I’ve moved!

The Eaten by Monsters blog has had an upgrade. There’s a new looking site with bespoke design, a dedicated url, and all sorts of amazing new things.

Head over to eatenbymonsters.com to experience the magic for yourself!

 

‘blog pending’ inbox = 1684 unread messages

When I leave this blog to fend for itself my visitor numbers drop off quickly, but surprisingly they don’t sink forever. After a couple of weeks of inactivity, they level off at a not-too-dispiriting level. The reason for this is quite simple: search engines. After a couple of years of semi-regular updating I’ve accumulated a fairly ‘search engine friendly’ archive of reviews and ramblings (and being listed on The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws certainly hasn’t hurt). If you’d asked me back in the heady, halcyon autumn of ’08 if I’d settle for the hits-per-day that I’ve sustained since my last post in January you’d have received an assuredly unequivocal and resounding “Yes!”. Ask the same question to day, however, and you’ll get a different answer entirely. In fact, chances are I won’t even accept the premise of the question.

Over the last few months I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I want from this blog. My early musings, to be sure, were mostly centred on how to get more people to look at the site, on how to construct my own little empire of influence, my own army of dedicated readers. Thankfully I quickly realised that I was approaching the issue backwards; it feels somewhat trite to say that high-quality, regularly-updated content is what leads, invariably, to a bigger audience, but trite or not, it’s nevertheless true. So, in short¹, if I write a lot of reviews then I’ll get more hits.

The trouble is, I’m not sure a simple bump in page views is what I’m actually after. Hits that come as a result of googling are pretty much worthless, really, and I’m well aware that most people who visit the site are simply after the free mp3 downloads. Now I don’t have a problem with that at all, because if even a paltry percentage of those fleeting visitors stick around for a while and read through a couple of posts then I’ve managed to reach a fairly sizeable audience. What I’m really after, however, are the more valuable visitors; the ones check in regularly or who subscribe to the RSS feed, the ones who take the time to comment and join the debate, who (and here I really ought to be struck down by my own hubris) actually find what I write interesting. It’s these readers (and if you’re still reading by this point, then it’s precisely you that I’m talking about) that I want, and it’s these readers that I’ve been shamefully neglecting.

This post marks the return from my second major hiatus from blogging. Last summer I took a couple of months off purely because I was what they call (and here I use some complicated, technical medical language) a ‘lazy arse’. This time, however, I have a slightly more justifiable excuse for my absence; I’ve been devoting my time to my postgraduate study, which has required an awful lot of hard work² on my part. What little time I have had to whittle away on the idle speculation of pop songs has been poured into my radio show, I Sing the Body Eclectic (formerly of Wired Radio, but now searching for a new home…). The irony here is that my MA is in music, and it’s been writing about music for my course that has kept me from writing about music on these pages. It goes without saying that academic writing is a markedly different kettle of fish than writing the self-absorbed, journalistic stuff that has been the stock in trade of The Eaten by Monsters Blog since its inception, and therein lies the problem. The twenty-odd thousand words of academia that I’ve bashed out so far (with almost as much again to get through in the coming months) have left me feeling far more capable of musical writing than I’ve ever done before, but trying to reconcile this new way of writing and thinking with the style of my past posts has been something of a stumbling block.

It’s not so much my authorial ‘voice’ that I’m worried about, but rather the content (or, perhaps more accurately, my approach to the content). Most notably, I’ve always shied away from using specific musical examples – preferring instead to deal with purely emotional responses – but being as the critical, analytical approach of music (that those with more lofty aspirations than mine would term ‘musicology’) is where my expertise lies, and oughtn’t I to be playing to my strengths? Quite frankly I think that, yes, I ought.

The practical upshot of all this introspection and over-thinking is that there’s going to be some stylistic and structural changes around these parts. The biggest change is going to be the frequency of the posts; the worst mistake I made, and arguably the driving factor behind my recent absence from the blogosphere, was to confuse ‘regular’ and ‘frequent’. Striving to bash out a half-hearted review (of an album I’d not even properly absorbed in the first place) every day or so made the whole thing feel too much like hard work, and in that kind of situation the quality of the content suffers as much as anything. I like to think that when I take the trouble to write about music I actually have something to say, and to that end I intend post on here a lot less frequently – I’m thinking that one or maybe two posts a week sounds realistic. Naturally this will have a knock-on effect on the content of those posts; they’ll represent a higher level of thought on my part, and as such will endeavour to be more than just simple reviews. I’m not saying I’ll be wrestling with enormous and ineffable philosophical concepts or anything, but I will try to say a little more than simply whether or not I like the music.

