Hard News: Friday Music: History, motherfuckers
316 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 13 Newer→ Last
-
B Jones, in reply to
And I didn’t offer mine in order to get into a knife fight.
So you thought you'd get given a bunch of flowers and a hug for making us think?
-
Russell, don't be silly. Discussions of this nature do not involve the exchange of "facts" or "evidence" in support of your position, but instead must only be the presentation of "opinions", all of which are of course equally valid.
-
B Jones, in reply to
And none of which ought to be argued against, apparently.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
He doesn’t have to appear here to defend his opinion.
My point was he hasn’t substantively defended what he wrote anywhere. It’s not much of a discourse.
And I have to say that's been characteristic of most people seeming to defend what Sweetman wrote: a lot of arm-waving about cliques and cabals and having a discussion, and almost no attempt to address any substantive point of criticism.
-
Pete,
To think I compared poor Simon to Anders Brevik and that review called him Michael Laws?
That's just low.
-
That's right Russell.
You just get the "Opinion", "PC" cards played which are basically the two joker cards in any discussion. They get slapped on the table when the player doesn't have any "Argument" or "Fact" cards in their hand.
Snap! :)
-
Most everything I want to say has already been said about this matter. But I will say this: Ella's mum is a very dear friend of mine, and I know she was absolutely devastated to read the review, and it took all of the Twitter Aunties to convince her that she should just ignore the vileness. I don't buy the "freedom of speech/everyone is entitled to an opinion" argument for this reason: if what is said is going to deeply hurt someone, completely unnecessarily, then please keep that opinion to yourself. A music review should be a review of the music. End of.
-
Hebe, in reply to
If I were your friend, I would have been incandescent after reading that review. He’s a creep and an arse (and a terrible writer). That's no review: that's a patronising rant, which is even worse than most of the tired tosh by Simon Sweetman that I have read.
Give her hugs from every mother of a teenager who is just launching themselves into the world.
-
Indeed. If some guy wrote something like that about my daughter, I'd want to turn up on his doorstep and politely ask him to explain himself. I hear that's meant to work quite well with internet trolls.
Of course he wouldn't be worth the time and etc. etc. But I'd still like to know how he'd respond. If he was just as offensive in the flesh, that would provide a kind of closure, because then I'd know that he was just a really offensive person, and could forget about it. And if he was suddenly sheepish and apologetic, then that would show he was a coward as well, and then I could forget about him with contempt.
Somehow I think it would be one of those two responses rather than anything else.Oh, also,
And he’s been good for 4 pages of interactivity here on what may otherwise have been a slow-blog day.
That's a pretty pathetic sort of excuse. Y'know, if Russell decided to write a blog defending domestic violence, noone would try to suggest the position wasn't all bad because it gave us chat fodder.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
Y’know, if Russell decided to write a blog defending domestic violence, noone would try to suggest the position wasn’t all bad because it gave us chat fodder.
It would also be really awkward: "You know all those TV ads where I said 'It's Not Okay'? Well ...."
-
Pretty sure she did see it. Right around that time she tweeted "Let 'em talk. " That's class.
-
Robyn Gallagher, in reply to
If some guy wrote something like that about my daughter, I'd want to turn up on his doorstep and politely ask him to explain himself.
But it's not just Lorde. Sweetman starts his review of the Love Club EP by accusing Lorde's parents of being party to some sort of weird Satanic wedding at Universal, with Neil Finn providing the music (?!), implying that Lorde's parents got together solely to have a baby that they could sell off to Universal. That's about as fucked as the Farmer's catalogue remark.
I know Sweetman can't comprehend that an 11-year-old girl would have music career ambition without the heavy influence of her parents, but as it happens New Zealand's other recent pop success started out just as young. Here's a video of an 11-year-old Kimbra eagerly learning about the music biz. She seemed even more driven then than Lorde is now!
-
Craig Ranapia, in reply to
Also I kinda don’t think it’s legitimate to say that someone should “just review the music’. Lorde’s selling an image, and that image is entirely legitimately part of the reviewer’s ambit.
Meh… I’ve just been commissioned to review Elizabeth Knox’s next novel for The Listener. Note: Review the book at hand. Not assess the masturbatory potential of the jacket photo, or spin some cranky fact-free conspiracy theory about the fact she happens to be married to the publisher of Victoria University Press, which must be the only reason why she has a literary career at all. Right?
For what it’s worth, I’ve liked some of Elizabeth’s books more than others. She published her first book sixteen years ago – and is no soft touch as a critic herself – so I don’t think she needs or desires any white-knighting from my corner. But she’s got every right to expect better than some creepy hatchet job. So has Guy Somerset, who incidentally penned the lukewarm review of The Luminaries that appeared last week, which didn’t resort to character assassination of Catton or anyone else.
-
Seriously, if that's the standard that is laid down for being a professional music critic in NZ then sign me up. I can hold down a fulltime job and produce that sort of wankery for free. Whoever pays that guy could save some money. Send me a CD. I'll listen to it once and make some random shit up.
