cokemachineglow: Writing Around Music 2005-2015

by Ables, Abraham, Alexander

Irreverent, cultishly adored, and dearly missed, the music writers at cokemachineglow produced some of the greatest, weirdest, funniest, sharpest criticism of the 21st century, and have gone on to write for major publications.

In that sweet spot online before streaming and social media, people discovered music on blogs and webzines. A few have gone corporate, and nearly all the rest have disappeared. None are more missed than cokemachineglow - founded by a Canadian music writer in 2002, it grew to encompass a motley crew of brilliant, idiosyncratic writers and draw an intense readership of music fans. These critics have now published books and written for outlets like The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Guardian, Village Voice, Film Comment, Pitchfork, Esquire and GQ , among many other accomplishments, but there's never been - and never will be - another masthead so beloved and anarchic, writing that isn't just describing music but creating a culture, a narrative, a way of speaking that is hugely influential in how we hear, talk and tweet online. Featuring a brand new introductory essay by editor Clayton Purdom.

CONTRIBUTORS Brent Ables, Mark Abraham, Christopher Alexander, Conrad Amenta, Alan Baban, Corey Beasley, Chet Betz, Adam Downer, Joel Elliott, Jessica Faulds, David Goldstein, Kaylen Hann, Calum Marsh, Maura McAndrews, Colin McGowan, Chris Molnar, Aaron Newell, Andre Perry, Clayton Purdom, Scott Reid, Eric Sams, Dom Sinacola, Robin Smith, and Lindsay Zoladz.

Genres: Music

288 pages, Paperback

Published December 13, 2022

Reviews

[Lisa]

Expanding my mind. It is amazing to me how little of this music I know. The writing though. The whole premise of cokemachineglow as well: the commitment to writing for writing’s sake, when there is often no money involved. Writers who critique music and write like eulogists, somehow the piece is still about the writer and not about the subject. Which is okay, which is interesting.

And I am still not sure what of this music I will listen to eventually. Or have I actually heard it already and don’t know.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty sobering reminder of how unimaginative so much of the news and culture writing is on the internet anymore. And it's also just immensely pleasurable to read some of these pieces again.

While reading the piece on Swans' "The Seer" (presented alongside a disclaimer noting the accusations against Gira that have surfaced in recent years) I was kind of gobsmacked by how much of it I'd retained in my memory, and by how soundly it still resonates with me (especially now that I've actually seen Swans perform live myself, and can vouch for the full battle rattle of their sonic assault).

[reece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing shows my age more than typing something like, "They don't do music journalism like this any more" but truly, by and large, they don't!

A relevant disclaimer: some of these chapters are rubbish. Like, infuriatingly bad, pretentious, insufferable.

But, wow, when its collection is firing (and it often is), it's unparalleled with the way it reconfigures what we know music criticism to be. It's so hard to write this freely, especially today – The Village Voice as we knew it is gone, Pitchfork is a valuable brand in the Condé Naste portfolio and NME is holding the line despite the repeated death of print.

Somewhere amid ad revenue being vacuumed from the already-paltry reserves, streaming overlords diluting the humble tastemaking blog, and every writerly type being squeezed harder by silly little problems like paying rent and feeding themselves, outlets like this really dried up.

I'm sure, if you dig hard enough, there are enough zines and IYKYK pockets online that are still doing it (shoutout No Bells, we love No Bells), but it's a different landscape.

Particular highpoints that pushed this book into five-star territory: Andre Perry's personal essays that have the charming quality of feeling deeply specific whilst expanding out to make meaningful commentaries of regional scenes, Kaylen Hamm incisively articulating the appeal of ScHoolboy Q , Colin McGowan following one of poorest essays in the book (on Lollapalooza) with one of the best (on Gucci Mane), and everything Lindsay Zoladz contributes.

It's no shade on the rest of the roster here to say that Zoladz's essays are a cut above the rest — it's like watching two average NBA teams play and thinking, the skill level here is higher than any game of basketball I'm likely to ever see with my own eyes, and then seeing LeBron James check in and suddenly everyone seems painfully mediocre.

I'd go so far as to say every music writer, aspiring or practicing, should read this. It's not a bible by any sense — some, perhaps many, of the habits CMG writers carry should be left in the blog era. But daring to be terrible emboldens writers to be brilliant, and that's something that too often gets sanded out of people today (I'm guilty of perpetuating that). So, three cheers for CMG, you probably all would've hated me.

[Max Gouvalaris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book. An example of the extent to which media review can be taken, and a melancholic reminder of its banal and sterile status-quo at current. CMG was stockpiled with these nerdy, wordy, lit/phil millennials that archived profoundly a zeitgeist at once, but also a pretty unbelievable lingual representation of the musical world (which I think is quite a difficult feat given how commentary is always a diluted force on that which it is commenting on, by nature). Everyone should read this it is so fun.

That being said, if I were having my brain scanned whilst reading this my brain would be lighting up in a million effervescent neon colors bc of what is mentioned: my love of Gucci Mane, Swans, D&G, letterboxd, the lack of hierarchy in Occupy etc. along with some really saddening pieces on Jericho and sound-as-torture

[Eric Nagurney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This crew of writers made me excited about music the way no others ever have. I have some quibbles with the selections here - I like those Jericho columns but I didn't really need multiples of them - but this is overall a wonderful, highly readable collection.

[Nicholas DeMasi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Presents a pretty wide range of writings about music, mostly indie rock but with something for everyone scattered in. Valuable for anyone interested in what music coverage sounded like back in the blog era, but also for anyone keen on getting some of their own skin in the game as well.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this little shot of nostalgia from a website I vaguely remember from my 20s