The most recent statistics suggest that there may be as many as 84-billion weblogs on the internet alone. That means that every human being is writing, on average, twelve blogs. Obviously, if the average person is writing that many blogs, it's up to those of you who are writing less than the average amount to pick up your end of the stick and read read read.
Even more important is that you devote all or more of your internet time to reading blogs that are about experimental music. This way you will maximize your efforts. For every blog post that goes unread, there are a thousand hours of experimental music that go without being heard. It really is a shameful waste which should be considered a profound dishonor to us all.
But there's hope my friends. I have personally selected, by hand, the very finest experimental music blogs for you to read and enjoy. I'll be posting about these blogs over the course of the next few weeks. If you know about an experimental music blog that should be considered among the very best, please let me know immediately.
The first blog in our series is called Startling Moniker.
Startling Moniker is a blog in support of a very cool radio show in Southern Illinois, run by one DaveX, called "It's Too Damn Early". (Assumedly, the show is so named because it comes on every Saturday morning at 10 am UTC. In Southern Illinois, the roosters aren't even up at 10 UTC.) DaveX plays all sorts of odd and interesting music. Quickly skimming his playlists I see some Painful Leg Injuries, Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Bran Flakes, Merzbow, Death By A Thousand Cuts, Negativland, Boredoms, Einsturzende Neubauten, Crank Sturgeon, Muslimgauze, Sunn O))), Melt Banana, Brian Eno, John Oswald, Aube, Crosley Bendix, Sun Ra, Nels Cline... and, oh so many magnitudes more of things I haven't heard of yet.
DaveX's show broadcasts over 91.1 FM in Southern Illinois, which is, of course, streamed live on the internet. DaveX has also been posting mp3s of his show on his blog, Startling Moniker, for limited-time downloading, along with the setlist for each show and detailed notes about the production of the show.
The blog is more than setlists and mp3s, though. DaveX has many perceptive things to say on a great variety of experimental-music topics. For instance, here's an index of music reviews at Startling Moniker. DaveX also shared some of his thoughts about filesharing in a recent post. Particularly interesting, to myself, was the post about Noise and the Tao Te Ching. There is, after all, a connection between noise and the ancient Asian philosophy of Taoism that cannot be explained or named. Still, to try and explain the unexplainable often leads to the accidental production of insightful statements. In fact, you may find that DaveX sums up a thing or two that you've thought about yourself, but never thought you could articulate into words. These things probably will have something to do with how much excellent music is available for free downloading, or with the subtler points of copyright issues in this new era of music distribution...
"For a lot of avant-garde, experimental, difficult, and underground music; distribution is moving away from money entirely. While the music 'industry' is arguing about DRM-crippled ringtones, we’ve been busy creating art– happily moving beyond the cliche of keeping the 'suits' uneasy, the underground music communities have ignored them completely. Notice was never served, but here’s the takeaway: the traditional industry is obsolete."
--Startling Moniker
There's a lot to read and listen to at Startling Moniker. Maybe it will help to have a starting point. The March 3rd episode of It's Too Damn Early featured an in-depth look at cd-r and internet lable Roil Noise. DaveX played almost two dozen tracks from Roil Noise releases, including material from artists Torturing Nurse, Skillful Means and Rabbit Girls. By the time you finish listening to the mp3 recording of the show, reading the show comments and browsing through the Roil Noise website, DaveX will probably have posted three or four record reviews to his entertainingly useful blog.
-z
