Comments on: A Popular Guide to Unpopular Music

A Popular Guide to Unpopular Music

beshtya — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:32:44 -0800

A Popular Guide to Unpopular Music by Kenneth Goldsmith, founder of Ubu. Here is an interview with Goldmith in The Believer.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:47:31 -0800

I think you left out this link? If you get in touch with a mod they will fix it. Great post!

By: Mothra Pisces

Mothra Pisces — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:49:14 -0800

Goldsmith's links are better thought about than clicked.

By: .kobayashi.

.kobayashi. — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:08:38 -0800

Boy, when he says unpopular music, he ain't kidding, is he?

By: taz

taz — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:10:51 -0800

[Fixed the link; beshtya, let me know if it's not the right link]

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:19:11 -0800

A few years ago, I published a super-boring book that was a radio transcription of a Yankees–Red Sox game. I included everything that was on the radio, from the pre-game show to the ads to the broadcast-booth patter. The book opens with the disclaimer that begins all sports broadcasts: "This copyrighted broadcast is presented by authority of the New York Yankees and may not be reproduced or retransmitted in any form. And the accounts and descriptions in the game may not be disseminated without the express written consent of the New York Yankees." When the book was published, I sent a copy to the Yankees organization. Naturally, I never heard from them. Naturally. The Yankees might suck, but they're not stupid.

By: oulipian

oulipian — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:29:10 -0800

Thanks for posting the Believer interview, it was particularly interesting to read Goldsmith's explanation of why you can't find Ubu.com with a Google search. I'm reading his "Uncreative Writing" now and am quite enjoying it. I love work that determinedly inserts itself between literature and art. We just had a Kenneth Goldsmith thread a month ago.

By: beshtya

beshtya — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:32:36 -0800

How did I miss that? Thanks taz and Omie! I liked what Goldsmith says about being surprised that there aren't a hundred Ubuwebs around. In my experience, private trackers and certain underground libraries do approach Ubu's model, however, they aren't open and just waiting to be discovered, like some giant trash-heap or some dusty flea-market. If you folks know of such things, do tell.

By: dobbs

dobbs — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:40:17 -0800

He's got a piece there on David Soldier but since it's from 2000, it predates my favorite Soldier-centered band: Kropotkins... "If I Had My Way," and "Truck Stop Girls". Soldier's on banjo in those vids.

By: msconduct

msconduct — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:22:42 -0800

psssttt ... mefi's own flapjax at midnight is a kropotkin on paradise square.

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:29:35 -0800

Awesome. It looks like I have a lot of reading ahead. Which of course should end up with a lot of listening. And a little bit of headscratching, but I think that's part off the fun of going into the musical deep end. A quick perusal and the writing looks engaging enough to jump into an article about someone you've never even heard of and still be interested. Big thanks for this.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:46:25 -0800

Thanks for the shoutout, msconduct! And, just for the record, yours truly also appears on the first (now out of print, I believe) Kropotkins release, from 1995. All in all I think it was the best of the Krop's three releases, and I hope it gets reissued sometime.

By: Sonny Jim

Sonny Jim — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:08:10 -0800

Dave Soldier's jaw-droppingly awful "Most Wanted Song" and operatic-cowboy-b-girl-orchestral-rapping extravaganza "The Most Unwanted Song" can be downloaded here. I highly recommend.

By: beelzbubba

beelzbubba — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:22:08 -0800

I am one of the listeners who thinks that Ubu's 365-Day project yielded a treasure trove of otherwise ignored musical artifacts. I was going to call them gems, but frankly, some are just polished turds, while others are innocently brilliant. This link has yielded another trove of things-to-be-examined, a pile that grows higher everyday longer I am on this planet.

By: mullicious

mullicious — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:46:37 -0800

It's a subtle touch that they built /~kennyg into the URL.

By: beshtya

beshtya — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:49:34 -0800

It's a subtle touch that they built /~kennyg into the URL. posted by mullicious at 17:46 on November 1 [+] [!] mullicious, Goldsmith used to host a show on WFMU till last year. He called himself "Kenny G".

By: computech_apolloniajames

computech_apolloniajames — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:56:39 -0800

Kenny G has had an on-again, off-again history on 'FMU. He's gotten himself thrown off the air at least once. I've done a great deal of volunteer work at the station over the years, and always knew that working during his shift meant a lot of laughter.

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:45:00 -0800

When the book was published, I sent a copy to the Yankees organization. Naturally, I never heard from them. Naturally. The Yankees might suck, but they're not stupid. You see, my first thought was "Naturally. The Yankees can't read."

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:49:42 -0800

Mefi's own, though he hasn't posted in awhile. My first post on Metafilter was about Kenny.

By: yoHighness

yoHighness — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:20:41 -0800

"Don't quit your day job. Yet" What a headline fail when 4 out of 5 interviewees have day jobs IN music and one of them was a producer at Columbia ffs. I really enjoyed the Satie article though, look forward to reading more.