From jon anderson Sent Fri, Aug 6th 1999, 19:07
From jon anderson Sent Fri, Aug 6th 1999, 19:07
hi there-
heard some bad talk about tortoise... to be honest i remember having a
bad reaction to them on my first listen, but really you might want to
give them another chance. i always find that (for pretty much every
tortoise release) it sounds bland on first/careless listen but if you
sit down with it... especially those little spagetti-western guitar
interludes, which are _quite_ beautiful imo (tortoise is almost nothing
without them if you ask me). the newest lp (tnt) let me down at first
(even though i'd already become a tortoise fan), but again i was
surprised when i relistened. there's the one track that "sounds like
autechre" for a spell near the beginning of the track that i'm not real
into, although even it has some moments. in fact tnt has done a
complete turnaround for me and become my fave by them.
btw, "post-rock" does not revolt against everything rock by any means.
it's still rock i'd say, because of the "band format"... tortoise as an
example maintains the old fashioned rock band use of guitar/bass/drums
- and their early tracks had vocals. that's "rock band", not "rock out
dude". (in that sense of "rock", "come to daddy" is more "rock" than
tortoise.)
i seem to remember someone on this list reacting venomously to
"academic" arthistoricalspeak jibbering, but i'll take my chances by
mentioning that "modern", "postmodern", (and i'll throw in
"contemporary") have distinct senses that should not be confused. i'm
only going into this because it's apparant from the posting that some
folks are not aware of some things that probably would be of interest
to them... if you don't care or simply hate this stuff, just delete
this post now (to save yourself some irritation) ...and flame in
private please!
"modern" does not refer to a certain number of years ago from the
present, but to a specific period. (i'm a painter so i don't know about
music as much, but in painting it's generally considered to be
1880-1939, beginning with paul cezanne (proto-cubism).) unlike
"contemporary", which is relative, the word "modern" is absolute.
"modernism", and even more so "postmodernism" are disputed terms with
neither authoritative definition nor entirely agreed-upon time frames,
but here is a good working explanation: modernism involves (1) a
commitment to progressive formal (color, composition, etc) innovation,
(2) belief that this progress took place within a "mainstream" (non
chaotic single thread of artistic development... something we no longer
believe in ;-), and (3) a belief that art can address the problems of
modern living.
postmodernism is a rejection of the notion of the "mainstream" and
"progress" as naive, and a loss of faith in the power of art to
influence the future. there's this idea that in terms of formal
experiment "everything has been done", generally associated with
postmodernism, leaving us to draw from/piece together/juxtapose/make
fun of - things that have "already been done". the DJ is a very
(almost perfect example of a) postmodern artist in that he or she
creates a single personal song using what were seemingly intended to be
"the actual" songs; transforming mass produced art (vinyl) into a track
that may never be heard again.
anyhoo, enough already. someone said they were disappointed with the
new mouse on mars... i was too, but as with tortoise i've learned to
relisten to MoM before deciding. i guess i have faith in them.
and did someone describe freeform as _electro_? i'll have to do a
little recheck...
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postmodern pac-man in german-style despair
np: john cage/sonata xiii for prepared piano
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