| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Carl |
Posted - 09/09/2009 : 03:04:03
Okay, so the old 'Really not worth a topic' thread is a total mess, with lots of stuff that's really not worth posting AT ALL. So, I thought I'd start a new thread for little articles and things, but not cram it with every little thing that mentions Pixies! So anyway, came across this and hopefully this is an example of something possibly worth posting:
NYTimes.com - Living With Music: A Playlist by Joanna Smith Rakoff.
1) Is She Weird, Pixies. Nowadays, when people talk about the 1990s, the first band they mention is Nirvana, but for me — and most of my college-radio-station-DJ, record-store-regular friends — that era was all about the Pixies, with their irresistible, genre-busting sound: the slow, precise bass, the shifting tempo, the eerie hiss and scream of Black Francis. In 1990, when “Bossanova” came out, I listened to it endlessly — even though it wasn’t on the level of “Doolittle” or “Come on Pilgrim” — thrilled by this brief, odd song, a freaky gloss on Macbeth: “Is she weird? / Is she white? / Is she promised to the night? / And her head has no room.” I was 18 then, and felt very weird and very white. |
| 35 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 09/11/2023 : 06:40:15
quote:
Originally posted by The Maharal
I like the repeated shouting bit at the end. Plenty of songs with royalty in the title now:
Jane The Queen of Love (w/ Catholics)
King and Queen of Siam (w/ Catholics)
The Real El Rey (solo)
The King and Queen (w/ the Suicide Commandos)
Andro Queen (w/ Pixies)
His Kingly Cave |
| The Maharal |
Posted - 09/10/2023 : 07:09:33
I like the repeated shouting bit at the end. Plenty of songs with royalty in the title now:
Jane The Queen of Love (w/ Catholics)
King and Queen of Siam (w/ Catholics)
The Real El Rey (solo)
The King and Queen (w/ the Suicide Commandos)
Andro Queen (w/ Pixies)
|
| pot |
Posted - 09/10/2023 : 01:05:08
Has a bit of a BTE Demoes feel to it too |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 09/09/2023 : 14:50:57
Glad to hear it. Agree that it reminds me of solo FB. Good stuff |
| Sprite |
Posted - 09/09/2023 : 02:18:49
I'm digging it, sounds a bit more early FB&C than Pixies on first listen. |
| Stevio10 |
Posted - 09/08/2023 : 11:41:37
quote:
Originally posted by Bedbug
Pixies to contribute to Leon Russel tribute album
https://www.stereogum.com/2229627/pixies-margo-price-u-s-girls-more-featured-on-new-leon-russell-tribute-album/music/
Forgot this was out today, had a listen and first impression...it sounds like a Frank Black cover we used to get so many of back in the day |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/08/2023 : 01:37:17
More on topic:
See what boygenius - chroniqueurs/gatekeepers/editors of their own - have collected for us:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DWUWDUTr5d7Wq
Frank Black is choice number three!
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/08/2023 : 01:32:52
All good input in our discussion.
Thanks friends!
Gatekeepers have always been there. Sometimes they keep things from their channels for good reason, sometimes for a bad reason and lot's of it is random. I work in the cultural heritage sector. It's my job to collect journalism, media art, you name it, and archive it. We don't know what will be left of our cultural production of today, but since lot's of cultural production from the past is being re-released thanks to archives, it's safe to say that the chances are bigger that a story (in audio, video, on paper, in digital form) is being retold by the next generations if it's kept safe in a climate controlled vault, with digital back ups and so on.
My and my co-workers decide what will probably "the story of the past" in the future. The stuff that we don't archive, for whatever reason, has a bigger chance to dissappear, to perish. We save cultural production for a living. We also cancel cultural production for a living.
Publishers, journalists, labels, they all do and always have. We hope they will base their choices on well informed expertise. Not because a goverment tells them to, that would be censorship. Not because (a small part of the) the public tells them to. I wouldn't call that censorship, but maybe it is. Self censorship, could very well be? I have no idea what's in the head of the gatekeepers. Of course everything has influence on the gatekeepers. What is considered politically correct in point in time has a bigger chance to get past the gatekeeper.
