I was introduced to The Talkhouse by my friend Jon Wurster, who knew I was interested in getting more writing experience. This is a really cool site started by Michael Azerad, a well known writer--here's a link to him talking in The Paris Review about one of his books: Our Band Could Be Your Life . He also wrote the definitive book on Nirvana, which you can look up easily enough. Anyway, Michael had the great idea to get musicians to write about new records coming out. It's a lot harder than one would think.
Having read my share of reviews by music critics, the last thing I wanted to do was gush over or slam someone else's efforts at making music. Michael assured me they weren't looking for "reviews" in the traditional sense. "Just write about the music as you hear it," he said. Another rule: I couldn't know or be in the circle of any artist or band I chose to write about. One big challenge--I'd go peruse the new releases at MetaCritic or other site like that and not know who any of the bands are. Or I know them personally and can't break that rule. Or I hate the music and no way am I going to listen to it and write about it.
I have managed to write for The Talkhouse on four records. I'm really happy with these and you should explore the site, which has tons of artists and it's pretty great getting to see how they write about music too. Click on any of these to read! I'll be adding as I write 'em!
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