graphite, watercolour & putty eraser/30x20cm
There are some occasions on which one form suggests another, & the shape into which this particular found-object ‘roadkill’ aluminium can had been compressed two-dimensionally provided just one such example. Placing both planes of the reconfigured object beside each other within the space of the drawing formed what might be regarded as being analogous to the shape of a butterfly, especially when also considering the brightly coloured design upon the can’s branded surface, even if the resulting ‘wing pattern’ does display an asymmetrical nature.
Under the particular circumstances of the object’s physical transformation, one thinks of the notion of ‘breaking a butterfly on a wheel’, of course...
Soundtrack:
Sonic Youth ‘Daydream Nation’
Go-Betweens ‘The Friends of Rachel Worth’ & ‘Bright Yellow, Bright Orange’
Searching out the mighty Sonic Youth for a listen became necessary following the band’s monumental recent appearance on ‘Later With Jools Holland’ (not a programme I often watch, given what amounts to its fundamentally unsatisfactory nature & format, its (stereo)typical mix of incompatible elements), where their seriousness of purpose, their working at the creation of art, their hewing of sound from guitars & drums, the weight of their performance, separated them markedly from the show’s other guests & the instantly-forgettable, inconsequentiality of their contributions. SY ended with a fine interpretation of ‘Teen Age Riot’, from ‘Daydream Nation’ (an album illustrated with a pair of Gerhard Richter’s candle paintings, no less), but prior to that unveiled a new song, ‘Antenna’, from the dreamier end of their sonic spectrum, the guitar sound of which – edgy, with a hint of impending menace as always, abrasive in a manner embodied in the distressed objecthood of Kim Gordon’s beaten-up guitar, the edges of the body of which were frayed to the bare wood, appearing as if nothing but gnawed - was just hair-raising in that most wonderful, sensuous way: I’ve long believed that the sound of guitars can be in some way tuned to the same wavelength as one’s nervous system (& yes, the address of the official residence of the author of this blog is Pseuds’ Corner, Pretentiousness, PA), & when such correspond, the effect is transcendent, to transport the listener to fabulous places, as was the case on this particular occasion. There is, perhaps, something of Francis Bacon’s ‘brutality of fact’ in such an experience (a phrase especially pertinent in the context of SY’s glorious noise?), of ‘the sensation without the boredom of its conveyance’, of feeling the music, or, more fundamentally, the sound, the noise, directly, viscerally, before any other formal, narrative properties that might constitute a considered, aesthetic appreciation of music. Of any Sonic Youth ‘song’, I think perhaps that ‘Kotton Krown’ best exemplifies such a theory, the manner in which the guitar sound chimes (their signature sound, descended from Joy Division), slow-fast-slow, like no other (excepting New Order’s magnificent, stately ‘Lonesome Tonight’, which scales similar peaks to like effect), emerging from a veritable squall of noise, has always produced such a thrill, being a thing of intense, exhilarating beauty.
Purely in the interests of balance, its been very interesting to subsequently read two blog articles to greater & lesser degrees critical of Sonic Youth, at the essential k-punk & blissblog, the latter being a post-script to issues raised by Simon Reynolds during his Guardian review of SY's new album ‘The Eternal’.
I must declare here that my significant, considered experience & appreciation of Sonic Youth centres almost entirely on that sound-breaking holy-noise trinity of mid-to-late 1980s albums, 'EVOL'-'Sister'-'Daydream Nation', & that I've not troubled myself getting to know much of their subsequent output & its develoment or lack of, being aware only of the band's continued existence in the most general terms. This fact itself probably supports the implied criticism of both of the above bloggers in that the longevity of a rock band’s career mitigates against their continued relevance, that such can only become diluted over the course of an extended back catalogue, where a drift into formula(e) & consequent lack of ground-breaking creativity, of the dulling of the pioneering spirit, might well occur. Considering such essential bands of my own such as the Velvet Underground, The Smiths & Galaxie 500, for example, whose life-spans were short & succinct (also including such artists as Nick Drake & Joy Division, circumscribed by fatal circumstances), blazing brilliantly, comet-like through the cultural continuum, the corps of work - &, by association, the corpses – they left behind were as perfect or near-to as possible, their still-youthful beauty intact at the point of their demise, their wonders undiluted by (the risk of) repetition & over-familiarity. I might claim the same for the earlier, essential, 1980s incarnation of The Go-Betweens too, with the re-formed partnership of McLennan & Forster not really making any advances or significant additions to their wonderful canon over the course of their final 3 albums, & also such a band as Portishead, whose lack of output (3 albums over 14 years, still only 4 even if one is tempted to include Beth Gibbon’s wonderful ‘Out of Season’) has worked in favour of keeping things vital.
