VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL
(Thanks to Juan Pablo Martínez for helping with the translation)
Chocolate Bobka is a blog from New York that I mentioned (as well as checked out) dozens of times since I started writing here more frequently. It has a unique and attractive style, a well-defined musical path that goes beyond genres, and it always manages to stand above the rhythms and clichés of journalism and music sites, putting the aesthetics and prolixity of the message over the quickness in which it is published, and producing art to talk about art, through print and broadcast media. This interview has been developed and corrected for several months, in which Michael McGregor, the man in charge of the blog, left rather on hiatus or a deep coma such projects as the biannual journal The Report, supported by Kickstarter, where he’s been working since last year; radio show Sunday Brunch, tapes issued by The Curatorial Club, his contributions for the collective site Altered Zones and even a blog with iPhone ringtones. Currently, several weeks have passed since the last update of Bobka, which ended up pointing the questions and answers to (in my opinion) some shared saturation with the current blogger world. This could be the beginning of a series of interviews with bloggers and music journalists, and it was essential to start it with a guy with whom I share so many views about music and how to spread it, and also considering that, if you haven't realized, was very influential to this blog and my work. The title was taken from this tweet.
Juan Francisco Gacitua: From what I understand you are blogging on Chocolate Bobka, working at Kickstarter, you have a radio show, the bi-annual journal and the cassette label. There’s no need to say we envy you, but how can you manage to achieve all that stuff?!
Michael McGregor: Truth be told, I can't. Over the past year or so, a lot has changed behind the scenes. I started jamming with my friend Jonah Maurer in June of 2010, which started shifting my personal direction, in terms of how I viewed, and interacted with music. We would jam a few times a week, always between 1 and 5 AM, and it was pretty fucking awesome just to be able to create sounds that you liked. Once that started rolling the idea of writing about music, and doing it consistently, moved from the forefront to the periphereal. It became something I did only when I felt I had to, or wanted to. It became an obligation. Late last August I started working at Kickstarter, which I used to help fund the creation of The Report and The Report II. It was/is, more or less, a dream job. At the end of last year I told myself I had gone over the edge with obligations. Between putting together a new edition of The Report, hosting Sunday Brunch on Newtown Radio, issuing tapes on the Curatorial Club, setting up shows, working a full time job at Kickstarter, writing for Bobka and contributing to Altered Zones, plus jamming in Free Spirit... it just got to be too much. I decided in 2011 I would focus on a few things, and put more time and effort into them. Those being, my job at Kickstarter and jamming, be it with Jonah in Free Spirit, solo (as Meadowlands), or new projects Fairfields (with Mike Mimoun). So, basically, over the last year, I've let a lot of things that I once cherished, and put a lot of effort into, die a peaceful death. The most notable being Chocolate Bobka, which I put to sleep recently after hosting a Run DMT/FORMA/Tonstartbandht/Pure X show, which, to me, felt like the ultimate lineup to send Chocolate Bobka off into the wild blue yonder. Turns out, it was.
JFG: What's your criteria for choosing the bands for The Curatorial Club? There's any particular type of release that you're looking for, or you leave the hole decision in hands of the artists? Did you choose all the artists or some of them submitted their material?
MMcG: Criteria is a weird word because there really isn't one. Originally, it was just people I knew who had dope jams that weren't necessarily Album/LP tunes, but still deserved to be heard/devoured by the public. That was the impetus for the original batch of Twin Sister demos/b-sides, Alex Bleeker bedroom demos and RUN DMTs Bong Voyage mixtape. Since, it's become even more familial. I don't want to put out that many tapes, but I will put out something that I feel is exceptional and wholly under the radar. Basically, it's just friends who play some jams and then I say, "cool! wanna do a tape?" Often they say, "Yes!" I've got a couple that a long overdue right now, but will be coming out soon.
JFG: In the middle of an industry crisis, sites like Bandcamp and Kickstarter started making a direct economical connection between the artist and the listeners really possible and successful. How do you think both sites are working nowadays? Will it be possible for an average indie project to cross the frontier of the very limited physical edition?
MMcG: The economics of music are an interesting beast. At some point, it boils down to basic capitalism, which is tough to consider when you are dealing with Art. Also, is there a difference between Art & Capitalism in 2011? A lot of questions to think of in relation to this. Ultimately I think it boils down to this: artists who create art for the sake of art, and artists who create in order to obtain something -- whether it be money, fame, or whatever. If you are making art simply to sell it, well, to each his own. With something like Kickstarter, the general goal of the project is to fund the creation of an artistic work. It is not a fund my life, fund my rent platform. Rather one that allows artists to take risks outside the risk of debt, which, ultimately, is the biggest risk for artists in the 21st century. You gotta pay the rent, and chances are, art isn't paying the rent, so if you can find a way to help fund your work, and make an honest, everyday living in the meantime, you can achieve a really happy balance.
