Tuesday, January 22, 2008

How It's Done




Good writing about music is not dead, just comatose. Here's a faint blip on the EKG via Tris McCall, who I know nothing about except he/she is totally awesome. Check out the year-end roundup here.

Rilo Kiley -- "Silver Lining", "The Moneymaker"

Just before Under The Blacklight concludes, Jenny Lewis makes a passing reference to the "dogs of L.A."; right before that, on "Smoke Detector", her band channels whitechocolatespaceegg. Sympathy for Liz Phair bleeds through the cracks of the new Rilo Kiley, and why shouldn't it?, trill recognize trill. Like Phair, Lewis never considered herself "indie" except by trick of ill fortune: she had her eye on the Hollywood Hills from the outset, and if making nice with Conor Oberst could help get her there, well, that was a price she was prepared to pay. Liz Phair owed much of her initial run of terrific press to desperate rock journalists who believed that because of her indie-girl approachability, they stood a puncher's chance to fuck her someday; ditto for Lewis. And that's amusing for awhile, until it isn't. And when it isn't, you might be tempted to put out an album like Liz Phair, or Under The Blacklight: an album that says "no, sorry, you will not ever fuck me; moreover, here is some alienating hypersexuality for you to choke on, just so you understand that you and I are playing in different leagues". Then, those journalists race home to write their bad reviews, and whack off to St. Vincent. So everybody's happy.

9 comments:

Shanghai Shecky said...

to say that liz phair got good reviews because the guys interviewing thought they could fuck her is bullshit and reductive and borderline sexist.

quickdraw said...

It's not borderline sexist...it IS sexist.

the developher said...

um, is that really Jenny Lewis? Her boobs look, as the French would say, "enorme".

quickdraw said...

I also agree her tetas look freaking HUGE.

The Hitmaker said...

Shecky, I respectfully disagree. A portion of liz phair's good reviews were because the guys doing the reviewing loved the cute girl with the naughty mouth. Is it sexist when dude actors/singers achieve success because of their looks? Is it sexist to say that Brad Pitt got more gigs because he's good-looking?
Btw, Great boobs on that talented chick.

Shanghai Shecky said...

there's a difference between someone being/becoming famous because people WANT to fuck them and someone being heaped with critical praise because the reviewer thinks he/she has a shot at ACTUALLY fucking them.

Tony B. said...

That review is reductive as all hell, which seems to be this gals (?) deal. Lots of snark in a short space in which there is buried some kernel of truth (though your actual mileage may vary.)

And: "Enorme'" is the name of the fake "plus-sized" perfume advertised on 30 Rock. HA!!

the developher said...

how can you tell the intention of the individual from the review?

Maybe some people do write good reviews in the hopes of scoring. David, do you have any insight on this?

I forgot about that perfume bit! God i love that show.

The Hitmaker said...

p.s. - nice use of "tetas"--muy bueno. I'm opening up a Mexican breakfast place called Buenas Tetas.