All this will also change the nature of the music I write about, too. As my inbox will attest, I’ve rather let the deluge of submissions overwhelm me of late, and rushing a review in order to stay current is a sure-fire way to completely miss the point of listening to and analysing music. I’m not laying down any concrete rules here, so if something new excites me then I’ll still write about it (and, indeed, I certainly hope this happens on a regular basis), but I don’t intend to force myself to come up with ‘opinions’ about records before I’ve had time to absorb them properly.

Regardless of the future, I’ve already most likely bored you silly already (which is a good way, I imagine, to send any potential audience running for the hills), so to atone for needlessly wasting so much of your time, I’ll include an mp3 to reward your patience. I won’t use anything serious (I’m saving the really good stuff for future posts) but here’s a funny little tune that’s been kicking around for a while now. For all C. P. Snow’s talk of the ‘two cultures‘, I find it highly unlikely that anyone who shares my tastes in music will not have heard of the inimitable Carl Sagan, so what could be better than an autotuned Sagan-fest from those crazy cats at Symphony of Science? Enjoy!

Carl Sagan – A Glorious Dawn 

¹ Only kidding; the most cursory glance at posts past will show I never use one word when two (or ten, or a hundred) will suffice.

² And here I use the term ‘hard’ in relation to a lifetime of perpetual studentship – those of you who actually work for a living have every right to sock me one right between the eyes.

 

I Sing the Body Eclectic: Wired Radio

Tomorrow I embark on my most daunting critical venture yet: I’m becoming a dee-jay.  Tune in to Wired Radio tomorrow night and you’ll find me presenting my very own live-to-air radio show.  You may or may not be aware that I present a semi-regular podcast for the super-cool, super-small, super-indie label Bearfaced Records, but they are all recorded and put together before hand; this will be a different kettle of fish entirely.  For every minute of speech on a Bearfaced Podcastthere’s usually at least half and hour’s worth of stuff on the cutting room floor, so trying to get my head around the discipline of a live broadcast is going to be challenging, to say the least.  Add in the fact that I’ve never even seen the studio I’ll be using before, let alone knowing how the gear works, and you’ve got a sure fire recipe for disaster.  Hilarious consequence, as they say, will surely ensue…

So in order to snatch triumph from the jaws of disaster I’m doing my damnedest to make sure my first playlist is absolutely marvellous.  The way I see it, if I keep the talking to a minimum and simply play great songs then hopefully the opportunities for it to all go pear-shaped will be few and far between.  That’s the plan anyway; as we all know, a plan is just a list of things that don’t happen.  So wish me luck, and tune in at 9pm (English time) to hear what could be a glorious victory or an abject disaster.  Either way it’ll surely be entertaining…

The show will be called I Sing the Body Eclectic (see what I did there? Clever, eh!) and while I’ll most likely post the odd reminder on these pages, I’ll provide more info (playlists, comments etc) on a new blog created solely for the purpose, which you can find here.

 

Bearfaced Podcast 14: Brain One

What links James, U2, Talking Heads, Devo and Coldplay?  Bugger all, you might be forgiven for thinking, but you’d be wrong.  Their best albums were all produced by the same man: Brian Eno.

This is something of a first for the Bearfaced Podcast; practically a documentary, this episode features not only a stellar line-up of songs, but also extracts from all sorts of interviews and TV shows.  The aim of this ‘cast is to serve as an introduction to the more populist side of Eno’s work; possibly the most influential producer of all time, who’s had a huge influence on a veritable cornucopia of genres and styles.

He’s got a new record out this autumn, which you can find all about on his site, but for now sate your appetites with this sample of his biggest hits, inter-spliced with some enlightening footage stolen from all sorts of places.

As usual, you can get the Bearfaced Podcast through iTunes, download the mp3 directly from the Bearfaced website, or just by using the embedded player below:

Bearfaced Podcast 14 – Brain One

 

The confusing tale of how I won an award…

Gather round, children, while I tell you something you already know: it’s been ages since anything at all has happened on this site.

