A trenchant and witty exploration, several cuts above typical surveys written in the wake of the “alternative” era.
An invigorating, broad-minded survey of pop music’s experimental fringes.
Martin (Philosophy/DePaul Univ.; Listening to the Future, not reviewed, etc.) attempts to define a 20th-century “music of ideas,” while acknowledging the inherent difficulty in doing so for a genre originally identified with adolescence and spontaneity, and perpetually corrupted by the marketplace. He shrewdly does so by sorting a galaxy of artists into categories broad enough that most readers can find jumping-off points. He notes that, as John Cage, Glenn Gould, and Ornette Coleman found the limits of “reasonable” for classical and jazz listeners, Yoko Ono and Brian Eno did the same during early rock experimentation (c. 1966–75), when mainstream consumers were exposed to provocative music ranging from the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, and Steely Dan, to Can and Captain Beefheart. Soon, Martin notes, conglomerate record companies disdained supporting such efforts, while what’s termed “The Passage Through Punk” created a powerful, if dead-ended, ideology (and an enduring grassroots aesthetic) in the face of late-’70s social malaise, fueling artists like Patti Smith and Glenn Branca. Although important marginal figures are neglected (e.g., Peter Laughner, The Mekons, Roky Erickson), Martin addresses excellent analysis to a smart selection, including Cecil Taylor, Sonic Youth, Jim O’Rourke, John Zorn, Tortoise, the New Klezmir Trio, and Game Theory (one of many artists whose chess obsession he discusses). Martin relates their music to parallel developments in philosophy and literature, citing influences from Adorno and Debord to Nabokov and Harry Crews, and manages the neat trick of combining the sharp personal enthusiasms of underground rock’s fanzine culture, with the cooler head of academic explorations, so that the reader perceives why rock enthusiasts have stuck with it all these years. He concludes with two essay-manifestoes that question the overwhelming, image-based corporate stranglehold on mainstream music (e.g., the antics of Eminem and Britney), and probe avant-rock’s seemingly healthy, if fragmented, future.
A trenchant and witty exploration, several cuts above typical surveys written in the wake of the “alternative” era.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8126-9500-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Open Court
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2001
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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