A pretty amazing thing is taking place over at Pop Songs 07-08, Matthew Perpetua's catablog where he has written about every R.E.M. song save for those on Accelerate. Perpetua wrapped up his posts last week with a write up about "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," promising to tackle Accelerate in 2009 once he'd had a chance to more fully absorb those songs. Then, he suddenly returned with word that Michael Stipe was willing to answer questions about R.E.M. songs from Perpetua and his readers, with this caveat:

"Remember that I’m not the best at recalling studio memories, etcetera, and so the more interesting questions for me will be about intention and exact lyrics or my interpretation of what I meant, what I think I meant, whatever. Remember also that some songs have no real lyrics [chorus of orange crush comes to mind] and so I cannot answer those."

And he was off. So far he has answered dozens of questions in three long posts, answering questions about lyrical motivations, specific references, favorites and more. It's a fascinating look inside the mind of one of the most enigmatic songwriters of the past two-plus decades. He's obviously picking and choosing what he answers, but those he does respond to find him to be candid, self-effacing and charming. As someone who pays much more attention to music than lyrics, I find some of the close listening detail being cited by the fans to be extraordinary, and Stipe affirms or refutes these interpretations as needed. Often, he debunks complicated theories, but has occasionally confirmed long-held thoughts as being particularly astute.

It's nice to see Perpetua's blog take on this expanded role. As one of the first catablogs to complete his task (the writer behind the Pearl Jam blog, More Than Ten wrapped up months ago), he sets a good example for those of us still trudging on (I continue, at a slowed pace, to write about Robert Pollard's music at My Impression Now) who started these quests thanks to his inspiration.

Elsewhere, XFM has a five-part documentary on R.E.M. underway, with the first two parts viewable here. In the first installment, Stipe and Mike Mills talk politics, espousing their support for Barack Obama.

Labels: catablogs, music, R.E.M.

After a flurry of activity that saw more than a dozen song-by-song blogs pop up in a matter of days, things have cooled a bit. To recap, the phenomenon got its start with the creation of Pop Songs 07, a blog from Fluxblog's Matthew Perpetua that found him pledging to write about every commercially released song in R.E.M.'s catalog. It seemed like a great idea to many -- including yours truly -- and several similar blogs were started for bands ranging in popularity from Pearl Jam to the Bluetones.

I've been surprised at how little is being made of these efforts, as it would seem to be the kind of thing that the pop culture-hungry press would jump on. To my knowledge, the only mainstream coverage came in an early New York magazine Vulture blog piece that tried to coin the term "ouevreblogs" (ugh, I propose the less onerous term "catablog"), and a column from Freaky Trigger columnist Tom Ewing.

As I can attest thanks to my own blog, My Impression Now, where I have set out on the near-impossible task of writing about the 1,200+ songs in the catalog of Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices (in his Freaky Trigger piece, Ewing said he could "only admire the gumption" of my plan, while New York magazine called it a "Sisyphean task") this is a daunting project. It's no surprise, then, to find a wide range of accomplishment and dedication among the 20 other such blogs of which I'm aware.

The keeper of More Than Ten, a Pearl Jam catablog, has set the standard, posting about more than 90 songs already. Perpetua is right behind with nearly 80 posts at this writing.

At the other end is Chrome Canyons, a proposed Wilco catablog from the keeper of that Pearl Jam blog. He pulled the plug without writing any posts (understandable given his output on the PJ site), pointing to someone else who took up the mantle by starting So Misunderstood just a couple of weeks ago. Fridge Buzz, a site dedicated to Radiohead's catalog, stalled after only five posts, while the writer of Emotional Karaoke, a Mountain Goats catablog, bowed out recently after about 40 posts, writing, "It turns out that about thirty or forty posts is all I needed to feel like I'd exorcised some of the feelings I had locked up," which points out just how personal, and time-consuming these can be.

Still others are just getting started. A new Pavement catablog, I Can't Sing It Strong Enough, shows promise after just a couple of weeks of posts.

In between are the rest of us who are doing this as a fun hobby, and who don't keep a regular schedule. The author of More Words About Music and Songs, a Talking Heads catablog, apologized recently for the lag between posts, writing that his work on a novel has taken time and energy away from the project. The author of I Got a Message for You, a Robyn Hitchcock catablog, has taken a hiatus because of a broken wrist, while the proprietor of the Cure blog One Imaginary Blog juggled work on a dissertation and traveling with his posting.

As for what we do with these blogs, some seem more critical, writing about the construction of the music and the success of the lyric. Others spend more time writing about their personal experiences with the songs, about their inclusion on mix tapes from significant others or the fact that they were performed particularly well at a favorite concert. Some embed videos from YouTube while others link to lyrics from meticulously kept band and fan sites.

One interesting thing is the fact that all but one of the blogs (of which I'm aware, anyway) cover the work of white artists who earn better reviews than sales (Pearl Jam being the exception in the sales department). One blog started recently for popular rapper T-Pain managed only three posts over the course of July, so it's still up in the air as to whether it will sustain, but the likes of Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and others that seem to cry out for analysis thus far elude us. And while some popular artists are being covered, such as R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails and the aforementioned Pearl Jam, more obscure acts like John Cale, Marillion and Low are the norm. That's no surprise given the fact that the work of these acts would seem to merit more critical thought than would the songs of, say, Fergie or Maroon 5.

Will these continue? Will anyone actually complete their task? Yes and yes, if I had to guess, though plenty will peter out and some -- mine included -- will have a hard time ever catching up with their prolific subjects. I'd love to start blogs dedicated to all things Will Oldham, or Spoon, or the Replacements, or... but I'll leave that to other obsessives with time on their hands.

Labels: catablogs, music