I’ve been on something of a hiatus lately.  This is partly because when the UK summer festival season comes around I find the most sensible course of action is to lock the door, turn up Radio 4 and shut out all music reporting entirely.  Many people, it seems, absolutely love festivals, and it appears that the festival circuit is one of the few areas of the music industry that’s still in rude health.  There’s hundreds of the bloody things, covering every genre imaginable, and they’re springing up all over the place – I’d be very surprised if there hasn’t been one this summer within a few miles of where you live*.  And yet for all the fuss, all the hype, all the enthusiasm, who are we really kidding? Music festivals have as much to do with music as McDonald’s has to food.  Don’t get me wrong, live music is great, but in a field? Through a completely inadequate PA? In the rain? Considerably less great, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Of course, I’m back to telling you things you all already know.  Every man jack of you could tell me that festivals are all about “the experience”.  And there’s the rub; it’s not an experience I have any interest in.  I’m not a complete misanthrope – I can boogie on down with the best of them at a proper gig – but my capacity for hanging around in big crowds listening to tinny, indistinct dance music died with my teens.  And there’s something about festivals that completely fails to bring out the best in bands, too.  The restrictions on the band’s set list being the main culprit for sub-par performances: It’s got to be short (usually 15-20 minutes), so there’s no time to warm up or find a groove.  It’s got to fit the “vibe”; more so than in any other situation, a band’s set has to fit the mood of the whole event, which invariably means that the songs have to be “up beat” and “dancy” (makes you shudder, doesn’t it). And you’ve got to play the hits; the eclecticism of festival line-ups means that only a small proportion of the audience are there to see a specific band, so winning over new fans is the prime priority for any performer.

But in my eyes the single most horrendous thing about the summer festival season is the media coverage.  From May through to September we’re inundated – nay, bombarded – with festival features and special reports and “front line” coverage, the sum total of which is basically “Look at me! I’m having such a good time!  And I’m with all these famous people!”.  Verily, the only sane response is to give the whole shebang a wide berth.

And that, yer honour, is why I’ve not written anything lately.  Honest, guv, it’s not because I’m lazy or easily distracted.  Seriously.

So it came as quite a surprise, I don’t mind telling you, to hear that I’d won a “Web Excellency Award”.  Now I imagine you’ve never heard of the Theatre Seat Store (lord knows I hadn’t) and probably have even less idea why they’re giving out awards for excellency in music blogs, but they’ve gone and done it anyway.  There’s four categories, music, film, interior design, and AV equipment specialists; an odd mix, to be sure, but if I was trying to entice potential customers to buy my cinema chairs then those are certainly the areas I’d be focusing my sights on.  Ultimately it’s a cynical ploy to get websites that they think appeal to their target demographic to link to the Theatre Seat Store (as I have, indeed, done), but I didn’t get to where I am today by ignoring praise, no matter how faint.  So I shall accept this accolade in the spirit with which it is given, and from now on shall prefix “Eaten by Monsters blog” with the phrase “the award winning…”

And actually, their home cinema chairs do look pretty awesome.  If only I had a proper cinema room.  And more money than sense…

*Unless, of course, you don’t live on or around this sceptre’d isle; much to my dismay I’m not enough of a jet-setter to comment on the international festival scene with any authority.

 

Bearfaced Podcast 12: The Year Ahead

As promised in the last ‘cast, here’s the Bearfaced Podcast guide to what’s going to be hot in the 2010 musical landscape.  If I’m honest, this is one of the best playlists we’ve had on the ‘casts to date; there’s tracks from old BF Podcast favourites like Frightened Rabbit, Meursault and Lightspeed Champion – who all have albums out this year – as well as some new discoveries like The Kays Lavelle and The Black Atlantic.  There will most likely be full reviews of all these albums as-and-when I get my hands on them, but for now this ‘cast should serve as a nice potted introduction to what I’m sure will be a great year for music.

As always, you can find the ‘cast in iTunes, download each episode directly from the Podcast page of the Bearfaced Records website, or simply listen to the embedded player below.  Enjoy…

Bearfaced Podcast 12: The Year Ahead

 

The future…

You may well have noticed that things have been a little stop-start at casa-EbM, and the reasons for this are twofold.  Firstly, writing posts of any value is a time consuming occupation and I’m a busy man (“Fie!” I hear you cry, and maybe with good reason…).  The main reason, however, is more of a semantic one.  I’m only just beginning to emerge from a fug of indecision and uncertainty that has shrouded these pages of late.  This fug was brought on in part by the DMCA trouble I got caught up in following some careless mp3 action on my Mumford & Sons and Big Pink posts, causing me to reassess my mp3 posting policy.  I will now be complying a little more strictly with a few basic rules about posting, but that wasn’t the sole reason for my uncertainty.

