I feel *that* strongly about hardly anyone. In general, my reverence is directed toward works themselves more than the artists who created them. I might consider worshiping the golden pedestal on which *Station to Station*, my current favorite album, ought to be placed, but David Bowie is still just the coke-brained clown who recorded it.
If I lack such reverence for the music of LCD Soundsystem, the reason may just be that I haven't given it a fair chance. I just haven't gotten around to it. *Sounds of Silver* isn't on eMusic or in the Princeton library, so I never listened to it, and their self-titled album never quite grabbed me, although I do love "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" (my favorite line: "All the fur-ni-ture...is in the ga-rage.")
My suspicion is that people's (or at least Pitchfork's) intense love for LCD Soundsystem has more to do with James Murphy as a person than they might like to admit. A certain generation of Pitchfork writers (the pushing-40 hipsters) like him because he reminds them of themselves and is cool, which makes them feel cool. So they make him him cooler by praising his music, which in turn makes them cooler, just like insider trading.
At some point I'm planning on arguing pretty much the same thing about why a certain other generation of Pitchfork writers (the pushing- or just past-30 hipsters) have such intense love for Panda Bear.
to me the problem is not with them liking him as a person, it's when pitchfork attempts to serve as an arbiter of quality in pseudo-objective fashion rather than just 'i really like this album'
his voice and intonation is essential to the music, so yeah you are bonding with james murphy personally when you listen and rly like it
i find it interesting how much i recoil from your first graf, it seems almost sociopathic to me
i sometimes go back and forth on whether pitchfork's authoritative tone is written with a certain irony regarding art criticism or not but i really doubt it
for further reading on how self-conscious white men have a tendency to adopt a authoritative pseudo-objective tone when writing about wishy-washy feelings bullshit i direct you to http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/09/21/26254/ and my friend's response, http://equalwrites.org/2010/09/23/being-told-that-you%E2%80%99re-studying-bullshit-does-not-feel-good-more-on-self-identity-studies/
I just listened to "All My Friends" (the 4-1/2-minute video version, at least) and I still like it but don't think it's as good as "Paper Planes." Still, I'd rather put this conversation on hold until I've given LCD Soundsystem a fair chance to blow my mind--right now I'm in no position to judge James Murphy.
I am in a fine position, though, to have this exact same discussion about Panda Bear. I've listened to *Person Pitch* several times, and each time it's bored be half to death. I like Animal Collective a lot, but I think my favorite AC songs are mostly by Avey Tare. Panda Bear is definitely the Paul McCartney of Animal Collective--ooh!
requesting a post on why you don't worship the ground james murphy walks on so that I can disagree with it
ReplyDeletebriefly noted:
ReplyDeleteI feel *that* strongly about hardly anyone. In general, my reverence is directed toward works themselves more than the artists who created them. I might consider worshiping the golden pedestal on which *Station to Station*, my current favorite album, ought to be placed, but David Bowie is still just the coke-brained clown who recorded it.
If I lack such reverence for the music of LCD Soundsystem, the reason may just be that I haven't given it a fair chance. I just haven't gotten around to it. *Sounds of Silver* isn't on eMusic or in the Princeton library, so I never listened to it, and their self-titled album never quite grabbed me, although I do love "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House" (my favorite line: "All the fur-ni-ture...is in the ga-rage.")
My suspicion is that people's (or at least Pitchfork's) intense love for LCD Soundsystem has more to do with James Murphy as a person than they might like to admit. A certain generation of Pitchfork writers (the pushing-40 hipsters) like him because he reminds them of themselves and is cool, which makes them feel cool. So they make him him cooler by praising his music, which in turn makes them cooler, just like insider trading.
At some point I'm planning on arguing pretty much the same thing about why a certain other generation of Pitchfork writers (the pushing- or just past-30 hipsters) have such intense love for Panda Bear.
oh noes people like music they can relate to
ReplyDeleteto me the problem is not with them liking him as a person, it's when pitchfork attempts to serve as an arbiter of quality in pseudo-objective fashion rather than just 'i really like this album'
his voice and intonation is essential to the music, so yeah you are bonding with james murphy personally when you listen and rly like it
i find it interesting how much i recoil from your first graf, it seems almost sociopathic to me
i sometimes go back and forth on whether pitchfork's authoritative tone is written with a certain irony regarding art criticism or not but i really doubt it
ReplyDeletefor further reading on how self-conscious white men have a tendency to adopt a authoritative pseudo-objective tone when writing about wishy-washy feelings bullshit i direct you to http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2010/09/21/26254/ and my friend's response, http://equalwrites.org/2010/09/23/being-told-that-you%E2%80%99re-studying-bullshit-does-not-feel-good-more-on-self-identity-studies/
I just listened to "All My Friends" (the 4-1/2-minute video version, at least) and I still like it but don't think it's as good as "Paper Planes." Still, I'd rather put this conversation on hold until I've given LCD Soundsystem a fair chance to blow my mind--right now I'm in no position to judge James Murphy.
ReplyDeleteI am in a fine position, though, to have this exact same discussion about Panda Bear. I've listened to *Person Pitch* several times, and each time it's bored be half to death. I like Animal Collective a lot, but I think my favorite AC songs are mostly by Avey Tare. Panda Bear is definitely the Paul McCartney of Animal Collective--ooh!
gdi you had to bring up paper planes huh
ReplyDelete