Da Capola

The annual Da Capo Best Music Writing is out, and it's much improved over the last. I've been buying the anthology over the past few years (in vain attempt to see if I'll ever make it...sob, sob...fucking Klosterman...) and have been increasingly disappointed (though pacified overall) by the selection. After a few years, you could always bank on one Greil Marcus piece (the guy's like the Skratch Pikels of music criticism, though it'd be unfortunate if they retired him from competition), an obligatory blues piece, at least one Eminem piece (or other 'sad state of hip hop' type affair), and a kitschy piece from the Vanity Fair music issue, with increasing focus on online-only pieces or blog writing. It was getting a bit formulaic, and the sequencing had been a bit off (which is odd for an anthology of music writing, assuming, of course, every rock crit might be a failed musician, but a kick-ass mixtape producer).

I'm about half way through this year's installment, and so far, so good. The picks have been interesting - two opera pieces! - and there's a logical progression between them, with a subtly heightened emphasis on the female experience in music (though there hasn't exactly been a dearth of it in past installments). There's a strong emphasis on online pieces, many of which still remain online. This blog's compiled links to most of them, and a search through Technorati reveals *gasp!* that most of these writers have blogs of their own.

As a final note, was I the last person to find out that you could download entire issues of the Fader for free? Interesting concept. I'm guessing they're betting that most people find on-screen reading a tortuous affair. With that said, I'm off to take a couple Tylenol and a better eyeglass prescription.