As per Bandcamp, i think the intentions are right on and I'm sure some artists have benefitted from it, but we still live in a day and age where googling "X band + mediafire" will ensure a free download, so it's hard to say if it really has any effect economically on art.
Michael McGregor: Truth be told, I can't. Over the past year or so, a lot has changed behind the scenes. I started jamming with my friend Jonah Maurer in June of 2010, which started shifting my personal direction, in terms of how I viewed, and interacted with music. We would jam a few times a week, always between 1 and 5 AM, and it was pretty fucking awesome just to be able to create sounds that you liked. Once that started rolling the idea of writing about music, and doing it consistently, moved from the forefront to the periphereal. It became something I did only when I felt I had to, or wanted to. It became an obligation. Late last August I started working at Kickstarter, which I used to help fund the creation of The Report and The Report II. It was/is, more or less, a dream job. At the end of last year I told myself I had gone over the edge with obligations. Between putting together a new edition of The Report, hosting Sunday Brunch on Newtown Radio, issuing tapes on the Curatorial Club, setting up shows, working a full time job at Kickstarter, writing for Bobka and contributing to Altered Zones, plus jamming in Free Spirit... it just got to be too much. I decided in 2011 I would focus on a few things, and put more time and effort into them. Those being, my job at Kickstarter and jamming, be it with Jonah in Free Spirit, solo (as Meadowlands), or new projects Fairfields (with Mike Mimoun). So, basically, over the last year, I've let a lot of things that I once cherished, and put a lot of effort into, die a peaceful death. The most notable being Chocolate Bobka, which I put to sleep recently after hosting a Run DMT/FORMA/Tonstartbandht/Pure X show, which, to me, felt like the ultimate lineup to send Chocolate Bobka off into the wild blue yonder. Turns out, it was.
JFG: What's your criteria for choosing the bands for The Curatorial Club? There's any particular type of release that you're looking for, or you leave the hole decision in hands of the artists? Did you choose all the artists or some of them submitted their material?
MMcG: Criteria is a weird word because there really isn't one. Originally, it was just people I knew who had dope jams that weren't necessarily Album/LP tunes, but still deserved to be heard/devoured by the public. That was the impetus for the original batch of Twin Sister demos/b-sides, Alex Bleeker bedroom demos and RUN DMTs Bong Voyage mixtape. Since, it's become even more familial. I don't want to put out that many tapes, but I will put out something that I feel is exceptional and wholly under the radar. Basically, it's just friends who play some jams and then I say, "cool! wanna do a tape?" Often they say, "Yes!" I've got a couple that a long overdue right now, but will be coming out soon.
JFG: In the middle of an industry crisis, sites like Bandcamp and Kickstarter started making a direct economical connection between the artist and the listeners really possible and successful. How do you think both sites are working nowadays? Will it be possible for an average indie project to cross the frontier of the very limited physical edition?
MMcG: The economics of music are an interesting beast. At some point, it boils down to basic capitalism, which is tough to consider when you are dealing with Art. Also, is there a difference between Art & Capitalism in 2011? A lot of questions to think of in relation to this. Ultimately I think it boils down to this: artists who create art for the sake of art, and artists who create in order to obtain something -- whether it be money, fame, or whatever. If you are making art simply to sell it, well, to each his own. With something like Kickstarter, the general goal of the project is to fund the creation of an artistic work. It is not a fund my life, fund my rent platform. Rather one that allows artists to take risks outside the risk of debt, which, ultimately, is the biggest risk for artists in the 21st century. You gotta pay the rent, and chances are, art isn't paying the rent, so if you can find a way to help fund your work, and make an honest, everyday living in the meantime, you can achieve a really happy balance.
As per Bandcamp, i think the intentions are right on and I'm sure some artists have benefitted from it, but we still live in a day and age where googling "X band + mediafire" will ensure a free download, so it's hard to say if it really has any effect economically on art.
