look here

yes, i'd say, critics can change their minds.

case in point: every time i hear a damian marley song on the radio recently, i immediately think, "oooh--i like this song," often before i even recognize what it is or realize that it was something with which i wasn't so impressed upon my first or second listen. (though i do wonder whether my pleasurable reaction is merely a product of simple recognition, of revelry in the ability of memory.) at any rate, my previous critiques still stand; indeed, the music derives its meanings through such overlapping contextual frames--it is multivalent, offering nuff points of engagement. do i contradict myself? very well then.

also, i don't think critics, despite their (often suspect) claims to authority, represent any special case: everyone changes their mind from time to time with regard to aesthetic judgments--that's what elaine scarry's talking about when she speaks of beauty and being wrong.

jace recently had something similar to say, in a short exchange about my luomo "review," about some of the phallacies, paradoxes, and orthodoxies of contemporary journo-criticism:

reviewings' overrated! :) i certainly dont think exposition should be the default written response to art; suggestion implies continuation via transformation, amplification, mutation, contagion -- how the pieces seeped into or penetrated you.

the standard reviewer's critical body is falsely intact much of the time;

preferring tatters

/rupture

interestingly, his response recalled the opening paragraphs of scarry's beautiful little book--a passage that rises to the occasion in its economy and plainspoken poesis.

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in other news..



LTJ bukem's got a blogg! funny thing about it: he's selling condos.




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craftily craftfully seeking kraftwerk..



richie hawtin's transitions is, zwar, quite a piece of work. not nearly as banging an outing as closer to the edit (his previous DE9 release), hawtin's new one is at times flat-out bucolic, ebbing and flowing all the while, but for the most part hanging closer to the chillroom than the dancefloor. the accompanying DVD is not a bonus, it's essential: not only does it provide the full 96 minute mix in surround sound (of which the CD provides a less grand edit for the medium-challenged), the DVD offers a visualization for the mix that dynamically displays the artists and tracks as hawtin triggers them and fades them in and out. there's something almost pedagogical about such transparency, and i really like that. hawtin is similarly generous and forthcoming about his technique and thought process in an interview also contained on the DVD, and a couple short videos offer filmic representations of his mixing style: objects in the visual field gradually or lurchingly move around, appearing and fading again with the same beguiling subtlety and surprise as the layers in hawtin's music. definitely an expansive sonic vision, if you'll except such a mixed metaphor, and expertly executed at that.

envelope pushed. next?

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wanna thumb wrestle special?..



lejo's thumb animations are out-of-this-world wonderful. i hope sesame street in the states carries them, too (though i think they switched to a hurban format a while back, so i'm not sure these would fit). click on your respective language button, and then check out the videos, especially the ones on the top left (the DJ) and top right (the magician) and the one with the accordion (bottom left).