Last week, Kanye christened his new web site with the above photo of his girlfriend, Amber Rose. Then, Thom Yorke announced the name of his latest band on the Radiohead blog. Which got us thinking about the other band blogs we have bookmarked. In our bitchin' browser.
Unfortunately, almost all of them are defunct. We blame Twitter and the fact that no one maintains personal blogs. We used to check in with Win Butler of the Arcade Fire and eagerly await the latest rantings from Courtney Love and Babyshambles. There was the wisdom of Bob Mould and Pete Townshend. All, sadly, dormant.
There are still some tenacious bloggers out there in musicland, however. And it is on those stalwarts we bestow the most noble honor of all: Being arbitrarily rank ordered in an online list. You're welcome.
5. Stuart from Belle & Sebastian
Stuart Murdoch doesn't update his diary often, but he is a thoughtful and original blogger when he does. His posts are light and candid nuggets of observation or opinion. As with any of these, you probably have to like the music to like the blog, and Belle & Sebastian haters (which should be no one, but we're open-minded) might find the wispy tone obnoxious. That said, he seems like he'd be an interesting dude to get lunch with in Glasgow.
4. John Darnielle from The Mountain Goats
Last Plane to Jakarta is by far the coolest blog name on this list, and when Mr. Darnielle is on his game, he's one of the best bloggers, musician or otherwise, out there. See: His "thirty short poems about my favorite black metal band" series. There's a whole lot of geeky metal fandom going on here, but he is a man of blinding energy and thorough insight regardless of the subject.
3. The members of Radiohead
The most frequent poster on Dead Air Space, Radiohead's blog, is Thom Yorke, but Colin gets in there occasionally. This is another blog that reflects the band pretty directly: if squirrely paranoia and ambiguity is your thing, this one is a must for the old RSS feed. Dead Air Space gets the high ranking because it is so frequently the place that news about the band breaks, from the awesome In Rainbows announcement immediately before the album came out to this week's naming of Yorke's latest side project (Atoms for Peace. Duh.).
2. Kanye West
Nothing much to say. You know the format: Pictures of Swedish lampshades and galleries of models, randomly sprinkled with ALL CAPS rants and raves from the most vulnerable, frank and interesting man in pop music. The old site was a little rough on the eyes, but it was still must-reading every time Kanye was in the news. We assume the new site -- a little tough to navigate but beautifully sparse -- will be no different. Also, this is the only blog on this list you might be able to read better with sunglasses on.
1. David Byrne
The most amazing thing about David Byrne's blog is how generous it is. The investment of time he makes in every post, citing sources and digging well past the surface, is beyond the call of duty for one of the greatest figures in rock and roll history. His is the only blog on this list that has the potential to make you examine your beliefs with pretty much every post. Yes, it can be arduous reading at times, and we know that writing thousands of words is not a path to success in blogging (why do you think we are writing this very list?). But when the words are this compelling and come from a source as valuable as David Byrne, we're willing to reward his time with some of our own.
