The Cosy Consensus

Maybe I'm just a bit naive, but I always believed that the internet offered a great opportunity to express opinions that wouldn't get a look in elsewhere. It's why I maintain this blog without any expectation that I will be rewarded and why, I imagine, countless other people do the same all over the world when they could be doing something more productive, like drinking beer or playing video games. In particular, I thought that blogs would act as a platform for the freeflow of alternative opinions, discourse and debate. How wrong I was. In the electronic music section of the great big blogosphere - which admittedly accounts for just a tiny part of the hundreds of millions of self-publishing sites - a cosy consensus seems to have been established, one that has striking, worrying similarities to the consensus forming that is the staple of the traditional print-based music media. I don't agree with the old world modus operandi, but seen from a business perspective, it works in a callous, short-term way. The formula is simple: devote acres of fawning coverage to whatever has been deemed hip - electro house, mnml, etc - and cash in on the ad revenue. In the blogosphere, the commercial constraints don't apply, the potential to earn money doesn't exist, so why then do most electronic music blogs champion pretty much the same people all the time? My feeling is that, like in the 'real' world, there are a few trendsetting bloggers who are admired by their peers. They pick up on a producer or sound pretty much from the get-go, and then all of the others follow. However, what surprises me the most is that the artists championed, even by the trendsetter, usually ply a watered down, glossy mag-friendly take on work that other more deserving artists make. Lindstrom is a classic example of this cosy consensus: the record that won him all the plaudits, 'I Feel Space', is a pleasant if somewhat unremarkable Italo pastiche, the kind of track that Alden Tyrrell could have knocked out during his lunch break (if he had gobbled a load of Xanex) or that Clone release on an off day. Since then, the blogosphere has championed Lindstrom like he's some kind of disco king (why not Legowelt?), but flick through any ad-driven glossy and he'll feature there too. Similarly, the undying blog love for the Kompakt operation and that stinker of a Supermayer album is questionable: I often wonder if Mayer has some kind of hypnotic hold on many of my fellow bloggers (as well as our print colleagues) because a lot of what Kompakt put out is brutal and if it was issued on a more obscure label, would head straight for the bargain bin.
I have read countless articles about how the 'Web 2.0' concept, which includes blogs and social networking sites like Bebo, MySpace and Facebook are supposedly liberating net users, turning them into 'citizen journalists' and democratising the way information and opinions are exchanged. What utter piffle, it sounds like the kind of rubbish Bush jnr would spout to justify his latest massacre: the social networking sites are an easy way to keep tabs on millions of deviant creatives around the world and the narrow range of opinions expressed in the music blogosphere is enough to convince even a casual reader that we are a bunch of self-regulating, weasel conformists.
It's not all bad though: fellow sceptic Pipecock and his co-conspirators recently launched a blog, the excellent, no-nonsense Infinitestatemachine and you can expect more dissenting bile from these quarters too. Watch out consensus bloggers, the gloves are well and truly off...

Comments

[tom/pipecock]

AMEN. it's on!

[Sotek]

"They pick up on a producer or sound pretty much from the get-go, and then all of the others follow."

Yup, I believe there's a new term for that: "blog house".

[Beat]

I think the reason that bloggers stick to whatever sound is popular is because deep down, they want to be HEARD.

Writing about obscure, genius artists is great, but only if anyone cares.

Imagine for a second that you stumble onto a blog you've never seen before and read four articles, all on obscure artists you've never heard of.

You don't know that blogger, you don't know how good their taste in music is, and chances are, you won't take the time to investigate the artists they are talking about and actually see if they are any good.
Therefore, you've taken nothing of any value from the blog, and you won't return. Thus they have no readers and their blog is pointless.

On the other hand, if the blogger talks about Ritchie or Sven or whoever's new release, everyone wants to suck their dick. More readers come to their site, and their traffic increases. It's a simple ego thing.

