some other stuff

Now that Switzerland's favourite son has his own church, he's surely doomed to never win another Grand Slam again...

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Divergent duos are great fodder for extra-long articles (I consider the above a Wallace-Federer duet). After Burton (and a bit of Green), come Patton and Benjamin, inevitably. One thing I don't understand, is why, right at the end Dee asks

You wonder, too, about the degree to which Big Boi knows all this about his old friend, and knows that the key to staying together is to let André talk about leaving all he wants

It'd be bad enough on its own (the old "musicians aren't self-reflexive and therefore can't possibly be as insightful as I am" move), but is extremely puzzling after multiple assertions by the author himself that Big Boi is fully cognizant of the situation.

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Contrary to what the above article says, apparently getting to interview Outkast together isn't that hard.

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As long as you include a weather report, fashion updates, celebrity sightings, a redundant random attendee quote, near-riot news and a mini-police blotter, your music review doesn't actually have to review music. That's good to know.

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Classic, but not particularly insightful, Philip Larkin quotes and some funny and not-so-funny anecdotes in what is nominally a review of Ashley Kahn's Impulse! book (via ArtsJournal).

Part of the psychology of collecting jazz is that we fans covet not only the music but also the record labels.

I semi-agree with this, contra Darcy's disdain for a world "where listeners (not just promoters) actually care about what label you're on." I still think that a label's role as gatekeeper/beacon/handy collection organiser is helpful. Come to think of it, a label is a little (and, today, increasingly) like a dematerialised record store.

The ones that seem to have a personality of their own (a few current-day examples in alphabetical order: Ayler, Clean Feed, De Werf, Fresh Sound New Talent, Moserobie, Thirsty Ear's Blue Series; a current-day counter-example: Verve) can suffice as reasons to listen to (or studiously avoid) something. Of course, it's just one factor among others. But if you're going to know the names of the sidemen and of the engineer, as well as the recording date, you're bound to know the label, too. Why else would labels strive to develop a visual identity?