It's not possible to come at anything from a completely "neutral," disinterested perspective. That's a given. But--and I think nabisco was getting at this in some of his Tumblr posts--sometimes a writer's point-of-view on something has little to do with that thing itself. It's more of a grafting-onto-that-thing of the writer's attitude than a close reading.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:20 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm more sympathetic towards writers who are interested in getting at what something's about than gazing at their own navel, basically.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:21 (fourteen years ago) link
So they should stare at everyone else's navel instead?
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:21 (fourteen years ago) link
"The other day marked the appearance of a cultural product, enjoyed by people, not necessarily this writer."
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:22 (fourteen years ago) link
eh, i want writers to come to things they write about with thoughts and feelings and stuff.
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:22 (fourteen years ago) link
If I ever write a phrase like "grafting-onto-that-thing of the writer's attitude" again, sb me.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm more sympathetic towards writers who are interested in getting at what something's about
each individual person has or can have a differing perspective on what a piece of art is "about." it's not like we have writers and critics so they can unlock the secrets of the universe. we have them to interpret things through their own personal viewpoint
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
I want them to do the same, Que, but I don't want their writing to be more about them than the subject they're supposed to be writing on.
See: www.ripfork.com
None of the writing there is about the actual reviews he's criticizing, it's all about him him him and some absurd vendetta he has against rock criticism.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
That was an xpost.
so? so don't read the website--that website is not exactly what i have in mind when i think of the word criticism.
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, people do interpret things "through their own personal viewpoint," but there's also still a piece of work there, and sometimes people are so interested in their own reactions to that work than saying anything interesting about the work itself. Sometimes, I think, their reactions can and do often obfuscate aspects of the work itself too.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i know, that's why i don't read pitchfork anymore
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't read Ripfork; I was citing a convenient, accurate example of the problem I see with a certain strain of criticism that's more interested in the writer than the subject.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
And that's fine, Que. Pitchfork does that, for you. But it doesn't do that for me, while other examples of criticism does. And that's fine. But I think that, in saying that, you're agreeing with me that "sometimes people are so interested in their own reactions to that work than saying anything interesting about the work itself," which was kind of my point from the beginning.
"sometimes people are so interested in..."
so = more
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:31 (fourteen years ago) link
no i just don't think a writer shouldn't go outside of his/her perspective--unless of course he/she wants to write under a pseudonym
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:32 (fourteen years ago) link
;)
I sign all my checks kshighway btw.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:33 (fourteen years ago) link
i miss burt stanton
― Mr. Que, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:37 (fourteen years ago) link
I'd rather read nabisco's considered, engaged-with-the-work Tumblr posts about Vampire Weekend than, say, YouTube comments where someone who stumbled across the "Horchata" video looking for information about drinks decided to scrawl "What the fuck, this is total shit!" Really, I'm not asking anyone to step outside of their perspective; I just want the focus of critical pieces to be more about the work itself, seen through that one person's perspective, than about that person's perspective itself. Too much bad criticism is more look-at-me than it is look-at-that-work.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Was burt stanton a better sockpuppet? If so, sorry to disappoint. I try.
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:41 (fourteen years ago) link
you'd rather read nabisco than random youtube comments? that's crazy!
this is boring though and belongs on some dumb rock crit thread. this thread is about the mighty vampire weekend!
― scott seward, Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Scott, stop boring me. Dance. Dance!
― kshighway (ksh), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 20:51 (fourteen years ago) link
ill save yall a lil time
― plaxico (I know, right?), Tuesday, 9 February 2010 21:27 (fourteen years ago) link
can i just pop in to say that i missed out on tickets to see them on saturday by one point at a quiz tonight and i am really, really devastated. that is all.