The big question I was faced with was how best to balance the reviews and the more “editorial” content.  The reviews I post provide the meat-n-veg of this blog, and give it a purpose and a mission, and by-and-large I try to steer clear of the more “bloggy” aspects of blogging;  nobody wants to read my diary, surely?  On the flip side, when I read other blogs and magazines I do enjoy reading proper articles about the more general aspects of the music world, and therefore imagine that a few of you would enjoy seeing that style of content on these pages too.  Thus I do occasionally indulge myself with rambling not-quite-review posts from time to time.  When I started this enterprise a more than a year ago I did a regular “top five” list feature, but that was a little too disciplined for me to keep it up for long, and now I stick to the occasional “article” whenever the mood takes me.  Anyway, rambling aside, I think this site could do with a little more article-style content and I shall endeavor to provide some.

As a case in point, last week’s Remix post – the first non-review post in quite a while – has produced one of the best comment threads that this site has ever seen.  After an initial deluge of criticism (some rational and articulate, some not so much…) something resembling a reasoned debate emerged, with people coming from all angles to have their say.  In fact, such was the detail and strength of opinion expressed in some of the responses we’re considering devoting the next Bearfaced Podcast to the topic.

So what does 2010 have to offer here at EbM? Expect plenty more reviews, as per usual, but there’ll also be a little bit more in the way of editorial content; so stand by to correct me, agree with me, or just put in your two-pence in the comments section.  It’d be nice to build something of a “community” here – when the posts inspire comments it makes the experience all the richer for everyone involved, and it does me good to have my opinions challenged and debated.  That said, I can’t imagine this post inspiring too much debate; I promise to keep meta-blog posts to a minimum from now on.  Although if there’s anything you’d like to see less or more of on these pages then write a comment and I’ll see what I can do…

 

Bearfaced Podcast 11: The Snob ‘Cast

Well happy new year, folks.  The first Bearfaced Podcast of 2010 is upon us, and this time there’s a slightly unusual playlist.  The theme for this episode is “musical snobbery” and looks at all the stuff we really ought to have turned our noses up at; good songs by bands that we’d never actually admit to liking, and that sort of thing.

There’s also a couple of Christmas songs thrown in for good measure – now the joy of yuletide has past us by, how well does this year’s crop of festive songs hold up in the cold hard light of the new year?

As always, you can find the ‘cast in iTunes, download each episode directly from the Podcast page of the Bearfaced Records website, or simply listen to the embedded player below.  Enjoy…

Bearfaced Podcast 11: The Snob Cast

 

Bearfaced Podcast 08: The Mammoth ‘Cast

Lock up your daughters, it’s that time again; we’ve released another episode of everyone’s favourite podcast.  This, the latest installment, is rather on the long side.  The reason for the length is due to our somewhat ambitious choice of topic; no less a theme than our top five songs of all time.

It’s at this point that any true music fans amongst you will be be shaking your heads and saying things like “surely not” and “heavens, that’s not a task within the reach of any mere mortal man” and other variations on that theme.  But it’s true; Steve, Lloyd and myself (whom one could call the guiding lights behind the ‘cast) have each attempted to pin down their five favourite songs of all time.  Though it goes without saying that there will be just a few caveats to that claim, not least of which would be the fact that the lists are only a representation of our top five songs at the time the podcast was recorded.  And of course we didn’t need to include any songs which would be considered “classics” because it’s obvious that we’d like them.  And so on and so forth…

The basic objective of this ambitious scheme is fairly straightforward.  We’ve been waxing lyrical about music in these ‘casts for coming on for a year now, handing down our opinions from on high with scant regard for objectivity or anything approaching journalistic rigour.  So this podcast is an attempt to lay down a base-line from which to judge our opinions; we’re nailing our colours to the mast in order that you, the beloved and cherished listener, can gauge exactly how much salt to take with our ramblings.

As always, you can find the ‘cast in iTunes or can download each episode directly from the Podcast page of the Bearfaced Records website.  Enjoy…

 

Bearfaced Podcast 07: Roll On Summer

Huzzah, summer’s here! After a lovely walk along the Cornish cliffs – and suffering terribly from sunstroke – I took it upon myself to record another podcast for Bearfaced Records, the ersatz record label I run with a few of my friends.  Normally these podcasts are brought on by an exclusive band session or exciting guest, but this time there’s no purpose other than to give a warm and friendly welcome to the warm and friendly weather that (touch wood) heralds the onset of summer.

As such, all the songs featured are of a somewhat summery nature, but mostly they were included merely because I happen to like them.  The summer months will see some quite spectacular Bearfaced Podcasts, with sessions and guests aplenty, but for now you can sate your appetite for great music with this subtle, graceful darling of a ‘cast…

You can download the ‘cast directly from its page on the Bearfaced website, or if you’d rather subscribe (as I do) you can easily find it in iTunes by searching for “Bearfaced Podcast”.