Vinyl Me, Please and Other Music Criticism
There's a lot of bad music writing about there, but there are really only two rules you need to follow to produce something worth reading (and hopefully, I'm following my own rules more often than not).
Work smart and work hard to situate a song, album, or artist in a cultural or canonical context—and do it in a way that is accurate, thoughtful, respectful, and unpretentious. Share your personal connection to the art—but don't make it all about you, and leave your reader enough room to see him or herself in the story you tell.