Rose Quartz

Another visually appealing blog, Rose Quartz takes less of a journalistic approach than some of its affiliates and, instead, makes strong use of colloquial language to get across to their readers. The writing has an inherent hipness in this sense, aimed directly towards a young generation of music listeners. While this method might work for drawing in readers due to a more comfortable read, it also makes for a blog with tendency to build the upon the concept of blog hype through associations.

From a recent post:
"This new track from Melbourne’s finest gang of misfits is as ADD and infectious as you’d hope from the band who brought unpretentious punk rock back (why the fuck did it ever go away?). ECSR always seem to be careening along on the edges of control, and Anxiety, from (I think?) their forthcoming third album INGENIOUSLY edges up the production values while still sounding like a bunch of bros fucking around in the shed. The slightly more polished sound suits them real nice, too: this is an instantly likeable track, but it points to a sound that could push Eddy Current Suppression Ring from a very, very good band to a great one. Will this album be their Marquee Moon? Will a squillion people buy it and make them ultra-famous and a bit jaded? Will they? Will their stadium extravaganza show feature carnies like Britney did? Rhetorical question? Boy, I can’t wait to see!"

If we take the post from Dec. 2nd, entitled PATCHWORKFACE, for instance, we see the word "Woodsy" appear in reference to the sound of the band at hand, Quilt. "Woodsy" is a reference to the band Woods, a group who gained a huge amount of attention through blogging over the past two years. Woods is clumped into the trendy Brooklyn lo-fi music scene, many bands from which have gained their fame mostly through blogs. In this reference, the blogger sacrifices a less descriptive explanation of the band in exchange for a direct reference that will appeal to fans of the referenced band. A fear of a homogenized sound is raised here; if bands that follow a particular style of songwriting are all being made reference to in description of one another, interest will eventually drop and they will be looked at as a novelty rather than a creative musical force.

Of course, much of this style of writing is simply just that: a stylistic choice made to appeal to readers who are interested in that type of tone. The issue, however, is whether or not this type of writing loses value in its casualness.

Check it out @: http://rosequartz.blogspot.com/