ignorantarmies.blogspot.com
Postcards of the Hanging: "Generic Pop Music"
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2010/07/httppitchfork.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Sunday, July 25, 2010. Poptimist column from Pitchfork. There is some wrong-headedness in the above link, and also some false statements. Also, pop history has a distorting effect. "Innovations" (things initially falling outside of the genre) are incorporated so quickly and so lastingly that they cannot always be grasped as such from the present day. This is all very "duh," but then you read this:. Now for the false. I got this feeling listening to the new Kylie Minogue album,.
ignorantarmies.blogspot.com
Postcards of the Hanging: Reviewing Albums
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2010/07/reviewing-albums.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Saturday, July 31, 2010. In what does Pitchfork’s allegiance to albums consist? Aboutartistic dilemmas. Applying this ready-at-hand formula to reviewing occasionally tedious and usually unprofound contemporary rock music does, as one might expect, yield some tedious and unprofound results. It’s worth doing what in grad school they call “close reading”—let’s take the opening of a Pitchfork review of some Death Cab for Cutie album:. Narrow Stairs, Death Cab's second album for Atla...
ignorantarmies.blogspot.com
Postcards of the Hanging: Alternate Canon for Film
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2009/11/alternate-canon-for-film.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Saturday, November 14, 2009. Alternate Canon for Film. I saw The Red Shoes at Film Forum the other day, in a new print, and it occurred to me that possibly I was watching the greatest movie of all time. This signals to my brain: "Yes, but on what criteria? And the answer is something like: "pure filmmaking," or "movie magic," etc. etc. But what I mean I think is better expressed in my favorite format: the list. Gone with the Wind. War and Peace (1967). Juliet of the Spirits.
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Postcards of the Hanging: September 2009
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Saturday, September 26, 2009. Indie Rock and You. What is it LIKE to enjoy a piece of music? This is what I want to know from a record review. Obviously, the very worst reviews of music are those that just talk about the lyrics, but from an intellectual standpoint, just as bad is the pretentious claim that reviews should "tell us what the music sounds like." Well, nothing could be more idiotic while sounding like a reasonable demand. Do the songs get under your skin? Without bei...
ignorantarmies.blogspot.com
Postcards of the Hanging: Recent Swedish Hardcore
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2010/04/recent-swedish-hardcore.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Sunday, April 18, 2010. When you hear some music and this ("I love this! Does NOT happen, there is not some other thing happening: it's not as good. Does this mean that my Ornette Coleman records are not as "good" as Black Sabbath, because I do all sorts of ridiculous things in my room when I am listening to one and not the other? I enjoy them less, even over a span of years. Life is too short to worry about the difference. So, this new Martyrdöd album: what's it like? In any ca...
ignorantarmies.blogspot.com
Postcards of the Hanging: April 2010
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Sunday, April 18, 2010. When you hear some music and this ("I love this! Does NOT happen, there is not some other thing happening: it's not as good. Does this mean that my Ornette Coleman records are not as "good" as Black Sabbath, because I do all sorts of ridiculous things in my room when I am listening to one and not the other? I enjoy them less, even over a span of years. Life is too short to worry about the difference. So, this new Martyrdöd album: what's it like? In any ca...
ignorantarmies.blogspot.com
Postcards of the Hanging: December 2009
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Friday, December 11, 2009. A thesis for this blog? I was listening today to the Eno-Fripp collaboration "No Pussyfooting," and thinking, "wow this really sounds like Kraftwerk." And it seems to me that for nearly 100% of the music-discussing world, liking this album and liking Kraftwerk would go hand in hand. You can imagine the conversation in the record store. I've enjoyed other Eno albums, but I don't really like King Crimson. Is this good? Yeah Do you like Kraftwerk?
ignorantarmies.blogspot.com
Postcards of the Hanging: August 2009
http://ignorantarmies.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html
Postcards of the Hanging. Thursday, August 6, 2009. Spectator (UK) list of 50 Greatest Films. Reposted from Rogerebert.com. This list is not outrageously wrong, but it has too many movies that are questionable as to whether they are even GOOD, much less great: #1 Night of the Hunter, #17 Blade Runner, and #50 Out of the Past, are all deeply problematic films. Interesting? Yes But the "best movies" should only include GOOD movies, which these films are not. More discussion to come (including my list).