In this piece it really helped to have YouTube at a mouse click away. Once I heard the first note of “Into the Groove” I understood what Frere-Jones meant by saying the’ bright, square notes’ and comparing that to ‘a world of easy round numbers’. One song speaks of simpler times while Sonic Youth’s is invariably different—Frere-Jones conveys this fact well in her writing but, like I said, I would not have the full effect without experiencing it. I think that’s no reason not to write it though—I definitely appreciate pieces about music, they can make you realize those connections that you might not have without the writing to accompany the song.
While reading, I felt that in a small way I got to be on the insider side of the band and I think that means that Frere-Jones has a good narrative here because I didn’t know anything about Sonic Youth before reading this. The piece shows the bands development and significance while also showing how they’ve stayed true to their vision. I think the narrative is very cohesive and informative.
Elaine - I agree with you about feeling like an insider of the band. I think this is because of the Frere-Jones' simple writing. Her descriptions of the feelings she has while being at the concert are very tactile. For example, one of her descriptions of the music was "a little like being held hostage in a room with someone who refuses to turn on the lights." This is frightening. You can't hear the music in the piece but you can feel it.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to think about the merging music and writing and how it makes the reader/listener feel. The two forms of art merged take on many different shapes. There are songs with lyrics, there is radio with audio in the background and then there is writing about music. All of them written to evoke feeling in order to represent something to someone else. That's art, right?
One of the reasons Cam and Amanda had us read this piece as to think about how we plan on merging writing and music or audio. Frere-Jones shows us a way to write music into tactile imagery, a skill I'm not sure I possess but would enjoy practicing.