Many years ago, the Louisville Courier-Journal hired my dad as a reporter (the police beat and books, if I'm not mistaken) for a spell. This week, they make another good call in singling out Alex Ross' excellent blog:

The Rest is Noise (www.therestisnoise.com)—Speaking of downtownish perspectives, you'd have a difficult time finding any critic who writes more persuasively about difficult new music than Alex Ross, the music critic of The New Yorker magazine. His blog is a somewhat more freewheeling affair than his New Yorker column and often references other blogs in discussions of myriad subjects. You get the feeling that Ross has a superb ear—he doesn't describe as much as re-animate—and he treats contemporary music with a depth, respect and passion that are rare and refreshing.