tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38395032012-01-27T13:44:43.633-05:00blissblogbotox free zoneSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comBlogger19421100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-92201417535427449182012-01-27T13:37:00.001-05:002012-01-27T13:44:43.643-05:00terrific controlled rant from mnml sggs's PC on "comfort house" (and by implication all music-as-comfort-food* scenarios), inspired by two mixes suffocated by politesse and the feeling of having "heard it all before’":"it could have been mixed 12 years ago and not sounded any different. In fact, if it were mixed 12 years ago, it would be very likely to sound exactly like it does. I've been SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-27563006220232697692012-01-25T12:56:00.002-05:002012-01-25T16:10:03.609-05:00matthew ingram pointed me towards this lotlike it, lots not really similar, but has a similar effect on me as Metronomy -- evocative but (mostly) unplaceablethe upside of atemporalitywhole album stream:SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-23493086418656768922012-01-25T01:29:00.002-05:002012-01-25T01:38:41.719-05:00RIP JonesSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-45842949254913247002012-01-24T14:58:00.001-05:002012-01-24T14:58:54.977-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-56020895008146330402012-01-18T14:01:00.001-05:002012-01-18T14:01:38.421-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-47540270276128405782012-01-16T23:46:00.001-05:002012-01-16T23:49:53.093-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-34634250705366461482012-01-13T11:17:00.005-05:002012-01-13T12:13:41.809-05:00 Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? was a long running BBC children's TV show that, from the early 70s onwards, showed all kinds of pastimes, games, hobbies, projects, and other non-passivities that kids could be doing rather than staying sat in front of the goggle box. It's hard to imagine a commercial TV station going against its own SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-34917444067748578262012-01-12T12:49:00.000-05:002012-01-12T12:50:36.934-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-40464574463656900522012-01-11T22:17:00.001-05:002012-01-11T22:20:20.664-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-82641740119531195772012-01-11T19:20:00.000-05:002012-01-11T19:24:16.439-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-53740981896334302202012-01-10T13:36:00.002-05:002012-01-10T13:46:01.636-05:00at the Los Angeles Review of Books: the podcast of a really enjoyable conversation about retroculture I had with Andy Zax in the summer, with audio-clips expertly woven in by Oliver WangSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-6797801930363781252012-01-10T01:44:00.001-05:002012-01-10T01:46:04.382-05:00bonus bit: at FACT, Matt Woebot's gallery of his fave 70s gatefold sleevesSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-72438554069676312892012-01-09T10:07:00.000-05:002012-01-09T10:08:04.061-05:00Older readers may remember a blog from the early "golden" years of blogging called TWANBOC*. One of its specialties was enormously long posts about particular genres or lineages of music, often listing outstanding records in the area and commenting on them with a uniquely characterful blend of enthusiasm, informativeness, and good humour, and always illustrated with high-quality scans of SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-80932210923920503802012-01-06T14:21:00.003-05:002012-01-06T14:59:50.258-05:00random thoughts on the end-of-year faves * Nearly everything in my fave album list is electronic... but little is electronic in the Electronic Dance Music sense (the little that is, is so in a rather notional way, as with Glass Swords, most of which I find hard to imagine rocking clubfloors, or Maria Minerva, more like a private interior homebody dream/memory of dance than actual functional SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-13549996967519504512012-01-05T18:19:00.002-05:002012-01-05T18:24:16.857-05:00wise and pertinent New Year's Music Resolutions from Maura Johnston at the Village Voicehttp://www.villagevoice.com/2012-01-04/music/new-music-resolutions-for-2012/i would adopt them all myself but the will power is lackingSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-70987835948327244912012-01-05T18:16:00.002-05:002012-01-05T18:18:09.710-05:00"pop