Idolator Presents Second-“Best Music Writing 2008” (Part Two)

Michaelangelo Matos | July 30, 2008 12:00 pm

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I haven’t yet read most of the entries to items selected for the Best Music Writing 2008 Honorable Mentions list by series editor Daphne Carr that I’m linking to here or in the accompanying posts. (This year’s guest editor is Nelson George.) But I have looked at a couple and one in this group caught my eye especially. David Hajdu’s write-up of a Mos Def concert–part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series–is actually less worthwhile for his ruminations on Mos Def himself, which are smart, than for his extensive, abundantly clear digression into the formation of the Great American Songbook as a canon. It’s a razor-sharp piece anyone interested in pop-song history will find worthwhile.

PART TWO: D-H

Warren Ellis, “John Allyn Smith Sails,” August 9, 2007, Warren Ellis [here]

Bill Friskics-Warren, “Adding Notes to a Folklorist’s Tunes,” December 2, 2007, New York Times [here]

Greg Garry, “Black Magic Woman,” October 2007, Radar [here]

Thomas Golianopolous, “I’m Real, What Are You?” July 2007, XXL [here]

Michael Gonzales, “Down with the King: Black Folks & Elvis,” August 16, 2007, Blackadelic Pop [here]

Kory Grow, “Grinderman: ‘No Pussy Blues’,” December 17, 2007, Paper Thin Walls [here]

David Hajdu, “Songbook Jam,” March 19, 2007, The New Republic [here]

Ernest Hardy, “Kiss the Boys,” July 18, 2007, L.A. Weekly [here]

Rob Harvilla, “Hot Hot Heat,” March 6, 2007, Village Voice [here]

Katie Hasty, “Independents’ Day,” June 30, 2007, Billboard [here]

Dustin Horwitt, “Rockin’ in the Free World,” September 19, Washington City Paper [here]

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