Shallow Rewards: Commentaries on Pop 2005-2012

by Chris Ott

A compilation of the author's views on pop music memorabilia and music culture in the digital age.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Byron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy Ott used to write reviews for Pitchfork back in the dark ages and left to start a blog in which he wrote up eBay auctions of obscure records. He works in computers or something, so he doesn't need the money, but you can tell he's upset about the state of online music journalism. The last third or so of this book consists of essays that come like a more bitter version of Carles' shtick from Hipster Runoff. I of course really enjoyed them. Some of the technical stuff about studio equipment, recording techniques and what have you didn't interest me as much.

There's a shedload of interesting factoids about the records and the artists in the eBay auctions, but I notice the chapters are kinda uneven. Sometimes he really goes in, and sometimes it seems like he's about to go in but then he bails all of a sudden, probably because he wasn't as up on that particular artist. It seems like he could have expanded some of these entries, if he was gonna compile them in a book and charge for them. But I guess it's not like he got any money up front to put this together, and there's plenty here to absorb for what you pay for it. An easy recommendation for music journalist types, especially people into bitchy inside baseball analysis.

[Konrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pass the ebay write-ups (unless you'd have counted yourself a potential bidder), for the pop culture/condition of music criticism commentaries at the end, i.e., the good part.

[Eliza A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Christ Ott but why his reviews of eBay-auctioned collectibles ("is this obscure Beatles b-side worth 400 dollars?" - that sort of thing) had to be made into a book I'll never know. About 70% of the book is taken up by these auction "reviews", with the Commentaries on Pop proclaimed in the book title making up just 30% of the book (pretty much its last quarter, which is indeed worth reading). I'm not sorry I bought this because he is an opinionated and knowledgable music critic - a true rarity - and lord knows that's not a profession that will help you put food on the table these days, but I do wish he had given us a better way to support his writing than this unnecessary and, frankly, bizarre offering. Given how little effort seems to have gone into selecting these pieces, I would just go read his blog instead.

[Octopusruckus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminds me of reading /mu/ in college

This collection of short essays and snappy ebay listing reviews is a broad music history, of a time 2005-2013 when things felt fresh. Ott is great, check out his shallow rewards blog and podcasts too.

[Rachel Braunstadter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal and polarizing

If you were of the same generation this guys view point will resonate with you.
I long for the days when music was valued and sought after.

[Сняіз Отт · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compendium of Chris Ott's "Shallow Rewards" blog, which covered interesting and absurd auctions of pop music memorabilia from 2005-2010. A series of dialogic essays from 2010-2012 is appended.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this if you think about music too much and want to think better.