Rob Moura

The first album I ever remember liking was Al Jarreau’s This Time in 1995, when I was 4.

At 16 I spent the summer modding my own copy of Guitar Hero 2 with my twin brother, and we used Allmusic to determine what songs we wanted on the setlist. That was my first introduction to music journalism.

The first CD I ever bought on my own accord was Bon Iver’s self-titled record in 2010, when I was 18.

That fall I got hooked on Pitchfork and eventually they bent me to their tastes. It took roughly 5 years to shake the curse, but I do appreciate their ability to expose me to music I wouldn’t have found on my own.

I moved from my home state of Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington to attempt to be the kind of person that music writing led me to revere. Then after 3 years I realized how the sausage gets made and took a healthy step back. Making music takes a lot out of you, especially if you’re the type who neurotically needs the music they make to be acceptable on some arbitrary critical standard.

In that sense, perhaps I decided to switch over to music journalism because I needed to relearn how to trust myself. So much of my opinions on what’s cool and what’s not were shaped by others, by publications with hidden agendas and intimidating clout. This might just be another step in the journey to find my own independence. Who knows? I know I like writing, and I like art.

I had a blog, The Tape Deck, that mostly featured album reviews and biweekly single coverage, along with a biweekly podcast loosely based around music appreciation and featuring guests of various roles in the industry. To review albums, I used a color rating system I developed myself that eschews traditional single-vector judgements and assesses the work purely on how it satisfies art-related criteria. It was convoluted and unnecessary, but I appreciate those qualities; the same could technically be said about music criticism as a whole.

That being said, I’m not the type of person to crank out surface-level pieces based on cursory listens: if I decide to cover a record, I make sure to listen closely and produce something thoughtful, because artists deserve it. For the hundreds of hours that go into practice and writing and recording and engineering and self-promotion, along with the mental toll it can take, I can at least put effort into making sure their work is properly assessed.

Today I co-edit a music outlet devoted to releases and artists in Washington state - it’s called WASH Magazine. I also freelance for sites like PopMatters and Paste, and locally I contribute to a handful of outlets including Earshot Jazz, The Stranger, Public Display ART, and ARCADE NW. I'm also helping to writing entries for the upcoming Motown Museum expansion.