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From:
i
To:
Philip Sherburne , 'idm@hyperreal.org'
Cc:
'apiontek@yahoo.com'
Date:
Thu, 19 Jul 2001 11:51:03 -0700 (PDT)
Subject:
Re: [idm] reviewing the reviewers
Msg-Id:
<20010719185103.71069.qmail@web10004.mail.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To:
<8EF2E9ED35FFD411BACA00508BCF57C20353D488@sagan.askjeeves.com>
Mbox:
idm.0107.gz
Well said Philip! and I'll have more comments for you, once I struggle through your xx,0000 word piece on "microhouse".... ;) -i --- Philip Sherburne <psherburne@jeevessolutions.com> wrote:
quoted 44 lines Regardless of all that, in an age where I can at least> > >Regardless of all that, in an age where I can at least > >try to sample the music before I buy it (MP3s, legit > >RealAudio, whatever), reviewers are just not that > >important to me at all. Sorry. > > See, this kind of attitude -- and I'm not coming after you, Adam -- > indicates a real problem with the market orientation of "the music industry" > and listeners' relationship with it. Maybe it's just my background in > academia (dropped out of grad school, which makes me a failed academic, > rather than failed rock star or novelist!), but I believe that good music > criticism should be precisely that, a critical analysis that attempts to say > something about what the music *does*, not just who it sounds like and > whether or not it's worth buying. Now, obviously, that's a lot easier to > accomplish when you've got 500+ words and a publication that's open to that > philosophy, as opposed to a 75 word blurb. But I think that our culture > suffers in general from this problem -- we've given up making meaning on our > own, and have become simply consumers. Listen to most people talk about the > movies they've seen -- reaction almost invariably comes down to "I liked it" > or "I didn't like it," not, "That was interesting because A, B, and C, and > while I felt that D was a bit of a hackneyed point and the director could > have handled E in a more original way..." etc. > > Matthew Herbert has described his last album as being about the "failed > relationships" that define our culture -- he typically discusses the > relationship between consumers and corporations, or between citizens & > people in power. But I'm beginning to see the way that the relationship > between a *consumer* of a cultural product (record, movie, etc.) and its > producer (whether artist or record company) is a failed relationship in the > same way. Because the product fails to become the catalyst for engagement or > further creativity; it's just another product. > > Cheers (or not) > Philip > > > > > > > > > >
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