We live in a time that gatekeepers have less impact, they can't control cultural production like they used to. That's a good thing. Thanks to to (open source) online media. People can archive things on their own, people can publish things on their own, people can release records on their own. If you want to draw a scary Joker and release it to millions of people nobody is stopping you, apart maybe from a copyright lawyer. (one of the tools the gatekeepers still have). Should DC release a scary Joker if they want. Yep, I think they should. But maybe they are afraid to sell less. They don't care about cultural values primarly, they want to sell books first. Sensitivity readers are not there because they trully want a better product and don't want to offend people. It's pr. It is selfcensorship, but not different from the countless editors in comics, in the movie industry before that told their artists how to work. You start with a rough punk version of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and you end up with a bland cartoon named The Teenage Mutant Hero (!) Turtles. I hope artists can get all the freedom to release what they want. Some parts of the cultural industry are relatively editor free. I'm all up for it.
People can now fight the gatekeepers, they can question their authority. It's way easier to contact a gatekeeper than it used to be. Or to call them out. To "cancel them". The gatekeeper could just ignore the public, and maybe they should. We have to find a new balance in all this.
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| pot |
Posted - 09/07/2023 : 15:03:56
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
quote:
Originally posted by pot
I know a few Asian doctors and experts who were cancelled for their views on COVID - but I think most or all the culture cancelling is targetted towards White Western values and history etc - do you have an example of cancel culture attacking some cultural aspect of African or Asian culture ? I can’t think of one
I'm not talking about COVID, I'm talking about art.
Yes. Disney censoring Song of the South:
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Tar_Baby#:~:text=Originally%2C%20the%20Tar%20Baby%20was,different%20from%20the%20animated%20segments%2C
This aspect of the film (and the Splash Mountain ride) is based on African folklore. The story was invented by Africans many many years ago. It made white people uncomfortable so it's gone.
And this is the Asian author who had her book unpublished because it dared to discuss slavery from her own culture's history, which offended insane white people who don't want to hear about slavery, except when they want everybody to talk about it, and it never makes sense because these people are incoherent and hypocritical:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/01/young-adult-author-cancels-own-novel-after-race-controversy
"Zhao, who raised in Beijing and emigrated from China to the US at the age of 18, said she wrote the book “from my immediate cultural perspective”, writing that the slavery storylines in her novel “represent a specific critique of the epidemic of indentured labor and human trafficking prevalent in many industries across Asia, including in my own home country”."
Ok fine - they cancelled slavery history because it didn't paint white people as the bad guys ? And African folklore cancelled because white people bad sounds like you are inferring ?
Don't know anything about all the above just saying what I perceive as a general bias against certain cultures over others that's being promoted as a media narrative
Censorship is evil whatever it is cancelling and what we are seeing is all part of a more sinister agenda |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 09/07/2023 : 11:52:20
quote:
Originally posted by pot
I know a few Asian doctors and experts who were cancelled for their views on COVID - but I think most or all the culture cancelling is targetted towards White Western values and history etc - do you have an example of cancel culture attacking some cultural aspect of African or Asian culture ? I can’t think of one
I'm not talking about COVID, I'm talking about art.
Yes. Disney censoring Song of the South:
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Tar_Baby#:~:text=Originally%2C%20the%20Tar%20Baby%20was,different%20from%20the%20animated%20segments%2C
This aspect of the film (and the Splash Mountain ride) is based on African folklore. The story was invented by Africans many many years ago. It made white people uncomfortable so it's gone.
And this is the Asian author who had her book unpublished because it dared to discuss slavery from her own culture's history, which offended insane white people who don't want to hear about slavery, except when they want everybody to talk about it, and it never makes sense because these people are incoherent and hypocritical:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/01/young-adult-author-cancels-own-novel-after-race-controversy
"Zhao, who raised in Beijing and emigrated from China to the US at the age of 18, said she wrote the book “from my immediate cultural perspective”, writing that the slavery storylines in her novel “represent a specific critique of the epidemic of indentured labor and human trafficking prevalent in many industries across Asia, including in my own home country”." |
| pot |
Posted - 09/06/2023 : 12:15:40
quote:
Originally posted by Troubles A Foot
That's not quite true, pot. Many non-white people have been cancelled, mainly those that go against the grain of what politics or views white people expect them to have. One of the books unpublished that I was referring to was by an Asian author. But the reason this is mostly happening in western culture is because it's a western phenomenon. Other cultures have more important things to concern themselves with. It's generally an upper/middle class trend. Bored people without anything pressing going on in their lives, I think.
