Music

I'm still on hiatus from MP3 blogs, but I noticed that I'm enjoying music criticism blogs quite a bit, so I'm searching around for more of those. A brand new one is House Is Not A Feeling (about dance music), which includes at least two critics I already read, initially from their Pitchfork columns about dance music, Philip Sherburne (from Earplug, among other places) and Jess Harvell. Sasha Frere-Jones has been posting like mad recently. Michaelangelo Matos is at the Seattle Weekly. I try to avoid I Love Music, because it's mostly not worthwhile, but it still sucks me in from time to time.

One of the few MP3 blogs I am currently reading, because it has so much besides free downloads, is DJ /Rupture's Mudd Up!. I listened to his Low Income Tomorrowland mix the other day in the car and got kind of tired of it, partly because I wasn't in the mood but mostly because the speakers in there are terrible. I listened to it loud on my good headphones last night and it was much more satisfying, since I could actually hear the bass, which significantly sweetened the sound and smoothened the harsh, superfast beats that undercut the last half of the mix. Maybe I should just listen to NPR while I'm driving from now on.

Also, I just discovered that the Decibel Festival (electronic music) is taking place in my neighborhood, at various venues blocks from my house, over four days in late September. I really hope I am there and can go to at least some part of it.