#097: The Current Artform
The Current Artform
I’m Todd L. Burns, and welcome to Music Journalism Insider, a newsletter about music journalism. I highlight some of the best stuff I hear, read, and watch every week; publish news about the industry; and interview writers, scholars, and editors about their work. My goal is to share knowledge, celebrate great work, and expand the idea of what music journalism is—and where it happens. Questions, comments, concerns? You can reach me anytime at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. And if you’re not already subscribed to the newsletter, you can do so at musicjournalisminsider.com.
Today in the newsletter: Interviews with writer and archivist Jon Savage; Lecturer in Music at the University of Sussex, Dr. Mimi Haddon; OkayAfrica‘s South Africa Arts and Culture Editor Sabelo Mkhabela; and Linda Valenziano, the founder of Murmur, a communications and artist development agency. Plus! Reading recommendations, TikToks worth watching, and much more! But first…
Sounds Suspicious TBH
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Reading List
- Andre Gee provides a fascinating look at the Chicago drill scene, and argues that the internet is escalating violence through viral rap beef
- Sam Davies takes a global view on drill music
- Shamira Ibrahim wonders when hip-hop will start protecting Black women
- Patrick St. Michel explains why chart shenanigans are nothing new if you’ve been following pop music in Japan
- Zoe Hodges looks at the importance of comedy in country music
- Andrew Voigt has an oral history of Christian metal music
- Leor Galil remembes the Black queer zine that captured Chicago house
- Richie Unterberger interviews Ira Robbins about the early days of Trouser Press
- Felipe Maia explores the desande scene, a dance music movement making waves in Brazil [h/t First Floor]
- Ed Christman explores why the vinyl industry’s demand is so much larger than its current supply
Q&A: Jon Savage
Jon Savage is a writer and archivist. This month marks the republication of three of his books by Faber and Faber in a uniform edition: England’s Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock; 1966: the Year the Decade Exploded; and Teenage: the Creation of Youth 1875-1945. Each one is an outstanding bit of scholarship that puts entire eras into context. In this excerpt from our interview, Jon explains some of his history as a writer.
After the publication of England’s Dreaming in 1991, I continued to work for The Observer and The Guardian for quite a long time. Also began working at Mojo from the first issue in 1993, and I still contribute. Since the early 2000’s I made the decision not to rely on journalism for the bulk of my income and so just occasionally contribute on an ad hoc basis to Mojo, GQ, Esquire and The New Statesman.
The bulk of my time now is spent in writing books and working with archives.
I wanted to write about music because when I started in 1974 (writing for student magazines) I thought that pop was THE current artform: not poetry, not the novel. I was inspired by reading Lester Bangs, Greil Marcus, Ed Ward in Rolling Stone during 1969. Also Richard Williams and Simon Frith in Let It Rock and Idris Walters in Street Life. By the time I started at Sounds in April 1977 I had my own idiosyncratic style, some of which now makes me cringe: but I’ve never reedited anything. It was what it is.
Read the full interview with Jon here.
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Every Editor, Ever
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Podcasts!
- Alt.Latino does a deep dive into regional Mexican music
- Felicia Angeja Viator talks about the origins of gangsta rap on Money 4 Nothing
- Ugly Things founder Mike Stax recounts his career in music journalism on Rock Writ
- Luis-Manuel Garcia explains the difficulties inherent in the academic study of electronic music on Sound Expertise
- Satoko Naito joins New Books in Music to chat about Japanese women singer-songwriters from the 1970s
- The Making of Me is wrapping up its second season this week
Q&A: Dr. Mimi Haddon
Dr. Mimi Haddon is Lecturer in Music at the University of Sussex and author of What Is Post-Punk? Genre and Identity in Avant-Garde Popular Music, 1977-82, which grew out of her doctoral dissertation. In this excerpt from our interview, Mimi talks about the peer review process.
I had four peer reviews of the book. One of them was very detailed, which was great, and the others were encouraging. It was interesting when I was asked by one reviewer to bring out more of my personal voice and more of my identity. (I’m Anglo-Iranian from the north of England.) Identity is obviously a complex thing and it isn’t always conveyed on the page. I think that’s something that you develop over time. Coming straight out of the dissertation too, it can be hard to know who you are and what you want to sound like / look like, and it’s also difficult not to be overly paranoid and deferential. I still don’t think I’m quite there yet, but a friend told me the other day that he could tell when I was joking around in my most recent article. That was good to hear, that he could tell when I was (and wasn’t) trying to be funny.
Read the full interview with Mimi here.
Trivia Time!
What album won the first-ever Pazz & Jop poll in 1971? Catch the answer at the bottom of the newsletter.
