Relax. Let’s breathe in. Now out. Repeat that a couple of times.

Now let’s get some levity about the situation we find ourselves in: we write music blogs.  It is not a life-changing position.  It is not a necessary position.  It’s a hobby.  Granted, it’s a hobby that is a little more consuming than it probably should be – but at its core, we all do this for fun.  And if you don’t do it for fun, then fuck you.  Stop doing it.

The truth is, we all would still be this voracious about music even if we weren’t writing blogs.  We’d still be the ones annoying our friends about New Band X that they just-have-to-fucking-hear.  We’d still be making mix CDs and feigning shock that the recipient didn’t love song 10.

Blogging issues are only as much of an issue as you allow them to be.  Don’t want to get in trouble for copyright issues?  That can be avoided.  Don’t post material you a) haven’t been told you could, or that b) isn’t posted for free on the artist’s site or the label’s site.  (And maybe just a).)

“What about those domains that got seized?!”  Don’t lie: you hadn’t heard of 99% of those sites.  (I just looked at the list again.  I didn’t ever read a single one of them.)  They weren’t doing what it is responsible bloggers do.

Are you concerned about the speed at which the blogosphere is moving?  About the need to be first to post something for the modicum of recognition it might afford you?  Don’t be.  You weren’t the first to know about Radiohead.  And your friends still found out about them from you.

Our readers are savvy individuals.  They know what they like.  Ours don’t read tympanogram because we’re first on everything – and yours don’t read your site because they’re concerned about that either.  They read us all because they connect with us on a level beyond the music – because they like how we write, or because they’re from the same town.

Has Hype Machine’s redesign made it more difficult for us all to grow?  Yeah.  Does it suck?  Yes it does.  And maybe it will force us to think outside of the boxes we’ve become accustomed to and do something about it.  Check out mixedsens.es.  Check out ex.fm.  There are new ways of discovering music and blogs popping up all over the place.  If we decide to put our weight behind something else, we can.  Or we can sit around and bitch.  (I’m cool with either, really.)

Bottom line: the ‘issues’ aren’t issues at all.  They’re annoyances.

And don’t worry about the preponderance of music blogs.  There’s room for a lot of people in the blog world.  We’re not assholes.  We’re a pretty accepting bunch.  If someone’s committed and passionate, there’s room for them in the music blogosphere too.  Everyone who isn’t eventually falls away anyway, kind of like The Bravery.

1. Dave and I came across this website yesterday with a familiar feel to it.

2. We talked with Wes from Ra Ra Riot after their (excellent) show last night, and we’re working on writing it up.  I’d look for that tomorrow or Monday.

3. I’ve been listening a lot to this band called Fanfarlo lately.  They have an Arcade Fire, David Byrne vocal kind of thing going on.  And, the album is only $6 on iTunes.  Can’t go wrong there.

4. So Many Dynamos was the first act to play last night – we thought it was going to be Passion Pit, but they apparently couldn’t make it.  About the band’s first couple songs, I wrote “poor man’s At the Drive In” and “less melodic We Are Scientists.”  But then they played “In Every Direction” and everything turned around.  The second half of their set was very good.  They’re self-depricating, unafraid, and well aware of the hype machine that goes into making a band these days.  But, when I look it up, Pitchfork gave them a 7.3 for their last album, not a 5.3 like they told the crowd, and even a bit higher than Pitchfork rated music as a whole.  They have a new album coming soon, and what they played from it sounded great.

Fanfarlo – Harold T. Wilkins (mp3) from Reservoir

So Many Dynamos – In Every Direction (mp3) from Flashlights

: : : : : : : : : : :