music becomes a sort of bourgeois heirloom" - Alex Niven with further thoughts on the disappearing generation gap / parents and kids loving, and making, the exact same kind of musichttp://thefantastichope.blogspot.com/2012/01/pop-band-as-small-family-business.htmlSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-46673304585898945302012-01-05T18:10:00.003-05:002012-01-05T18:15:55.818-05:00this Nevermind-Anniversary-annoyed post from Leaving Earth is a fun argument as to "why techno – and not grunge – ruled the world in 1991, and blasted open the gates to the future"... and lists quite a few records whose existence I'd never suspectedhttp://earthexit.blogspot.com/2011/12/best-of-1991-20-records-to-celebrate-in.htmlSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-35365848740465904232012-01-03T23:16:00.005-05:002012-01-04T01:48:06.749-05:00been thinking recently about the breakdown of the generation gap, of the patricidal impulse as a generator of the New within music / culture.... i mean, what do you do, if you're a young person growing into music and thinking about making some yourself, if your parents are... cool? what if they have really good, hip, broadminded / edgy taste in music? makes no sense to reject all that great old SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-1610116133326999882012-01-02T14:00:00.001-05:002012-01-02T14:02:52.621-05:00Neil Kulkarni ends his New Nineties series withan epic rant of an epilogue(i sensed from the off though that it would end with a list of UK hip hop--can a leopard change its spots? not likely!)but wait, there's more - Neil's started a blog, F.U.N.K., have a guess what that stands forSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-1232492464125096432011-12-31T00:24:00.003-05:002011-12-31T00:31:00.409-05:00this tune, which i heard for the first time only the other day, sums up pop music in 2011the king of crunk hooks up with the clown princes of party-rockingresult: a track that brings out the latent gabber i always heard in crunkdamn near just-drums and that bugle-like sax parp calling the assembled to attentionLil Jon mad-barking like a drill sergeant of reckless getting-wrecked-nessan anthem of SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-56382862782017241792011-12-30T12:24:00.003-05:002011-12-31T00:24:35.532-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-52263273521351503562011-12-25T14:34:00.003-05:002011-12-25T14:55:33.158-05:00christmas rapping canine rapper, made by TasminSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-49157916113609787392011-12-25T12:44:00.003-05:002011-12-25T14:53:04.707-05:00RIP Sean BonniwellSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-54772649384714316392011-12-22T12:59:00.005-05:002011-12-22T20:15:07.974-05:00one of my earliest epiphanies with pop involved the disjuncture between and i could not get my child-head around the fact that the Beatles could contradict themselves between songstalking of "Money", recently remembered that another song that made an impression on me as a child was this i loved the cash-clinky sound effects, the clockwork-treadmill groove, and the lyric's bleakness /SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-25356763020199270202011-12-22T12:51:00.007-05:002011-12-23T13:28:19.512-05:00Nineties and NewnessKulkarni continues his New Nineties series at Quietus with a paean to Pram, perpetrators (sez Neil) of the Best Album of that decadein the interview part, Pram's Matt Eaton says this:"The whole ethic of the band, though it was unwritten and rarely spoken, was to create new music, so if a piece had a similarity/reminded someone of another work it was generally rejected. The SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-60111520443859467342011-12-21T13:00:00.008-05:002012-01-10T16:56:13.877-05:0011 for ‘11Metronomy, The English Riviera Rustie, Glass Swords Oneohtrix Point Never, ReplicaJames Ferraro, Far Side Virtual Woebot, Chunks Maria Minerva, Tallinn At Dawn Ekoplekz, Intrusive Incidentalz Vol 1KWJAZ, s/t The Horrorist, Joyless PleasureUrsula Bogner, Sonne = Black BoxMoon Wiring Club, Clutch It Like A Gonk the next 11Kuedo, Severant Jon Brooks, Music for Thomas CarnackiRangers, Pan SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-5741827464209527982011-12-21T13:00:00.001-05:002011-12-21T13:00:34.376-05:00a selection of favesframeborder="0" allowfullscreen>SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-18867091656242902782011-12-21T12:54:00.005-05:002011-12-21T13:07:37.224-05:00Steven