Pivoting to Video
- The Archives of African American Music and Culture has made a film about its founding director, Dr. Portia Maultsby [h/t Fredara Hadley]
- Sound Field explores editing in classical music recordings [h/t Music REDEF]
- Better Days documents three decades of rave music in the UK
- Jon Landau talks about the early days of rock journalism
- A documentary about Rolling Stone editor Ben Fong-Torres premiered at Tribeca
A Cause Worth Supporting
From Gab Ginsberg, managing editor at Consequence:
Apex for Youth is a nonprofit that delivers mentoring and educational programs to underserved Asian and immigrant youth from low-income families in New York City. Amid the disturbing surge in anti-Asian violence across the United States, Apex for Youth is continuously addressing the needs of the community.
Check out all of the causes highlighted by folks I’ve interviewed.
Bits, Bobs
- Wesley Morris of The New York Times won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism (Mark Swed and Craig Jenkins were finalists)
- Condé Nast employees picketed outside Anna Wintour’s house
- Clubbing Spain is shutting down
- The White Label Promo Preservation Society is a new book featuring writing about 100 flop albums
Congrats to Craig, Wesley, and Mark!
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Q&A: Sabelo Mkhabela
Sabelo Mkhabela is a writer and editor currently working for OkayAfrica as South Africa Arts and Culture Editor. In addition to writing for various publications, he’s also done research and writing for TV and documentaries. In this excerpt from our interview, Sabelo explains where he sees music journalism headed in South Africa.
From what I gather, people are more interested in video content and podcasts more than they are in written content. I see people getting really excited over video interviews—I see more clips from YT interviews making the rounds than I see screenshots of excerpts from articles. But looking at the numbers for the publication I work for, OkayAfrica, tells a different story—our articles get serious numbers. So I guess it’s not like people aren’t reading, but I just feel video seems to be exciting people more if social media is anything to go by. So I’m seeing more new YouTubers and podcasters than I do new writers.
What would you like to see more of in music journalism right now?
In South Africa, I’d like to see more music journalism, period. There are very few writers doing it. I like most of those I read, but there are just simply not enough writers covering music in-depth. Or rather there are few publications that accommodate long-form music journalism.
I’d also like to see more of the dope writers the country has being respected more, being offered book deals or getting offers to do podcasts, write documentaries and TV shows. A lot of them are walking encyclopedias of culture and music, and given access to such platforms, they’d make incredible and important work.
Read the full interview with Sabelo here.
How Do You Do, Fellow TikTokers?
- @skatunenetwork challenges the notion that ska is guilty of cultural appropriation
- @zazieinthemetro remembers Asian punk band Alien Kulture
- @awfullysinister shows what it’s really like to recommend music on TikTok
- @jazz_appreciation highlights the games jazz pianist Erroll Garner played with his group on stage
- @mathiasmorte explains how Seinfeld’s iconic soundtrack was created
Q&A: Linda Valenziano
Linda Valenziano is the founder of Murmur, a communications and artist development agency. She’s also part of the team at ex-directory, a newsletter that looks at the music industry from a global perspective. Linda does all this from Taiwan, after spending a number of years in New York. In this excerpt from our interview, Linda explains how her approach to her work has changed over the past few years.
Since moving to Taiwan and starting Murmur, I’ve been afforded the luxury of more time and space for personal reflection and growth. I’m able to more deeply understand the artists I’m working with and be more considered in the pursuit of meaningful opportunities for clients. Instead of viewing work as a hustle or means for survival, I’m able to approach it as a vehicle to serve others and as an expression of myself and my values. Taiwan is a small island with a different pace of life and outlook on time compared to New York. The coffee shop opens at 1pm. It’s definitely had a profound effect on me.
Read the full interview with Linda here.
Academic Stuff
- New issues: SMT-V and Journal of Sonic Studies
- The inaugural Sound on Screen online conference will take place this week
- Call for Papers: Global Hip Hop Studies is planning a special issue entitled “It’s Where You’re @: Hip Hop and the Internet” (Abstracts due July 12)
- Call for Papers: Arts, Enterprise and Place in the Rural Creative Economy (Newcastle, January 2022)
- An online roundtable discussion about Music, Sound and Maternity will take place this Friday
- Call for Papers: Rethinking Participatory Processes Through Music (Online, January 2022)
- The National Endowment for the Humanities is accepting applications for its Archaeological and Ethnographic Field Research program
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Trivia Time Answer
The first winner of the Pazz & Jop poll was The Who and their album Who’s Next.
Do you have a question you’d like to see included in Trivia Time? Hit reply and let me know.
The Closing Credits
Thanks for reading! Full disclosure: My day job is at uDiscover Music, a branded content online magazine owned by Universal Music. This newsletter is not affiliated or sponsored in any way by Universal, and any links that relate to the work of my department will be clearly marked. Feel free to reach out to me via email at music.journalism.insider@gmail.com. On Twitter, it’s @JournalismMusic. Until next time…