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From:
John/Slackonomics
To:
Date:
Sun, 5 Sep 2004 14:36:32 -0500
Subject:
Re: [idm] Bjork's new album (Medulla)
Msg-Id:
<E41DB303-FF72-11D8-8457-000502B18FAA@slackonomics.com>
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<A36165A4-FF53-11D8-9400-003065DD8B18@uchicago.edu>
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idm.0409.gz
On Sep 5, 2004, at 10:52 AM, Luis-Manuel Garcia wrote:
quoted 20 lines Yup. I don't mean to poop on kracfive or anything; they may be> 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