Books and Culture: A Christian take on rock criticism:
Pop music criticism has grown so insular, full of itself, hipper-than-thou, and, most important, aesthetically disjointed from the thing it claims to examine that we'd best start over—beginning with a rediscovery of the granddaddy of all modern rock critics, Lester Bangs. I took out a subscription to Spin but found the reviews to be pretty worthless, so I concur. But no mention of Christgau? I haven't read Bangs but anyone who raved over Astral Weeks is worth a look.
NYT: Four Mothers of Manga Gain American Fans With Expertise in a Variety of Visual Styles
Japan Times: A native of Idalou and Texas Tech grad, John Toler, West Texan turned Zen abbot, dies. There are some fascinating people in this world.
posted by Carlos @ 4:16 PM
2 Comments:
Have you come across any critics (other than R. Christgau) whose judgment favorably impresses you?
Honestly, I haven't read too much rock criticism. Dave Marsh, Jimmy Guterman, and Chuck Closterman are all entertaining, but I don't share their tastes (oldies in the case of the first two, hair metal in the case of the third).
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