In support of the argument against longevity, one might cite the case of Belle & Sebastian, whose significance & vitality could be condensed into that astonishingly fertile period of their creative youth, their first 3 albums & the collection of 4 EPs that constitute the first CD-&-a-quarter of the ‘Push Barman..’ compilation: subsequent releases only serve to dilute the wonder of this aspect of their oeuvre, even though ‘The Life Pursuit’ offered something of a renaissance-of-sorts.
It's interesting to consider also the 'curatorial' aspect of Belle & Sebastian's work in relation to that of Sonic Youth, that explicit & 'tasteful' referencing of musical sources & influences, & its creation of an aura of (intended) 'cool-by association', criticized as detrimental to SY & an appreciation of their music, which might well be applied to the latter output of B&S, whose array of styles proved to be unsatisfactory in that it established some form of aesthetic distance between the music & listener, that such became in essence soulless exercises in versatility, a trying-out & -on of styles for little more than effect, however scholarly the endeavour might be. Of course, Belle & Sebastian's earlier obvious references to, e.g. Love, the Postcard Records stable & The Smiths were somehow less intrusive through my own earlier exposure to & thus familiarity with such sources (anyone who grew up listening to the Liverpool contingent of Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen, etc, were practically force-fed Love, the Doors, other psychedelia & Scott Walker, for instance), already well processed & experienced from source, but somehow the freshness of the songwriting, the overall novelty of their earlier career (as previously defined) helped assimilate such references in a much less intrusive & considerably more enjoyable, indeed lovable manner.
The distinction (from the k-punk post) between bands as either curators (a repository of references) or portals (suggesting both musical & other cultural avenues to be explored, for an altogether richer experience in the long term) is a fascinating one too, the latter often transcending just a musical influence to point one in the direction of film, literature, art/design & other cultural sources, such purpose as The Smiths, Velvet Underground & Nick Cave would serve, for instance, from my own experience, perhaps helping to explain their enduring, continuing relevance & status as objects-of-interest. It's just a shame that dear old Morrissey feels compelled to keep releasing records, with much-diminished creative returns, even if he continues to explore lyrical themes few other artists do...
Simon Reynolds' point in his Guardian review of the 'meta-referencing' nature of Sonic Youth's work is similarly thought-provoking, claiming that such practice has more in common, perhaps, with the art world: certainly, it's a familiar endeavour, not at all problematical to an appreciation of work made under such circumstances & with such intentions as to explicity quote & display its sources & influences (after all, it's essentially postmodernism in action), but I can understand how, in the reception of music, such practice can create an aesthetic distance, suggesting the music be appreciated 'knowingly', more as an intellectual pursuit than a direct emotional experience that would seem to characterize one's engagement with the greatest of music.
To end, further ammunition in the argument against especial longevity: the wonderful & much-loved Lambchop's relevance has diminished, regretfully, since the pinnacle of the note-&-interval-perfect glories of 'Is a Woman', mattering only slightly less than it used to initially, through 'Aw C'mon'/'No, You C'mon' & then 'Damaged', but the most recent 'OH(Ohio)' has nothing to offer in terms of something new, however subtle, comprising instead a series of familiar & formulaic songs that, well-crafted as they might be, are ultimately pale, worn & unsatisfactory imitations of the wonders that were: unlike 'Damaged', there appear to be no secrets that time will reveal, alas.
Of course, to return to the beginning of this ramble & the wonder & worth of Sonic Youth's new 'Antenna' is to fatally undermine the case against longevity & familiarity, given the obvious fact that, had SY ceased at some point in the past to produce music, it would not have come into existence & refreshed one aspect of their sonic template...perhaps, as David Hockney claimed, it is better to believe only what an artist does (rather than says)!
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