Hyden of A.V. Club argues it was a year profuse with Good Albums but devoid of Important Albumshere's something I wrote a couple of years back about Importance as an increasingly less relevant criteria for evaluation, or a decreasingly frequent occurrence, or... either way, on the way out... an old-fashioned thing to concern yourself withSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-10252538177475649252011-12-20T23:02:00.002-05:002011-12-20T23:22:57.056-05:00porpoises into the past, lambs casino, teeheetrenchant (yet also cloudy) thoughts on EOY lists and cool, from mnml sggsSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-4270571413289791392011-12-20T22:50:00.002-05:002011-12-20T22:55:38.377-05:00couple of good personal end-of-year faves:scott seward'salex niven'smine'll be along in a secSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-78278840744425431762011-12-20T00:18:00.003-05:002011-12-20T00:38:58.535-05:00... talking of stocking-fillers, this isn't out officially until next year but, in that peculiar publishing-world jumping-the-gun way, can already be found in some UK book stores such as Waterstones: the B-format edition of Retromania, more economically-priced and portable than the original heavy-paper-stock quasi-hardback edition (now sold out). It comes with a new nifty bas-relief cover and is SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-57898701920245621882011-12-19T14:41:00.005-05:002011-12-19T15:20:48.952-05:00Gonk's Coming /Clonk's Coming (Again)a long crammed-with-tracks mix by Moon Wiring Club for FACTlike Advent calendars, Moon Wiring Club albums come around every year around this time of year... the new one Clutch It Like A Gonk is dependably splendid while also working in a whole bunch of fresh tricks and shapesan ideal stocking stufferas is this pretty package RetroActivity: basically the Best SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-91257629818415394702011-12-18T22:35:00.001-05:002011-12-18T22:35:24.742-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-69165611304200433992011-12-16T11:26:00.002-05:002011-12-16T11:37:46.510-05:00Must cosign Tom Ewing's mild amazement at this piece that argues for Donna Summer's worthiness for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall Fame but doesn't even mention the world-historical recording "I Feel Love" Lots that was news to me in the piece, but the general gist - the idea of Donna-as-rocker; like some girl in a Stones song come to defiant life, or a female Rick James - actually seemed SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-76757787212301203412011-12-15T13:22:00.004-05:002011-12-15T13:30:33.091-05:00amen to that superb archaeology of the most famous break in jungle by Tom Nuttall for The Economist (although in Economist style he's not given a byline)at the Economist blog T.N. has further thoughts on classic instances of Amentalism + soundclips here's my vote for the mightiest of the mighty - Renegade, a/k/a Ray Keith, "Terrorist" - an amen armyimmortal, invincibleSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-35700030068806911182011-12-14T14:05:00.002-05:002011-12-14T14:07:21.563-05:00excellent piece by Andy Battalgia comparing James Ferraro and the video artist Ryan TrecartinSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-74082211210754140462011-12-14T14:03:00.003-05:002011-12-14T14:04:55.716-05:00little thing on my year in music for The Thoughtfox, the Faber & Faber blogmore extensive inventory of the year's faves to be posted here shortlySIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-49210307736002848452011-12-08T23:44:00.006-05:002011-12-09T00:54:25.952-05:00there's exoticism and then there's exoticaas in the Polynesia and Oceania allusions of Dolphins Into the FutureLieven Martens has been putting out a steady stream of releases since Music of Beliefmostly in the "nature sounds tapes" / ethnological field recording vein all good audio-idyll background listening(the track "The Mirning Heart" is dedicated to the Mirning, an indigenous tribe from SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-66130832157977074132011-12-08T16:17:00.002-05:002011-12-08T16:18:13.053-05:00Retro-XmasSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-51683323439064076162011-12-08T16:16:00.003-05:002011-12-08T16:19:41.384-05:00Retro-Xeno"But we’d like to position Paradise of Bachelors as more