As you may have noticed, things have been a little slow around these parts. As it happens, I am in fact shutting down this old blog and starting another with its very own domain name. It will be launching February 2. Watch this space.
In the meantime, though, I thought I might offer a clap clap best-of. Enjoy.
- There was the whole
Blueberry Boat series, probably this blog's biggest achievement.
This is a good summary post.
- I
broke down the three levels of pop, probably too briefly. I've done a lot more thinking about this and a considerably longer version of this model should come out at some point.
- A
very close reading of MIA's "POP," one of the best things I've written.
-
Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" as a relationship you're having.
-
Mutual Appreciation, fictional memoirs, realism, and
the cultural hegemony of the tragic mode. (Note: nowhere near as bad as it sounds!)
- An analysis
of a New Pornographers song, sort of the basis for the Blueberry Boat analysis.
- An
in-depth analysis of a Billy Joel picture.
-
Going to Coney Island with a 9-year-old seeing the ocean for the first time.
- I saw
a crazy-ass Courtney Love concert and did
an extensive analysis of the picture of some guy sucking her boob outside Wendy's.
-
Home recording: it is awesome.
- A
response to Steven Berlin Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You.
-
Things you should know about music critics.
-
Reasons not to like music--something we don't talk about enough.
-
Bill Clinton and others at the Apollo.
-
LCD Soundsystem's "Yeah" and
lyrical analysis v. musical analysis.
- The romanticized aesthetic of
art-under-repression.
-
Borat as a comic model for the 2006 midterm elections.
- The
horror of Love Monkey.
- My
fake application for the Rolling Stone reality show.
- A
discussion of Rock Star: Supernova and the new class of "rock people."
-
A fairly nasty review of Liz Phair's
Somebody's Miracle.
-
Freak-folk and the notion of community in music.
-
Why we have payola.
-
Fiction writers writing about music v. writers writing about music.
-
Five books--a survey that turns all serious.
-
Sex advice from a music critic. (Warning: kinda gross.)
- The
use of Shania Twain in
I Heart Huckabees.
-
How to produce a (good) Tori Amos album.
-
Kimya Dawson's "Loose Lips".
-
Henry Darger and outsider artists as pop artists.
-
MIA and Diplo's Piracy Funds Terrorism.
-
A response to "The Persuaders," i.e. fear-mongering about advertising.
-
The Cross-Manhattan Expressway.
-
Playing (inadvertently) at a jambands festival in Scarsdale.
- A
Prince concert.
- If music
had a league commish.
- Me
on my own writing.
- A
historical view of American Idol and William Hung.
-
More Courtney.
- Pop/rock's
debt to art music.
- Nirvana:
not sad.
-
Genre confluence.
- The
Scorpions index.
-
Music and work. (And Nirvana and MBV.)
- An
artistic bill of rights: the right to irony, etc.
- The
dangers of peer critique in early art.
-
New York when it has just gotten warm.
-
Apolitical political comedy.
-
Hole's "Awful." (From old Fluxblog.)
-
Strong Bad Sings: a good album.
-
"Sweet Dreams My LA Ex": a good song.
-
Evanesence: a good band. Sorta.
- "
Experimental pop," yikes. This is not what
The Unicorns are.
- Mellencamp's
"Pink Houses."- Outkast's "
The Rooster."
- A
defense of Chuck.
- Bangs:
kind of a jackass.
- The
Starlight Mints' "Submarine #3."
- Music as
actual language poetry.
- Culture and politics:
different.
More later. Also, if anyone can find that post where I talk about Courtney Love outside Wendy's, I'd be grateful.
UPDATE: Aha, found it! See above.
posted by Mike B. at 7:08 PM
1 comments
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