integrity and quality of artist Susan Philipsz’ Turner Prize-winning ‘Lowlands‘, as well as a number of other artistic endeavors that he considers unworthy of anything more than a ‘long low collective sigh’.

I may never get around to listening to this, but the idea is fantastic. "An article in the May 2010 issue of the magazine The Atlantic critiqued the current generation of young music fans for rampant copyright violation. In a small irony, the illustration used to decorate the article interpolated a detail of a preexisting work that appears to not yet be in the public domain. This notice isn’t intended as a criticism of the illustrator — quite the contrary; the illustration is excellent — but instead of the theoretical foundation of the article, which suggests a clear line between right and wrong where there is, in fact, significant ambiguity. I forwarded Traum’s image, and article it accompanied, to various musicians and asked them if they would record a piece of music that took Traum’s picture literally: use it as a score.”

A strong perspective on music culture, the music business, and the state of things today. "Had Sonic Youth not done what they did I don't know what would have happened—the alternative history game is kind of silly. But I think it cheapened music quite a bit. It made music culture kind of empty and ugly and was generally a kind of bad influence."

A good overview and some best-of lists for dubstep and its offshoots in 2010 that I can mine later.

"So why hasn’t Gillis been hauled in front of a judge by the music industry? Probably because he’s the most unappealing defendant imaginable. Gillis would be a ready-made hero for copyright reformers; if he were sued, he’d have some of the best copyright lawyers in the country knocking on his door asking to take his case for free."

"Overall, there seems to be a critical disconnect between the way the predominantly white, male critical establishment writes about violence and misogyny—especially as it’s primarily exhibited in hip-hop, i.e., music made predominantly by black artists. Critics such as these seem uncommonly drawn to violent, misogynistic music simply because it is shocking. This thrill of novelty seems to be nothing more than a fetishization of an alien culture."

A good overview of where music creation and criticism is in late 2010. At least in terms of the sorts of bands who are making music for the sorts of people who are reading these sorts of blog posts (a lot!).

"For every Vampire Weekend or Arcade Fire that goes beyond this point, spinning online buzz into big success, there's an M's, or a Thrills, or a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — take your pick of any blog-hyped band that once generated copious heat only to cool off considerably, partly victims of a zippy online impatience that, as Matthew Johnson, founder of Fat Possum Records, put it, 'can devour bands whole, and be done with them.'"

"What kind of noise are you feeling, and how far do you feel like sinking into it?"

"Have you ever started rapping along with some song on the radio and then realized that you don't know the lyrics? Now you don't have to worry about that embarrassing moment when it happens in front of your friends. OHHLA.com is your one stop shop for rap and hip-hop lyrics."

Basic setup instructions.

On the difficulty of preserving and reissuing classical hip-hop records. "The job that falls to those seeking to preserve hip-hop's past remains complex. Those doing the work need to know as much about copyright and contract law as they do about old Pete Rock B-sides, while a grounding in clinical psychology might help in dealing with the artists. It's a combination of specialisms few individuals possess, and it raises the question: just whose responsibility is it to curate the history of a culture?"

"Commercial concerns are both implicit and invisible in the consumption of content."

"I’m afraid of what the systematic harnessing of communities will result in." Specifically, he's afraid that it will result in a) fans wasting their time and money and b) the artist being relegated to the sidelines while context and 'engagement' take over. Valid fears if you ask me, and exactly the sort of the thing that Matt LeMay outlines in the MBV post 'Living in the Age of Art vs Content' (http://www.mbvmusic.com/2010/10/19/living-in-the-age-of-art-vs-content/26911).

"'It sucks,' he says. 'It's no fault of any of the people in the industry, but music is not the main focus of my life. I never really planned on it being that way. When I meet people on the business end of this music-industry thing, they tend to really gross me out. I'm not trying to make money through this.'"

"'I stuck her with my wang. She hit me in the balls. I grabbed her by her neck. And I bounced her off the walls. She said it was an accident and then apologised. But I still took my elbow and blackened both her eyes.' That's clearly a song about domestic violence. So your Christian message is... don't be like that man?" "Huh?" Violent J repeats, mystified.

A followup to the article 'Do Fees Rationalize/Incentivize Communal-Culture Ecommerce?' checks in with actual musicians using the site, and finds that they're more or less unfazed by the change, and don't think it's evil by any means.

How native-language subtitled music videos dramatically increased literacy in rural India. And there's a local professor here promoting the same SLS ('Same-language Subtitles') idea. Would be nice to talk to him.

Nitsuh, reasonable as always, dissects the clash of rockists, 'true' fans, and people who write about topics outside their wheelhouse and why it bothers us.

"The Auerglass is a two person pump organ created by Tauba Auerbach and Cameron Mesirow (AKA the musician Glasser). The instrument cannot be played alone. Each player has a keyboard with alternating notes of a four octave scale. Each player must pump to supply the wind to the other player's notes."

Thoughts and collected quotations on Bandcamp's change of plans.

Prof. Rosalie Loeding, voice teacher, and expert on singing problems discusses techniques for avoiding and curing throat and other medical problems of singers.

1. PR companies are liars and are out to fuck you. 2. Music blogs are run by human beings and should be treated thusly. 3. Make no concessions.

"To mark the publication of rock critic Rob Sheffield’s second book, an 'I Love the 80s'-style tribute to the music of his youth called Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, eMusic’s Michaelangelo Matos took a unique approach to the author interview: a jukebox jury in which music critics, rather than songs, were the focus of discussion."

A video by fiilmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis. "Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it."

A cute illustration.

Why Altered Zones, Pitchfork's new MP3 blog collective, is a destructive force toward artists. However: This isn't all Pitchfork's fault. An artist doesn't get on the internet without their own considerable effort. They don't have to react to coverage. Young people are inexperienced and I don't blame us for going for fame as soon as the slightest hint thereof beckons, but there's more to this than the idea that Pitchfork is trying to co-opt all the young rebels.

Is Lil Wayne's 'Rebirth' really that bad?

Getting politics wrong and getting pop wrong.

Humanizing and well-written. Spoiler: she doesn't have a penis.