than a reissue label—introspective, rather than retrospective, and opposed to the fetishized nostalgia peddled by lesser labels... We’re interested in releasing music, historical or futuristic or otherwise, with contemporary relevance and resonance—the music’s rarity matters far less than strong curatorial and aesthetic coherenceSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-90782132660050343782011-12-07T17:31:00.002-05:002011-12-07T17:34:22.971-05:00RIP Dobie Grayone of the greatest songs about dancing everthe mod manifestoSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-74275628205870844132011-12-06T14:24:00.003-05:002011-12-06T15:00:57.834-05:00looking-back-at-2011 piece by me on Digital Maximalism - Rustie, James Ferraro, Grimes and others - for Pitchfork slike Terror Danjah turned into a bouncy castlemore and more I think James Ferraro is our Jeff KoonsGrimes against Natureyer a dirrty wee radge Russ - a dirrrty dirrty wee radgeSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-5397101469598375442011-12-05T23:25:00.002-05:002011-12-05T23:28:29.575-05:00happy haunting groundsPrince Rama would have been a good one to discuss in the context of xenomaniapost-everything Fifth Worldism in full effectv.interesting interview with them at Altered Zones (RIP Altered Zones, sorry to see that shut down)their concept of "ghost modernism" sounds a bit hauntological"The core concept of now age is we're living in “ghost-modernism.” It's not really like SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-33325340578013240582011-12-05T14:04:00.003-05:002011-12-05T14:29:45.700-05:00cos everybody hates a touristIt's Her Factory has some thoughts on xenomaniaOrientalism was at the back of my mindThe thing about Orientalism/xenomania/tourism, there's plenty to critique about it for sure, but it's better than West-is-best-chauvinism/xenophobia/insularity, I'd have thought, on balance, at the end of the day... talking of Orientalism: check out this dude Onra and his ChinoiseriesSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-30423424596159257582011-12-02T13:52:00.005-05:002011-12-02T14:31:36.254-05:00I was shocked and saddened to learn about the death of David Sanjek a few days ago. I didn't know David well but I really enjoyed chatting with him at EMP conferences over the years. We were on the same panel at the most recent EMP in Los Angeles early this year and he delivered a brilliant talk addressing the need for scholars and historians to pay more attention to the business side of music, SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-91490629535601187352011-11-30T13:01:00.002-05:002011-11-30T13:17:24.134-05:00a piece by me on xenomania -- the new exoticism/loving the alien, a.k.a net-enabled music tourismit's at MTVIgggy.com (part of MTV World)SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-86081259991094768092011-11-29T10:57:00.000-05:002011-11-29T10:58:14.364-05:00not forgetting this musicalplus The Secret Life of Arnold BaxplusKen's video for "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" by Pandora's Box, Jim Steinman's post-Meatloaf project(which is weird because when I reviewed that LP I compared Jim to Ken, and I'm sure I never saw or even knew about the video) oh yes and this, Russell's film about Isadora Duncanreminding me of thisoh, and Ken done all these too:SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-55195074703307141892011-11-28T11:28:00.007-05:002011-11-28T21:37:34.169-05:00RIP Ken RussellKen's wacky doc In Search of the English Folk Song, so good i kept it on our tivo-equivalent for about four years, then when the cable box went on the blink and it disappeared, just had to buy the DVDfirst time i watched Tommy, this scene was what prompted me to turn it off. but i've come to appreciate the film subsequentlyare there any other film directors who've been quite as SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-37671870809471392132011-11-28T11:25:00.002-05:002011-11-28T11:28:05.578-05:00regular as clockwork, come november/december each and every year, there's new Moon Wiring Club product in the shoppesthe video for the first single off Clutch it Like a Gonk promises some new departures SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-92108465581293407822011-11-28T00:08:00.007-05:002011-11-28T00:44:29.488-05:00when pop rockedsuper graunchy guitar sound therenow this here Tommy James and Shondells tune doesn't get rockin' until about