Points for effort?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Do artists deserve critical credit for trying ambitious stuff? Interesting debate on various tumblr blogs concerning indie dudes Of Montreal (beloved of byebyepride and piratemoggy, tho I don't think I've seen either pronounce on the new album) (pot80 luvs it tho) who have ISSUES with dismissive reviews of their latest waxing.

The original short interviews
Some back and forth about it.
My own response (well, currently it's at the top - catch it while you can!!)

I think this is an interesting little debate.

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

"Main point being, why on earth shouldn't I get offended over people's reaction to Britney Spears's or Ashlee Simpson's albums (more the latter recently) that seek to deny the same auteurship that someone like Barnes seems to think is his right for....what, being ambitious? So's Erykah Badu. So's Randy Newman, so's Marit Larsen. So what?"

This whole argument is a slippery slope to this point:

"We should be more engaged, always."

Which I agree with, I suppose, though I wouldn't want it to be my job. I remember writing two reviews a week for about four months, and I wanted to kill myself dealing with so much half-assed "ambition" and "concept." I mean try reviewing two CRESCENDOEY POST-ROCK albums in one week by gauging the ambition. And if we're saying Barnes is for some reason different, that his cultural influence is more significant than Mono or Upward Stars into the Sky We Fall or The Silver Lining of Man's Hands Limbo then I suppose *that* could be a subject of review itself (a la "where's Britney/who's Britney" in Blackout I guess?). But if the music falls short, the music falls short, and as a grind reviewer I DO think that's the bottom line. Maybe not for someone invested in this band or this personality specifically who has a vested interest in actively exploring that relationship, but for someone who has to deal with Kevin Barnes Lites on a regular basis, yes.

And as soon as Pitchfork decides to be more egalitarian in whom they'll review, I'm not going to worry about how generous those critics are to the mini-celebs who get more ink than the super-celebs (who get about zero), plenty of whom are, I imagine, far more ambitious than the Of Montreal dude.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Kevin Barnes Lites not in sound, but in attitude.