If he reads this then he's probably all pumped up on adrenaline and it's bouncing off his biceps.
What a shame.
-
Has this been posted yet? New track Team, released while on the road in Europe.
‘I’m kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air’.
Ditto.
-
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
de devil is in de tail…
“You know all those TV ads where I said ‘It’s Not Okay’? Well ….”
…Shane Jones (the Master of Mixed Meta-force) has alerted me to this one thing you can do with bungee cord or docking rings!
I'm going to tie a bungee cord around the sensitive spot, and then I'm going to get those callipers and cut them. And then the trader from Wall Street and then the mercenary of capitalism can suffer what he deserves - a dead cat bounce.
He's a dag that Shane!
Now if you are still worried about 'crutching' here are some real dags, real kiwis, real kiwi music, the excellent Country Calendar Daggy and the Dickheads mini-doco - enjoy
-
Craig Ranapia, in reply to
He’s a dag that Shane!
Apparently we've just got to get "beyond" his "gladatorial" language. FFS... sorry, but I don't even want to joke about this. It's fucking gross. I'm not exactly the paragon of rhetorical good taste, but I'm putting myself forward as a serious contender to be the leader of the mainstream political party and eventually Prime Minister.
-
Hebe, in reply to
I know Sweetman can’t comprehend that an 11-year-old girl would have music career ambition without the heavy influence of her parents
Stupid Simon. My guys have had a passion (I won't go into it because it's their thing not mine) and a creative output since they were eight years old. Entirely self-driven; their pa and I have held them back from going into the world with it because they are not the sort of kids to handle early stardom well. But a rare and amazing kid does and can, and it's brave of her parents to let her go for it.
-
While her music isn't my cup of tea, I think that at 16 she's been thrown in the deep end far too early. Popular music history is awash with people that were successful in their mid-teens and chewed up, spat out by the music biz only a year or two later, only to fade into obscurity and irrelevance.
While she may be "taking it slowly" history isn't on her side in terms of her still being relevant in the medium or long term.
Also, the "market" - for want of a better term - for commercial pop music - for want of a better term - is very, very fickle, again, as history shows.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
While her music isn’t my cup of tea, I think that at 16 she’s been thrown in the deep end far too early. Popular music history is awash with people that were successful in their mid-teens and chewed up, spat out by the music biz only a year or two later, only to fade into obscurity and irrelevance.
Bear in mind that this began with her posting some free tracks on Soundcloud, less than a year ago. Those same tracks – the same actual recordings – have subsequently gone to number one here and might even do so next week in America. You’re suggesting what, that she and her record company should have done something to prevent that happening?
She’s on a promo tour at the moment, along with her mum. She performed a showcase at George Bizet’s old house in Paris this week. (Here’s the glowing review.) Even if it’s probably at least two years sooner than anyone could have dreamed, I don’t get any sense that she’s being chewed up and spat out.
Here’s what she wrote when they posted ‘Team’ to YouTube this week:
« I am in paris as i release this. Every street we drive down makes my eyes pop with the most incredible things carved in stone, and gilded on pillars, and wrought with metal; the heroes and heroines of this city aren’t so hard to find. this song’s are a little more mismatched, less classic courtesans on their pedestals, but nonetheless brilliant. this song is kinda of that world, and at the same time, very much of this one. enjoy. »
I'm inclined to let her get on with it.
-
The Kanye bit from last Saturday is back on YouTube:
-
Simon Grigg, in reply to
You’re suggesting what, that she and her record company should have done something to prevent that happening?
No of course not, because that window would never come again.
That said, this will mess with her hugely and it won't be an easy ride. As odious as some things said about her in NZ might be, they're sweet nothings compared to what she might and probably will get elsewhere. And the pressure is beyond overpowering.
I was going to say I can't imagine what she's going through right now, but I actually can, from experience. The thing she really needs most right now is ironclad worldwise management acting as a buffer and a shield. Because they are the only friends you have, despite the smiling record label folks who are championing you now, and the media who want to tag their byline to you on the way up.
Everybody – and that's a very inclusive everybody – in the offshore industry wants their bit and will be relentless in trying to extract it.
-
Two kids cover ‘Royals’ a capella:
And another one, bit wobbly but good knee-percussion:
One from New Zealand, that’s clocked up 200,000 views in its own right:
Another local one: a Nelson school girls choir, at the 2013 Mahi Toi Arts Festival:
A bedroom trio:
And one more, with strumming:
There are literally hundreds of these covers on YouTube. Amazing.
-
Lilith __, in reply to
There are literally hundreds of these covers on YouTube. Amazing.
I love that so many young folks have been inspired. They obviously feel a connection with the lyrics. Fantastic!
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
I was going to say I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now, but I actually can, from experience. The thing she really needs most right now is ironclad worldwise management acting as a buffer and a shield. Because they are the only friends you have, despite the smiling record label folks who are championing you now, and the media who want to tag their byline to you on the way up.
Yes, I'm sure you're right about good management being crucial. And management who aren't also her record company.
Post your response…
This topic is closed.