Best Music Journalism: February 2015

We’re only two months into 2015 and the world of music journalism is already getting pretty heated. Robert Christgau’s self-penned bio came out (and raised some eyebrows over his carnal excursions). Soon we’ll have one from Richard Goldstein, ad another Ellen Willis collection this spring. Apple is hiring music scribes with an eye on curating and Billboard is delving into the world of native ads. If that wasn’t enough, February also happened to bring a blitz of fine articles from all over the place. Makes you wonder what the rest of the year will bring.

Being Real Black for You: Who Kendrick Lamar Is Rapping to on “The Blacker the Berry” (Rembert Browne, Grantland)

With Drake and Kanye vying for the top of the heap, Lamar has made some subtle and powerful statements in the lead up to his next album. Browne compares Lamar here to Nina Simone, Donny Hathaway and Tupac. In the end, there’s no definitive answer as to who Lamar is addressing. But Browne’s poignant questions about race and identity are absolutely worth mulling over.

What Drake Lyrics Really Mean (James Clapman, Pigeons and Planes)

Doc Zeus’ grudging admiration for the best-selling rapper is admirable and instructive, but here’s a fun and creative take on the album/mixtape/contract-breaker/best-seller: A dozen thoughtful and creative illustrations of the lyrics from the album and, as Zeus might say, a better representation of them than Drake himself made.

Willie Nelson & His Famous Guitar: The Tale of Trigger (David Chamberlin, Rolling Stone)

A short film that tells the story of Nelson's Martin N-20 acoustic guitar, Trigger. Like Nelson, Trigger is weathered and beaten, but still sounds magnificent.

MusiCare’s Person of the Year Speech (Bob Dylan, Grammy.org)

As much attention as Robert Love’s fine AARP Magazine interview got, here’s where we really got to hear Dylan speak from his heart, not to mention his spleen. After a tribute show of his songs done by an all-star cast, he takes the stage and does quite a performance himself. He took the opportunity to lash out at a number of targets, including legendary songwriters like Lieber and Stoller and Tom T. Hall along with Merle Haggard and producer Ahmet Ertegün, all of whom he calls out for dissing his songs. He does go out of his way to praise the people who covered his tunes early on like the Staple Singers, Nina Simone, and Jimi Hendrix, as well as the folks and folkies who helped his career like John Hammond and Joan Baez. To cap things off, there’s a rejoinder for the people who crack jokes about his voice (which was nicely dissected in Dan Reilly’s Vulture article). At 5,000 words, it’s a good appendix to his Chronicles book.

Tinnitus Is Hell’s Soundtrack, but Will the Ringing Ever Stop? (Jaime Fullerton, Vice UK)

You’ve heard all the warnings before about playing music too loud and how the post-millennials will become the Hearing Loss Generation, but this report from musicians and industry people suffering from tinnitus makes for a great series of cautionary tales. Plus some good advice: get ear plugs, don’t go into denial, say no to cocaine. Oh, and you should try to masturbate too, says a former MTV presenter and ambassador for the British Tinnitus Association: “Anything that takes your mind off tinnitus is good.”

Vinyl Is Absolutely Not a “Fashion Statement” (Except When It Totally Is) (Jeff Giles, Diffuser.FM)

Vinyl is back! Again! And again! And again! Or so you keep hearing. Neil Young has grumbled that it’s just a “fashion statement,” and Giles agrees to a point, but also explains that the revival of those plastic discs has a psychological and sociological component to it. We love to possess and hold these objects. They’re something personal that we can relate to. Of course that doesn’t mean that the whole format isn’t doomed, as Giles notes too, but who can gainsay love, even if it’s only for a stupid little record that we cherish?

“Women aren’t allowed to be kick-ass. I refused to play the game.” (Kim Gordon, Guardian)

One of the most wildly circulated music articles so far this year, and with good reason. In this excerpt of her book Girl in a Band, Gordon whisks us through the whirlwind of her life, from the grungy club scene of early 80’s NYC to indie rock stardom to the ultimate breakdown of her marriage and the end of Sonic Youth, which makes for a tragic ending in more than one way.

Booze, Blood and Noise: The Violent Roots of Manchester Punk (Frank Owen, Medium)

A dizzying half-hour read as the site notes, but a trip that’s worth taking into an even scruffier music revolution than the one that was happening in London — and maybe more influential. A mystic Pistols gig leads to Buzzcocks and indie culture and the triumph of post-punk and eventually onto the Madchester rave scene. England would never be the same afterwards. Owen remembers it as messy and ugly, but maybe that’s just the nature of revolutions.

An Oral History of Laurel Canyon, the 60s and 70s Music Mecca (Lisa Robinson, Vanity Fair)

Unless you happen to be a fan of the mellow vibes of California soft rock’s heyday, the story of it might be as snoozy as the music. Yet these firsthand accounts of almost everyone involved (barring Neil Young) paint a pretty compelling picture of the scene, maybe even more than Hotel California, Barney Hoskyns’ full-length book on the scene. Best quote about how things changed, from producer Lou Adler: “The hippie version of freedom in the 1960s was breaking down the Establishment. Well, we were buying houses in Bel Air; we were becoming the Establishment.”

Op-Ed: Why Beck Was the Wrong Target for Kanye West’s Grammy Rant (Chris Wilman, Billboard)

It’s not easy being a Ye fan. While some argued that West had every right to exercise his First Amendment rights and not always be polite, Wilman puts things in perspective here: far from being put-upon by the establishment, West and Beyonce (whom he keeps vaunting over other artists) have been lavished with plenty of awards, attention and accolades as is.

Honorable Mentions

Brendon Hong, “Bürma’s Heavy Mëtal Revölution” (Daily Beast)

Spencer Kornhaber, “Is Pussy Riot Helping the Eric Garner Cause or Hijacking It?” (The Atlantic)

Amy McCarthy, “Miranda Lambert Rules, But It’ll Take More Than a Grammy to End Country Music’s Sexism Problem” (Vice)

A.J. Samuels, “Roller Skating, Civil Rights and the Wheels Behind America’s Dance Music” (Electronic Beats)

Amy Wallace, “The Long, Strange Purgatory of Casey Kasem” (GQ)