i think he was 'philosophically anti-stalinist' in some respects... but, you know, the same SU that invaded czechoslovakia had been 'de-stalinized' too. it's window-dressing. we all make mistakes, but i sort of feel he's been discredited enough times already – on the philosophical level - not to stay in print.
― history mayne, Monday, 7 September 2009 14:59 (fourteen years ago) link
"we all make mistakes" - tell that to mrs althusser!
― Ward Fowler, Monday, 7 September 2009 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.loopsjournal.com/article.php?id=1&aid=22
subtitled 'or, if this is the future, how come the music sounds so lame?'
because it ISN'T SET IN THE FUTURE YOU CUNT.
― history mayne, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:12 (fourteen years ago) link
i <3 the meco version of that track, i ahve the 12" of a re-edit
― BiG HoOs is the one claim!!! (deej), Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:14 (fourteen years ago) link
ye gods. maybe he turns it around but this is so fucking retarded. even the film weren't set in the future it wouldn't make any sense.
when will heads get over the idea that the synthesizer sounds like "the future"?
― history mayne, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Probably misremembering, but wasn't that music like the Residents or something?
― Peinlich Manoeuvre (NickB), Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:21 (fourteen years ago) link
i would enjoy reading history mayne and everyone else discuss althusser and the pcf on a thread with a more fortunate title!
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Reynolds will look even more of a tit when trad space-jazz supersedes UK funky in the continuum.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Hey, Space isn't the future either!
Last person went to the moon in the seventies!
― Mark G, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:54 (fourteen years ago) link
i actually mean that by the way, someone should start it
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 17 September 2009 09:56 (fourteen years ago) link
LOL
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 17 September 2009 10:15 (fourteen years ago) link
By the way, "radically democratic" always sounds like a pleasant oxymoron.
― Marco Damiani, Thursday, 17 September 2009 10:35 (fourteen years ago) link
the whole 'future/past' thing is irrelevant re Star Wars
the real question remains 'why is music by aliens ALWAYS so shit?'
― unban dictionary (blueski), Thursday, 17 September 2009 11:28 (fourteen years ago) link
wonder if grimey deals with the cylon origins of 'all along the watchtower'. again, not from the future.
― history mayne, Thursday, 17 September 2009 11:31 (fourteen years ago) link
OK, this time I'm angry. Reynold's metaphorically "beards" Joanna Newsome to try and say something (at least 5 years too late) about the beardo revival:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/nov/11/simon-reynolds-notes-noughties-beards
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 11:34 (fourteen years ago) link
This is the Guardian. It's mainstream journalism written for a lay audience. It doesn't have to be bang up to date. In fact, it shouldn't be.
And at least he can spell Newsom.
― anagram, Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:35 (fourteen years ago) link
i think it was for a serious that looks back at the decade
― just sayin, Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:36 (fourteen years ago) link
serious? i meant series
― just sayin, Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:37 (fourteen years ago) link
I think the fact that it's looking over the last decade renders it a moot point really, not that that makes it any less pointless and waffly
xxp
― The Execution Of Garu G (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyway yeah, is he trying to say that Newsom is like a bearded lady in that she is so crazy she could be a circus act (which is retarded), or that she's a woman playing men's music (which is really obviously not the case)? Or something else?
― The Execution Of Garu G (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:43 (fourteen years ago) link
He was really looking in the wrong place if he wanted a bearded lady.
http://www.ondarock.it/images/cover/peaches_8045.jpg
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:43 (fourteen years ago) link
That DOES NOT COMPUTE in Simeybot's universe
― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:45 (fourteen years ago) link
its just a bit of fluff
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:45 (fourteen years ago) link
xp she's freak folk. freak folks have beards. therefore she has a beard.
load of pointless tosh, really (especially as there's no excuse for mentioning m*tt v*lentine, in any context). but nice to see the lovely folks at beard mag get a bit of publicity.
― m the g, Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Looks like a full beard to me
― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, DJ Mencap's second post was more what I was trying to say. Like, what the FUCK is he trying to say, that Newsom (or however you spell her name) is metaphorically bearded.
I mean, yeah, I'm not denying that Beardo is definitely a *thing* of the noughties. But it is by its very definition such a masculine thing. Not to even get into the politics of hair removal for women* - it's just such a weird thing for someone to say about Newsom. Considering she's pretty much the opposite (in music and image) of everything I'd consider "beardy"**.
*I mean, what *is* the feminine equivalent of growing a beard for women? Ceasing to shave her armpits or legs? There's such a negative gender coded response to that, that I don't think that bearded men really face.
**trying to think of a female artist I would consider "beardy" in music or image. Peaches, despite the obvious joke, is clearly not. Hence the added shock value of that album cover.
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:51 (fourteen years ago) link
She's kinda hippyish, is that what he means?
― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:53 (fourteen years ago) link
of course its what he means you bloody nutjobs
― r|t|c, Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:57 (fourteen years ago) link
did you guys read the article or
― just sayin, Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:58 (fourteen years ago) link
I guess... but she's rather too *ethereal* to be properly Beardy. Beardy is far more... earthy. I think Fever Ray would probably be closer to my idea of a Beardy female artist, but she's still too spooky.
I wanted to say, Beardy is the kind of artist you could see chopping wood for their fire. But then again, I don't think many of those beardy indie boys in Brooklyn could chop wood. They just pretend to look like they can.
Wait - Sarabeth Tucek, beardy as fuck. Maybe even Lightning Dust?
x-post YES I READ THE ARTICLE, hence why I thought the description was so utterly weird and off.
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:59 (fourteen years ago) link
do you have anything to comment on the article except as regards the Newsom reference?
― anagram, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Sure, I do. But your attitude seems such that you're going to criticise me no matter what I say, so I don't really feel like taking the time to type it out.
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Joanna Newsom is neo-hippyish, the bearded chaps are neo-hippyish, they are both retro in a late 60s / early 70s way, and this particular type of retro is a hallmark of the noughties. Seems to make sense to me.
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:19 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^ That plus "freak-folk", obv.
― Tim F, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:21 (fourteen years ago) link
xxp not at all, I'm genuinely interested to know. My only point is that one shouldn't expect cutting-edge journalism from the Guardian, least of all its blog pages, which are (yes) lighthearted fluff designed to provoke lighthearted discussion.
― anagram, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:25 (fourteen years ago) link
my comment is that i felt like more of a pansy having grown a beard than when i was without. what masonic boom's blokishly literalist gender codification is missing is that there's often a subtext of feminine sensitivity in earthyness, just as there is an element of masculinity in distanced etheriality.
― r|t|c, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:25 (fourteen years ago) link
ok maybe i wasn't ethereal without a beard, but...
― r|t|c, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:26 (fourteen years ago) link
^ outed as a beardo
― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Interesting point. Only men can grow beards, therefore beard = masculine, and yet the beardo types of the noughties are in fact rather fey.
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:31 (fourteen years ago) link
If he means "freak-folk", say "freak-folk" - if he means "hippie" then say "hippie" - "beardy" has a different resonance (and a very specifically male resonance). In Reynolds-world, nothing ever has just a surface meaning, it's always a signifier for some other point he's trying to reach for. Shoe-horning Lindstrom (and Air, WTF?) in with freak-folk or hippies also seems an odd thing to do, but because, he actually *has* a beard, that's somehow supposed to make more sense?
I know that music and sartorial (and hairstyle) fashions are all very interlinked but if he's trying to describe a "beardy" aesthetic (which seems to be more than just "hippie" or "freakfolk" from the fact he drags Lindstrom and Air in) ... ?
It's like some kind of bizarre set theory. There is the set of Beards and the set of Freakfolk. You can be in the set if you have a beard but are not FF, or you can be in the set if you make FF but do not have a beard... but it's an odd, odd set to draw. But I suppose that's just the nature of Reynolds, so I should take it as given that it will overreach and not make sense.
x-posts, no, there ISN'T a masculinist air to Ethereality. The cult of the Ethereal Girl is almost like this get-out clause for women to participate in the masculine rock arena without getting into any of those nasty, aggressive, weird, outsider/genius things that said rock involves. It's like rock with ALL the masculine stripped out. (But this is something I've been ruminating on for months)
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:32 (fourteen years ago) link
He said "freak-folk" just before the parentheses. it was a joke.
Also Lindstrom is totally beardo, his tunes are on DJ Harvey mixes!!
Also also you're inadvertently onto something w/r/t beardo, freak folk and set theory. The aesthetic impulses that drive the two are very similar at times which is why they overlap so much.
― Tim F, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:34 (fourteen years ago) link
The feyness thing is interesting, though. It's just odd trying to make it reverse.
And that's my point, Tim - Lindstrom is *totally* Beardo, but he's not Freakfolk in the SLIGHTEST.
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Yes but the point of mentioning Lindstrom and Air seemed to be to align them against all the freak-folk as being more redolent of Michael McDonald and soft rock.
― Tim F, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:36 (fourteen years ago) link
reynolds is just using a bit of feminine intuition, try it sometime.
― r|t|c, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:37 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0pnbPobqNg
The great unifier:
http://thesebootsaremadeforstalking.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/crazy-joaquin-phoenix-beard.jpg
― Tim F, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Perhaps there's some subterranean connection between freak-folk and the "bear" subculture
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:43 (fourteen years ago) link
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LTbec9DQoKc/SWqtF1gE0BI/AAAAAAAABXI/NM0FNttQ0TY/s400/200px-Gay_Bear_Mechanic.jpg
"I beg to differ."
― Tim F, Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:46 (fourteen years ago) link
x-post
I thought that was...
http://www.pedestrian.tv/uploads/images/blogs/49adf2b1a96f3/sebastian%20tellier.jpg
...for a minute, in which case we would have our set intersector.
― Persian Pickle (Masonic Boom), Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:47 (fourteen years ago) link
So did I
― I Poxy the Fule (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 November 2009 13:50 (fourteen years ago) link