New Scott Walker album: 'The Drift'

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unless its full on high brow audience-be-damned stuff

But this is audience-be-damned stuff - Scott Walker's audience

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 15:56 (twenty years ago)

I was referring to the concepty of the tv-show... but this reminds me of the way "Newsnight Review" (Formely "Late Review") treated a Beckett centenary/revival last week, ie: take an artist with a complex, inimcable and high-art conceptual approach, then try and sum him up in a 3 minute montage... just utterly pointless.

Question is would it be better to have noting at all on highbrow stuff if the media is not going to treat it with the time and seriousness it merits?

― gek-opel, Friday, 31 March 2006 16:02 (twenty years ago)

Yes, I think it would be

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:04 (twenty years ago)

I would love to see the "Dad and Dom Show" on professional wrestlers. Special guest takedowns by Marcello.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Putdowns surely?

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:07 (twenty years ago)

Question is would it be better to have nothing at all on highbrow stuff if the media is not going to treat it with the time and seriousness it merits?

def. not. that just breeds a kind of ugly elitism, feeding real quickly into repugnant ideas like "you wouldn't understand it anyway!" &etc.

scott's work has a lot of layers, but i don't think it's a crime to neglect those layers for a general-purpose interview that might get his name back in the brains of people who haven't thought about him in a while. i appreciate the frustration, the idea of excluding a complex artist from general-forum coverage because that coverage is necessarily limited gets into a kind of scary walling-off that i don't think scott himself would be keen on.

fact is, walker-philes are going to root out the layered stuff anyway. and in truth, scott has made it abundantly clear that he generally recoils from discussing his songs in any kind of incredible detail anyway.

― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:09 (twenty years ago)

fuck, i left a key "but" out of the above graf. should read:

"i appreciate the frustration, but the idea of excluding a complex artist from general-forum coverage because that coverage is necessarily limited gets into a kind of scary walling-off that i don't think scott himself would be keen on."

― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:10 (twenty years ago)

I've run across a lot of great stuff through relatively trivial pieces. It's at least something that Scott was on TV at 7PM. Imagine some alienated industrial teen running across him this way.

― Soukesian, Friday, 31 March 2006 16:13 (twenty years ago)

but the idea of excluding a complex artist from general-forum coverage because that coverage is necessarily limited

Why is it necessarily limited?

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:17 (twenty years ago)

I only got into Walker by remembering an old Mojo magazine of my father's with a "best of 1995 albums list" that I had read years before which gave a three line recommendation of Tilt as being "deranged and disturbing"... with the power of filesharing soon it was mine... Its true that even a poorly represented hint of something more substantial could pique the interest of an otherwise uninformed observer...

And to be honest the other thing I weirdly noted whilst watchig the interiew with Walker was how whilst I identify with his music, the man is completely seperate, almost like there's little relation. This is almost certainly as a result of knowing very little about him, and him being basically unwilling to discuss in depth the minutiae of his lyrics. This means that his work is not so contextualised, and leaves more room for your own thoughts... I almost think mystery is a good thing... so the less we hear the better: who wouldn't agree that records wer more "magical" and evocative back in the day whe you couldn't simply google all the information you could ever want about them, or visit their myspace account???

― gek-opel, Friday, 31 March 2006 16:18 (twenty years ago)

its necessarily limited cos thats the way the license fee has crumbled--- popluarism to justify its contnued existence over public service high brow education.

― gek-opel, Friday, 31 March 2006 16:19 (twenty years ago)

That's not necessary though - that's a choice the broadcasters and programme makers have made

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:20 (twenty years ago)

xpost - by 'necessarily' i meant: only x amount of minutes per any block of time. perhaps bad word choice, but those are the realities of media we're dealing with today. i still don't think neglecting coverage entirely is an appetizing alternative.

This means that his work is not so contextualised, and leaves more room for your own thoughts...

insanely OTM. my thoughts about his music exactly.

― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:21 (twenty years ago)

You can do and say a lot in 9 mins 36 secs - for instance, you might be able to get the name one of his albums right and you might not say Jacques Brel was French

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:24 (twenty years ago)

I mean if you want some in depth stuff, then probably Mixing It on R3 will do something or The Wire... but not BBC on prime time, they might pay lip service to it, but music is of such niche interest (ie- 99%of people will hate any given musical artist) that it seems unfair to delve into their work in the depth you are describing (as in it would obviously have consisted mainly of backstory and deal only briefly wih the new album...).

― gek-opel, Friday, 31 March 2006 16:28 (twenty years ago)

Who said in-depth? A ten minute piece on Scott Walker doesn't have to be lazy, sloppy and under-researched does it?

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:31 (twenty years ago)

A ten minute piece on Scott Walker, by someone who actually knows who he is would be an improvement, no?

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:32 (twenty years ago)

Yes, and probably one that focussed on just one aspect- interview, potted history, or talking heads wank-fest.

― gek-opel, Friday, 31 March 2006 16:41 (twenty years ago)

No... I hope I didn't sound pedantic Dadaismus. The lyrics of Scott Walker's songs articulate feelings with the audio-visual not the literal. Over-anaylsis kills the mysterioso elements that make the work interesting. But that's not say that the work is not guided by a unifying set of precepts and moral intelligence (which I have outlined in a pevious post). He presents the work as Tableaux, whereby you can immerse yourself in a multiplicity of ways. As if you are looking at 5 different angles of a car crash.

You can choose to follow the " Cue" or not.

I have read more intelligent discussion here than the babble I have witnessed on the Culture show.

― PaulBaran, Friday, 31 March 2006 17:31 (twenty years ago)

someone mentioned the vinyl upthread- any info? if there's any additional stuff I'd wait and get it but if not I would just as soon get the CD.
the 'Jesse' clip sounds great and the cover is beautiful,

― La Monte (La Monte), Friday, 31 March 2006 20:42 (twenty years ago)

I think they were referring to vinyl promos being used to combat the ease of piracy offered by cds....

― gek-opel, Friday, 31 March 2006 21:33 (twenty years ago)

there will be a single-disc vinyl promo version, and a two-LP set for sale.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:39 (twenty years ago)

bonus tracks or anything? (i doubt it, but i just can't bare the tiny possibity i might miss some songs!)

― La Monte (La Monte), Friday, 31 March 2006 22:18 (twenty years ago)

not that i know of, no.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 31 March 2006 22:25 (twenty years ago)

The BBC broadband version available for 1 week...is in a way an extended version... they have edited the tv version and added other footage to it,, where Scott describes how terrified he is of singing,,, and how he fails at it....
Agreed about the presenter.... basic facts wrong! what were they thinking. Muriel Gray's interview was just honestly bad... and she has regretted it ever since.. while Verity Sharpe looked quite pleased with the bad job she did.

Geri

― Geraldine McGuckin (2raggedsoldiers), Friday, 31 March 2006 23:16 (twenty years ago)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZpwhMiFNPcI&search=scott%20walker

― jed_ (jed), Saturday, 1 April 2006 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Finally saw this. I'd have been really curious to know what Scott actually listens to himself.

You'd think it would be an obvious question, and might give some insight as to where he's coming from but . .

(My guess would be Harrison Birtwhistle, but I could be way off.)

― Soukesian, Saturday, 1 April 2006 22:14 (twenty years ago)

Anyone in the UK got the software to convert Macromedia flash and save it ?? The BBC Broadband interview is on Flash.. it will only be available until next Wednesday....it would be great if that could be saved with its extra footage and different camera angles.

Anyone???

Geri

― Geraldine McGuckin (2raggedsoldiers), Sunday, 2 April 2006 10:22 (twenty years ago)

Sousekian- yes to the birtwhistle, seems likely. He's on record as listening to bartok and the like... Quite interested more in what "pop" stuff if any he's listened to of late- eg circa Tilt he referenced NIN and the Prodigy...

