the scowl » EMP08

monday morning links

Tobias — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:44:39 +0000

One: More EMP Pop Conference recaps, from Robert Christgau and Carl Wilson.

Two: The AV Club on unanswered TV questions.

pop conference redux

Tobias — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:05:18 +0000

It’s worth mentioning that Ned Raggett has posted four lengthy recaps of the Pop Conference on his blog:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Remarkably comprehensive, and some dialogue with participants in the comments to boot.

a stretch of days in april 2008 spent at the experience music project pop conference

Tobias — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:18:44 +0000

Last year was my first time at the Experience Music Project Pop Conference. This year’s occupied more time yet felt shorter — I’m not sure if that’s due to the fact that my paper last year was delivered early on the first full day, whereas this year found me speaking on the second, or to some residual disorientation from the fact that getting out to Seattle took around nineteen hours longer than I’d planned.

That said, one thing that stood out distinctly this year was the flow of many of the panels I saw. The discussion sparked during some — “Ballads for Americans” in particular — were outstanding on their own, and once again I find myself seeking out an abundance of music I hadn’t heard before. (Above all else: Labi Siffree, subject of a heartfelt paper from Charles Aaron.) Given that much of what I read relates in some way to music or politics, getting to spend a few days hearing knowledgeable people discussing both is something of a joy.

Some highlights? Daphne Carr‘s exploration of pain and the experience of listening to noise — which, structurally, ended up feeling like a counterpart to her Joe’s Pub reading earlier in the month. Jody Rosen on the music and influence of Eva Tanguay; Daphne Brooks‘s examination of Amy Winehouse through the lens (in part) of Sandra Bernhart’s Without You I’m Nothing. The aforementioned Charles Aaron piece. Robert Christgau on the relevance of John Mayer and the critical response to TV on the Radio’s Return to Cookie Mountain. Greg Tate‘s talk and Q & A, encompassing the origins of the Black Rock Coalition and improvisational large ensembles. Alexandra Vazquez‘s “Towards an Ethics of Knowing Nothing”, which evoked images of urban transit and decades-old radio broadcasts before arriving at its conclusion.

emp: supplemental

Tobias — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:26:31 +0000

In retrospect, as I prepared to deliver my paper, I realized that a relatively genius thing might have been to post some of the songs mentioned in said paper on muxtape. When your traveling laptop is six years old and your hotel internet connection is spotty, though, that’s somewhat less of an option.

That said, on the off chance that anyone’s curious, if you heard the paper (a final version should surface sometime soon, either here or elsewhere) and would like to hear more from the groups mentioned:

-The Ex’s 1936 EP is still in print. One of the two discs is also available on eMusic, and more lyrics and credits can be found here. The Ex’s website itself? Here.

-There is a Political Asylum myspace page, with four songs streaming; Last.fm has a page for the band as well.

-Folk This! have a website with audio, liner notes, and more.

-AK Press’s website is here; PM Press’s, here. Crimethinc.’s is here.

-Scritti Politti’s (very, very minimal) website is here. There’s a fairly lengthy blog post on “Skank Bloc Bologna”, with audio, here.

-There’s a tribute page for Desperate Bicycles here. Much of their discography can be found online, something that’s hotly debated over the course of three years right here.

-Southern’s CRASS page is here.

-Jeffrey Lewis’s page is here; the interview cited in my paper is here. For two widely differing takes on the disc, I refer you to Douglas Wolk and Franklin Bruno.

-Arbeiter Ring Publishing. The Weakerthans. “Pamphleteer” might break your heart.

-Against Me! live here.

-G7 Welcoming Committee bid farewell here.

this is not a proper emp post

Tobias — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:52:34 +0000

Instead: links to a number of pieces I heard about and/or read during the conference. These include:

-Eric Grandy’s Stranger piece on The Microphones, which convinced me to pick up the recent reissue of their The Glow, Pt. 2 on a late-in-the-trip trek to Easy Street Records;
-Molly Templeton on Cat Power, also because (if memory serves) the author was the first to turn me on to the music of Chan Marshall;
-Amy Phillips interviews The Gutter Twins, and basketball is discussed abundantly.