I know a few Asian doctors and experts who were cancelled for their views on COVID - but I think most or all the culture cancelling is targetted towards White Western values and history etc - do you have an example of cancel culture attacking some cultural aspect of African or Asian culture ? I can’t think of one
We have words in our language cancelled all the time - and as new ones replace old terms used to describe some race or whatever they then end up becoming considered offensive and then cancelled as well so we end up at a point where nobody knows what word(s) to use for fear of offending someone |
| pot |
Posted - 09/06/2023 : 10:58:36
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman
"Power of the mob", "orchestrated by media hysteria". I see a whole lot of people here in the Netherlands, whose concernces are happily broadcasted/published by traditional media, warning against a very small group of non-violent extremists. Their power to cancel is seen as normal, I guess.
Seen that clip from a few years ago during the lockdown era at some protest in the Netherlands somewhere ? a BBC reporter stopped someone to ask them a question and his response was (in a strong Dutch accent) “Oh you’re from the BBC - no man fuck the BBC!” and walks off and refuses to talk to them
I guess maybe it’s not as bad in NL and there’s far more People Power than in the UK these days but most people still seem blissfully ignorant to the sheer extent of the lies and psychological manipulation of the masses being used by all the main legacy media syndicates globally these days - all their news is approved by the Trusted News Inititative which is why they all pretty much repeat exactly the same news stories every day - some of the tactics they are using are exactly the same as what was used on the German people by Hitler pre-WWII
The UK government employs an actual “Nudge Unit” comprised of psychologists and “experts” who advise the government on policy enforcement - it usually involves sustained and calculated fearmongering hysteria across all platforms and plenty of fake virtue signalling |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 09/06/2023 : 08:54:00
Bill, my wife is in publishing and I see this stuff first-hand. I even see the editorial notes she gets from sensitivity readers. I'm now not just talking about what artists choose to do when they are self-censoring (which, as I've said, I also think is very worrying, and should worry you too), but how this culture of fear is diminishing artforms left and right, and draining talent and risk from once-exciting artists, and that we are all poorer for it. It's cultural rot. Some brave souls are not affected, but many are.
As I've said, books have actually been canceled before being published because a tiny group of people go insane about it (and in EVERY case it's totally ridiculous and not justified.) Movies are being censored. Disney rewrites their fairytale movies so as to be entirely risk-averse and not offend anybody. In the end we have an entire generation raised on bland oatmeal.
I remember one of the first examples of this was like 10 years ago, an artist for Batgirl (the comic book) had to apologize for making a drawing of the Joker too scary. This was when I knew something bizarre was happening. There are literally 1000s of these stories, which I keep up with, as it's incredibly fascinating and strange to me. And like I said, observing various artistic industries, I see these things happen and talk to people about it firsthand. If you have the time, you should dip into the YA publishing controversies over the past few years, highly entertaining and totally batshit crazy. Me and my wife listen to lots of podcasts chronicling these things.
This controlling behavior towards art is becoming normalized unless people loudly backlash against it, but I don't see that enough. Like Disney should have been made to apologize about censoring The French Connection, but they faced no consequence.
Hopefully, the tide will turn against this stuff. Any day now (checks watch.) |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/06/2023 : 05:24:06
"Power of the mob", "orchestrated by media hysteria". I see a whole lot of people here in the Netherlands, whose concernces are happily broadcasted/published by traditional media, warning against a very small group of non-violent extremists. Their power to cancel is seen as normal, I guess.
"They DON'T actually have to, but something in the air has made them think that...that something in the air is what is scary to me, and should be to you."
So where are talking about something that's in the air. Love that song by Thunderclap Newman.
