Why I'm Up at 6:15

March 09, 2004

Why I'm Up at 6:15

Big thanks to Mr. Matos, for the headache he gave me by linking to this torture chamber of hackneyed music writing at Slate.

"'Windowlicker' is a few years old, but it's still far more innovative than just about anything being produced today. Where most electronic music, hip-hop included, is comprised of thoughtlessly simple beat patterns and painfully formulaic song structure, Aphex Twin employs true, detailed, musical composition..."
"Latyrx is the definition of what hip-hop should be. There's no shtick, no braggadocio attitude, and none of the millionaire posturing that's so popular these days..."

Yes, cuz goodness knows braggadocio has never had a place in hip-hop.

I don't want to be too hard on this guy since according to the bottom of the page he's not even supposed to be writing: "Josh Payton is Slate's interactive designer." Well then for pete's sake, Slate, stop cutting corners and hire a writer for that column, so this poor guy can get back to photoshop where he belongs!

Posted by jsmooth995 at March 9, 2004 06:26 AM

Comments

When Slate first launched, someone did a parody site called Stale. I don't think it's up anymore, but the name pretty much says it all.

Posted by: chr0me_kitten at March 9, 2004 07:58 AM

The internet is full of terrible writing. Lord knows, I did my share when i was 20 and writing for Audiogalaxy. But the really painful thing is that this guy probably got paid for it, and it'll look good on a resume.

Posted by: David at March 9, 2004 12:44 PM

"hire a writer for that column, so this poor guy can get back to photoshop where he belongs"

I don't like the implication that he can only be good at one thing (though that may be the case with this dude).

After all, don't we praise rappers who also b-boy, DJ and/or bomb?

And at least he said Latyrx instead of Young MC.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg at March 9, 2004 12:44 PM

Oh I'm sure he's good at many things, but judging by the available evidence pop music criticism is surely not one of them.

For the other examples you listed, we praise them if they do those things well. Otherwise we tell them to stick to their day jobs, for our sake as well as their own.

Posted by: Jay Smooth at March 9, 2004 12:53 PM

Slate usually has Sasha Frere-Jones write about music, and he is great. Don't know why they got that guy.

Posted by: sym at March 9, 2004 11:16 PM

I don't think this guy has actually heard much Latyrx. "There's no braggadocio attitude"... haha please... listen to a Latyrx album....

Posted by: Ryan at March 10, 2004 01:09 AM

haha! sorry, dude! I guess you owe me sometime.

Posted by: M Matos at March 20, 2004 03:13 PM

Ouch ... So, I'm the guy who wrote that article. This is an old post, so no one will probably read this, but whatever.

First off, everyone is entitled to their opinion, so it doesn't bother me that you didn't like the piece. Whatever, it's all good.

Second, it seems to me like you're just bummed that I said anything bad about hip hop. I wasn't saying "hip hop sucks in general," I was just pointing out that, all too often, really bad hip hop gets REALLY popular. (The thing you have to consider about Slate is the audience. The music editor there has never even heard of Atmosphere or anything like that, so when I talk about hip hop I'm only really talking about the MOST mainstream hip hop/rap being produced.) I've been listening to Quannum stuff since they were Solesides ... I've gone to seen Blackalicious, Latyrx, DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born, Lifesavas etc more times than I can count ... The whole reason I put Latyrx in that article was because I knew a ton of people would read it, I think those guys are amazing and I think they deserve WAAAAAAY more recognition than they get. It's my opinion that stuff like G-Unit is way overrated. I'm tired of that tuff guy, "look at my platinum chain" crap layed over some simplistic drum machine loop. Bragging aint so bad, but when it's all or most of what you do, it gets old fast. It's cool to see guys like the Quannum collective working hard and doing things right. Even the biggest fan of any genre of music has to admit that there is more average, overrated music in that genre being put out than really good music, and that a lot of the good stuff is getting overlooked.

Now, Aphex Twin: Just as an example, listen to any of the Dan the Automator instrumental records. Deltron 3030, Lovage ... whatever. It's really good stuff, but even Automator (who i'd say is one of the best DJs/Producers around) isn't doing anything nearly as innovative as Aphex Twin. No, it's not the exact same genre of music, but it's produced the same way, so I think it's comparable. The stuff Aphex Twin does (or should I say did) really raises the bar as far as what can be done with electronic/loop based music. That was the only point I was trying to make.

You can say the same thing about heavy music ... Listen to Limp Bizkit; it's dumb. The songs are super simplistic and uncomplicated with some of the dumbest lyrics ever written. Now listen to Meshuggah. You can tell the guys in Meshuggah are classicly trained musicians, are familiar with jazz and are applying that knowledge to metal.

I'm not saying music cant be simple and be good, I just appreciate people who do something different and do it well.

Blah blah blah. I'll shut up now. If any of you want to discuss any of this with me further, you can e-mail me.

word.

Posted by: Josh Payton at April 11, 2004 07:28 PM

I don't think I agree with your defense any more than I do the original piece.. but my first reaction was needlessly mean-spirited, so I apologize for that.

I'll come back to this later if I have time.

Posted by: Jay Smooth at April 11, 2004 07:42 PM

Getting back to this.. no, we say bad things about hip-hop in here pretty much everyday, so that's not the problem. It's not what you said so much as how you said it.

I think the biggest problem is just that the rhetorical device you employed is one of the most overused in music criticism, and one most likely to be grounded in sloppy reasoning. So it's likely to send eyes rolling for any reader who's read as many reviews in their day as most people have in here.

I'm talking about this kinda thing: "Unlike most [insert genre] which is sadly [insert overstated generalization], the work of [insert favored artist} is refreshingly [insert superlatives]." That saw has just been used too many times to cut through anything.

Posted by: Jay Smooth at April 13, 2004 01:28 PM

I see your point, but you're basically dogging me on semantics. I'll agree that overgeneralization or categorization is lazy, but but I don't think anything I said is false either. Millionaire posturing IS super popular these days, most of the electronic music coming out IS based on super simple beat patterns. Look at how Puff Daddy attained the height of his fame: by looping super familiar pop songs and rapping over them. Smart? Sure. But I don't respect him as an 'artist' for it.

Anyway, yeah, the stuff you point out is lazy on my part, but I think my lazyness in selecting rhetorical devices is less important than sparking peoples interest in good underground and independant music, which is the sole reason I wrote the piece and selected the artists I did. You said yourself, and I'll agree with you 100%, that I'm not a writer by trade. I think we'd both agree, though, that a crate digger doesn't have to be Shakespear to tell you the Incredible Bongo Band is amazing while 500 mainstream music writers climb all over eachother to compliment the newest Dave Matthews record.

If I can help labels like Quannum or Buddyhead sell a few more records, I don't really mind your criticism. The fact that you're right doesn't really hurt either ... If I'd gone to a single english class in college I'd probably be pissed.

Posted by: josh at April 13, 2004 08:16 PM

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