half-way through when a fab wah-wah solo takes off, that then becomes a fab wah-wah / fuzztone gtr duet. hang on for the weird-wobbly vocal science drop-out effect near the endthis doesn't rock, much, at all, but i always lump it together with "spirit in the sky" for some SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-48916329266399500962011-11-28T00:05:00.002-05:002011-11-28T00:06:07.628-05:00could almost believe whoever produced this had been listening to footworkSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-33661545901812446602011-11-16T23:15:00.001-05:002011-11-16T23:15:54.006-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-79137015729636201302011-11-15T16:48:00.004-05:002011-11-16T12:52:28.650-05:00lotsa good stuff to readjames parker on bangs + works vol 2leaving earth blog on reasons to be cheerful in this year's electronic musicreed scott reid on oneohtrix point never's replicadaniel lopatin on his favorite 13 albumsa feast of ferraro!* interviewed by Elle (!)* in altered zones* in Dummy Magazine (in part 2 of this 90s-echoes/hypnagogia-moves-nearer-the-present piece by adam harper)SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-36477855359854055832011-11-08T13:15:00.001-05:002011-11-08T13:15:41.821-05:00ardchive feverSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-75064167560325397672011-11-08T01:49:00.003-05:002011-11-08T02:04:42.169-05:00303 at #3now is that the highest in Billboard that Roland 303 acid bass has ever gotten?actually no: it's burbling away in this US Number 1 hit from 11 years ago, just not quite as IN YER FACElySIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-60130725704345578952011-11-06T23:22:00.000-05:002011-11-06T23:23:09.926-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-47127781380936205942011-11-06T23:20:00.000-05:002011-11-06T23:22:37.874-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-44849387407789430402011-11-06T23:19:00.000-05:002011-11-06T23:20:37.422-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-78608660538605711092011-11-06T23:16:00.000-05:002011-11-06T23:19:41.855-05:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-63113897731652158212011-10-31T12:07:00.001-04:002011-10-31T12:07:24.867-04:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-74885500185534266142011-10-30T14:09:00.003-04:002011-10-30T14:36:46.938-04:00some call it hipster house, but John Calvert deserves some kind ofaward /reward for this coinage:chill-ravejust let that roll around your palate for a bithere's his piece on chill-ravers Stay +^^^^^^^^^^^re. hip(ster)house, fellow who goes as RSR informs:"i'm hearing the name 'homeless house' used by practitioners and scenesters, i.e. geneva jacuzzi and xorar. apparently a hat-tip to jus-ed who SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-85483718535593028202011-10-28T16:23:00.005-04:002011-10-28T16:38:41.443-04:00brostep versus blubstepbrostep taking overthey shoulda used this except it's too pensive and sombre and dark-clouds-a-gatheringtoo proto-blubstepthe hangover to brostep's bingethe comedown after the rush(here's the full version of the brostep tune in the advert)SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-57991844545386348122011-10-18T23:40:00.007-04:002011-10-18T23:47:06.741-04:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-18054407443239249062011-10-18T23:40:00.004-04:002011-10-18T23:42:19.316-04:00pt 2 of timothy gabriele's trilogy on industrial music's reverberations thru 90s / 00s pop + semipop + unpopSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-53322345435669966082011-10-18T12:54:00.002-04:002011-10-18T23:46:45.731-04:00no please god noooooooo let it not happen let it not happen let it not happenAdele: "In terms of singing on a track alongside someone, I'd love to collaborate with Mumford and Sons because Marcus Mumford's voice goes straight through me. It reminds me of the first time that I heard Etta James and how that made me feel.SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-84536059569324451212011-10-18T12:03:00.004-04:002011-10-19T20:19:39.949-04:00hipster house (slight return)Where's Yr Child is this LA-based irregular club / DJ collective involving Sun Araw's Cameron Stallones, ex of the NNF family. The name is a nod to this acid house classic. And then there's this image which bestrides the website--an all-black crowd of dancers with hands raised ecstatically: I grabbed that image off of the WYC website and the jpeg