But that's the whole point. You don't have to change anything, and that something in the air ("the sign of the times"?) can be something good, or something silly. It's for artists to decide what they want to change and what not.
---------------------------
BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 09/05/2023 : 19:56:56
That's not quite true, pot. Many non-white people have been cancelled, mainly those that go against the grain of what politics or views white people expect them to have. One of the books unpublished that I was referring to was by an Asian author. But the reason this is mostly happening in western culture is because it's a western phenomenon. Other cultures have more important things to concern themselves with. It's generally an upper/middle class trend. Bored people without anything pressing going on in their lives, I think. |
| pot |
Posted - 09/05/2023 : 13:54:46
The Stones are free to cancel culture whatever they like of theirs - but when it's part of a sinister growing trend orchestrated by media hysteria as part of a bigger agenda to control every aspect of our lives or to psychologically condition the masses for obedience then I have a problem with it - notice how it's all white western culture that is being slowly cancelled ? I don't think that isn't by design |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 09/05/2023 : 09:09:38
quote:
Originally posted by billgoodman
If the Stones want to change their own song, they have my blessing
Another band can play the original version, which I'm sure bands will do (if they haven't already)
I can still listen to the original version right? You better buy the original version btw, because if Spotify wants to block it, they can do that to. They would irritate me, but a company can do whatever they want. It's their product. It's for me to decide if I want to subscribe to it. That's why you should own stuff, imho.
Censorship is only censhorship if it's being forced on people by a source of power
And I usually think about goverments or public services
Taboo art is everywhere. Always have, always will. As long as goverments will not start to censor (or worse) I'm not that worried.
I do worry about extremist when they choose violence over arguments. But that's a whole different story.
I'm sorry but I could not disagree with this more. Self-censorship due to fear and mob outrage can be as insidious as government or "source of power" censorship. The source of power in the Rolling Stones (and, exhaustively, countless others) case is the power of the mob and, I assume, social media. And if you don't think they are a source of power, I don't know what to tell you. There are thousands of stories of firings, events cancelled, books un-published, etc, etc. I know because I have a deep interest in this topic and follow the stories and have been for years.
I have seen many artists I love begin to self-censor or make their work extra safe due to fear of controversy and it's disgusting and depressing to me. At this point it's actually a challenge trying to find new art that is risk-taking, or in basic terms, doesn't give a fuck. This aura of fear permeates through everything these days, and I find it incredibly suffocating. I think it's totally insane that the Rolling Stones of all people think they have to change their lyrics, and here is my point: they THINK they have to. They DON'T actually have to, but something in the air has made them think that...that something in the air is what is scary to me, and should be to you.
Great art often plays with the unconscious and some of our darker, inappropriate thoughts. Art that is literally socially CONSCIOUS is the opposite of that to me. It only wants to be approved of. It wants to play it safe, it doesn't want anybody mad at it. I've seen this happen to writers, comedians, filmmakers, etc in the past 10 years. It's truly awful. I keep waiting for the pendulum to swing back. Jesus, even The French Connection got censored by Disney and unless you own an old copy, there's no way to see the original version. The censored version even screened in theaters unbeknownst to ticket buyers. This is deeply offensive to me.
The Rolling Stones and other legendary, taboo-breaking acts like that are canaries in the coal mine, and we should be really concerned if they are self-censoring. Especially a song that nobody had any real issues with for like 50 years, for god's sake. Imagine if the Pixies starting changing lyrics, hiring sensitivity readers to make sure nobody is offended? I don't even see how that's different from what the Rolling Stones felt they had to do. Changing "and the whores like a choir" to "and the sex workers like a choir"? I mean, it seems silly, but if the Stones are doing it, it's not really a far-fetched concept.
I don't want the fire and the unpredictability and the madness and wildness of art to be stripped away. |
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/05/2023 : 01:14:11
If the Stones want to change their own song, they have my blessing
Another band can play the original version, which I'm sure bands will do (if they haven't already)
I can still listen to the original version right? You better buy the original version btw, because if Spotify wants to block it, they can do that to. They would irritate me, but a company can do whatever they want. It's their product. It's for me to decide if I want to subscribe to it. That's why you should own stuff, imho.
