> Simon Reynolds was also harsh about Detroit in 'Energy Flash'. The problem
> comes when people like UR and Drexciya dont play the media game, theres an
> info vacuum in which people like Eshun can step for their own purposes.
Sure
> Drexciya invite it a bit with their imagery etc but music sociologists
like
> Eshun/Reynolds sure have an agenda.
i think calling reynolds a "sociologist" is a reach. he reads like a music
journalist, pure & simple. as good a history as "generation ecstasy/energy
flash" is, it's still a very white, very classist, & very european history.
i don't think reynolds really grasps the sociology behind the music he's
writing about, particularly in the detroit chapter (& the jungle chapter, &
the hip-hop business at the end), which i think suggests that ultimately he
doesn't grasp the music itself (see series above). & the digestive
metaphors for describing bass got old, really, really quick.
& i can't defend eshun to the end. yes, he is noodly. but i think he's
more about process. i've described "more brilliant..." as jazz on paper. i
guess he's the judith butler of music crit. i find his prose utterly
amazing (& utterly difficult). the difference between eshun & reynolds is
that eshun's book can be read almost independently of the music (yes,
referents do help, but as a piece of theory/art it works as a standalone),
where "generation ecstasy" is utterly dependent on the music & a body of
knowledge so that reynold's opinions are not taken as gospel. you read
eshun & know he's making reaches, positing arguments that aren't fully
fleshed as a way to make connections, find a locus for discussion between
seemingly disparate stuffs. & reynolds is newsweek, frankly--a soundbite
history of the last 10 years.
& dan sicko is wonderfully readable in a completely different direction.
pure knowledge, lucid prose, facts is facts...
*cha-cha-cha*
shannon
____________________________________
by collapsing concept into matter, & the mental
into the material, the rekkid [sic] functions in
2 parallel systems: as a concept visualized on
vinyl & as punishing frequencies, orchestrally
arranged Techno, sepulchral & frosted, a
Rhythmachine of planetary information.
--kodwo eshun
"synthetic fiction/electronic thought"
_more brilliant than the sun:
adventures in sonic fiction_