has the title "SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-26884252918425482532011-10-15T13:44:00.003-04:002011-10-15T13:58:02.597-04:00ghosts and zombiesas zombie versions of Footloose and John Carpenter's The Thing battle for #1 box office in America this weekend, Los Angeles Times's Patrick Goldstein asks: "Is Hollywood's Mania For Remakes Spinning Out of Control?" mind you The Thing was itself a sort-of-remake of a Howard Hawkes movie already, right? And Halloween has a pomo streak running through it, references to classic SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-74647910923501750402011-10-14T13:00:00.005-04:002011-10-14T16:50:36.012-04:00HOUSE, ARRESTEDan odd upshot of the emergence of "hipster house" is that there are now several currents of house-homage /retro-house running concurrently * hipster house (100% silk *, miracles club et al)* post-dubstep producers dabbling in early 90s vibes* german (and elsewhere) producers operating in that zone between mnml and deep house purism (into which category you could shove for SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-78638409971818363252011-10-13T00:28:00.003-04:002011-10-13T00:41:53.380-04:00sentences from a tribute to The Strokes’s debut as bestest /decade-defining-est album of last ten years“style over substance, unoriginality, excessive hype”“the most damning early criticism about the Strokes was that they looked and sounded shockingly derivative”“everything about the Strokes seemed like it was lifted from ’60s and ’70s garage rock”“the entire song “The Modern Age” was a Velvet SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-71140880957706181632011-10-11T14:14:00.003-04:002011-10-11T16:05:18.694-04:00QUITE CONTRARY"the word 'essential' really shouldn't belong in pop" -- Tom Ewing on never listening to Nevermind ... until nowI recall Ian Penman declaring--in print and in conversation--that he'd never heard Never Mind the Bollocks or the first Clash album. It wasn't a confession, it was a boast. Later the claim was revised to never having listened to either record “all the way through”. But theSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-14097534734231107852011-10-11T13:40:00.001-04:002011-10-11T13:42:41.735-04:00Kevin Pearce draws my attention to his own extensive tracking of the internationalisation of discoand here's another one that Geeta did specifically on Indian discoSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-7169075875221488372011-10-10T15:52:00.003-04:002011-10-10T16:20:36.753-04:00RIP David Bedfordan interview with David BedfordSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-90067412164225937192011-10-09T22:29:00.004-04:002011-10-09T22:37:41.405-04:00it's remarkable how little Steve Jobs impinged directly on my lifei own just one of his products, and hardly ever use itindirectly, of course, he's impinged hugely on the world I inhabitin so far as the 2000s saw a revolution in listening habitsbut no revolution in music per se(with the two things not unconnected)here's Eric Harvey in Pitchfork assessing the Jobs legacythese two sentences caught SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-17014732898410550442011-10-09T22:27:00.000-04:002011-10-09T22:28:24.495-04:00while i was away, missed this guestblog by Geeta c/o Bruces/BeyondtheBeyond/Wired.com, first in a series tracking the international impact of discohttp://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/09/musica-globalista-geeta-dayal-on-disco-part-1/SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-69215955137349223062011-10-09T22:19:00.000-04:002011-10-09T22:20:07.191-04:00recreativity, part 297(via mark richardson)SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-51233028534125172942011-10-08T12:28:00.004-04:002011-10-08T12:37:03.151-04:00New York Times piece by me on electronica feminine a/k/a the new synth women - Laurel Halo, Maria Minerva, Stella OM Source, Sleep ∞ Over, Grimes(and no, it's not a blunder or a typo - NYT's template couldn't work with the infinity symbol in Sleep ∞ Over) also: a review I did of Laurel Halo's releases earlier this yearSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-25783365032273667542011-10-08T12:28:00.001-04:002011-10-08T12:28:09.640-04:00Tim Finney on a really good mix-CD what i most enjoy about it:the becoming-rococo of vocal sciencewhat i find most interesting/indicative of it:the shift from FWD>> logic to a tagliatelle-tangle of time-strands, writhing