Censorship is only censhorship if it's being forced on people by a source of power
And I usually think about goverments or public services
If the BBC wants to censor a song I'm a bit worried. But a commercial station can play what they want. They own us nothing
(they sell ads for a living, what can you expect?).
Taboo art is everywhere. Always have, always will. As long as goverments will not start to censor (or worse) I'm not that worried.
I do worry about extremist when they choose violence over arguments. But that's a whole different story.
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 09/04/2023 : 20:58:22
quote:
Originally posted by Brank_Flack
on the other hand I can see why the Rolling Stones might change the lyrics to a song about slave owners having sex with the black women on their transcontinental slave ships!
I genuinely can't. The song is purposefully taboo. It was then and it remains so. What the hell does it accomplish to change it? Nobody in their right mind would think it was promoting slavery or any such nonsense. Are we all infants now?
There is a place for taboo art that shocks us, disgusts us, makes us laugh. To censor it all away would not only be a great loss to culture but I actually think would be more dangerous than letting out the gross, inappropriate feelings through art. Because if we can't let them out through art, they will come out in much worse ways.
Taboo art is taboo. News at 11. |
| Brank_Flack |
Posted - 09/04/2023 : 11:20:41
Yeah, I'm pretty ambivalent on the issue. I also share some core values, but find the application didactic, humorless, and puritanical. At the same time, I think there is a pretty clear danger of over-reaction against wokeism, via the rage-farming industry. Or in other words, anti-pc movements can fall into the same trap as the politically correct when they too become governed by indignation.
On the one hand I think the BBC's censorship of Fairytale in New York was asinine, on the other hand I can see why the Rolling Stones might change the lyrics to a song about slave owners having sex with the black women on their transcontinental slave ships!
For what it's worth, I think Nick Cave is a thoughtful and insightful critic of political correctness. |
| pot |
Posted - 09/04/2023 : 08:38:16
I probably share most of the core values of what has become known as Woke - my issue is more with the people who promote the Woke - young lefty liberals these days are an embarrassment - even I wasn't that much of a melt when I was their age
Cancel Culture is downright sinister the direction it's taking society and the gradual removal of our rights - I don't see any of it as a benign part of the natural evolution of society and it should be collectively resisted |
| Sprite |
Posted - 09/04/2023 : 05:34:31
A little bit of Breeders for you
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/sep/04/the-breeders-last-splash-30th-anniversary-tour-interview
|
| billgoodman |
Posted - 09/04/2023 : 03:58:22
Not saying that I don't agree with your opinions here, but our whole shared history is filled with changing cultural productions and dismissing choices people (including ourselves) made before. Some of it is progress, some of it is just fashion. It's all showbizz...
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BF: Mag ik Engels spreken? |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 09/03/2023 : 08:17:22
Even the Rolling Stones are apparently self-censoring their concerts. It's a sad time. |
| pot |
Posted - 09/03/2023 : 00:34:54
This generation of wokists do my head in - complete shower of goodie two shoes virtue signalling morons - I get accused of being a bigot regularly by Gen Z
How long before Black Francis get cancelled for being a racist stage name ? The Black Madonna has already changed her name to The Blessed Madonna |
| Troubles A Foot |
Posted - 09/02/2023 : 10:49:21
That's a really weird article. He's essentially saying he regrets his provocative and offensive art from years ago because it is no longer acceptable because it's not...woke or sensitive enough or something? Stuff from his hardcore punk bands? Kind of lame, to be honest. I mean, that's fine for him to feel regretful about that stuff, but it just seems like he's cowering before the mob or something and getting out in front of the (non-existent) bullets. I actually agree more with his past self that is quoted, that his politics are obvious and actions matter so much more than words. I mean, apologizing for having Mussolini in your album art? Does anybody actually think it was some sort of endorsement of fascism? That's ridiculous. |
| Sprite |
Posted - 08/31/2023 : 08:05:06
Profile and interview of a 'reformed' Albini with some Kim Deal quotes that sound quite un-Dealy.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/15/the-evolution-of-steve-albini-if-the-dumbest-person-is-on-your-side-youre-on-the-wrong-side
|
| Arm Arm Arm |
Posted - 08/05/2023 : 08:55:33
The Happening is one of my favorite songs; when I first heard the Thing was a bit disappointed that it was just part of what I consider a masterpiece song, instead of a totally unheard Pixies track.