[Martin Dust]

In a way the internet is failing in much the same way old BBS systems did, people take the easy way out or simply just consume. You only have to look at a page of Youtube comments to see what the future is. Electronic music has painted itself into a corner and become a narrow minded cunt of the highest order, just like punk did, the love has been replaced with scoring points and ego.

[D]

it's funny how some people in music journalism act as an extended arm to some labels, and help them cash in.
Interesting thought about Kompakt - personally i don't like it. there's a few great records, other what i've hear are tryouts of what might become the next big thing. Then they (or some other label) send out an announcement how the next record is going to be the bomb - and guess what, the i-get-free-music journalist can't wait to hear it and has space reserved for it in whatever media he's writing for. the new kompakt shit has to get coverage. (with , like pipicock said, not less than a 4 star review)

isn't the beauty of journalism in the freedom you get to explore and do research and write about things people have not written before - and not just be a tool for someone. takes a bit more self awareness i guess

[Ronan]

not to rekindle any feud here, but didn't you do a post about modeselektor about a week ago? reading even more about them than supermayer on the rock/indie blogs as well as the dance ones and i can't stand them.

personally i can't stand supermayer's stuff but the reason it's popular seems to me to be because it's more rock orientated, same goes for lindstrom. when legowelt makes a chillout album or starts djing steely dan records then maybe he'll get into the glossy/rock press/pitchfork too.

[hum3]

Interesting topic, good replies...and yup, indeed. Sh*t is getting out of control. The problem with our kind of electronic music (stretch that one any way you like it) is that it's no longer that underground anymore. Look at (wait for it...) ''mnmal''.
Talk about 'out of control'... Hell, it's becoming ever more a statement in ''fashion'' rather than in any type of ''art'', really.

Now, I don't need it to be art per se, in the end it about DANCE music, isn't it?) Thing is, some people are only in it for the superficial boost it can give 'em - that ''dance-vibe'', basically. For them it's just party music, with party people, party vices and off course those party stories. And those people basically want to celebrate Rock Stars (see a certain mr. Hawtin and his trusty band of hand-picked girly guests at this year's Lowlands Festival in Holland for an sad example of that one), so they gonna dress it up and hype it all - substance be damned and join the bandwagon.

And so, to drive my point home: some people simply have no real taste - or even worse, an opinion. To each their own, just NOT more power to them - 'cause in Web 2.0, they seem to grow in numbers. Beware indeed.

Strong words, I know. So let me end somewhat more on-topic.

As long as it a question of taste, I can live with it. It's all up to the writer to make an honest and convincing argument when you want to big something up. If one thinks Supermayer deserves more plaudits then Modelselektor and they can back their opinion up, I can respect that (though in this specific instance, not really support it.) If not, ramble on and join your Hype of the Month.

And concerning Lindstrom: His sound and presentation is probably more receptive to 'mainstream' exposure-from-all-corners than Legowelt (who chooses to be low-profile on purpose). In the end, it caters to another target group. That's the way it works, I guess. It might be a shame, but so it goes.

[Sotek]

@hum3: "Thing is, some people are only in it for the superficial boost it can give 'em - that ''dance-vibe'', basically. For them it's just party music, with party people, party vices and off course those party stories. And those people basically want to celebrate Rock Stars"

Amen to that.

[Ronan]

Amen to dismantling consensus

[D]

hey, offtopic; isn't it silly, that at beatportal it's impossible to do a search for your reviews, nor are they listed when one clicks on your personal profile there. strange beatport didn't see that comming, since credibility is the attention driver on the internet

[Z]

the blogs aren't the dance floors. The latter are the only places these producers should really give a shit about.

[SoulFunkLifestyles]

Comment #1 by you:
"Maybe I'm just a bit naive, but I always believed that the internet offered a great opportunity to express opinions that wouldn't get a look in elsewhere. It's why I maintain this blog without any expectation that I will be rewarded and why, I imagine, countless other people do the same all over the world when they could be doing something more productive..."

