Mptemp's Blog

mptemp — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:48:00 +0000

All sound is more or less “noise” until conventions congeal to classify it as “music,” but according to Marc Masters’ “The Decade in Noise”, dozens of bands used the Oughts to reintroduce dissonance and volume to rock and punk audiences. In the process new hybrids were created, more wild polarities explored, and, like so many niche musics over the last decade, it all found larger and more diverse audiences than imaginable before. Marc’s piece is a concise blow-by-blow of the bands who came to prominence over the last 10 years, but it works better as a reaffirmation that the Internet didn’t kill scenes, it just let them speak to each other in ways they’d never done before, noise’s lifeblood in particular being mercurial live performances. I particularly enjoy this line, which (spoiler alert) ends the first 1/3: “Global noise became a local phenomenon, a web of scenes equally devoted to each other and the world around them.”

2010 EMP

mptemp — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:59:00 +0000

The last few years, various things–scheduling conflicts, themes at the other end of the world from what I’m interested in/can write compellingly about–have coalesced to restrict my attending EMP, despite my intense desire to commingle with so many others whose work I admire, fear, and most of all, enjoy reading. This year, though: uh-huh. Music and technology is my shiz, and I’ll probably throw together 22 abstracts before setting on the best one to send. You should send too! Deets below:

2010 Pop Conference Call for Proposals
The Pop Machine: Music and Technology

Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame

Seattle, April 15-18, 2010

Popular music might be narrated as a story of sounds and the machines that make them. From the talking drum and parlor room piano to the Gibson Les Paul, from the Edison phonograph to Roland 808 beatbox and Antares Autotune software, how have pop’s contraptions reflected, inflected, and mediated musical history? What changes when we start with thetechnology that makes the ineffable material, and its shaping of modes of production and consumption? As we close out a decade of momentous change at all levels of popular music, this is a salient moment for rethinking the continual dialogue in pop between the new and the traditional. Note: this call is not aimed only at gearheads. What counts as human is produced in and through the use of technologies. We need to hear the voices that wrap flesh around the wiring.

Topics can cover any era or style of music and may include, but are not limited to:

–Hardware: the effect of equipment on how we make, record, disseminate, and fetishize music.
–Business: economies of scale(s), the demand for profit in changing technological contexts.
–Identity: how youth culture, Afromodernism, and transgender/transsexual personas, manufactured divas and real fem-bots, among other pop categories, deploy technology.
–Technology in the 2000s: iPods, computer game music, music and war, digital technology exhuming analog artifacts.
–Aesthetics: “perfect sound forever” to pixelation and lossy file formats; Computer Love erotics; power chords from amplified blues to Guitar Hero.
–”The street finds its own use for things”: working class, global, racial, and other subaltern appropriations of technology, from sound systems to rock camps for girls.
–Bodies as technologies: the ?natural? as a response to changing artifices; the voice as a modifiable tool.
–Music writing and the technological formations it rests upon.
–Anxieties and doubts: folk revivalists, roots rockers, and other tech-refuseniks.

The Pop Conference at EMP|SFM, now in its ninth year, joins academics, critics, performers, and dedicated fans in a rare common discussion. The conference is sponsored by the American Music Partnership of Seattle (Experience Music Project, the University of Washington School of Music, and KEXP 90.3 FM), through a grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. This year’s program committee members are: writer and filmmaker Raquel Cepeda, Jasen Emmons (EMP/SFM), musician Sean Nelson, Tavia Nyongo (NYU), Lauren Onkey (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum), Ann Powers (Los Angeles Times), Jody Rosen (Slate), Barry Shank (Ohio State), Tyina Steptoe (University of Washington), and Tim Taylor (UCLA).

Please send proposals of 250 words, with 50 word bio, to organizer Eric Weisbard (University of Alabama) at Eric.Weisbard@gmail.com. *Deadline for proposals is Tuesday, December 15. *Panel proposals, for either three presenters (90 minutes) or four (105 minutes), should include overview language and 200 word individual proposals, plus panelist bios. We welcome unorthodox proposals and proposals aimed explicitly at a general interest audience. For more information, go to.

