Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Rockin' the Casbah?

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  • Peter Darlington,

    Doh! Missed all the music chat.

    Re FFD. I find it best not to consider them reggae at all. I like them best in gentle skank mode, or as souful dubby house ala the Big BW album, that works well, reminiscent of your Berlin folks such as Noiseshaper or Boozoo Bajou. But reggae? Nah.

    One of the things I like about the Wellydub sound is that it is all about the fun in a soul style, no intellectualism to it at all which is a quite nice change for NZ music. We take our musicians far too seriously.

    I'm pretty addicted to Wax Poetics these days, mostly dealing with all sorts of obscure rhythmic stuff in an obsessive way that makes me all hot and bothered.

    Word up. Wax Poetics is a great read and a keeper. Urb magazine ain't too bad either. Fairly hiphop-centric though.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    he always needs to over-compensate for the criticism

    I agree, but to be fair, there's still an awful lot of kneejerk Paul Sucks-ism out there. I can see why he would be annoyed. Those Rolling Stone interviews John did during his angry phase, plus his untimely death are really a toxic legacy for Paul in some ways. And those mullets he and Linda had through the seventies didn't help either...

    But he rips apart Across The Universe and various other Lennon gems...oooh it makes me so mad.

    Huh. I might dig it out and re-read it in this light. I vacillate between thinking Paul or John is the most douchey (Paul is self-conscious; John is self-indulgent), and perhaps I was in more of a Paul phase at the time.

    (I only criticise because I love deeply, of course. One month and four days until the stereo and mono box sets and Beatles Rock Band, team! It will be a Nerdstravaganza at our house.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Update: Media7 panel is now:

    - Duncan Grieve
    - Graham Reid
    - Grant Smithies
    - Shayne Carter(!)

    Thanks for your help in tracking down Smithies, Pete. He and the family are staying an extra day up here so he can do the show.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    Thanks for your help in tracking down Smithies, Pete. He and the family are staying an extra day up here so he can do the show.

    Heh, excellent news! I look forward to it.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    As it happens, I'm not against critics flagging up influences in their reviews, but my problem with the "x mixed with y" approach is that it doesn't deal with the salient point- how is the work different and/or better than those pieces.

    As a person who will just flick through reviews and scan them briefly, a bit of "you'll like this if you liked [a couple of well known bands/albums]" doesn't go astray.

    Though in this day and age a review on paper of music seems to make little sense. Something like what Graham Reid has done - review with music sample - makes a lot more sense.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    The Quietus is an excellent magazine and (I believe, but could be wrong) closely related to the Stool Pigeon, which is pretty much the only music magazine worth reading that I've found in London

    Bruce, thanks for the tip. I'd never heard of the Stool Pigeon before but there's some great reading at their website. That kind of fearless irreverence about overblown rock egos that you used to get from the NME back in the day. Just check this opening par to a Marilyn Manson profile. It helps to know that Manson once announced that he was the "God of Fuck":

    Today the God Of Fuck is merely the Petty Officer Of Fucking About; the Local Ombudsman Of Mildly Irritating Behaviour. He’s locked in his suitably grand room at a Park Lane hotel with plenty of absinthe and ‘a young lady friend’. A wide-eyed reporter from a London free title eventually comes down the stairs declaring him to be “leathered”; saying that the lanky industro-goth was striding round his room with the girl tossed over his shoulder chatting bare nonsense. Seasoned veterans of idiotic American rock star behaviour, we pack up and go home leaving a business-like but inexperienced guy from the BBC alone in the foyer waiting dutifully for an interview. Predictably, his copy, when it appears online a few days later, is a riot of non-sequiturs; a throbbing psychedelic grotto of drunken nonsense. It isn’t the poor hack’s fault. Simply, the God Of Fucking Can’t Be Arsed. He’s become the Bursar Of Talent Seepage; the Heir Of Nothing In Particular.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Thomas Morrison,

    I'm not gunna read all these posts to see if it's there, but www.einsteinmusicjournal.co.nz is also pretty good.

    Since Aug 2009 • 1 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    Today the God Of Fuck is merely the Petty Officer Of Fucking About; the Local Ombudsman Of Mildly Irritating Behaviour...

    Now that's entertaining music writing! Although surely Manson being a dork doesn't exactly qualify as breaking news.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    no intellectualism to it at all which is a quite nice change for NZ music. We take our musicians far too seriously.

