It's often written more clearly, too, yes, but that's not quite what I'm talking about right now: the point is that nobody writes to the NYRB to complain that a particular essay needs to be brought down to the level of "what it inherently is -- A BOOK REVIEW." People who wanted that sort of thing would just read Publishers Weekly instead.
And I might be sympathetic to the complaint that there aren't enough music publications serving that straightforward consumer-guide niche, except that I think there are loads and loads that do serve it, from AMG to EW to major newspapers to glossy magazines. The only places where the esoteric stuff really holds sway are online and in alt-weeklies, which just happen to be what everyone likes to talk about on boards like this one (presumably because that stuff is free). If there were a shortage of the straightforward -- not enough supply of it to meet demand -- that would be a very bad thing indeed, but I don't know that such a shortage exists.
― nabiscothingy (nory), Saturday, 7 January 2006 08:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― antexit (antexit), Saturday, 7 January 2006 12:35 (eighteen years ago) link
most music fans and music magazine readers have as little or less 'technical knowledge' as the writers, so unless your readership was of a level of, say, readers of Guitarist magazine or another title aimed at musicians, then that wouldn't work, because the reader wouldn't necessarily understand the technical terms being (ab)used. which isn't to say your point of view is in any way invalid, but you're representing a faction of a music mag's readership.
as an avid reader of the music press growing up, i always loved writers who could demystify the technical aspects of the music just a little, but i never anted someone to lay it open. and i was always more interested in how this music related to its influence, contemporaries, followers, etc, and the experience of the musicians and how it impacted their art. and as a writer now, yes, i'm of limited technical knowledge regarding how the music is made, but i honestly don't believe that impacts on my ability to discuss the music. because i rarely appreciate it in terms of technical brilliance, but rather the personality of the music (for want of about a million better phrases), a more emotional response, i guess.
and i'm not really sure how a review's value judgement could be anything other than subjective.
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Saturday, 7 January 2006 13:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Saturday, 7 January 2006 15:00 (eighteen years ago) link
So the more I think about it, maybe the kind of criticism we're all wary of here stems from exactly the stuff Mickey is advocating -- maybe thinking about these things as "just an album review" is exactly what causes the problem. If it's "just an album review," then why not freewheel and reference and slang it out? Whereas the clearest criticism -- in lots of different arts -- tends to come around when someone has something important to say about the world beyond the art itself. Because it has something to communicate beyond just describing the record for you, something that's actually more ambitious than that.
― nabiscothingy (nory), Saturday, 7 January 2006 16:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― boris yeltsin, Saturday, 7 January 2006 23:08 (eighteen years ago) link
Guilty as charged! Although really if one goal of writing about music is to get people thinking about it, why is trying to teach your reader a little bit about the way the song is put together such a verboten thing?
― Dan (And So On) Perry (Dan Perry), Sunday, 8 January 2006 04:52 (eighteen years ago) link
― miss michel legrand (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 8 January 2006 05:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― name:, Sunday, 8 January 2006 06:24 (eighteen years ago) link
dude, it totally shouldn't be! though i wouldn't be able to write that review.
my uncle often sends me letters saying he doesn't understand the stuff of mine that runs in the London Times, which is frustrating because that's generally the least-opaque, least-artful, most-straightforward stuff i write, and i *want (sometimes) to be understood by *everyone. he also clips out pieces in the paper that he liked better than mine, as 'guidance'.
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Sunday, 8 January 2006 14:11 (eighteen years ago) link