(no subject)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I have a new Pitchfork column up - inspired indirectly by Frank's series of columns, and directly by conversations with people here, and by conversations ON here dating from ages and ages ago. The column is nominally about the Smiths but not really (also the summary on the front page misunderstands it, so I wonder if it isn't very clear what I'm getting at).

It's also worth having another look at yesterday's Pop Open thread, where an interesting chat has got going between cis and koganbot and a couple of other people, on the subject of...well, depending on what you think about the topic you might call it "indie trying to be pop" or "perfect pop" or "revivalist pop". Follow-on post action here may yet occur.

Comments

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I think this is an excellent column. I think besides the embarrassment factor of talking about your feelings, there is also the notion that talking about craft and excellence and originality and so on are more objective, therefore what the critic should strive towards. I don't believe this is true.

I was thinking on a related subject a couple of days ago. I was listening to Bettye Swann, the only singer I can think of offhand where both names should have stopped a letter earlier, and thinking that she has maybe the most beautiful voice I know, and I was thinking about how I reach that conclusion, and what makes it beautiful (and perhaps more beautiful than Dolly Parton's or Al Green's or David Surkamp's), and what the beauty does for the music, and indeed how it affected my feelings when listening. I don't think I got anywhere useful on this, so far, but I have a feeling it is something I want to think more about and write about at some point. It feels kind of related to my old Al Green article - that was centrally about people using one big idea about soul (the authenticity of its raw emotion) to the point where they miss what is actually happening.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yes - and in the case of soul it's a double bluff - the artist's emotion is paramount but it hustles out the listener's emotion (other than "awed sympathy" I guess).

Not that it's always useful or desirable for a listener to think about their own emotional reaction too much, I just feel it would be good to acknowledge it more.