i hope yahoo deletes every blog that follows me
AND I HOPE THE JUNKYARD A FEW BLOCKS FROM HERE SOMEDAY BURNS DOWN
I HOPE IT STAYS DARK FOREVER
I HOPE THE WORST ISN’T OVER
I HOPE YOU DELETE BEFORE I DO
I’ve been slowly working my way through Foucault’s Birth of Biopolitics this summer, with a kind of dawning horror at the sheer nihilism of neoliberalism. The end result of this ruling ideology is that we should all be our own individual enterprises, in constant competition with others, making continual economic choices — and with no goal outside the competition itself. Even when we “retire,” we are not at rest, because then above all we need to be savvy managers of our various investments.
All this in the name of freedom! I think we need to be careful here not to jump too quickly to the idea that “freedom” is just a cover for a more sinister agenda — as far as I can tell, the neoliberal theorists sincerely believe that the market is the place where the most authentic form of freedom is instantiated, where people come together to form freely-chosen arrangements (appealing to liberals) and show their true aptitude and worth (appealing to conservatives), all (at least ideally) without the mediation of the coercive force of the state or any inherited tradition. If the market is where freedom happens, then what else can you do but make all of life a market? Yet the result, of course, isn’t really freedom, but the worst totalitarianism of all — a non-stop, exhausting agon with no goal and no prospect of rest (insofar as rest is always only geared toward more effective struggle).
— Adam Kotsko, Monasticism and neoliberalism: On Agamben’s The Highest Poverty (via fourwindsshotgun)
A Giorgio Moroder story: apropos of his appearance on a certain new album — a few years ago on ILX, someone named Tilman posted saying he’d been doing research into “I Feel Love“‘s production, saying he was “particularily interested in the delay effect that he uses to “double” the synth riff, and the other means with which he creates “metrical dissonances”, e.g. the echo effects.” He indicated that he’d contacted Moroder directly about this. Moroder replied with this graphic, adding:
“Dear Mr. Tilman
this is the only way i can help yousaluti
Giorgio Moroder”This is the greatest thing ever, of course. Credit to my friend Grady for the reminder.
(via shitty)
(via steffalopod)
Sheila E doing “Glamorous Life” at the American Music Awards in 1985. This performance is bonkers. For the first third she sings lead while standing and also playing the lead percussion part. Then she takes the mic and dances around. And then the lights on stage go dark and she solos on drums in the dark with glow-in-the-dark sticks.
Two things occur to me watching this, and recently revisiting Sheila E’s first two albums. One, Prince in the 1980s was the kind of pop genius that comes along every 20-30 years, maybe. The amount of brilliant, boundary-pushing, but still accessible music he was responsible for, as both a solo performer or, as with this song, as a writer/producer, is simply astonishing. It’s honestly like talking about Albert Einstein in 1905, that’s how in the zone he was. It was a decade of a true and lasting genius by an artist at the height of his powers who was given all kinds of resources. A rare thing.
The second thing is what a talent Sheila E was (and probably still is, though I haven’t heard anything she’s done in some time). She had a few big hits, two good records, and came from a remarkable family of musicians (she had several first-call percussionists of note in her family). In the late 1980s she was Prince’s live drummer and also was also the leader of his backing band (you can see her considerable skills behind a proper kit in the Sign O the Times film). Imagine what it takes to be Prince’s musical director in those years, for him to hand over the keys.
Put down whatever you are doing and make sure you watch this video.
Beau Travail
untidy magpie's nest feathered by chris randle, a writer. find out more about him at this
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untidy magpie's nest feathered by chris randle, a writer. find out more about him at this
THIRD-PERSON BLURB
twitter:
@RANDLECHRIS
email:
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