For somebody who hates rock critics I sure do love SOME rock critics. I treat my faves much the same way I treat rock stars. Most of the ones I love I know (or at least knew), the Julie Burchills, Bill Holdships and Robert Christgaus.
And most of the modern writers bore the fuck out of me.
But Jim Farber is great and so is the Village Voice’s Rob Harvilla. He took over from Chuck Eddy in 2006. I was never that keen on Eddy but I also hadn’t been paying close attention to rock criticism for years, maybe decades, till I started a music blog. Once you start writing this stuff you wanna check out if your dick is bigger than thelr’s and the only way to do is to take a peek.
It has been immensely disappointing and I don’t care if there are a million technically better rock crits than me and Helen and the rest of us. We can write circles round em all because we have the spirit so many seem to lose in their denseness.
Harvilla is a passionate and smart music writer and his article in yesterday’s post on The Hold Steady is as much a must read as his predecessor Robert Chrisgau’s consumer guide review of Separation Sunday.
Here is the link: