Criticism, Bill Eaton, Alex Chilton, Glenn Kelly and me

"(...) a post-gig hangout with Chilton in the late '70s during which Supertramp's hit "The Logical Song" comes on the jukebox. Eaton is all ready to sneer at the thing when he sees Chilton bobbing his head to it. Once he gets over his initial shock and confusion, he processes his problem as, well, everybody else's problem. "[R]ock snobbery is an exercise in aural flagellation--a way to punish yourself because girls ignored you back in high school."

(...) a lot of people look at the critical impulse, and the work that it sometimes produces, as some kind of attempt to kill their buzz. And, beyond that, to force-feed them stuff that they don't like. It never occurs to Bill Eaton that the fact that he needed Alex Chilton to approve of a Supertramp song before he could do likewise actually says more about Eaton's own insecurities than anything else, as far as I'm concerned."

Glenn Kelly takes on Bill Eaton in Snobbery, Projection, Resentment

Agree with mr. Kelly here. Try to view criticism as a step in a disourse, with arguments - some may be good and some may be bad, some convincing while others less so - to make ones case. You may agree, wholly or not, to the arguments and the conclusion, or disagree by joining in on the discourse, whether in writing or more usually in your own head or in conversation with friends, but by golly, don't blame the critics because you haven't been able to make up your own mind.

Soon...

... I promise.

Music of the Week 11/10

I'm planning a change to this. Updates have been infrequent at best. Something along the veins of Tom Hull's jazz prospecting and Rhapsody Notes may be a good option: I could write down a few lines on any bunch of music, good or bad, I hear during a week. Not reviews as much as just jot down some impressions and thoughts, maybe even tentative grades. Updates would need to be on a specific week day, though. I'll see what I'm able to come up with. For now, quite possibly the last Music of the Week.

• Titus Andronicus: "A More Perfect Union" (from The Monitor, XL Recordings)
• Tomboyfriend: "Almost/Always"
• The Great Plains: Lenght of the Growth 1981-89 (Old 3c Records - lovely rediscovery!)
• Little Women: "Thoat 1" (AUM Fidelity)
• Steve Swell's Slammin' the Infinate: 5000 Poems (Not Two Records)
  

R.I.P. Alex Chilton

Had planned a post on Chopin, but just got the news that Mr. Chilton passed away yesterday. Too sad. Thanks for the music. More from The Commercial Appeal.

Happy birthday Ornette!

The great man turns 80 today. The good people at WKCR will celebrate the day with a special Birthday Broadcast dedicated to the man and his music. Go listen!

FAN and jazz-links

FAN #11 will be out tomorrow, so I have now posted my article on Mostly Other People Do the Killing, written for the previous edition, on the Norwegian section of Perfect Sounds.

Chicago drummer Mike Reed, whose last few records I have liked a lot, talked to Jason Crane on the frequently enjoyable Jazz Session podcast at the end of January. Mr. Reed is in the middle of a three album project inspired by Chicago's considerable, but underrecognized, hard bop-and-beyond jazz music. Around the same time, WFIU did a show on that very topic, discussing and playing the music of some of the unsung heroes of Chicago hard bop. You can listen to the program here.

Belated by:Larm reports

The Nordic mini-version of South by SW that is by:Larm went ahead and finished just over a week ago, and just like last year I watched some gigs and did some writing. If you're interested, the paper I wrote for can be downloaded here. I only had entries for the Friday and Saturday editions, and the gigs I reviewed were Massely, Pow Pow, and Supersilent for the Friday edition, and Anna von Hausswolf, plus Kira Kira as well as Kråkesølv at the Stereogum stage for the Saturday edition.

Didn't get to see much, though, so I really can't comment on the hypes. My pick of the ones I did get around to see would be Masselys, whose electronically seasoned no wave funk caught me off guard. In a good way. Here's a taste, a song called "Better and Better", albeit not my favorite of theirs.