people are constantly encouraging me to say more and write more and share my thoughts about music and culture. friends who know me well lament that i don’t get to write anything personal professionally. but why? i fail to understand the point.
what, i’m supposed to go through the process of paying my dues all over again at 28 because some dude who thinks he isn’t pompous won’t read anything written by anybody who isn’t internet famous? no. it’s become increasingly apparent to me that the large majority of cultural commentators have zero interest in learning from other people (there are notable exceptions), and i’m tired of shouting at my own navel.
I think the biggest problem with internet music criticism right now is that the competitive impulse — be first, be loudest, react to (or against) someone else’s hype instead of examining and questioning yourself — obliterates just about anything else. A lot of writers — aforementioned “internet famous,” who actually have positions of power — are still peddling personae where they just can not fucking believe that people like music for the reasons they do, or conflate liking certain kinds of music with being a certain kind of loathsome shithead, or whatever hamfisted social-anxiety divisions that drag all the wrong parts of punk/indie/rockist/popist/gatekeeper culture all the way from the junior high school lunchroom table. Not only does it make open communication a pain in the ass, it can actually get in the way of just liking music. I’m a longtime freelancer in his mid-30s who writes for a site a lot of people consider some kind of Indie Rock Illuminati, and even I feel like trying to be extroverted about my enthusiasm just sets me up for disappointment.