― Freddy 'The Wonder Chicken' (Gukbe), Wednesday, 10 February 2010 01:21 (fourteen years ago) link
dude brings out a little of their inner billy bragg here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YALJ0ZXG59
― tramp steamer, Thursday, 11 February 2010 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YALJ0ZXG59o
― tramp steamer, Thursday, 11 February 2010 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
lol
― united arab amirites (samosa gibreel), Thursday, 11 February 2010 22:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Giving Up the Gun video
― Freddy 'The Wonder Chicken' (Gukbe), Friday, 19 February 2010 18:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Ezra rockin' the Roger Federer look in that video.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Friday, 19 February 2010 18:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyone else feeling like this album - unlike the debut - doesn't hold up well with repeat listens? Cousins sounds like a sitcom theme and the rest of it as slight as an Owl City album track. I was very into it for like 3 days when it leaked and never want to go back to it ever again. Opposite effect of Los Campesinos and Magnetic Fields new ones.
― ramadaan muhammad asalaamica rasoul allah supana watallah (jk), Friday, 19 February 2010 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
I played this on the way to work today and was reminded that it's fucking awesome.
― slapped by a bear (HI DERE), Friday, 19 February 2010 19:01 (fourteen years ago) link
It's like the lightness of Owl City with a good chunk of the overbearing twee preciousness removed and a lot more interesting musical pastiches/influence-waving.
― slapped by a bear (HI DERE), Friday, 19 February 2010 19:02 (fourteen years ago) link
that video is fucking awesome
― J0rdan S., Friday, 19 February 2010 19:07 (fourteen years ago) link
this album gets way better with repeated listens imo. now that it's really sunk in, i think it's just as good as the first one. at first i felt like they would probably never be as dear to me as on s/t, but if anything they've increased their staying power. 'too many slow songs' seemed like a valid criticism for a while, but they operate just as nicely in quirky fast pop mode as in textural ballad mode. "diplomat's son" is my favourite song on the album and i'm glad they're the kind of band who can write that sort of song now.
― united arab amirites (samosa gibreel), Friday, 19 February 2010 19:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyone else feeling like this album - unlike the debut - doesn't hold up well with repeat listens?
Nope. I stopped listening for a couple of weeks, replayed it last night, and still loved it.
― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 February 2010 19:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I played this on the way to work today and was reminded that it's fucking awesome.― slapped by a bear (HI DERE), Friday, February 19, 2010 7:01 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― a passing heavy daftie (cozen), Friday, 19 February 2010 19:39 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i listened to diplimats son like five times in a row today
― plaxico (I know, right?), Friday, 19 February 2010 19:39 (fourteen years ago) link
My only gripe with the record, really, happens to be "Giving Up the Gun." It sounds so bland - like they tried to right a radio-friendly song but forgot to come up with a strong chorus. It sucks the life out of the second half of the record. Really though it's the only track on the album I don't like.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Saturday, 20 February 2010 06:43 (fourteen years ago) link
The bridge of "Giving up the Gun" is incidentally my favorite part of the record, but the rest of the song kinda collapses beneath it.
― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 February 2010 09:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Wow, can't believe I made the right/write mistake. I'm going to sit in the corner.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Saturday, 20 February 2010 22:04 (fourteen years ago) link
all that slo-mo doesn't make the song any less boring, but i really do admire these guys for exploiting their cuteness in videos, unlike say the Killers hiding behind cowboy hats and mustaches after "Brightside." They've got a cult of precocious teenybopper fans now and I'm glad they're not fighting it.
― da croupier, Saturday, 20 February 2010 22:12 (fourteen years ago) link
http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwve0ySe6e1qz852uo1_500.jpg
― da croupier, Saturday, 20 February 2010 22:14 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm more curious that "Derirah" is actually a name.
― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 20 February 2010 22:18 (fourteen years ago) link
inside info
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 20 February 2010 22:18 (fourteen years ago) link
isn't that how Scooby pronounces it?
Rezra Roenig
― Brad Nelson (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 February 2010 22:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Giving Up the Gun." It sounds so bland - like they tried to right a radio-friendly song but forgot to come up with a strong chorus.
Don't get this, the chorus of GUTG is a total earworm.
― The Man With the Magic Eardrums (Billy Dods), Saturday, 20 February 2010 23:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah. As it happens I tossed and turned last night, with that fucking chorus in my head.
― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 21 February 2010 00:05 (fourteen years ago) link
Rostam Batmanglij's Out interview.
― Inculcate a spirit of serfdom in children (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 February 2010 03:38 (fourteen years ago) link