Too Many Words?: Oh, you can never have too many words about music!
First, there’s Neumu.com, a new endeavor run by Michael Goldberg (the former editor-in-chief of Addicted to Noise, once THE pre-eminent webzine for all things musical & hip). (Of course, now Addicted to Noise has been swallowed by the once-pertinent, now-negligent Sonicnet. Ugh – they went from reviewing Fuck’s first album to the horrific “Me. Music. Mine.” marketing campaign during the dotcom boom. Avoid at all costs.) Neumu is a multi-media site, with features on the Big Bands (REM, Radiohead), photographers (this week – renowned Seattle photographer Charles Peterson), and other such things of truth & beauty. The stable of reviewers does include various ATN alumni, but there are a few inspired screwballs in the mix as well – most notably, Anthony Carew (the Gravitygirl webmaster, a fine repository for FT-like goodness), and John Darnielle.
Ah, John Darnielle. He writes wonderful songs under the Mountain Goats nom de guerre. He writes wonderful music critisism for the New Times LA. He publishes his own ‘zine, called Last Plane To Jakarta (a ‘zine which is currently on-line, by the way – click here). He embraces music in toto, from Emperor to Destroyer to the Steve Miller Band. (And, yeah, the Backstreet Boys, too.) And, if you believe his bio from the Neumu website – “He is persuaded that advertisement-free media will soon usher in a new age of enlightenment and stimulating intellectual discourse.” He’s a good, good man.