The Next Round

mptemp — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Fun books for the next few months! And some chatty academic ones, too!

Disable Embedding

mptemp — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:12:00 +0000

Doesn’t that sound like an old-timey polite phrase for a father ensuring that the lad courting his daughter doesn’t get past first base?

marathonpacks 2009 Midterm Mix, Vol. 2

mptemp — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:46:00 +0000

I binged this weekend. Here’s #2, overburdened as it is with witty asides, mostly about fucking and drugs. Two more to come, perhaps this week, surely less burdened with such untoward content. I’m just doing the split-track versions from here on out. Contemporize.

marathonpacks 2009 Midterm Mix, Vol. 2 (65:06, 192k, 90.2mb)

1. Wild Beasts “We Still Got the Taste Dancing on Our Tongues” The best bits of Orange Juice and Country Life-era Roxy Music, stirred into a fruity stew that sticks around long after digestion. Preppies wilding, puckering with bee-stung lips, not regretting a second of it. (Domino)
2. Cornershop “Chamcha” This is about as inna dub style as Talvin Singh gets, and so it’s not the best primer for the rest of Judy, which errs more toward the Brit pop end of the spectrum (guys: I hear Noel Gallagher’s looking for a gig). Still: hot. The new album’s “We’re in Yr Corner.” (Ample Play)
3. Javelin “Oh Centra” Which, with Micachu’s “Golden Phone” (see first mix), is my summer jam. I found out recently that Javelin was two Brooklyn beardos (which whatever, because all music is at some point made by Brooklyn beardos), but I prefer to stick with what I imagined initially: that it’s an 8-bit love song recently unearthed off a 3.5″ floppy penned to sync with a double-dutch themed Atari 2600 game (minus the sudoku reference). Best part: when they namedrop the dance styles (“girl, do the monkeyfoot!”) (over the “Push It” drop!), at the end. (self-released)
4. YACHT “The Afterlife” Lyrically, YACHT songs tend to do one (or more) of these three things: repurpose old bromides (“See A Penny, Pick It Up” inter alia), describe far-out fantastic places (“Psychic City”) and also something close to evangelizing, but not quite evangelizing. Claire Evans’ guileless delivery is the key here–she sounds like a teenage Kate Pierson welcoming campers to a hipper-than-thou youth retreat. (DFA)
5. Electrik Red “Muah” Aside from “Umbrella,” The-Dream had been pretty far off My-Radar until I put this album on. Is all his stuff this good? Because this is awesome. Tons of noises compressed into a small space, but everything sorted. That sheen. The Betty Draper-on-a -stripper pole empowerment-as-”empowerment” they’re pushing (Missy Elliott turns over in her grave. RIP Missy Elliott (‘s career)), isn’t really any different than Jay-Z on the cover of Cigar Aficianado and elsewhere rapping about how his knots don’t fit in his jeans (his knots are too large. RIP my ignorance of this fact). But “Muah” kills mainly because it organizes classic pop gibberish so well, down to the onomatopoeia and the “I’m the shit/ With this shit” refrain. I love these hos. (Def Jam)
6. Junior Boys “Parallel Lines” Psst: the dude on the right totally wants to fuck you. And you will let him, because of how his frigid whisper of a voice sits in that hip, sanitized empty technospace on some Solaris shit. Junior Boys will always be special to me (and you, the one being fucked) because of the horny minimalist future-funk of “In the Morning.” “Morning” was the JBs’ own “Hey Nineteen,” though. “Parallel” happens more at the “Haitian Divorce” part of the relationship. “Morning” is a breakup song, but one that austerely focuses on the academic minutiae of the ritualized conversations that attend these sorts of separations. Greenspan’s a cold, exacting dude, and the song is righteously chilly: “It’s all right to say it/ Just as long as you don’t really think so.” Ouch man. “Or do you need a moment to rememorize/ And model it like a curse half disguised?” Jeremy Greenspan is getting his PhD in Seductive Fuck You Studies (SFYS), and this is the first chapter of his dissertation. (Domino. Man, Domino’s having an all-time year, huh)
