Soundcheck asks the loaded question, staging the next round in the "everyone's a critic" vs. "no one's a critic" neverending title bout. Irrelevant, irreplaceable, both, none of the above, I don't know. I'm not sure it's really worth that much sweat, either, not in the way the question is currently being framed. I think the job, role, hobby, fetish, whatever it is has shifted. It's less gatekeeper, more curator. There's just too much, both in breadth and depth. I'd say what the grassroots armchair off-the-shelfers do is absolutely necessary for the salaried wordsmiths. Rolling Stone can do the Dylan worship without any support, but who's going to make sure Bon Iver goes from self-released to #29 in less than a year?
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