Comment #2 by you:
"The formula is simple: devote acres of fawning coverage to whatever has been deemed hip - electro house, mnml, etc - and cash in on the ad revenue."

Here is a link to a blog entry where I speak somewhat on what you're saying here:
http://soulfunklifestyle.blogspot.com/2007/08/cyber-reality-helping-to-make-it-happen.html

About your 1st comment I've highlighted:
Basically people blog for the very reason you write here. Plus it's a good thing for people who basically enjoy writing. Whether people expect some type of return is based on the individual.

About your 2nd comment I've highlighted:
Working toward a little pocket change from ad revenues ... personally I see nothing wrong with that. I'm doing this, in fact. But I would never post "fawning coverage" to this end. I would hope none of my posts reads this way.

In your article you make state how popular “electronic music” is, even though it “accounts for just a tiny part of the hundreds of millions of self-publishing sites.” In fact, who would have figure electronica & DJ culture, in general, would blow up worldwide as it has, say back in 1985 – which is approx. 2 years before “house” music would start to garner international attention … then years down the line “techno,” “Drum n Bass,” etc.

Electronica being what it is today will only grow and the internet will continue to be a place where likeminds in this regard will connect. Bad and good will come from this.

I say “SoulFunkLifestyles Universally Converging” and hope this manifests as something good, something positive.

[Brophy]

@ Sotek: isn;t blog house a term to describe the justice/digitalism/boy noize style. I could be totally off mark here

@ Beat: I thnk the opposite is true about bloggers- the ones I always read are the ones that stick to their guns musically and don't follow the crowd. Maybe it's just me, but I find they always have the most interesting viewpoints.

@ Martin Dust - mate, you seem to have given up hope! Where there is dissent there is hope:)

@ D - there does seem to be an unquestioning love of Kompakt in the music press. Personally, apart from a few records, I never 'got' their shtick, and I do find the unwillingness to slag them - even though they don't hold the power of the advertising purse strings, eg they never advertise, at least not in the UK - a bit weird.

@ Ronan I agree that Modeselektor get too much coverage, but that post was really about the way the dreadfully unhip gets recycled into something unfashionable: Modeselektor's cover version of 'Hyper Hyper' seemed like the best (or maybe the most blatant) exampl. I wouldn't call 'I Feel Space' or 'Another Station', Lindstrom's two biggest tunes, rock influenced, but I would call them watered down versions of records Clone releases. Legowelt looks just as dishevelled as Lindstrom and has released chil out/non dance floor stuff before. I would still hold by my original theory that he's not part of the 'cosy blog consensus' - even though he's a about a million times more talented.

@ Hum 3: You've nailed it regarding your description of Lindstrom.

@ D re Beatport: I have suggested that they do this, but so far no feedback on it. It's a really good idea.

@ Z: like it or not, a lot of people care about what is written about them.

@ SoulFunkLifestyles: Thanks for the post, but I'm not sure what you're getting at.

[Ronan]

Consensus is in the eye of the beholder. eg There seems a very healthy consensus in popular culture that things are on the decline, though there are seldom well plotted arguments to support this.

[Brophy]

Consensus is in the eye of the beholder. - I'm not so sure about this. Although to many extents intangible, you could argue that by doing some basic maths that the amount of blogs bigging up Supermayer for example is 20 times greater than that bigging up Legowelt. At the same time, that approach would also be flawed as it's impossible to look at all of the hundreds of millions of blogs out there to arrive at that conclusion. However, I think it is hard to say that the notion of consensus is objective.

eg There seems a very healthy consensus in popular culture that things are on the decline, though there are seldom well plotted arguments to support this. - maybe I'm disproving what I just wrote above because I feel that modern/popular culture is in a very healthy state, but maybe I'm coming at it from a less populist stance, eg the books i read and music i listen to etc is quite niche.