7. Kid Cudi “Daps & Pound” I have a feeling that most of you know a guy like Kid Cudi, or at least the character he takes on here. The guy who you see basically everywhere around town, hopping between tables at the bar, not spending more than 10 minutes anywhere. He seems to “know” everyone, though no one really knows him. He always has weed. And like weed, he can be too much to deal with in large doses (what up?! what it be?!), but properly regulated he’s completely harmless, and a blast to chill with. (The Internet)
8. The XX “Crystalised” This reminds me of everything from the Kills to Young Marble Giants, to what I’d imagine Terence Trent D’Arby would do if he were to be in his early twenties right now. The Cure, guys. The best part is when they harmonize, while saying different things, Annie Hall rooftop/subtitles style. (Rough Trade)
9. Hot Chip “Transmission” The first time I put this on, I winced for about the first minute, waiting for it to turn into some Willy Wonka/Gary Numan nightmare and make me hate Hot Chip (I love Hot Chip). But no: closer to A Certain Ratio. The occasional steel drums are a bit much maybe. Not quite this, though. Also: “dance dance dance dance dance to the radio” is such a wonderful slogan. (Warchild.us)
10. Mr. Oizo f. Uffie “Steroids” Their stab at “Lip Gloss” or “Milkshake,” or “Hollaback Girl”. Haha “stab.” This song is in the vein of those other songs. (Ed Banger)
11. Circulatory System “Overjoyed” My fave song from the other album is “Joy,” and this song is, appropriately enough more than that song. The first time I encountered it, I wanted to hear “Overjoyed” eat another song, after overwhelming it like a panic attack. (Cloud Recordings)
12. Fuck Buttons “Surf Solar (Edit)” MORE JOY. This thing just fucking blazes. As such, it eventually engulfs itself. I’m assuming the album version is much longer? When can someone rap over this? Would that work? (ATP)
13. Volcano Choir “Island, IS” Bon Iver guy turns into Kyp Malone, freestyling over a Dirty Projectors loop provided by the bros he just blazed with. Lyrically, “Island” is some serious stoner vanity project shiz, and I can’t vouch for the rest of Unmap, but god damn if this gobbledydook didn’t grab lightning in a bottle (and then used said lightning to ignite the bong made out of the Sobe bottle). I assume that girls and or guys (and maybe even “those with both”) of a certain aesthetic disposition want to fuck Justin Vernon as much as they want to fuck the Phosphorescent guy. According to one of the lyrics I’ve been able to discern here, Vernon’s cool with that: “we all wanna fuck/ in the snow that’s been pushed/ to the side.” It doesn’t sound appealing at all–that snow is usually pretty dirty–but it makes for a great image. It also makes me snicker at the album cover (“It’s freezing out here! Where’d you go?!”). (Jagjaguwar)
14. Atlas Sound f. Noah Lennox “Walkabout” Another one that feels like a bit of a lark, but a fun one. I would have put good money on a collaboration between these two pleasing me, but not bowling me over. Lennox’s cathedralesque ambitions are a good foil for Cox’s woozy chants, and the whole childhood regression vibe can oscillate nicely between “bedridden during my tweens” and well, this. (Kranky)
15. The Field “The More That I Do” Yeah, the whole thing, or: The More That You Listen. (Kompakt)
16. jj “Ecstasy” In Sweden, apparently, “ecstasy” is slang for Xanax and Absolut. I gather. And a fucked-up taste in your mouth the next morning. (Sincerely Yours)
17. Santigold f. Gucci Mane “Unfreakable Girl” At this point, I’ve totally lost control of this thing. Time to hit the lights and round up the abandoned debit cards. (Southerngold Mixtape)

