Around the Web is where we see point you in the direction of other great conversations on the internet. Music writing is never hard to find, and these are our favorite pieces from the last week or so.
Remembering Lou Reed
- Gawker: A Reason to Keep Singing – The lead singer of Okkervil River has a great piece on Gawker about his relationship with Lou Reed’s music and encounters with the man himself. A perfect snapshot of his legacy from an accomplished songwriter in his own right.
- Vice: What Lou Reed Taught Me – Author of the all-important oral history of punk Please Kill Me , Legs McNeil speaks on the matter.
- Spin: Toesucker Blues – Love him or hate him, Robert Christgau is centrally important to American rock critics, and only he could write this farewell to Lou Reed.
- Paper Magazine: Czech Economist Jan Machacek Remembers Lou Reed and Cites His Role In Ending Communism – What a headline, right? The cure for the common obituary.
Everything Else
- The Atlantic: 50 Years Later: The Greatest Beatles Performance of All Time – 7 songs for Swedish radio, months before their Ed Sullivan debut. Explored by Colin Fleming.
- Under the Radar: Neko Case: Finding The Right Words – I’m a big advocate of Neko Case. If you’ve heard her new album (it’s good) this is a meaty, illuminating interview by Matt Fink.
- Noisey: I Went to a Drake Concert By Myself in New Jersey – A great, fun, deconstruction of Drake’s fanbase that will be equally interesting to lovers and haters alike. Eric Sundermann takes you along for the trip.
- Rachel Maddux on Music Writing – Here, Maddux explains the mundane, lifeless grind that music journalism becomes. It’s a fantastic read and reminds me of this similarly distressed piece by William Bowers during Pitchfork’s anniversary. If you’ve ever wondered why we don’t cover every major news story, every blockbuster release, or have a blog instead of a news site a la Consequence of Sound/Paste/Pitchfork, this piece explains why. The need to comment on everything doesn’t allow you to fixate on the things you love and pressures you to jump to the next hot thing and force yourself to have opinions on all of them. Not thoughts or insights — opinions. Not that we’re unique. The biggest music blogs are more like boutique publications than news resources.
