Simon Reynolds - C or D

yeah, I have to admit that when I was reading the chapter on Remain in Light I couldn't help but think, "This is like the reverse-negative of what he said about M.I.A."

"As Lester Bangs wrote, I don't know shit about the English class system and I don't care shit about the English class system. (Well, I did once receive a paid trip to Cambridge University and found, with few exceptions, the profs and students alike to be the most snooty and arrogant bunch of toffs imaginable."

Which almost makes me think it's a prank, but probably not.

"Amazon" is by far my favourite track, but after that would probably come "U.R.A.Q.T.", "Hombre", "Bingo" and "$10". "Bucky Done Gun" is great too but often strikes me as a bit awkward in its construction (plus when it comes to baile/carioca funk I tend to like the tracks with big 80s hooks). Actually as far as I'm concerned the second half of the album is a fair bit stronger than the first.

(likewise... assuming you care... me saying that it's probably not going to be in my top ten isn't supposed to be a put-down either - I find it very difficult to ever limit a list a favourites of anything to just ten!)

there's something strangely, terrifyingly wonderful about the ILX/Dissensus hivemind bubble that allows a sentence such as this to comeinto being.

shine on you crazy diamonds.

reynolds is hitchens now, with less bite and wit but also somewhat less full of shit or 'provocative' in that what reynolds writes about is so so much more trivial than what hitchens writes about. they're both worth checking in on if only cuz contortionists are fun (thinking of the guy with the winking asshole in pink flamingos esp), and they somehow still will pop up with something otm a couple of times a year (literally like the proverbial broken clock). i still very much want to read ripitup (uk edition obv), he should (and probably will right?) stick to the past - he might still be able to write about that. the present and future hold no place for him.

xpost - surely ilx is matthau

There were some people (e.g. matos, spencer) running the "it's great pop music regardless" line on ILM, but yeah, the vast majority of published rock crit conformed to your description. The critical debate over M.I.A. really boiled down to rockists who give a shit about "proper" dancehall vs rockists who don't.

ILM's distrust of latterday Outkast and ambivalence towards Kanye West is I think a v. interesting factor in trying to talk about an ILM vs Dissensus (or anti-rockist vs nu-rockist) split on this issue. There seems to be something important about the fact that, say, Matt Woebot despises M.I.A. but thinks Kanye West is a genius, which I haven't quite unravelled.

BTW Jess was more the voice of reason w/r/t M.I.A. on Dissensus I think.

Tim I kiss you

TS: England vs. America

About The Odd Couple - yes, Jack Lemmon as Woebot, Matthau as Ewing; that is extremely logical.

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!

Eventually, most of them end up being cheap... I'll let you know my viees on RIUASA when it ends up being cheap

interesting -- if the art-schooled daughter of a northern irish terror outfit (either side) made an lp named after her father and adopted light terra-chic outfits/occasional lyrics, i think 'authenticity' (not in terms of roots, which is the wrong way to go) would be a viable object of study.

is it cool? has she thought about all this? that kind of thing. sri lanka is far away, so MIA had an easier ride of it.

"many white critics dont know what to make of MIA, its too much for them to take on."

hahaha, "power move" as grimey simey would say. absolute horseshit -- although i don't recall anyone saying at the time that sri lankan critics should have the final say on this.

spencer, why did you think it would have been 'consistent' for reynolds to have liked MIA?

xpost -- honestly, you don't need RIUASA

i don't think he said this, or not constantly, one book at least had him saying 'use this fucker, i don't own it, dn-suh-dn-duh i'm just a war machine' or something.

Tim, thanks for the further info on your critique. I should note that I never checked out Piracy Funds Terrorism before Arular was released - so for me the album itself was a complete rush on its own. I find "URAQT" to be basically annoying (and I love Sanford & Son!).

As for Reynolds, reading his earlier stuff I felt like he was coming to this fantastic music and then making connections with theory and history in order to add further significance to the music and the genre. I read and reread Blissed Out again and again and sent the Feminine Pressure link to every smart person I knew.

Now, I feel like he's placing new music into his own highly developed theory/map-of-music which acts as a barrier to his 'pure' enjoyment of the 'sounds' (which I'm wondering if his nu-rockism is challenging - I've never assumed 'sound' enjoyment to be completely apolitical, but it's at least an attempt at getting past a lot of rockist nonsense).

I'm sure that's an oversimplification, but I suppose it's just an annoyance with all the pop critics who could not 'just' hear a fantastic pop/dance production a la Richard X or Basement Jaxx with taunting girl chants on top.

I will be watching critical reactions to Lady Sovereign's "Hoodie" and eventual album very closely because anybody I've played it for here in the US instantly says "Oooh, is this the new MIA??" They seem to both be "AT" the same place, but I wonder if certain critics will like her more because they're more comfortable with where she's "FROM."

to 'just' hear this you need to blank out all of the other stuff. obviously hip-hop fans are used to this, but it remains a thorny issue.

This makes me think that SR's judgement is silly.

Thanks for your valuable input. I happen to be a proud Dissensian and a MIA fan. Try thinking before posting.

pf -- i think an article he wrote on the stone roses back in 'the day' included the quote 'it's not where you're from it's where you're at', as voiced by ian brown but original from eric b and rakim c. 1987. somehow when he saw it, he thought the t-shirt was referencing ian brown -- which maybe in new york would give this anglo a rush? especially since the reversal for some reason meant something to reynolds, who has long had an interest in the concept of authenticity.

MIA's lyrics seem to be an abstract pastiche patois of urban,third-world,terroism-chic etc. I think they're in fact too vague to really criticize as harshly as so many have.

who has long had an interest in the concept of authenticity.

I'm very willing to believe this now, but it's never really struck me before. Is there something specific from one of his books?