Sunday, November 14, 2004
Finally, a few articles directed to begin discussions about music.
"If you're making a trashy art-house movie, an easy way to signal which sultry damsel will become the obscure object of desire is always to strike up a little bossa nova when she saunters into frame -- ideally Astrud Gilberto singing 'Girl from Ipanema.'
"Sure, it reduces Brazil's vast musical vocabulary to one suggestive swish, but that's the kind of shorthand Western pop loves to make out of 'world music' -- an African choir for pious Third World suffering, the twang of a sitar for going into the mystic, whole cultures ground down to grains of spice.
[From Getting Back at Phony Braziliana (A fascinating piece in yesterday's Globe and Mail) that gives an indepth reference to the mental gymnastics of the internet's own Woebot .]
* * * *
"There has never been a period when the rivers flowed with honey and chardonnay, bluebirds brought platters of pears and cheese and the music was all good. ... But I noticed something, somewhere in the deep funk of the 1980s. It was the exact moment -- call it a sea change, a tipping point -- when rock music turned rancid. That moment was called 'Addicted to Love.'
When Rock Went Rancid
["To mark the 50th anniversary of the rock revolution, the Sentinel is re-assessing the popular songs of the last half-century. "]
¶ 11/14/2004 04:18:00 AM
"If you're making a trashy art-house movie, an easy way to signal which sultry damsel will become the obscure object of desire is always to strike up a little bossa nova when she saunters into frame -- ideally Astrud Gilberto singing 'Girl from Ipanema.'
"Sure, it reduces Brazil's vast musical vocabulary to one suggestive swish, but that's the kind of shorthand Western pop loves to make out of 'world music' -- an African choir for pious Third World suffering, the twang of a sitar for going into the mystic, whole cultures ground down to grains of spice.
[From Getting Back at Phony Braziliana (A fascinating piece in yesterday's Globe and Mail) that gives an indepth reference to the mental gymnastics of the internet's own Woebot .]
* * * *
"There has never been a period when the rivers flowed with honey and chardonnay, bluebirds brought platters of pears and cheese and the music was all good. ... But I noticed something, somewhere in the deep funk of the 1980s. It was the exact moment -- call it a sea change, a tipping point -- when rock music turned rancid. That moment was called 'Addicted to Love.'
When Rock Went Rancid
["To mark the 50th anniversary of the rock revolution, the Sentinel is re-assessing the popular songs of the last half-century. "]
¶ 11/14/2004 04:18:00 AM