JFG: I think there's a special point in common between many blogs these days, and it's some ‘lack of corporativism’, in the sense of the blogger being closer with the visitors, organizing little gigs and parties, and giving a more personal and subjective view. Finally, instead of trying to go 'all Pitchfork', posting about everything we hear, we found ourselves sharing some eighties-sounding tracks, promoting cassette and vinyl releases and writing like it was our fanzine. I mean, apart from the vintage element, there’s a big personal component in some part of the musical blogging scene nowadays. Do you feel the same about it? Are those your intentions with Bobka and your other projects?
MMcG: For me the entire motivation behind writing about music has always been, and will always be, "I like this and want to share because I think others will like it." Personally, I believe that if you are coming with a set of intentions, hopes, etc, your perspective is a bit... conjured. When I started doing this 4.5 years ago, I didn't know any bloggers or anyone else, personally, who did anything similar. In 4.5 years, a lot has changed. Basically everything. And while I believe that a truly DIY core exists in the center of the blog world (perhaps), the commodification of seemingly DIY ethos, objectives and the content generally associated with "DIY" stuff has sort of broken that relationship to me. Rather than going to your favorite sight and reading what Dr. Psychenfunker has to say about some obscure psych act from the Acid Archives has given way to going to Altered Zones and having everything under the sun sitting in front of you. Often, it feels like the voyage to find these gems, which used to be half the fun, is now just a matter of fact thing that happens everyday. Maybe I'm getting old, which is definitely true, but I don't feel as in line with a lot of the contemporary movement currently going on, as much as I did, maybe 2 years ago. But times change, everything changes, and thats the beauty of art and the world. "Losing my edge," pretty much said it best.
JFG: How will the Local Community Radio Act help improve the Indie scene? Do you think bloggers could start working in the traditional media, or is it time to start building our own channels?
MMcG: Ehh. Feels like a long long long and windy road that will rarely be traversed due to bureaocracy facing any who attempts to do so. However, initiatives and cool people like Newtown Radio, Dublab, peeps like that who are sort of working in the free-form, WFMU style....I hope many more people ascribe to this philosophy in terms of distributing sound.
JFG: Which are your thoughts on blogs being acquired or setting advertising partnerships with companies like Buzzmedia or Complex Media? Do you think is the only successful way for a blogger to get any money? And getting it straight: should we even consider making money from our blogs?
MMcG: If you run a blog and try to make money off it, well, I just don't get that personally. I think it's lame and contrived. If you want to advertise, go for it, but everyone knows advertising is a blight on craft and if you truly care about your craft, whatever it is you are doing, you will try to steer clear of advertising and boutique media groups who try and commodify cool. BuzzMedia and the like are the reptilians biting and sucking the blood out of art, and continuously turning it into another extension of capitalism. If that's your thing, cool, but it's not mine and the more and more I see contemporaries turning to outlets like that, the more and more I think, "That's sad." Personally, there is nothing sadder to me than a career blogger.
JFG: How is your musical project going? There's any record or tour plan? And how did you come up with that?! It sounds really well.
MMcG: Going strong, but no real plans for anything except more jamming. There might a tape or two coming out in the future on Patient Sounds and Moon Glyph, but nothing in the can yet. Talking about Free Spirit, which is my project with Jonah Maurer (who also plays keys in Real Estate and Family Portait, and is super fucking funny on Twitter, @jonahthought) we have vowed to never play in America. So, if you are a wealthy foreigner living in a foreign land and like new age pastoral free jams, hit us up! We'd love to come chill and jam in your living room for you at some point.
JFG: As far as I know, you're the biggest soccer fan between the american bloggers. Would you name some of your favourite argentinian players? Do you know any club from here? Obviously I'd also like to know which argentinian artists are you into.
MMcG: My girlfriend is Argentine. Her dad's family is from Buenos Aires, and her Mom's fam is from Rosario. So the fam is kinda split between Boca Juniors, and some other clubs. My girlfriend is a Newell's Old Boys fan, but I don't really have an argentine club I root for. Though I generally root for Argentine National Team as far as international play goes. El Apache and Higuaín are prob my favorite players. As per artists, I really like Leanardo Erlich who had an installation exhibit at MoMa PS1 for a few years that I was consistently floored by.
JFG: If you had all the time and money that you needed, what would we see posted on Chocolate Bobka? Would you like to start a Pitchfork-type project at some point, getting some writers together and basically trying to cover every single thing that comes out?
MMcG: Hmmm. Most likely, if finances were not an issue of any kinda, Bobka would become an internet destination for IRL ventures. I'd imagine a lot of weird sound design/installation projects, where I would curate musicians and artists hosting shows in hallways, or stairwells, or pop-up galleries, subway stations the like. I don't really have any interest in using words to describe how things feel anymore, but dispelling information on particular events/etc would be the likely route. Although, in reality, I would prob just buy a crazy Arp synth and sit in my room and fuck with it as much as possible.
