Musical Batonism

iTunesWeblog posts about music, in my opinion, are a kind of no win situation, because there’s nothing that you can say about a piece of music about which you’re currently very enthusiastic that will really mean anything to anybody unless they’re already familiar with it, or unless they’re so powerfully predisposed to that particular genre or style that a positive reaction is a foregone conclusion. The exception to that, of course, is if you have a weblog that is primarily focused on music and/or has accrued a significant share of musical credibility when it comes to endorsing bands. I don’t have that kind of weblog, clearly, so when I think about writing a post about music that’s exciting to me, I generally resist it.

That said, I’m going to set aside my reticence and go ahead and pass along the musical baton, which several nice folks have passed along to me over the past few days. I’m probably like the last person on the World Wide Interweb to get my baton up, but here goes anyway:

Total Volume of Music on My Computer

3,336 songs for 14.53 gigabytes. That seems like a pretty paltry sum, but I actually shudder at the idea of having twice or three times that much; I think the good would get drowned out by the bad in such a scenario.

Song Playing Right Now

Five Songs that I Wouldn’t Complain about If They Started Playing Them While I Was Having Drinks at a Bar, Plus One More for the Road

Last Album Legitimately Paid For

Five People to Whom I’m Passing the Baton

I can’t wait to see their batons! +

  1. Erik J. Barzeski

    Weblog posts about music, in my opinion, are a kind of no win situation, because there’s nothing that you can say about a piece of music about which you’re currently very enthusiastic that will really mean anything to anybody unless they’re already familiar with it, or unless they’re so powerfully predisposed to that particular genre or style that a positive reaction is a foregone conclusion.

    I disagree. When I passed you the baton, I did so because I was interested in checking out the music you would post. I’m a fan of lots of kinds of music, after all, and the five people I chose have different tastes.

    My own have become quite stale lately, so the “baton” meme was – to me – a great way to explore new music suggested by others.

  2. Reed

    Pamela Anderson? Khoi, you are a terrible person.

    At any rate, maybe I’ll check some of your music out. I love finding new stuff.

  4. David

    There’s a nice thread about post-punk by Rick Poyner on Design Observer. What makes it an interesting read is that he doesn’t try to explain why he likes the music, rather he explains why the music is important–where it came from and what it lead to.

    Same for the review of the Mountain Goats and Hold Steady by Sasha Frere Jones in the May 16 issue of the New Yorker.

Thank you! Your remarks have been sent to Khoi.