[Ronan]

"you could argue that by doing some basic maths that the amount of blogs bigging up Supermayer for example is 20 times greater than that bigging up Legowelt"

but you'd have chosen these two artists because you like one and dislike the other. even if you did a survey of every blog out there and found certain artists cropping up more and more, would this be indicative of anything other than the fact that some artists are more popular than others?

I mean, people do talk up the value of the net and blogging a lot, but I don't think anyone ever predicted it would make everyone on the planet have an appreciation for every record ever made.

[Brophy]

Ronan - I think you have may misunderstood what I was getting at: ignore my likes and dislikes and assume that I'm talking about X and Y. Assume there are 300 blogs pouring forth about how great X is, then assume there are only 3 pouring forth about Y. That would mean that the consenus of opinion in that tiny part of the blogosphere dedicated to techno/electronic is in favour of X. Therefore, consensus cannot be objective as you suggest, but simply a matter of more people pouring forth about X than Y.

I mean, people do talk up the value of the net and blogging a lot, but I don't think anyone ever predicted it would make everyone on the planet have an appreciation for every record ever made. - This has no relation to my replies or the original post and no, no one ever predicted it.

[Ronan]

If you want to be interpreted as having carried out empirical research rather than complaining about blogs covering artists you dislike over artists you believe are similar but superior then then don't mention your likes and dislikes.

Similarly you began a piece based on your belief that Legowelt should be getting the 300 blog posts and not the 3 by saying "I thought that blogs would act as a platform for the freeflow of alternative opinions, discourse and debate"

Seems like you just are annoyed others don't have the same taste as you. Perhaps you should have done a blog post about Legowelt instead of yet another one whining about the music that pays your wages.

[Ronan]

Also, which blogs form part of this cosy consensus as a matter of interest, if there are 300 blogs covering Lindstrom, name 10, in the spirit of non anonymous "dissenting bile"

[Brophy]

If you want to be interpreted as having carried out empirical research rather than complaining about blogs covering artists you dislike over artists you believe are similar but superior then then don't mention your likes and dislikes.- I think you are missing the point yet again, the last post I made was in reply to your claim that 'consensus is objective', whereas my reply was that it was quanitifiable and then I went on to show how this was possible, irrespective of tastes etc. It had some bearing on the original post, but I was replying to your 'consensus is objective' point.

"I thought that blogs would act as a platform for the freeflow of alternative opinions, discourse and debate" - yeah, I did, but if everyone is writing about the same thing, how can they be? I didn;t start my piece on the belief that Legowelt should be getting anything, more to do with the fact that the same, safe artists are covered in the blogosphere, supposedly a place free of the commercial constraints of traditional media.

Seems like you just are annoyed others don't have the same taste as you. - No I'm not - it would be awful if everyone was into the same thing. Unfortunately, most people in the blogosphere are into a fairly watered down version of electronic music, eg Lindstrom, the arse end of minimal, etc. Anyway, I accept that not everyone can my kind of great taste!

Perhaps you should have done a blog post about Legowelt instead of yet another one whining about the music that pays your wages. - I never whine, that's for people who send private emails begging not to be taken to task on forums for columns they write on consensus-driven websites. No whning here!

[Brophy]

Also, which blogs form part of this cosy consensus as a matter of interest, if there are 300 blogs covering Lindstrom, name 10, in the spirit of non anonymous "dissenting bile" - first of all, the 300 blogs was a figure pulled out of the air to try to explain to you the empirical methods used to arrive at consensus, and that it was not 'objective' as you claim.

Again, you are spectacularly missing the point. It would be amusing were it not for the fact that your wires, either intellectually or emotionally, are very badly crossed, but it's not. It's like having a conversation with a wall or a small child. Calm down, read the points I made and then throw your toys out of the pram again if needs be.

name 10, in the spirit of non anonymous "dissenting bile" - cmon, you've got an internet connection, I'm sure you can figure out which ones I mean, rather than spelling it out for you. Let me know how you get on. Bye Bye.

