EMP 2007

The panels are up for this years EMP Pop Conference. (Anybody willing to sponsor a plane ticket? No? Oh, well, I don't have time anyway). Haven't read all the abstracts yet, but Matos' looks interesting. Surely, the phenomenon of cultural artifacts changing meaning/relevance isn't restricted to Marley posters in dorm rooms (Che Guevara on boxer shorts. The Misfits on H&M T's), but fair game to him for picking up on that. What would be the equivalent here in Norway?

Randy Matters

PopMatters is one of my first stops on the net each day, and will continue to be so as long as they write good articles like this one on Randy Newman. If you know your Newman, you'll probably nod at what Zeth Lundy writes here, but it's a disturbing fact that so many still don't "get him", e.g thinking "Short People" is a song picking on, well, short people. As Lundy writes: "The way to avoid misinterpreting Newman is to doubt the narrator"

Because of several misconceptions about pop lyrics that many people have, they're bound to misinterpret someone like Randy Newman (or more recently, Pere Ubu, who do not necessarily hate women even if the album title may lead you to think so). One of the most common misconceptions about pop lyrics is that the persona of the song is (and must be) the singer and that the persona expresses the singer's opinions; there is a direct link between the writer/singer and what the lyrics express. This ignores the possibility of fiction in song. It's a rockist view, and to be fair, people think that way because so many singers yap on about how personal the lyrics on their new so-and-so are. Like good authors, good lyricist know how to use any literary trick at their disposal. And Randy Newman is a damn good lyricist.

Randy Newman - “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country”

Dude! Where's my hard drive + Murray on MySpace

My laptop's hard drive went "ka-boom" or something to that effect yesterday. MP3's, videos, work, essays, plus a pair of lengthy drafts for the blog and dog-knows-what-else are completely gone. I can use the computers at the university, of course, but they're less than ideal for blogging, which requires of me to be in a certain kind of mood, preferably playing records. Don't know when I can get the f*cker fixed.

Did you know David Murray had a MySpace?

They Have the Technology

Great news. I just learned, via Zoilus, that Pere Ubu's excellent and long-lost late 80's records on Fontana are to be rereleased in March this year. I'm particularly fond of Cloudland and The Tenement Year, both of which I consider among their best records. For a taster of what you can look forward to, I give you a track from each of the two aforementioned albums.

• Pere Ubu - "Breath" (MP3) from Cloudland
• Pere Ubu - "We Have the Technology" (MP3) from The Tenement Year

I also recommend Carl "Zoilus" Wilson's post on "We Have the Technology", and remind those of you in Norway that the latest incarnation of Pere Ubu will be playing at John Dee in Olso on April 30th.

Passionate Kisses?

Passion is like a slow, slow waltz. I'm not sure I like it at that tempo.

Pazz & Jop '06

No suprises here, but I don't agree with Simon Reynolds that '06 was such a bad year for music. Then again, he's starting to become a grumpy old fart.