    There is some irony in all that, in the Wellington was the nerve centre of the movement to over intellectualise pop music for many a decade. It always used to drive us nuts. I've kept a few reviews from Welly mags from the 80s just to remind me just how negative they were towards both Auckland and South Island bands for just wanting to have fun.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    "in that Wellington"...urgh....must preview....

    Sophie, you might mean Diamond Dogs but that probably pre-dated Proud Scum. That was the old Mojo trannie club, owned by Hugh Lynn which he opened up as Auckland's first dedicated punk club..predated Zwines. It didn't last long but he re-opened it again a bit later and then it became the Green Door, a late night, very sleazy but quite fun, cafe run by Tommy Adderley (very sadly RIP) and Radio Hauraki founder David Gapes. You could see generations to NZ music royalty there on any given night.

    Or you might mean XS, which was what the Island of Real mutated from after Charlie Gray sold it to Bryan Staff, Sheryl Morris and Gary Summerville?

    ...the flatfooting continues....

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    'in that Wellington...urgh....

    Sophie, you might mean Diamond Dogs but that probably pre-dated Proud Scum. That was the old Mojo trannie club, owned by Hugh Lynn which he opened up as Auckland's first dedicated punk club..predated Zwines. It didn't last long but he re-opened it again a bit later and then it became the Green Door, a late night, very sleazy but quite fun, cafe run by Tommy Adderley (very sadly RIP) and Radio Hauraki founder David Gapes. You could see generations to NZ music royalty there on any given night.

    Or you might mean XS, which was what the Island of Real mutated from after Charlie Gray sold it to Bryan Staff, Sheryl Morris and Gary Summerville?

    ...the flatfooting continues....

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    And those mullets he and Linda had through the seventies didn't help either...

    My problem was more with the his and hers matching dungarees. I've always thought the Stella was some sort of odd freak event..she didn't get it from Mom and Pa

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    I don't read a lot of music reviews anymore, but I admire anyone who can write intelligently about music. I find music one of the most difficult topics to write about. I dabbled in music review-type writing recently when I tried to explain why I liked certain albums I was recommending (by Bowie and Bat for Lashes) in a recent blog post. I failed miserably, resorting to the trite expressions hacks use when describing music.

    As for Simon Sweetman, shooting fish in a barrel for sure, but the guy just cannot write, and his taste in music is largely bland.

    The only Sweetman article I've read (as far as I can recall) is that one Tony linked to, but it wasn't so bad. Obviously I had low expectations after what people have said here. It was fairly prosaic, and he tried a bit hard, especially towards the end, but it wasn't bad writing. He seemed to have had a legitimate point to make and made it clearly. I quite liked his evocation of the "Emperor's new clothes" aspect he obviously feels applies to FFD in describing the audience more interested in their own conversation.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    I got a bit turned off Sweetman after a column he did where he mentioned that people in a lift had been complaining to him that the music coming through his headphones was annoying. His response (I recall it as being to say something like "Sorry, but this is the sort of music you need to listen to loud!", but I could be wrong) is immaterial: any music reviewer without the nous to buy a decent enough set of headphones to basically eliminate aural bleed does not impress me.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    Disclaimer: I quite like Fat Freddy's Drop.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    I'm glad Gordon Campbell was mentioned. His recommendations were always solid and well thought out. He built my brothers record collection which was lucky for me.

    Mathew Hyland had a style and was quite brave . I actually saw him get attacked once in a pub.Thats why i don't write, it's too violent.

    I read the nme and the melody maker a lot during 1986 -1991. The nme was very professerly and sometimes dull but was good for making a passionate fuss quickly over unheralded bands. The melody maker was a lot more fun I seem to remember, very pasionate writers who made you feel excited about a record without even hearing it. Everett True writing about sub - pop stands out.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Sophie, you might mean Diamond Dogs

    The last time I was up there it was definitely a Scum gig but it also could have been a closing night or maybe a private function with the Scum playing.I really liked the Island of Real Cafe with no booze inside so lots of stoners and excellent music.30 years on and a brain job amongst other things does not for a sharp memory make.I am glad you are filling in gaps for me. As you were.:)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    I have to agree with Simon on Revolution In The Head. It's an amzing book no doubt, and generally insightful. But he rips apart Across The Universe and various other Lennon gems...oooh it makes me so made. I love the throwaway nature of something like I'm Only Sleeping.