through-lines transecting the last 14 years of ukdanceSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-49912620837681518702011-10-07T18:20:00.002-04:002011-10-07T18:23:35.743-04:00dude's got a Morton Feldman tattoocool avantclassical mix there from Daniel of Ital/Sex Worker/Mi Ami thinking about ink, it struck me recently (perusing a tattoo-culture periodical at the magazine store--they fascinate me, the same way that bodybuilding mags and fashion mags fascinate: the extreme lengths people go to in pursuit of an ideal of beauty... extremes of suffering and discomfort)that SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-52010229507631520312011-10-07T10:52:00.002-04:002011-10-07T10:59:45.556-04:00a work aesthetic / the machineries of joyTimothy Gabriele points me to some recent pieces of his that address the legacy of industrial / Cold Wave / Electronic Body Wave / Minimal Synth and its reactivation in the last few yearshttp://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/143901-technos-labor-force-rocks-betrayal/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/124399-SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-46413966052811028492011-10-06T12:57:00.004-04:002011-10-07T18:28:07.780-04:00... into ninetiesat Quietus Neil Kulkarni launches "A New Nineties", a series of essays about early UK post-rock aka the Lost Generation with an interview with the reactivated Maininteresting to (re)learn that before Robert Hampson picked up a wah-wah and started Loop he was himself a late-postpunker into stuff like On U and Skidoo... and that Main was really a sort of reversion to type after SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-44937480694405323422011-10-05T21:37:00.002-04:002011-10-05T21:44:07.121-04:00eighties...the eighties is proving to be to this-time (i.e. 2000s + 2010/2011) what the sixties was to the actual eighties, i.e. near-inexhaustible resource. still a fair few sub-zones of the decade unexplored and unexploitedin the last year or so genre-mining/reactivation-invocation moved decisively into goth / industrial / EBM / Cold Wavee.g. manifesto (masquerading as Resident Advisor SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-85150876480148415222011-10-05T13:53:00.002-04:002011-10-05T13:56:51.469-04:00extensive Retrochat with The Daily Swarm's Matt Diehl about everything from Wilko Johnson to Ke$haSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-28453474929166264912011-10-02T22:19:00.001-04:002011-10-02T22:23:56.888-04:00SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-26702456447977630772011-09-26T01:58:00.003-04:002011-09-26T02:37:10.858-04:00quick reminder about this week's West Coast Retromania tour: PORTLAND - Monday 26/9 - 7:30 PM - POWELL'S BOOKS - 1005 W. Burnside - dialogue with Douglas Wolk SEATTLE - Tuesday 27/9 - 7:00 PM - THE GROTTO - 2322 Second Ave - dialogue with Luke Burbank BERKELEY - Wednesday 28/9 - 7:30 PM - PEGASUS BOOKS - 2349 Shattuck Ave - talk/Q&ASAN FRANCISCO - Thursday 29/9 - 7:30 PM - BOOKSMITH - 1644 HaightSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-7807689970945911702011-09-25T20:19:00.001-04:002011-09-25T20:19:36.566-04:00recreativity (part 237)SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-26978547394744036482011-09-25T20:13:00.002-04:002011-09-25T20:19:26.442-04:00recreativity (part 236)SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-5470932881008284852011-09-12T15:52:00.003-04:002011-09-12T18:44:14.734-04:00RETROMANIA ITALY TOUR / RETROMANIA WEST COAST US TOUR1/ ITALY TOUR, mid-SeptemberPISTOIA / 18th September Arcana Puccini festival (September 11th – 18th) organised by NevrosiSunday 18th September - 10.30 amHall of Saint Dominic Friary, Pistoia (piazza San Domenico, 1)QUESTION TIMENevrosi and John Vignola meet Simon ReynoldsA “question time” is held for music critics and practitioners, who must SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-9883421097638883412011-09-11T19:34:00.001-04:002011-09-11T19:38:00.194-04:00Sacre bleu!Sacri lege!SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-41444204894702771552011-09-10T23:01:00.000-04:002011-09-10T23:02:24.606-04:00WoT a bandSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-66700388897260884462011-09-09T12:07:00.002-04:002011-09-09T12:24:55.331-04:00Music-criticism geeks take heed: I have an extended review in the new issue of Bookforum contrasting the life-projects of Greil Marcus and Chuck Eddy, via their new tomes The Doors and Rock and Roll Always Forgets.