Reading music centric words is one of
life's gargantuanly grotesque guilty pleasures. In my life. As ego would
have it, though, my life is not the equivalent to the majority of the
human experience. Yet this premise itself can be translated to fit
any number of different scenarios. Sports writing that makes a fan
research historical facts; dig deeper into statistics. Film critiques
that pique a film buff or casual ticket buyer's interest in viewing
moving images from a different angle. Improper sentences that make an
average citizen want to seek out a book on syntactic theory for the
sole purpose of beating the pompous ass of a writer looking to bend a
rule from time to time over the head with it.
A better constructed thought, really,
is that reading extended material on a hobby or area of interest is
one of life's simplest joys.
Like swerving to avoid hitting a
smaller, but nonetheless living, creature that stands to be no fit
match against a thousand pound piece of deadly metal on wheels, good
learning is akin to a warm comforting feeling right below the navel.
The art of hugging is not necessarily a multi-person act. Care for
yourself, love yourself...feed your brain, eh? It was perhaps for
this reason that I recently read We Got the Neutron Bomb: The
Untold Story of L.A. Punk, a
literary concept co-created by Marc Spitz (not the Olympic swimmer)
and Branden Mullen. An insider and a journalist who take a
retrospective glance at the Los Angeles California punk scene, via
Glam Rock, from 1969-1981. The book really does have a narrative that
stands on it's own; fascinating in it's own respect. Most
interestingly, though, is the fact that it is not written in prose.
Spitz and Mullen's book is not second hand source material. Rather,
while the individual tales and overall thematic idea is impressive
and worthy of contemplation, the true source of formidable essence is
in the gargantuan editing job required for publication. The book
tells a coherent, linear story strictly through interviews.
Fortunately, or
unfortunately, reading about a hobby carries an associated risk:
developing a prolonged interest or “phase” in an especially niche
area. Nietzschean nuances, really.
So
I thought about it. I reflected for quite some time. I stopped short
of meditating because, frankly, the otherwise “spent” time on
pondering prevented an actual excursion in exemplary tree discovery.
So why not dedicate a week's worth of posts to this region wide scene
of musical community? Why should I not cover records like Germs GI,
X Los Angeles, Black
Randy and the Metrosquad Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie,
Fear The Record,
so on and so on? After all,
thanks to Discogs the full catalogs for Slash Records, Dangerhouse
Records, Bomp! Records and SST Records are free to peruse through.
The internet is a wonderful thing and any and all desired music is
also readily available to curious parties
The reason for avoiding this path is
because ultimately resident philosopher Mike Watt's words reign
supreme, “I still think of punk as a state of mind and not a style,
so how can it go out of fashion? […] 'Punk' can mean anything.”
(283) Come one, punk rock changed Watt's life; him and D. Boone had
been playing for years. Real names be proof; John Doe. History
lessons are best left to teachers: a clan of educators which I am
decidedly not a part of. But I will say that the underlying beauty of
punk rock is its inception; regular people with the simple desire of
having something new and unabashedly taking the ownership of
creation. Their is no need to fall into complacence. Pretending I
understand the music of a time period I was not alive for, from a
part of the country I have never lived in would require being faced
and facetious.
For this reason I have chosen to
dedicate this week to contemporary musicians with a relative punk
streak. For one will B-Side A-Hole will host pieces on artists who
are making something wholly different. Five posts written in
admiration for the projection of fresh worldviews in the form of
musical sounds. In this sense the present day Latin American
electronic music scene is very much like the 1980 American
underground. Sure, Tribal Guarachera, Funk Carioca, Electro-Cumbia,
and Electro Tango all suffer a case of genre peer-pressure, but
artists whom have taken a relatively isolate approach to creating
sounds exactly of their desire exist. Nortec Collective, Chico Mann,
Visitante Calle 13, to name a few, have been demanding auditory
attention for a number of years already. This week shall be
interesting.
The best part of being a fan of
contemporary music is the mere idea of being able to tell future
generations about it; tales the perspective of having experienced it
hindsight advantage.
Jonathan Cohen is a
recovering college radio DJ,discover-er of Jimmy Hoffa Tourettes, and
once lauded expert on shrubbery. You can follow him on Twitter
through the handle @BoggleUrNoggle
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