    As much as I love McCartney its the things which Ian MacDonald doesn't like about Lennon that me think Lennon is the vastly superior songwriter.

    The strange thing about Ian Macdonald is how conservative his tastes became in later years. During his time at the NME in the 70s, he was effectively their "avant-garde" reviewer, being the first among them to champion everything from the crazy art-rock stylings of early Roxy Music, to the groundbreaking work of germans Faust, Can, Neu!, Kraftwerk, etc. Also, no writer has ever written a better review on Bowie than his 2,000 word piece on Low (which of course any fule kno is Bowie's real high watermark.), while his interviews/ reviews on Brian Eno are revelatory. Also, his best writing could be very funny in a rather dry way.

    And yet in Revolution in the Head 's epilogue, he seems to implicitly acknowledge he doesn't understand dance music's moves towards harmonic dissonance, and bemoans the lack of tunes in modern pop. And the whole tone of the book is incredibly serious. Weird.

    Meanwhile, though it's true that yes, the book does seem to value McCartney over Lennon as a rule, bear in mind the most fulsome praise he gives for any track are three Lennon ones ("Rain", "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Tomorrow Never Knows"), while the most savage criticism is levelled at "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and (oddly) "Helter Skelter".

    Incidentally, although it's VERY long, anyone wanting to have an idea of how good Ian Macdonald could be in full flight should take some time to digest this piece on Nick Drake. Although it takes more than a few trips down to Pseud's corner, and there's the very real sense that Macdonald's own illness influenced the piece's tone, its best bits sum up Drake's music better than anyone else could.

    Sorry for the digression! Ian Macdonald just fascinates me as music writer because he sums up what it could be, and what perhaps, it ultimately, can't be. It might sound crass to say this but in many ways he's a cautionary tale.

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Cubey,

    Critics: the Domino and Faber collab, LOOPS, is on the right track, like the annual Da Capo Music Writing books. But they are books. One wants to read almost every page of The Word mag, and the accompanying CD comps regularly turn up gems. Woebot and Reynolds are always rewarding, and The New Yorker can rock. I miss John Russell. And the late lamented Stylus and their equal weighting of singles and the declining album form. Would that the NZ landscape were similar, both in terms of production and assessment. And as for the crits: it's all so... tame.

    As for Simon Sweetman, the dude CAN write, and does, prolifically: he must be making a living (almost) from music writing/speaking which is more than most can say. I admire his output, self-deprecatory style, thick skin, coordinated use of Fbook, Twitter, print, blog, TV, and peculiar passions (Mastadon AND Simon & Garfunkel). Disagree with most of his opinions, but who gives a damn? He's not a muso snob and thank god for that. And he's not Smithies, but there's only one Grant. And funny, no one's mentioned Nick Bollinger. Or that teenagers prolly don't give a damn about music writing. And, as Gordon "Werewolf" Campbell and I were discussing when he popped in unexpectedly and I told him about this thread... where are the women writers? Rock crit lit: such a boy thang.

    Wellington • Since May 2008 • 66 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    where are the women writers?

    Oh, women aren't into music. They just sing along with whatever comes on the radio. (Sarcasm tag, etc.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    They're too busy dancing about architecture.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    where are the women writers?

    The only NZ woman rock writer I can remember was Donna Yuzwalk of Rip It Up. She infamously wrote something that pissed off Axl Rose, who dissed her at G 'n' R's Auckland concert. She was good.

    But where are the women writers?

    Because when it's only men writing about rock, they tend to only tell their stories. Why doesn't NZ have a writer like Lucy O'Brien?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    Yeah Donna Yuzwalk was good.

    I think Axy said something like "Donna, Yuz-walk outta here!" or some such. If I recall correctly (and this is really shaky memory territory) she nevertheless gave a positive review to the concert performance.

    And funny, no one's mentioned Nick Bollinger.

    Nick Bollinger.

    When I was last paying much attention to music reviews, it was listening to his The Sampler on National Radio. I've bought a few things on his his recommendation. He still doing that programme?

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    To answer my own question: Yes.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Parks,

    oops... "Axl". Axy is good too though.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report Reply

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