^^^^^^^^^^Reading The Doors, his best in a while, I was struck by how faithful Marcus stays to the way the band’s records impacted him as a first-time, at-the-time listener: blown SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-5103063750731784932011-09-08T16:19:00.001-04:002011-09-08T16:21:31.944-04:00the wife meets Buffy!SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-2460987871368862952011-09-08T12:36:00.004-04:002011-09-08T16:22:11.472-04:00EPICUS DOOMICUS METALLICUSAndrew Parker drops more science on the subject of Doom Metal....Apparently there's seven sub-flavours of Doom listed in a Terrorizer special on the Best 40 Doom Albums ever. True Doom, Doom/Death, Gothic Doom, Funereal Doom,Drone Doom, Stoner, SludgeI wonder what exactly is it that makes Funereal Doom so much more funereal than regular doomy Doom? Or the other sorts. SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-56357058670994172312011-09-07T14:31:00.004-04:002011-09-08T12:02:20.264-04:00superb in-depth Conrad Schnitzler tribute + mini-biography by Geeta Dayal for FriezeSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-27193969633476311372011-09-07T13:36:00.005-04:002011-09-07T14:21:18.168-04:00in "Here Comes Everything" I speculate that hyperstasis/Net-induced post-everything omnivorousness might well be affecting metal like it's affecting dance music like it's affecting modern classical like it's affecting ___ ..."speculate" because I haven't been paying much attention to metal since the last time i paid attention to metalbut Andrew Parker says the intuition is sound judging by these SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-25103366747907859912011-09-03T00:16:00.002-04:002011-09-03T00:23:44.675-04:00"Here Comes Everything"--the last of this summer's guest-blogs at Bruce Sterling's Beyond the Beyond @ Wired uses a recent article on nu-school modern composers in NYC as a launchpad for examining the challenges of post-Internet musicking SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-23872674876392325052011-08-31T14:40:00.003-04:002011-08-31T20:21:21.560-04:00I keep getting these emails from Amazon.co.uk
Hello SCW Reynolds, we have recommendations for you
Hello SCW Reynolds,
Are you looking for something in our Music, Stage & Screen Books store? If so, you might be interested in these items.
Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past
by Simon Reynolds
RRP: £17.99
Price: £9.00
You Save: £8.99 (50%)
Rip it Up and Start Again: SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-49078392048391474562011-08-31T13:18:00.002-04:002011-08-31T13:50:01.487-04:00"The Rise of Dress-up and the Fall of Pop" (another take on the VMA's from Nitsuh Abebe)
some other good reads:
compression still ruining music (Nick Southall's Quietus update-for-2011 of his celebrated Stylus loudness wars piece
"internet voids" (Joshua @ .. As Though the Shame Would Outlive Him)
genremania (Michaelangelo Matos for the Guardian on where all those damn names came from)
"SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-84778157967103525652011-08-30T23:46:00.003-04:002011-08-30T23:49:29.314-04:00my latest guest-blog for Bruce Sterling's Beyond the Beyond @ Wired is about the retro-fiesta that was this year's Video Music Awards SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-22260363799880291962011-08-30T23:45:00.001-04:002011-08-31T00:17:38.118-04:00
a choir of Michael McDonald ketamine elves
^^^^^^
one of the questions not addressed in Retromania is the possibility of music that is innovative but is also repugnant, or silly.... there might be any number of paths "forward", in fact, but if most of them are intolerable in some way or other, perhaps regular folks can be forgiven for sticking with the dependably pleasurable, the time-testedSIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3839503.post-1928993823574903772011-08-29T12:47:00.004-04:002011-08-29T13:17:53.051-04:00No doubt the Weighty Theme laden Let England Shake is set to sweep the Mercury but from this year's nominees my pick would be this lot
Pound for pound Metronomy's The English Riviera beats PJ's effort for melodic invention (plus it's not encumbered by a strained Great War allegory presented as contemporary-political-comment)
I don't think I've ever had melody-induced insomnia SIMON REYNOLDShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01282478701882900354noreply@blogger.com