As for UFOs or Biologic Blah blah blah, it's all distraction. Or if Trump sneezed. Or Biden farted. I don't want countries to go to war and bomb each other but since I'm not out in the streets protesting, the best thing I can do is work on being the best version of myself and hope cumulative good goes out into the world.
What counts is what we do with our time here; I'm guilty of wasting time online but it's best when I'm about what I need to be doing with my life. Am I being a good person today? Am I being impatient with the slow-moving person in the grocery line? Or the bad driver putting along in the turning/fast lane? Or do I have a kind word for someone who needs it and understanding patience for others?
My take on things.
Just listened to BLD for the first time in years, what an album..! And I love the sound of it, particularly the drums, such rich warmth.
cheers! |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 08/05/2023 : 08:46:34
Wow, I'm glad to hear all this (about The Thing)
The Pixies are going to be really big someday |
| pot |
Posted - 08/04/2023 : 14:03:34
quote:
Originally posted by Stevio10
There has been that David Grusch dude testifying in Congress about 'non-human biologics' relating to UAP and crash retrieval programs.
Whether that's related or not who knows (Is Motorway to Roswell trending?). I haven't been on Spotify for a while, maybe there's been some UAP related playlists? Reddit / Twitter has been UAP rife recently.
All just distraction news - they can pretty much put out anything these days and the dumb fucks who watch CNN or the BBC will swallow it - there was that old poltician who retired in Canada a few years ago saying the same thing - but guess what still no evidence or proof
I'm not saying it's not possible aliens have visited the earth but the very fact the only country in world claiming to have any top secret evidence is the US instantly alerts my bullshit radar - everything the American government says is a lie - I'm now questionning the validity of the moon landings (I'm not sure but leaning heavily towards it was all faked with the help of Stanley Kubrick)
Speaking of UFOs I tried to redesign my Pixies poster with better UFOs and it's sort of better ?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CviYjy7oQJ7 |
| Stevio10 |
Posted - 08/04/2023 : 12:56:30
quote:
Originally posted by Jamie
Is there a reason The Thing has become popular? Was it in something, or is it just Miley Cyrus's tattoo?
Speaking of which, it was always really odd to me that The Thing was credited for that rather than The Happening. I'd guess whoever first reported it just googled the lyrics and The Thing came up first.
There has been that David Grusch dude testifying in Congress about 'non-human biologics' relating to UAP and crash retrieval programs.
Whether that's related or not who knows (Is Motorway to Roswell trending?). I haven't been on Spotify for a while, maybe there's been some UAP related playlists? Reddit / Twitter has been UAP rife recently. |
| Jamie |
Posted - 08/04/2023 : 12:27:38
Is there a reason The Thing has become popular? Was it in something, or is it just Miley Cyrus's tattoo?
Speaking of which, it was always really odd to me that The Thing was credited for that rather than The Happening. I'd guess whoever first reported it just googled the lyrics and The Thing came up first. |
| jake3 |
Posted - 08/04/2023 : 05:21:10
quote:
Originally posted by Stevio10
Official lyric video for 'The Thing'
https://youtu.be/9qaJKP0GFwU
I wonder if this has been made due to the success the song is seeing on Spotify? It currently has more listens than any song on Bossanova! Even Velouria.
Some of these lyric videos are very impressive, this one included. |
| Stevio10 |
Posted - 08/04/2023 : 01:54:37
Official lyric video for 'The Thing'
https://youtu.be/9qaJKP0GFwU |
| Bedbug |
Posted - 07/29/2023 : 18:38:01
A new cover of WIMM, from Klowniac
https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/news/getnews/klown-themed-artist-klowniac-drops-melancholic-cover-of-pixies-where-is-my-mind- |
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