marathonpacks 2009 Midterm Mix, Vol. 1

mptemp — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 02:27:00 +0000

This is starting a bit late in the year, for reasons best explained in the prior post. And I was going to write little blurbs for each song, but then I realized that I’m just not into writing about music qua music right now. One of those phases, I suppose. All around, though, I think this is a pretty fun mix that can stand on its own. The transition between “Hey Playa” and “Stillness” is retarded, and not necessarily executed as well as it could be given “skill” and “the proper software,” but it’s done in good faith. Those songs belong near one another. “Seven” to “Glass” is also sort of ridiculous, but easier on the ears. Should be another one coming up somewhat soon–right now, it’s in parts, with orange cones around it.

marathonpacks 2009 Midterm Mix, Vol. 1 (68:32, 192k, 95.7mb)

Two versions: 1) broken into tracks and 2) all in one piece.

Zee list:

1. Tune-Yards “Sunlight”

2. Tortoise “Northern Something”

3. Micachu & the Shapes “Golden Phone”
4. Wiley f. Daniel Merriweather “Cash in my Pocket”

5. DJ Quik & Kurupt “Hey Playa”

6. Dirty Projectors “Stillness is the Move”

7. Ginz & Joker “Purple City”

8. Fever Ray “Seven”

9. Bat for Lashes “Glass”

10. Pictureplane “Goth Star”

11. BBU “Chi Don’t Dance”

12. Handsome Furs “I’m Confused”

13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Zero”

14. Franz Ferdinand “Twilight Omens”

15. Phoenix “1901”

16. Royksopp f. Lykke Li “Miss it So Much”

17. Boredoms “Ant 10 (DJ Finger Hat mix)”

18. A Sunny Day in Glasgow “Close Chorus”

My Summer Vacation. And, Nerd Alert.

mptemp — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Toldja I’d be back. Thanks for sticking around, all four of you.

I honestly thought I’d keep up with this thing over the summer–I mean, I was basically on the laptop much of the time. It’s funny how writing for others can seem like such a chore, when typing up notes and annotations is taking up most of my time. This was my summer of reading for, and then taking, my PhD qualifying exams. It works basically in two parts. The first part is mainly based in fear: my four committee members sign off on four reading lists in four different categories, each list with a combination of about 30 books/articles/chapters-from-books. I frantically read and re-read and skimmed everything, because I have no idea what my committee members will ask me questions about three months later. That’s the second part: I wrote about 10-15 pages on each of four broad questions dealing with those lists. That was my last two weeks. From May until two weeks ago, all I did was read. And underline. And margin-note. And annotate. For the last two weeks, I had to shrink all that down to 60 pages, give or take. And they wouldn’t even let me join a club where I submit a book report to earn a personal pan pizza.

I also watched the entirety of The Wire and Arrested Development for the second time each, and I’m just starting season 2 of Mad Men (thoughts to come). You’d be amazed at how much you want to watch television after reading for 8 hours a day. Okay, 7.

Just for fun, here’s sociologist Howard Becker’s legendary exegesis on doobage-puffing, “Becoming A Marihuana User” (1953).

Like driving somewhere, getting there, and instantly not remembering anything about the drive, at some point during the summer, I wrote an essay called “The Social History of the mp3,” which went up today. It’s the first of a series long-form things as part of Pitchfork’s two-month long sayanora to ye olde Aughts, which commenced with the singles countdown (to which I contributed words on “Shakey Dog” and “Your Cover’s Blown” here, “Lloyd, I’m Ready” here, “Nothing Ever Happened” here, and “Ready for the Floor” here).

The “social history” thing, yes. I sincerely hope it comes across well, and clearly. I’m making some pretty sweeping claims, some bugged-out comparisons, and some open-hearted pleas in there. I hope the tl;dr-ness doesn’t stop you from sitting with it for about a half-hour (my estimate), and maybe leaving some helpful hints in the comments, if you’re so inclined. Believe it or not, there was a ton of stuff I wanted to put in there, but cut for length, or just because I was told that it was in fact not something that anyone would want to read of their own volition.