― gek-opel, Sunday, 2 April 2006 16:40 (twenty years ago)

I thought Scott 3 was number one when I was born, so how come it only got to number three? Is another cherished illusion about to bite the dust?

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Sunday, 2 April 2006 17:20 (twenty years ago)

So far, my favorite track is "Cue".

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Sunday, 2 April 2006 23:12 (twenty years ago)

so far

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 2 April 2006 23:18 (twenty years ago)

Well, it's track 5, so I'm halfway through the album.

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Sunday, 2 April 2006 23:19 (twenty years ago)

dear holy Penderecki, the strings on 'Cue' are the shit

― Turangalila (Salvador), Sunday, 2 April 2006 23:40 (twenty years ago)

just think, RJG: wait a month, go out and buy it first day not having heard any of it before. slip in on. it'll feel so good!

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 2 April 2006 23:56 (twenty years ago)

: D

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 2 April 2006 23:59 (twenty years ago)

i don't want to hear it til ~~christmas day~~ May 8th.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 3 April 2006 00:01 (twenty years ago)

might get it on the 8th and let it sit 'til the weekend

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 3 April 2006 00:07 (twenty years ago)

Well, it's track 5, so I'm halfway through the album.

Certain questions are raised via this observation.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 3 April 2006 00:13 (twenty years ago)

or why not just wait til christmas?

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 3 April 2006 00:14 (twenty years ago)

I'm also halfway through, at "Cue". It's all very spooky. I like it, it punches you in the face the way all original things should, there's an amazing surprise corner every couple of minutes, the sound of a donkey braying, terrifying! Stuff you've never heard in a "pop song" before. I'd say his only Anglo-Saxon peer is David Sylvian, though there are more parallels in the francophone world. This is rather like early Brigitte Fontaine or late Leo Ferre.

Fuck, another nightmare surprise! A screaming orchestra! It's terrifying!

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 3 April 2006 02:32 (twenty years ago)

>Finally saw this. I'd have been really curious to know what Scott >actually listens to himself.

There was an interview, way back in 95 when TilT was out, where he said he was listening to Nine Inch Nails and PH Harvey at that time.
I think the interview was in WIRE, but I am not sure.

― Julian Kenning, Monday, 3 April 2006 05:38 (twenty years ago)

"Iam worried about this documentary, because it will contain a plethora of stupidity. "

oh really? hm.

― S.K., Monday, 3 April 2006 09:13 (twenty years ago)

do you have more of a goldfrapp saying boring crap like "this is proper music"?

am excited abt it, to see more of scott and in the studio, but not terribly looking forward to people who I don't, necessarily, dislike but saying a lof of v uninsightful stuff, etc

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 3 April 2006 09:18 (twenty years ago)

I don't think all original things should punch you in the face, unless punch you in the face means strike you as original.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 3 April 2006 09:35 (twenty years ago)

Who's saying that they should?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 3 April 2006 09:35 (twenty years ago)

>I have read more intelligent discussion here than the babble I have witnessed on the Culture show.

Well of course you have. As people keep reiterating, the Culture Show is intended as a topical "sampler" of what's going on across the board in the midbrow arts world. If you want specifics, go elsewhere. Or come here.
As for Scott: yeah, he came across as a witty, approachable fellow. But the new music sounded bloody awful.

― harvey.w (harvey.w), Monday, 3 April 2006 10:18 (twenty years ago)

I'd love to be halfway through the album ;-)

Please share, will buy the original on the day of release.

― Scott fan, Monday, 3 April 2006 10:25 (twenty years ago)

Halfway through might well be amazing but just wait unti you get about four minutes into the penultimate track!
You may well shit your pants.

― Peak Lupe (Peak Lupe), Monday, 3 April 2006 11:23 (twenty years ago)

I like it, it punches you in the face the way all original things should,

-- Momus (nic...) (webmail), Today 4:32 AM. (Momus) (later)

(X-post to Marcello)

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 3 April 2006 12:16 (twenty years ago)

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