I'm loath to say that her feminist, self-determining shtick was all talk and no trousers – not least because the lady's never been much of a trouser wearer – but it certainly sounds like all chat and no puffball skirt. In true lads' mag style, the image is of a topless blonde, in black leather-like trousers, one gloved hand coyly positioned over her boobs, the other not so coyly rammed against her crotch. Jutted hip, parted lips and vacuous expression tick the remaining boxes that constitute the mainstream image of sexy.She was indeed posed as the writer described, but she was also wearing a strap-on.
if techno can be thought of in this way-[the track as a framework for the display of special effects and processing] - what, then, constitutes the 'sublime' in techno? The answer is 'sound in itself'. In most music, timbre and 'chromatics' are the medium, teh pigment as it were, through which teh important thing -- the melody, the emotional meaning -- is expressed.posted by empath at 6:13 PM on March 12, 2010 [6 favorites]
In techno, melody is merely an implement or ruse for the display of texture/timbre/sound matter
.this is why most rave music shuns complicated melody lines in favor of riffs, vamps, and ostinatos. in the ultraminimalist 'tech-house', simple riffs serve to twist and crinkle the sound fabric in order to best show off its properties what you thrill to is the scintillating play of 'light' as it creases and folds, crumples and kinks.
techno and house create a subtly different form of heightened immediacy than african music -- a sort of future-now.
Timbre saturated, repetitive but tilted always toward the next now, techno is an immediacy machine, stretching time into a continuous present.
Which is where the drug technology interface comes into play. Not just because techno works well with substances like mdma, lsd, etc, all of which amplify the sensory intensity of the present moment. but because the music itself drugs the listener, looping consciousness then derailing it, strandit it in a nowhere/nowhen, where there is only sensation, 'where now lasts longer.'
# Continuity Nod: The "Telephone" video is a sequel to the "Paparazzi" video. It being the same Gaga was implied throughout "Telephone", but it wasn't confirmed until the mugshot from the end of "Paparazzi" showed up at the end of "Telephone".And that page is awesome. Thanks, nadawi. :)
But the real action here is in the video to the song. Blew my mind. Didn’t think that people had budgets like this anymore. Costumes that would make Gaultier sick with envy — white latex with “Where the Wild Things Are” shiny plastic crowns, some kinda homage to LeeLoo’s orange strappy outfit in The Fifth Element and a Eastern European mobster/white sex-slave buyer with a steampunk-ish articulated brass chin. Looked to my eye like about a week in production, probably about $500K in total costs of models, locations, crews, lighting, post-production.That comment, from a person who makes videos struck me. It's all fun and games to make an OK GO style video and try to get it go viral if you're starting from zero and can create some buzz. But who has money for music videos? It makes no sense. Yet clearly, money gets spent. LaFontaine ends up his brief post with analysis that looks prescient in the context of this new latest spectacle:
I had thought that Madonna and Michael Jackson were about as sophisticated as you could get when it came to figuring out ways to build up a juicy public image, and then squeeze it until rivers of cash started running out. Not so. Lady GaGa has rightly recognized that selling CDs if for chumps; anyone can pirate them, and pretty much does.CDs don't sell, so sell something else. What's kind of amazing is that there's so MUCH going on in Lady Gaga video that the product placement doesn't overtake it. It's kind of amazing to remember that Neil Young's video for This Note's For You assailed pop music videos for product placement. Such concerns are almost beside the point. You either play in that realm or you don't.
No, you need to sell things that people can’t copy – or at least, if they do, it kinda defeats the purpose. So Lady GaGa’s come up with the list of high-end commercial goods to do "Hero Shots" of in the video and obviously done revenue deals with them.
As a business model, I have to say hats off to the Lady. She’s adapted to the draining of value from the content (i.e. nobody actually buys music anymore – at least, not like they used to), and migrated over to where the money still lies.
When advertising no longer works, when information is a commodity in which we all drown for free, then the only things that are left that have any value are physical objects that we can wear, eat, drive or plug in, as well as what cultural anthropologists call “fetish objects” that bestow special status because they signify that we hae enough disposable income so as to be able to waste a couple grand on some gaudy sunglasses.
I'm not sure if this is the way that all news & entertainment is going to have to go in the future. All of it sponsored, with big shout-outs to the guys footing the bills worked into the info-stream every 10 seconds or so. I do know that if this works, we’re going to see a lot more of these “branded videos” online.
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posted by delmoi at 7:14 AM on March 12, 2010 [8 favorites]