[SoulFunkLifestyles]

Brophy, I also realize what I wrote is jumbled … but the point I’m trying to make is there.

The last part kinda summarizes my point:

Here is the last part I wrote: “Electronica being what it is today will only grow and the internet will continue to be a place where likeminds in this regard will connect. Bad and good will come from this. // I say “SoulFunkLifestyles Universally Converging” and hope this manifests as something good, something positive.”

Explain?

The majority of people happily blogging in consensus with what’s popular (bandwagoning) is inherent in the blogsphere. “Fawning coverage” everywhere as a result. Concerning techno artists, many people are riding the bandwagon because techno is no longer underground.

Techno music (and underground dance music in general) clearly wasn’t as popular twenty years ago as it is today, 2007. And what happens when something once completely or relatively underground receives massive exposure? Everything changes. No longer solely within the domain of original purveyors and fans who loved it for what it was, techno is now in the domain of the general masses which means it will be subjected to the handling of the masses.

Simple blogging subjects techno to the handling and opinions of the masses, so surely bullshit will follow. Namely “The Cozy Consensus,” as you put it. The bad Side.

Then there will also be blogs with content outside the box. Whether clearly dissenting, uppity, or cordial in tone, these blogs will always have a more interesting voice, IMO. On the strength alone that something DIFFERENT is being said. That’s the good side

To quote myself: “Bad and good will come from this.” (A given: like most everything else in life.)

I ended my last quote as follows: “I say ‘SoulFunkLifestyles Universally Converging’ and hope this manifests as something good, something positive.”

Explain?:

Quickly, lemme say “SoulFunkLifestyles Universally Converging” is an ideal or concept I came up with. First understand SoulFunkLifestyles is a lifestyle certain people live. For example people who love music and cultures attached to music live a SoulFunkLifestyle. An owner of a music book store lives a SoulFunkLifestyle. Skateboarders who love riding to rock and rap music live a SoulFunkLifestyle. And most definitely people who fuck around with the internet – seriously blogging, maintaining a myspace page, selling music downloads, etc. – live a SoulFunkLifestyle(different levels for different people) I’m just saying that through the internet & in physical reality SoulFunkLifestylers (and yes, Brophy you are one, too) are coming together unlike any other point in time and that ideally this will manifest as something positive .… Hope I cleared-up my point.

{{ For the record, lemme say I know nothing of the techno artists whose names were dropped in the comments section here. I was came into techno in the late 80’s and had bought many releases made by those guys from Detroit, especially Derrick May (“Nude Photo” on Transmat, “Wiggins” on Pheerce Citi, etc.) . Also purchased tunes by Kevin Saunderson and Blake Baxter. Juan Atkins was a little too out there for my taste; I remember buying only one or two twelves by him. Forgot titles but clearly remember one was on the Metroplex label. This is right around the time when dance music (and the culture built around it) was starting to blow up internationally. It actually started, in my opinion and by my estimate, 2 years earlier, 1986. And no doubt, the internet would attribute greatly to connecting different cultures in all this. Finally want to say the internet exposes everything. The term “underground” doesn’t weigh in as heavily as it used to. }}

“Test” is a very good blog, by the way. Long as I’m fuckin’ with blogs I’ll be coming through from time to time.

[Ronan]

ha this is great...still no mention of which blogs you mean...keep on speaking out against the cosy consensus amongst blogs you can't even name

[Brophy]

ha this is great...still no mention of which blogs you mean...keep on speaking out against the cosy consensus amongst blogs you can't even name - c'mon, you're not that stupid are you? It should be pretty obvious even to someone who keeps failing to get the point. I'll leave you to it then.

[Brophy]

“Test” is a very good blog, by the way. Long as I’m fuckin’ with blogs I’ll be coming through from time to time. - thanks a million, and I get the point you were making now, thanks.