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This is the place where I write about music. It may or may not be regular, and you're probably going to disagree with what I write. Enjoy.

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Familiar Faces - Beard Guy

A semi-regular series about people I see at gigs in and around Canberra.

I go to a lot of gigs, and as a result I see a lot of familiar people at gigs. Some hang around particular genres of music, some are a bit more broad.

Beard Guy is the broadest of all the music fans that I recognize at shows. I'd say I see him at 85% of gigs I go to. He misses some of the electronica I see, and some of the punk shows. There's always a moment where either Megan or I see him, and turn to each other and say:

"It must be a good gig. Beard guy is here. Beard guy."

I've even seen Beard Guy at gigs I've been at interstate. Inter-Freaking-State. By this point I kinda think one of us is tracking the other.

I hope it's not me.

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Elliott Smith - 10 Years On

Today (US time) marks the 10 year anniversary of the death of the death of Elliott Smith. His voice marks a number of social moments for me growing up, and his songs show the good side of singer songwriters everywhere.

Instead of writing more on his life and death, I'd highly suggest reading this Pitchfork article, and listening to the songs contained within.

I didn't know the guy, and I can't provide any further context about his life other than I liked a bunch of his music.

I think I'll leave it there.

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The criticism of critical distance

Nearly all  of my favourite albums are by people I have never met or spoken to

For some reason the other day I was thinking about the worth of critical distance with relation to music. Not the audio physics term, but with relation to the distance of the criticism of popular music. Music reviewing and writing by its nature is a echo chamber; it exists to give opinions about things the reviewer does or doesn't like.

It's almost never objective, and almost always contains biases. It's often immersive, and can only exist as such.

For example, its fucking hard to do a gig review without actually going to the gig you are reviewing. Likewise, when your writing a feature on a band or muso, your prose is likely to be swayed by their music at least as much as what they actually said in a given interview.

The old pearl about meeting your idols

Does having a beer after with a band after a set unreasonably affect your potential to write an unbiased review? Should someone who's a dedicated fan of a particular band really review a new release by that band?

For me, the answer to those questions are no and yes respectively. For me, music criticism is about the music and its context. Its about the passion and emotion that a writer can convey along with the music.

In my honest opinion, the best piece of music journalism of the last two or three years is Andrew Ramadge's short book The World According to Gaz.

The critical distance here is less than zero; the piece is essentially a fan of Gareth Liddiard watching his new album being recorded and chatting to him, his friends and family. Without Ramadge being embedded with Liddiard's camp, it could turn out to be just another fan article on how great Liddiard/The Drones are, or another distant review.

It's better than that. It has life, and it makes the album that Liddiard released (Strange Tourist) even better to listen to. It not only reflects the context of the production of the album, it provides some to the finished product.

Where was I?

Oh, critical distance. A noble ideal, but wasted on music.

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And now for a concerted effort

So, I fully intended to update this daily...

Then life got in the way.

For the last 9 months, I've done full time study and full time work. Turns out that's my limit. At times I've put out ad hoc pieces around the traps, but nothing substantial. And very little on music.

But, in the last 6 weeks, I've become a contributor to BMA Magazine. I'll try to post the stuff that goes on there up on here as well.

But this is going to primarily be the spot to put longer form music pieces, and quicker hit gig and CD reviews. From time to time there might be other writers joining me, from time to time I might throw a podcast up here.

As for a content schedule, that's one thing I can't do right now. I tend to go to 2 plus gigs a week, and listen to a bunch of new music. The goal is to put something up on everything I like.

I'm also going to try to throw a long form article every week.

So stick around, cause things are going to get better from here.

Cody

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Tropical Wasteland Mixtape

I was seeing The FIghting League the other night when I thought it would be awesome if there was a mixtape that celebrated music from the tropical capital, Canberra. I've made a few real copies, which I'll be handing out at ATP Melbourne. I'll upload a digital download over the next few days. I've also written some stuff around the bands chosen, but that will have to wait for now. Here is the tracklist:

The Fighting League - Tropical Wasteland

Crash The Curb - Don't Lock Your Elbows

Assassins 88 - Beach People

TV Colours - The Kids Are All Grown Up

The Creamers & Danger Beach - Magnum

Hoodlum Shouts - Guns Germs Steel

Mornings - Waves

Beach Slut - Let's Trim Our Hair In Accordance With Socialist Lifestyle

Danger Beach - Sioux

Kasha - Dot

Yes/No - Product Placement

Cracked Actor - I'm Never Sad

Waterford - Reasoned

The Fighting League - Guys You Want To Be

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The voice of Ozzieness and why I didn't care too much

I am Australian, by birthplace and voice. When I talk, I actually speak a derivation of English called "Bogan". More than anything, I tend to overrate Australian music in contrast to its international counterparts.

I firmly believe that the Saints were the best punk band of the 70's. Six Ft Hick should be considered one of the best live bands in the world. And I'm only talking about Brisbane bands so far.

But I don't really care much for the man considered the most Australian of them all; Jimmy Barnes. Maybe it was the bogan in the cork hat and Australian t-shirt vomiting into his esky in front of me, but his music doesn't matter to me. Seeing Jimmy Barnes on Australia Day (eve) at Parliament House while the Australian of the Year looks on is, on paper at least, one of the most Australian things you can do.

But that doesn't make it a good thing. For all the talk about Barnsey being the husky growl of the nation, the topic of ability doesn't get brought up.

I guess the conclusion is that nationality and music aren't, or at least shouldn't be, linked in regards to quality. And, I guess, patriotism has little to no place in music.

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Bob Log III taking it to Canberra's nightlife

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Lyrics: their value or lack of

Are poorly constructed or tacky lyrics better than no lyrics at all? Discuss with relation to Rebecca Black's Friday and Dosh's Gare De Lyon. Or anything that Miley Cyrus has done and anything off Pivot's (pvt) Make Me Love You.

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Intro

After walking out of the secondhand CD shop with another handful of CDs and less money, I thought about all the music I've seen and heard over the last couple of years. This tumblr will more or less be that. My experiences, feelings and thoughts about music. Music, as an artform, is a very personal thing, and not everyone will agree with my thoughts. But I really don't care.