j i g s a w

underground since'89

send vinyl, tapes and zines for review to:

tobi vail P.O. Box 2572 Olympia, WA 98507 USA

email mp3's, links, photos and flyers to:

jigsawunderground@gmail.com

Saturday, March 7, 2009

what's new

jigsaw fanzine rejects the consumerist mode of music writing that is so prevalent today:

1. everyone wants what's new, why?

(marketing, consumerism)

2. record reviews are almost always written BEFORE a record comes out, why?

(marketing, consumerism)

3. why are there only show previews and very few show reviews in the music press?

(marketing, consumerism)

4. i dig fanzines in blog form because they are free, accessible and instantly available as a means of communication. i don't like that the general way people seem to use them is to imitate the establishment music press.

5. now that music blogs are so influential, the establishment music press have blogs that mimic the independents.

6. people are paid to market music to bloggers. are bloggers paid to 'break' bands? what does this economy look like?

7. jigsaw fanzine is interested in documenting, discussing and disseminating information about the underground. we make up our own rules.

stay tuned.
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3 comments:

Benjamin Parrish said...

here here... i remember when i started my blog i wanted to review albums over and over and over again to see how they aged but it took up too much time. hopefully i will start that again. the weirdest thing about albums getting reviewed so early is that by the time they actually come out people are over them.

March 9, 2009 at 11:31 AM
Tobi Vail said...

yes, well when you read reviews and it seems like the writer hasn't really listened to the record yet--it's because they haven't!!!! how long does it take you to really get into a record? 100 hours of listening to it? Seriously...for me it sometimes takes that long. I have a big stack of stuff to review, but it's difficult to find enough time to sit around and focus on it. also, when everyone wants what's new, we are constantly throwing away what's old, and when that involves physical records and cd's, we are literally destroying the planet. there is so much music already, that it is more than we could possibly listen to 24 hours a day for the rest of our lives....still I do like to hear new bands as well, but what about listening to stuff, really listening ? does that happen anymore? sometimes it does, but less and less.
also, isn't it just another form of consumerism to download everything for free just to store it on your hard drive? sure, no money is exchanged (at the peril of the workers who make the records, at every level of production) but it's all about ownership. who cares if you have everyone's discography if you don't listen to it?

March 9, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Benjamin Parrish said...

sure money is being exchanged- the money to buy hard drives, computers, and ipods and the money to pay for high speed internet connections! i guess if people want to believe that illegal downloads and shoplifting and all that stuff is better than supporting their community that's their choice. i'd rather pay $5 to buy a 7" than give a few thousand to apple and comcast to download a hundred albums i'll never have time to listen to any day of the week.

March 9, 2009 at 2:47 PM

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