So I can finally announce the big news I’ve been keeping hush-hush: Next fall, Bloomsbury will publish my book of music criticism! The working title is NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE BEFORE. The book explores the concept of the “new” in American popular music since 2000 and argues for a different way of engaging with that idea, and with music in general. It is not a book about, so help me, “trend forecasting.” It’s an unorthodox take on what newness, innovation, and novelty mean in popular music in this very particular and peculiar culture of ours.
I’ve been working on this since late 2014. The book has changed considerably since then, and I expect it to keep changing over the next several months before I submit the manuscript. That includes the musicians I’m writing about, but to give you an idea, there’s a chapter on Kanye West and there’s a chapter on Gillian Welch. I’m hesitant to give away too much about the book, and frankly, I have a lot of work to do. I don’t imagine I’ll post much “process” work, but we’ll see.
So for now, here’s a photo of a stack of paper: the working draft. I got the official word on my birthday back in July and signed the contract soon after. This is the biggest thrill of my professional life, and while there are a lot of people to thank, I owe everything to the biggest thrill in my life: my soon-to-be wife, Jamie.
Robert Loss 