Frieze Magazine (future issue for Jan 08) features a back and forth between Ann Powers, chief pop critic for the Los Angeles Times, and Simon Reynolds discussing the past year in music, from feminism to the handcrafted underground.
That’s certainly a more positive angle on the state of (women in) pop. Perhaps what really pains me is an overall dearth of sonic spikiness and strangeness in the mainstream. Alt-rock’s sole living legacy, in chart terms, is emo – so Auto-Tuned and precision-ProTooled it’s like some ghastly, plasticized simulacrum of punk.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Logan Young // Dec 5, 2007 at 3:04 pm
I love the word “simulacrum” – it’s a pleasure to read, even more to say.
2 K // Dec 5, 2007 at 5:29 pm
It’s a pity old Baudrillard could make the Gulf War disappear, but didn’t do anything about emo before departing this mortal coil. le sigh.