Meet a Blogger: Dipped In Dollars

Oct 10, 2012 by PORTALS    No Comments    Posted under: Features, Meet a Blogger  

Meet a Blogger is a new feature wherein we chat with some of our favorite bloggers about our respective love for blogs. The blogosphere houses some of the most creative minds in the world, and we aim to highlight as many of them as we can. It’s a fascinating sub-culture, and Meet a Blogger looks to further enrich our readers of its overall necessity.

This month we got to sit down with Chief, one half of the most righteous Dipped In Dollars (press play below for an accompanying mix brought to you by Dipped In Dollars):

Give us a short origins story, how did the birth of Dipped in Dollars go down?

Selome (Danger) and I met while studying art at a college in Vermont called Bennington. She threw a lot of wild parties, and we bonded over our mutual love of electronic music. Selome brought up the idea of starting a blog sometime during the winter of my junior year, but nothing came of it until the following summer. She designed the site, logo, taught me how to use wordpress, and the rest is history.

Are they’re any blogs you were reading before you started blogging that made you want to blog? 

None, though I was reading Fluokids (they DJed a festival I helped organized in Belgium), Mishka, Gorilla vs. Bear, and Pitchfork. It was 100% word of mouth and web forums before that.

What kind of stuff were you writing about at first? Do you remember some of your first posts?

I was mainly writing about artists that I revered (The Avalanches, Bibio, Flying Lotus) and newer artists that I’d just discovered like Bullion, Lissvik, and Washed Out. My very first post was about Pacific! and it’s very embarrassing. We were primarily writing for our friends on campus for the first few months, so there were also features about friends’ bands (Real Estate, Mountain Man, Bobby) that eventually became known elsewhere. 

Did it catch you off guard when Dipped In Dollars started garnering an audience? 

Yes. There was one week in October ’09 when we got on both the Hype Machine and Elbo.ws and received personalized emails from bands and labels across the world. It was extremely exciting at the time, but also put a weird pressure on me to articulate myself in a more professional manner while supporting the artists I cared about.

What kind of things are Dipped In Dollars doing to keep things fresh? 

I have a network of artists, labels, and pr who are phenomenal people and keep me up to date. Solar Bears have become good buddies through this, and have introduced me to some fantastic sounds from their side of the pond. We also have a guest mix series called Substitute Teachers that I’m really proud of, and have been fortunate to interview artists like Modeselektor, Gilles Peterson, and Onra.

Check out some recent Substitute Teachers mixes:

How do you feel like the landscape of music and music blogging, in particular, has changed since you started Dipped in Dollars?

Pitchfork has become Rolling Stone for a majority of young listeners, which means that a larger segment of our society is connecting and consuming information on an esoterically global level. There is just so much information out there, and witnessing the speed in which artists and micro genres (chillwave, post dubstep, witch house, sea punk) can thrive before entering the global conversation has been exciting. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much by living in Minneapolis, which was one of my greatest fears when I moved out of New York in 2010. I look at a video by Grimes or the pseudo-romantic early 90s cgi aesthetic of an artist like Teengirl Fantasy and am happy with how rapidly the nature of this new landscape is evolving. I have no idea where things are going to go, but I think bloggers do have a lot more say in what’s going on.

Soundcloud is also around! It makes blogging/embedding music without fear of being sued way easier, which almost happened to us in 2009. I love that you can listen to the songs that artists you follow are into.

Lapalux, Jensen Sportag, AlunaGeorge, Cid Rim, and Albert Swarm have been standouts for me this year. All are innovative in their own rights and it’s exciting to hear their new work.

I must also say that looking for music has allowed me to discover some all time favorites—like Lone, Letherette, and Jai Paul—that I’ll never be the same without.

Who are some of the blogs that keep you going, that keep the inspiration flowing?

Astro Nautico, You’ll Soon Know, 92 BPM, The Fader, Dummy Mag, ISO50, Life Crushed, No Modest Bear (RIP), Gorilla vs. Bear, Smoke Don’t Smoke, and PORTALS are all blogs I check regularly, though I also listen to a lot of BTS/NTS Radio and Gilles Peterson.

Is there any advice you could offer up to someone trying to ramp up a new music blog?

I believe in the networked knowledge and combinatorial creativity they’re talking about over at Brain Pickings, so I’d suggest you absorb your favorite information, synthesize unique insights, and create something that nobody else is doing. Don’t worry about money. 

Selome also had me read this book called “Crush It” when we first started blogging and it really helped a lot. Crush it!

Thanks so much Chief!

And for your viewing pleasure, Chief sent over some old logos, and imagery from Dipped In Dollars past: