there's also parallel development where two people
who don't know each other or have even heard of each other
develop project that bear similarities and concepts.
Obviously Bjork was aware of the all vocal experiment
before making this album, she invited Robert Wyatt
and also named checked Meredith Monk. Both artists
that have done much with just vocals. Mingering Mike
being the latest example. I think what's important is
that Bjork drew folks that she sees as her contemporaries
(i.e. Rahzel, that Eskimo throat singer (or is he tuvan?), wyatt,
that japanese guy, a couple choirs) into her work. This is a pop
album because it's not using the constraint of only using voices
as an experiment, but rather as a way to make a rather enjoyable album
that sounds very contemporary and well a lot like Bjork.
It's conceptual conceit comes after aesthetics.
-
a
On Sunday, September 5, 2004, at 03:36 PM, John/Slackonomics wrote:
quoted 38 lines On Sep 5, 2004, at 10:52 AM, Luis-Manuel Garcia wrote:
> On Sep 5, 2004, at 10:52 AM, Luis-Manuel Garcia wrote:
>
>> Yup. I don't mean to poop on kracfive or anything; they may be
>> superior artists in some regards.
>>
>> <soap box>
>>
>> But I did want to argue that we tend to paint ourselves into a corner
>> with these arguments of primacy and novelty. On the one hand, we
>> tend to value artists who came 'first' in a particular style or
>> technique, which would suggest a valuation of history and the past.
>> On the other hand, we tend to prize 'newness' and a typically
>> modernist hostility to the past and anything that has already been
>> done. As a result, we tend to celebrate an artists for 'creating'
>> something new and different, but then we immediately dismiss their
>> style or sound as 'out of bounds' for other artists (or even for the
>> same artist later in life). There's a lot of beautiful and important
>> cultural production that repeats and reuses previous work, and
>> we--who listen to and enjoy music that is often looped, repetitive
>> and made from samples of previous works--should be last to criticize.
>>
>> </soap box>
>
> Also, there is the very real possibility that Bjork created her album
> without any knowledge whatsoever of this other artist. A lot of
> people think that all artists are tied in to some sort of cosmic
> mainframe and are aware of every other album ever existed. Some
> sounds, or genres, or similar artists are similar by mere chance. Not
> every artist is aware of every other release, and even if they heard
> some of these other bands... the influence might be subtle or
> completely unconscious.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org
>
>