From Mark Goodman (yes, THAT Mark Goodman):

you are way behind the curve when it comes to spotting great music (just discovering Gomez! Gnarls Barclay!the Mark Knopfler/Emmy Lou Harris record that’s been around for months…are you fucking kidding!)

What, is it 1972?

Last time I checked, 60,000 albums were released a year.  If you know what the fuck is going on, you’re lying.

I used to love to discover shit.  I listened to WNEW, I read "Rolling Stone" and magazines only a few of you have ever even HEARD of.  But I got this issue of "Paste" last week that reviews SO many records I’m not gonna check a single one out.  I’m gonna wait for one to rise to the surface.  Because my time is just too fucking valuable.

I’m sick and fucking tired of the "professionals" in this business thinking that the world gives a shit about music, and is constantly combing the media for great new things.  Oh, believe me, there are a few.  But most people tuned out LONG ago.  The cacophony is just that overbearing.  And then, when something reaches the surface like the White Stripes and you say to yourself THIS IS WHAT THEY WERE FUCKING TALKING ABOUT? you go back in your cave and don’t get fooled again.

If only Gnarls Barkley’s album were as good as the single.  If only the Arctic Monkeys were as good as the Kinks.  If only ANY of the great white hopes lived up to the hype.  I’m not saying there’s no good music out there, but I WILL say I haven’t heard anything revolutionary, that I thought was godhead, in a very long time.

As for needing to know everything about the landscape in order to look cool, so you’ll respect me?  Thank god I’m old enough and have had enough psychotherapy to know that that’s complete bullshit.

I have no doubt I can name bands, ALL KINDS OF INFORMATION, that you’re completely clueless on.  And what would that prove?  That my dick is bigger than yours?

The story IS the cacophony, not the individual elements.  What does it take for something to rise to the surface, better yet, what does it take to STAY there, still MORE important, what is the cost of instant ubiquitous fame?  THAT’S the story of the twenty first century.  Oh, you can reach everybody in a week, but at what cost?  Your credibility, your CAREER?

Discovery is part of the process of falling in love.  And you have to have your enamored to yourself for a while.  But the pricks at major labels are on a full court press all the time.  Did you know Britney had a baby?  God, there isn’t a SOUL ALIVE who doesn’t know this.  As a result, Britney’s a joke.  All the victims of media saturation are a joke.  Look at the reality TV stars.  Smart people don’t give interviews, and worry about their ultimate audience rather than the instant buck.

The story is filters.  Places where you can go that separate the wheat from the chaff FOR YOU!  That’s what the deejay is supposed to do.  That’s Mark Goodman’s JOB!  I don’t want his job, I don’t want to listen to that much bad music.  As for terrestrial radio…it forfeited its job by becoming a pawn of the major labels.  We lost faith and then tuned out.

I don’t need to be the first one there.  I just want to be hipped to the best information in an easy way.

Hell, I’ll hip you to a site: MacDailyNews.  In one place, you can find EVERYTHING worth knowing about Apple Computer.  Every worthwhile story, with links to the rumor sites on the left-hand side.  I used to go to ThinkSecret, but why do I have to now when I can go to MacDailyNews, which not only lists ThinkSecret’s stories, but highlights the important ones at the top of its page?

And you know what I found out on MacDailyNews?  That Apple is toying with having P2P as an integral element of Leopard.  Oh, you don’t know what Leopard is?  That’s the point.  We need each other to be brought up to speed on things now.

Leopard is the new Mac OS.  And, unfortunately, what Steve Jobs is doing is more fascinating than ANYTHING being done in the music sphere.  I’d rather follow him and his exploits than waste all that time searching for good new music.

Hey, here’s one for you.  Why don’t you visit the site of EVERY band on MySpace.  Each and every one.  And then create a page telling us what’s good.  I’ll be the first to go.  But no, you don’t want to do that much work. You just want to make me feel inferior, that’s your goal, to let me know that you know more than me.  Well, shit!  I think that’s fine.  I’d rather read what’s going on in Iraq in the "New York Times" than go over there myself.  I can spend ten minutes a day rather than ALL my time.

And shit, I wrote about Gomez on their first album.  And I knew about that Knopfler/Harris track way before it came out but thought it would be shitty until I heard it on XM’s Cafe, one of MY filters, and found out it was good.  As for Gnarls Barkley…  Hell, I met Danger Mouse at the Wiltern before Mark Goodman probably knew who he was.  But who gives a shit.  I didn’t want to take the time to research Gnarls Barkley’s songs, figuring if they were good enough, they’d rise up on one of my filters, which they did, on a Sirius station (curiously, not Mark’s!)