Very clever name, trying to bring some serious art activity to Madison. Congrats.
http://www.theartdeptsite.com
2.28.2007
Art Department
Very clever name, trying to bring some serious art activity to Madison. Congrats.
http://www.theartdeptsite.com
2.10.2007
Drugs are no longer cool
Another long hiatus interupted....
This article from the Guardian made my skin crawl, not to mention being about eighteen months behind on hitching a ride on the Dash Snow bandwagon. Snow and company have become the cool names to drop at your next name-dropping party, in spite of the fact that all they are known for is being the most fucked up, coke-paranoid ones wherever they go. Taking drugs to be cool stopped being effective in seventh grade. Ariel Levy, the only ones who are still enamored by these cliches-manifested, brats are the kids who weren't popular in grammar school who grew up to diarrhea out anecdotal lifestyle pieces about rich kids snapping Polaroids. When will the English learn? Pete Doherty still newsworthy too guys? McGinley might take some nice shots of naked, pale hipsters who spend their trust funds on mushrooms, but it is his voyuerism that makes the work interesting, not his participation. Look it's the funny kid with the camera in the corner who watches us do silly things. The Kids Are Alright guarantees that I will never enter the Whitney again.
This article from the Guardian made my skin crawl, not to mention being about eighteen months behind on hitching a ride on the Dash Snow bandwagon. Snow and company have become the cool names to drop at your next name-dropping party, in spite of the fact that all they are known for is being the most fucked up, coke-paranoid ones wherever they go. Taking drugs to be cool stopped being effective in seventh grade. Ariel Levy, the only ones who are still enamored by these cliches-manifested, brats are the kids who weren't popular in grammar school who grew up to diarrhea out anecdotal lifestyle pieces about rich kids snapping Polaroids. When will the English learn? Pete Doherty still newsworthy too guys? McGinley might take some nice shots of naked, pale hipsters who spend their trust funds on mushrooms, but it is his voyuerism that makes the work interesting, not his participation. Look it's the funny kid with the camera in the corner who watches us do silly things. The Kids Are Alright guarantees that I will never enter the Whitney again.
12.06.2006
Thinking About Art
This blog from Richmond aritst JT Kirkland is a very insightful look into the D.C. Metro area scene. Kirkland's fingerprint is all over the reviews and musings, but what is most interesting is his lack of "art schooling", important enought to come up often in discussions of his body of work. His thoughts are not revolutionary, but heartfelt with a sense of Gardener's Art History.
As for his work(all jugdements made on Web viewings), it is terribly boring at its worst, but at its best is really quite pretty. The pieces that function most succesfully are those that succeed in engaging with the industrial/manufactured aesthetic by way of signmaking and flags. I see no link to Minimalism as some have suggested(definately no Puryear here either), more Studio Case Furniture. Perhaps in person the materiality of the pieces shines through(he apparently sands the wood to the sheen of glass), but the jpegs flatten everything to the point that they become drawings.
In general, though, Kirkland seems a very valuable, and extremely participatory, member of the emerging art world.
12.04.2006
Craig Finn
From the Pitchfork interview with Hold Steady's Craig Finn:
"...Separation Sunday only sold about 20,000 {copies}"
"I work at the Orchard, and I know something about digital music."
Very interesting how success is measured and how a "well-known" band in fact work day jobs and don't sell a lot of records. It's a long haul....
Full interview here.
9.30.2006
New CDs!!!
My Indian summer hibernation has ended......
Here are the latest and greatest new albums of my collection, thank you OINK:
The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America
Craig Finn's latest installment in rock album as Great American Novel, succeeds in affirming the Steady's title as best red, white & blue band since E Street. Finn riffs on his themes of druggy disengagement, drunken lovers, and former Catholic schoolkid, but this time around extrapolates beyond the Twin Cities landmarks,(except for name dropping Lyndale, Nicollet, and Grain Belt beer) to include all those other kids who have never felt their boogers freeze in October. Musically, the band further embraces capital-R rock conventions, to include a wah-wah pedal, a piano and acoustic guitar ballad just shy of the disc's halfway mark, and three part harmony, but retain melodies and riffs that feel like worn softtop cases and as big as the Excel Center. Don't miss cameo's by old friends Gideon and Holly.
The Long Winters, Putting The Days To Bed
Chris Walla picked the wrong band. Geographical proximity instantly puts Death Cab for Cutie, Walla's new band, in the conversation with the Long Winters, his old band, (both currently reside in Washington State) until the lyrics hit. John Roderick sounds like the guy who teased Ben Gibbard in elementary school for wearing dress shoes, then went on roadtrips while Gibbard enrolled at Lewis & Clark. The narratives Roderick weaves simply have a lived-in resonance that Gibbard would trade his sweater vest collection for. Functioning fully within the Power-Pop construct, the Winters aren't building a better mouse trap, but they are certainly phenomenal at what they do. Stories of long lost parties with girls you forgot you loved are carried by simple percussion and falsetto harmonies to sound as if that band from high scool that you always thought would make it finally did.
