|
Unsung Forum » Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 25 November 2012 CE |
Log In to post a reply
|
|
|
|
| Topic View: Flat | Threaded | |
IanB 6761 posts |
Edited Nov 26, 2012, 18:19
Nov 26, 2012, 18:09
|
||
|
Short answer? I think she has staked out ground as more of an Art Celebrity rather than as a composer or recording artist. Rock is just her chosen medium for getting that celebrity validated. It's hard to explain but to me she is like Jeff Koons when what I want is Cindy Sherman. Sherman is present and visible in all her art but completely obscured. There is nothing of the celebrity about her. Koons and Bjork are all over their art and don't you just know it. They could be selling anything at all. Everyone (in pop, in the visual arts, in literature, in fashion, in sport, in politics, in the world of contemporary music, even in science and especially in the movies) is dazzled by celebrity and nothing banalises art and music and everything that matters in our culture faster than that. It flattens everything and denudes it of any real feeling or meaning. She is now more famous than ever for being famous. In fact the more un-pop her work gets and the fewer records she sells the more famous she gets. It strikes me as being very calculated and a bit bogus but very 21st Century. Why does it make me write so much? If you love something seriously then you should be prepared to take a position. Because I love Pop and Rock as much as I love serious Contemporary Music or painting or movies or opera or great tv it pains me to see any of them used as a fame vehicle. I don't want to have to see the world through a prism of camp and irony and hyperreality and "guilty pleasures" and all that jazz. It's just a sneaky way of commodifying everything so that nothing has real weight or value. Kick out the Style bring back The Jam. And I never thought I would find myself quoting Tears for Fears though that second album ....
|
|||
|
keith a 9574 posts |
Nov 26, 2012, 18:44
|
||
|
"In fact the more un-pop her work gets and the fewer records she sells the more famous she gets." Come on, Ian. That's a good sentence on the page, but it's not true. I'm sure if you mentioned her name to Joe Public most of them would say isn't she that funny little pixie girl who sang that song that went "shhhh". You mightn't like/get her, but I for one think the world would be a poorer place without her. Regardless of whether she troubles the charts or not.
|
|||
Sin Agog 2253 posts |
Edited Nov 26, 2012, 20:15
Nov 26, 2012, 19:11
|
||
|
I think there's a lot of contextualising of a gut reaction going on here, but the fact that one of the top comments in the YouTube video of Crystalline* reads "REAL ART!!!!!" makes me sort of understand where Ian's coming from. If her music transports her fans to a different place than when they threw on the record, I don't think she should swan off just yet.. I don't think she's quite turned into aural wallpaper yet, which is more than can be said for most acts who've been going as long as her (remember she was a child star doing cute covers of Fool on the Hill). Hooky, funky, abstruse...y; not all music has to serve the same purpose. I guess a lot of art scenes do crucially rely on every member keeping the periphery afloat via a healthy array of name-checking and communal gigging. That doesn't mean Bjork or Scott Walker don't have a right to live in their own little bubbles if they want to. I'm always wary of people telling you not to think about things, but it is all ultimately just sound you like and sound you don't. If they afford you a reaction which stirs or moves you, they've done their job. If they haven't, you're probably just not their audience. *Quite a nice song, by the way. Dig the little bit of Drum & Bass at the end. EDIT: I should clarify, I do tend to prefer my Art Pop subversions on the sillier side. There is something a tad middle-brow about what Bjork's been doing since Vespertine. I like the plucky electronic marimba sounds on a lot of her recent records, though. Makes you feel like you're inside of an ice sculpture. Nothing there for me to hate.
|
|||
Kosmischeboy 664 posts |
Nov 26, 2012, 19:49
|
||
|
That Astra album is rather ace! Have you heard the new Diagonal one yet Squid?
|
|||
Squid Tempest 8769 posts |
Nov 26, 2012, 20:38
|
||
No - I keep hearing good things about them, would I like them? If so, where to start?
|
|||
|
Kosmischeboy 664 posts |
Nov 26, 2012, 21:04
|
||
|
Yes i think you would, not a million miles away from Astra, ie proggy hard rock but kinda crossed with the jazzy elements of gong, so theres some sax in there too etc. As for where to start, they've only done two albums! So not too much to wade through! 'The Second Mechanism' (the latest) should be easy to find as it's only been out a few weeks. Excellent stuff anyway
|
|||
|
IanB 6761 posts |
Edited Nov 26, 2012, 21:06
Nov 26, 2012, 21:06
|
||
|
Kid Calamity wrote: It's so nice to see someone like her regaining a bit of spotlight - and being worthy of it as a credible and proper muzo, rather than a sleb personality or whatever. So, hats off to you, Ian. Whether it's up my street or not, I reserve judgement until I've seen her on TV, tomorrow evening (but, have an inkling she'll be pretty tasty, if Moon Cat and you give her the thumbs up). It's old-fashioned, real instruments, anti-capitalist, feminist funk. If you think back to the very early 1980s it's sort of like the Valentine Brothers or GSHeron's "Reflections" album but with more NYC balls to it.
|
|||
|
Kosmischeboy 664 posts |
Nov 26, 2012, 21:16
|
||
Is this the week for me to blush heartilly? Cos i am!
|
|||
|
Squid Tempest 8769 posts |
Nov 26, 2012, 21:51
|
||
Thanks, will explore.
|
|||
jb lamptoast-morsley 2448 posts |
Nov 26, 2012, 23:42
|
||
|
I kind of get where you are coming from, Ian - the culture of celebrity and the increasing commodifying of art in the 21st century Capitalist world. (how do we remedy the situation?) I just didn't quite understand why Bjork sparked it off. And as Keith said, your comment about Bjork becoming more popular the more obscure she became doesn't particularly ring true. Fair enough you don't like her, but it seems like it is for intellectual reasons rather than plainly just not digging her music? It leads to questions like 'do you object to art as a commercial venture?'. Where do you draw the line? Are you advocating the approach of the Buddhist artist that simply blows away the dust of the painting after it is created? Is that a realistic expectation in the modern world? Is it really unethical to make money or a living from Art? Maybe it does dilute it. There have been discussions about this kind of thing here before |
| Pages: 10 – [ Previous | 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 8 | Next ] | Add a reply to this topic |
|
|
|
| Unsung Forum Index | |
