A link to this thread is posted in the previous entry. I'll summarize the highlights:
It seems as though people in this thread are mostly concerned with finding Kid Creole's music. The first posting is from someone who is seeking guidance on what kid creole albums he should buy:
"I've had "Stool Pigeon" in my head for going on three days now (intermittantly interrupted by that new Madonna and the theme from "Green Acres"). Is there a superior comp? An essential LP? And what song was it Michael Jackson sang on?-- James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 4 October 2002 01:02 (5 years ago)"
it seems like this user has a small amount of exposure to the music, but is not an expert. There is a quest for more material present in this post and others.
The next poster says that they've never owned an album by the band, but thinks they are awesome because of what he (or she) saw of them in the film Downtown 81. Other posters refer to downloading their music and finding it in bargain bins. Many express a desire for a good compilation of their work.
Other posters comment on how they have been sampled by De La Soul and the Avalanches.
At one point, a link is posted to a site for the show Oh What a NIght, which stars Kid Creole.
http://www.ohwhatanight.com/
Many users seem depressed about the show, since it is a disco Juke Box musical. This leads to a debate as to whether or not the show is different "meta-contentwise" from what Kid Creole has always been doing.
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3 comments:
Who are these artists and what do you mean by high society? "many of the artists connected to ZE records felt ( or still feel) a connection to high society"
I think that your observations regarding Christina are very interesting though I wasn't able to understand what you were talking about from your blog alone (I had to do some further reading.) Have you been able to talk with any No Wave listeners to get an impression of the type of people who listen to it? You make an observation that "This seperates many of them from their punk rock peers who were making music at the same time. " However, punk rock is a broad genre, where is there overlap between No Wave and Punk?
I'm wondering what the No Wave scene is like in general. Is it still active or do members only communicate via this message board you have posted several links from? Based on what you say about Christina, it seems that members are probably 'sophisticated' (or at least that is how they would describe themselves.) What do they think of other more melodic genres?
This topic is really interesting. My Dad has a lot of old records from Ze actually and I'm definitely a fan of a number of their bands. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your work.
This topic is kind of obscure... but after reading your blog I can tell its fascinating. I am especially interested in the kind of elitism that seems to be associated with this record label. You mentioned that many of the musicians on ZE were very involved in the contemporary art scene. I think this is really important, because when art (high culture) is combined with music (high OR low culture), the whole scene automatically develops this kind of inaccessible intellectualism to it. This then tends to translate into a desire or need to appreciate the 'experimentation' of the artists because listeners presume this intellectualism makes it 'important'.
You say, "There also seems to be a group of commenters who listened to her albums and tried to like them, but couldn't... What makes someone try to like something? Does it have to do with criticism, or cultural cache?" That's a really good question, that I think ties in with my above musings.
This also ties into the 'high society' issue that you mention, because the idea of a 'high society' is currently tied more to intellectualism than to wealth.
Good work!
Hmmm... Interesting topic, though, like Caitlin mentioned, it does appear to be quite obscure. I think because the music culture you're studying is so obscure, (and btw, your kid creole youtube link is broken) you'll need to spend some time in your ethnography explaining some of the basics of the scene. As for ethnographic research, you've looked at a few forums, it looks like, but I agree with Matt that it would be great if you could find some people who were members of the scene and interview them. (Maybe Matt's dad??)
I would also like to see some reflexivity in this piece. You mention that you can link it to current music. Is this why you're interested in it, or do you have another connection to it?
Perhaps in your final ethnography, you could compare the influence of this scene to something that is happening now? This may be particularly useful if you cannot find old members of the culture to interview.
Hope that's useful.
-Caitlin C.
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