The Decemberists, The Crane Wife
I really don't want to like Colin Melloy. But then he finally starts listening to music from the 20th century and changes my mind. When the are Decemberists are at their worst they sound like Melloy reading his English 422 paper(with every ryhme run through the Microsoft Word thesaurus), backed by the Fon Du Lac Accordian Quartet. But when they are on their game they redefine the narrative and instrumentation possibilities of indie rock, and are undeniably great. On the Crane Wife, the band seems to have finally realized that the latter happens most successfully on major key, first person narratives, with touches of exotic sounds and slight historical flourishes. Instead of trying to be a jaquard throw pillow embroidered with 24 karat thread on a King James wingback, Colin, be content with being the pretty 20 year-old photographer who quotes Yeats.
Here are the latest and greatest new albums of my collection, thank you OINK:
The Hold Steady, Boys and Girls in America
Craig Finn's latest installment in rock album as Great American Novel, succeeds in affirming the Steady's title as best red, white & blue band since E Street. Finn riffs on his themes of druggy disengagement, drunken lovers, and former Catholic schoolkid, but this time around extrapolates beyond the Twin Cities landmarks,(except for name dropping Lyndale, Nicollet, and Grain Belt beer) to include all those other kids who have never felt their boogers freeze in October. Musically, the band further embraces capital-R rock conventions, to include a wah-wah pedal, a piano and acoustic guitar ballad just shy of the disc's halfway mark, and three part harmony, but retain melodies and riffs that feel like worn softtop cases and as big as the Excel Center. Don't miss cameo's by old friends Gideon and Holly.
The Long Winters, Putting The Days To Bed
Chris Walla picked the wrong band. Geographical proximity instantly puts Death Cab for Cutie, Walla's new band, in the conversation with the Long Winters, his old band, (both currently reside in Washington State) until the lyrics hit. John Roderick sounds like the guy who teased Ben Gibbard in elementary school for wearing dress shoes, then went on roadtrips while Gibbard enrolled at Lewis & Clark. The narratives Roderick weaves simply have a lived-in resonance that Gibbard would trade his sweater vest collection for. Functioning fully within the Power-Pop construct, the Winters aren't building a better mouse trap, but they are certainly phenomenal at what they do. Stories of long lost parties with girls you forgot you loved are carried by simple percussion and falsetto harmonies to sound as if that band from high scool that you always thought would make it finally did.
The Decemberists, The Crane Wife
I really don't want to like Colin Melloy. But then he finally starts listening to music from the 20th century and changes my mind. When the are Decemberists are at their worst they sound like Melloy reading his English 422 paper(with every ryhme run through the Microsoft Word thesaurus), backed by the Fon Du Lac Accordian Quartet. But when they are on their game they redefine the narrative and instrumentation possibilities of indie rock, and are undeniably great. On the Crane Wife, the band seems to have finally realized that the latter happens most successfully on major key, first person narratives, with touches of exotic sounds and slight historical flourishes. Instead of trying to be a jaquard throw pillow embroidered with 24 karat thread on a King James wingback, Colin, be content with being the pretty 20 year-old photographer who quotes Yeats.
6.29.2006
Welcome Back!
My apologies for the lack of posts lately. As a gift I give you Pitchfork Media's list of the 100 Greatest Music Videos of All Time.(Or the 100 greatest music videos on UTube) If nothing else, this list serves to highlight our generations inability to seperate pop music from visual manifestation. Or maybe pretty pictures just do a really good job of accompanying pop music. Personal highlights include Wu-Tang's Shaolin opus, "Triumph", Jason Forest's 'War Photographer", and double Luda, "Southern Hospitality" and "Gossip Folks". Plus Freeway's beard.
5.28.2006
Artist of the Week
William Crump- This New York based painter has his finger firmly on the pulse of prolonged adolescent angst. He embraces "pop standards" such as athletics, dancing, and courtship in an effort to find the origin of suburban collective experience. While his work is instantly familiar, thanks to sitting room patterns and washed out pastels the color of your first girlfriend's makeup, it is unnerving almost as quickly. It makes me feel vulnerable and anxious and juvenile, reminds me of unfullfilled potential, like I just struck out to end the Little League season. Or when the popular guys have the best jobs and prettiest wives at the 15 year reunion. Crump's brushwork is perfectly suited to this subject matter-confident and translucent, dreamy and vague. Now showing at Evoke Gallery(see above)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