MMcG: For me the entire motivation behind writing about music has always been, and will always be, "I like this and want to share because I think others will like it." Personally, I believe that if you are coming with a set of intentions, hopes, etc, your perspective is a bit... conjured. When I started doing this 4.5 years ago, I didn't know any bloggers or anyone else, personally, who did anything similar. In 4.5 years, a lot has changed. Basically everything. And while I believe that a truly DIY core exists in the center of the blog world (perhaps), the commodification of seemingly DIY ethos, objectives and the content generally associated with "DIY" stuff has sort of broken that relationship to me. Rather than going to your favorite sight and reading what Dr. Psychenfunker has to say about some obscure psych act from the Acid Archives has given way to going to Altered Zones and having everything under the sun sitting in front of you. Often, it feels like the voyage to find these gems, which used to be half the fun, is now just a matter of fact thing that happens everyday. Maybe I'm getting old, which is definitely true, but I don't feel as in line with a lot of the contemporary movement currently going on, as much as I did, maybe 2 years ago. But times change, everything changes, and thats the beauty of art and the world. "Losing my edge," pretty much said it best.
JFG: How will the Local Community Radio Act help improve the Indie scene? Do you think bloggers could start working in the traditional media, or is it time to start building our own channels?
MMcG: Ehh. Feels like a long long long and windy road that will rarely be traversed due to bureaocracy facing any who attempts to do so. However, initiatives and cool people like Newtown Radio, Dublab, peeps like that who are sort of working in the free-form, WFMU style....I hope many more people ascribe to this philosophy in terms of distributing sound.
JFG: Which are your thoughts on blogs being acquired or setting advertising partnerships with companies like Buzzmedia or Complex Media? Do you think is the only successful way for a blogger to get any money? And getting it straight: should we even consider making money from our blogs?
MMcG: If you run a blog and try to make money off it, well, I just don't get that personally. I think it's lame and contrived. If you want to advertise, go for it, but everyone knows advertising is a blight on craft and if you truly care about your craft, whatever it is you are doing, you will try to steer clear of advertising and boutique media groups who try and commodify cool. BuzzMedia and the like are the reptilians biting and sucking the blood out of art, and continuously turning it into another extension of capitalism. If that's your thing, cool, but it's not mine and the more and more I see contemporaries turning to outlets like that, the more and more I think, "That's sad." Personally, there is nothing sadder to me than a career blogger.
MMcG: Going strong, but no real plans for anything except more jamming. There might a tape or two coming out in the future on Patient Sounds and Moon Glyph, but nothing in the can yet. Talking about Free Spirit, which is my project with Jonah Maurer (who also plays keys in Real Estate and Family Portait, and is super fucking funny on Twitter, @jonahthought) we have vowed to never play in America. So, if you are a wealthy foreigner living in a foreign land and like new age pastoral free jams, hit us up! We'd love to come chill and jam in your living room for you at some point.
JFG: As far as I know, you're the biggest soccer fan between the american bloggers. Would you name some of your favourite argentinian players? Do you know any club from here? Obviously I'd also like to know which argentinian artists are you into.
MMcG: My girlfriend is Argentine. Her dad's family is from Buenos Aires, and her Mom's fam is from Rosario. So the fam is kinda split between Boca Juniors, and some other clubs. My girlfriend is a Newell's Old Boys fan, but I don't really have an argentine club I root for. Though I generally root for Argentine National Team as far as international play goes. El Apache and Higuaín are prob my favorite players. As per artists, I really like Leanardo Erlich who had an installation exhibit at MoMa PS1 for a few years that I was consistently floored by.
JFG: If you had all the time and money that you needed, what would we see posted on Chocolate Bobka? Would you like to start a Pitchfork-type project at some point, getting some writers together and basically trying to cover every single thing that comes out?
MMcG: Hmmm. Most likely, if finances were not an issue of any kinda, Bobka would become an internet destination for IRL ventures. I'd imagine a lot of weird sound design/installation projects, where I would curate musicians and artists hosting shows in hallways, or stairwells, or pop-up galleries, subway stations the like. I don't really have any interest in using words to describe how things feel anymore, but dispelling information on particular events/etc would be the likely route. Although, in reality, I would prob just buy a crazy Arp synth and sit in my room and fuck with it as much as possible.
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