Erik Moe Art & Design

The informal snarky (sharply critical, cutting, snide) seems to be gaining in popularity. Of course, it’s been in the animated header of this blog for some time, and before that it appeared in my (cringe) Friendster profile. Yesterday’s Times used the word in a critique of the annual music issue from The Believer.

The column “Sometimes Snarkiness Is Preferable to Sincerity,” asserts that the magazine dotes too much on obvious indie-rock darlings at the expense of the wider weird world it generally portrays in its non-music issues. Critic Kelefa Sanneh pointed to The Shins Will Change Your Life, a blog that simply excerpts hyperbole from rock music criticism without any additional commentary, as his pro-snarkiness example.

I’ll admit that I laughed quite a bit at some of the entries in that blog. After all, rock music criticism is often absurd — particularly the 100-word blurbs written by interns whose only compensation is the very CD they chose to review. Still, as much as I like snarky, I’d like to take this opportunity to state my preference for sincerity over snarkiness in case there is any confusion among my readers. Note that when I contributed to the Soundmonger mix group last year, I attempted to explore this very topic.

Come to think of it, I have actually discovered quite a bit of decent music through those 100-word blurbs in the back pages of music mags and weeklies. Also, I’m not ashamed to admit that The Shins actually have changed my life. For the better.

Did that sound snarky? I meant it sincerely.