Massage My Egoexpress

Just found this piece by Tobias Rapp on how blogging culture is changing the industry and the way music is consumed. It's from a daily Berlin newspaper, Die Tageszeitung which apparently, is is a "cooperative-owned German daily newspaper catering to the intellectual left." Good old Wikipedia. Here's the link, for all you skilled multilinguists.

For every other ignorant English speaker like me, here's a very muddled translation courtesy of Babelfish:

Extract from "Gossip into the hands and say!"
BY TOBIAS RAPP

"....With which still nothing would be said about the largest advantage of the Musikblogs: the possibility, which pieces, over which one writes, of placing as mp3 directly into the text. If most Blogger frightened until recently before it still back, the introduction of yousendit (www.yousendit.com), this changed homepage, which offers temporally limited Downloadmoeglichkeiten, perfectly. The service is free, seven days stands the file on-line and switches themselves off thereafter automatically, more than thousand Downloads is not possible. That comes the need after against underthe radar remaining exactly the same as to topicality, one must to-remain and every few days check, which goes. In on-line forums, which dedicate themselves to the music, "ysi postal code" is for "yousendit please" meanwhile one of the most frequent letter combinations. Which a magazine settled CD could compete with it?

An example: Tape (www.allsexistape.blogspot.com). Picked out, because it is not a so aussergewoehliches Blog, it is made only particularly affectionate. Daily there is one, sometimes several entries of the operators, three young from the British Bristol - under the text frequently a left is long criticisms of short plates, to be inspired, to Techno and House Maxis up or down-written on the appropriate Yousendit side, where they platziert the mp3-Datei. Above in the corner they have a small note: All mp3s is "for evaluatory purposes only. Buy the records!"

One can take that quite seriously. Unites the files marks one that they are overacted from plate into the computer. Here people want to divide their enthusiasm. And that people come to their parties - every few weeks finds one detailed public insults, because again enough people did not come to a party. No magazine can compete with the love, which speed, which euphoria and the detailedness, briefly the attitude, with which dedicates itself to the music here. The number of these Blogs might go into the hundreds.

Here no new golden age of the music journalism announces itself, it is long there. With everything that belongs to: Hypes over moderate of volume, endless texts, which connect everything with everything, in order to lend to the own enthusiasm expression, embittered trench combats around nothing, first its. And the faith, one could transfer the energy of this explosion somehow into the established media, is an illusion. This uncontrolled growth is determined institutions to develop sometime. Straight its Unprofessionalitaet, its readiness for the mistake and for the wild speculation distinguish him, the doubtful relating to crafts, the anti-journalism.

And still something is interesting. If one wants, one can draw parallels to similar departures in the past: Also the post office Punk era was coined/shaped of the visual possibilities of the Copyshop aesthetics, the Fruehneunziger Rave era owed itself the simpler availability of first layout programs for PCS a quantity. The change of the public, which carries out itself here, is however at the same time more fundamental and more superficial. More fundamentally, because the concept magazine begins to disappear. More superficially, because this whole mad movement, these new possibilities of cross-linking and accelerated grass root communication takes place so completely uncoupled from a musical revolution. This revolution does not have a sound TRACK. It applies to each music form equally.

Which has to do also again with the technical possibilities. Where each iPod owner a non removable disk with itself carried, on which not only as much music is as in a large disk collection, one however exactly the same to assume that knows that this music is not stylistic mixed like a generation before, one gets everything equal simply from the countless exchange stock exchanges - there settles itself about questions progress, which can be defined simply aesthetically.

taz of 3.3.2006, S. 15, 305 Z (TA-E.G.-ARRANGED), TOBIAS RAPP"
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Such lovely musings (though does anyone know what 'außergewöhliches' means?), so I think it's only polite to dedicate this next one to Tobias. Cheers!Egoexpress were pulling out all sorts of treats last year, with all of their singles from the 'Hot Wire My Heart' album being very worthy purchases. Knartz IV was just a guaranteed dancefloor smash every time, and all of the Aranda (sleeve pictured above) mixes are great. Check out the synergy of 'Aranda' and 'I'm In The Army Now' that is the Egoexpress mix, and the Lawrence mix for a bit of early morning heaven. Their latest release, Everybody, features a new track from them, entitled 'Fool Of The New City'. It's been out a while, but I know that Mr Soft's not got round to listening to it yet, so why not share it with all you Tapers? Get over to their website to see the Aranda video and check out some of the other tracks from the LP.

Download:
Egoexpress - Fool Of The City // Ladomat 2000