On that note, thanks to Scott P. and Mark R. for editing the crap out of that thing, challenging some of the stranger points I was making, and generally performing an academectomy on the whole thing.

Because I still have this thing, and I feel I should do something bloggish with my weird summer, her’s a list of the best stuff I read–they’re all “academic,” but they’re “good academic” because they’re books you’d actually enjoy reading. Maybe. The ones with asterisks were really important to sparking my imagination for the Pitchfork essay. I’ll post again in a while about the future of this site and stuff. Until then, in alphabetical order, (nerd alert):

Mark Andrejevic “iSpy: Surveillance and Power in the Interactive Era“
Ien Ang “Desperately Seeking the Audience“
*Arjun Appadurai “The Social Life of Things“
Robert Armstrong “Powers of Presence: Consciousness, Myth and Affecting Presence“
Roland Barthes “Image Music Text“
*Yochai Benkler “The Wealth of Networks“
James Boyle “The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind” (or: free as a pdf)
*James Carey “Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society“
Rosemary Coombe “The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties“
Tarleton Gillespie “Wired Shut: Copyright & the Shape of Digital Culture“
Matt Hills “Fan Cultures“
*Henry Jenkins “Convergence Culture“
Brian Larkin “Degraded Images, Distorted Sounds: Nigerian Video and the Infrastructure of Piracy” (pdf)
*Lawrence Lessig “Free Culture” (pdf)
Jessica Litman “Digital Copyright“
*Carolyn Marvin “When Old Technologies Were New“
Richard Peterson “Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity“
Mark Rose “Authors & Owners: The Invention of Copyright“
*Nicholas Sammond “Babes in Tomorrowland“
Susan Lee Star “The Ethnography of Infrastructure” (pdf)
Jonathan Sterne “The Audible Past“
Fred Turner “From Counterculture to Cyberculture“
Michael Warner “Publics and Counterpublics“
Eva Hemmungs Wirten “No Trespassing“

Be back next week, folks.

mptemp — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:25:00 +0000

(via)

mptemp — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:06:00 +0000

“In every society one can contrast occasions and moments for silence and occasions and moments for talk. In our own, one can go on to say that by and large (and especially among the unacquainted) silence is the norm and talk something for which warrant must be present…In holding our tongue, we give evidence that such thought as we are giving to our own concerns is not presumed by us to be of any moment to the others present, and that the feelings these concerns invoke in ourselves are owed no sympathy. Without such enjoined modesty, there could be no public life, only a babble of childish adults pulling at one another’s sleeves for attention. The mother to whom we would be saying, ‘Look, no hands,’ could not look or reply for she would be saying ‘Look, no hands,’ to someone else.“

Erving Goffman, Forms of Talk

mptemp — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:21:00 +0000

“Linear, overt activism that calls attention to itself is as shitty as cosmetic beauty that does the same. And “political” punk-folk farted out for a like-minded protest-horny audience is just as redundant as hymns about being at church or club anthems about clubbing. (We’ll be DIY when we make our own cigarettes, fuel, and plastic.) The consistently poverty-stricken Edgar Allan Poe dropped a great term for such “humble” imps: “self-bepuffed.” Bragging about how you’re going to cultishly “liberate” a particular community is as bizarre and arrogant as hoarding stuffed animals, which, as the cultural critic Daniel Harris has pointed out in his book Cute, Quaint, Hungry, & Romantic, is an act of sadism: surrounding yourself with helpless lessers in need of your propping.”

William Bowers, “Puritan Blister #44 | 2009: A Xiu Xiudyssey“

When brief asides are as good and on-point as this–in a longer, autobiographical piece about his Xiu Xiu fandom and sexual abuse, no less–there arises the need for several deep breaths when you’re writing your next thing that you think is going to be good.