Just Call Me Mr. Meme Maker

when i say that ghislain poirier is one of my favorite global ghettotechies®, i think i mean that unsardonically, but i’m not sure where that leaves us ghislain’s music, however, usually leaves me grinning if not spinning keep it blazin, g —

Read More →
Global Ghettotech vs. Indie Rock: The Contempo Cartography of Hip

“Hipster hedonism takes many forms,” wrote Ned Polsky in reply to Norman Mailer’s hipster manifesto of 1957. “Some hipster groups,” Polsky continued, “have everything to do with motorcycles, whereas others have nothing to do with them.” Similarly, but more in the abstract, in his genealogy of the hipster, “Hip and the Long Front of Color” […]

Read More →
Simon Says: I’m a Hipster?

Dang. I think Simon just referred to my blog as “hipster chatter.” Them’s fightin words, Reynolds. I mean, I’m sayin, I only own one belt and maybe 3 pairs of sneakers, tops. For serious tho, I’m very curious to know what constitutes hipsterism — for Simon and for others — at this moment in time. […]

Read More →
Illadelph Dispatch: More w/r/t “Whiteness”

Been enjoying the ASA conference in Philly for the last few days. Our panel on Thursday went pretty well, I think. We actually seemed to have some coherence across our papers and although we had a rather compromised a/v situation (holding a Shure 58 to laptop speakers don’t really cut it in a ballroom), I […]

Read More →
Sonidos Aburridos Bastardos!

If I thought something was poppin in the state of Denmark, I have no idea que pasa en Argentina. The ol’ blogosphere radar has been registering lots of blips from that southmost outpost in South America. I mentioned the Frikstailers a little while back, for instance. And of course, there’s the whole cumbia rebajada movimiento, […]

Read More →
& It Don’t Stop…

Even in the middle (or, at this point, toward the end) of some well-needed Beach Research, I’m happy to note that several dear interlocutors have been continuing the conversations here — and taking them in interesting directions. E.g., Raquel Rivera weighs in on “No Te Veo” herself, making reference to the vivrant discussion about it […]

Read More →
The Webnography of Reggaeton Faultlines

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve gleaned lots of what I know ’bout the narratives swirling ’round reggaeton via the web, especially via the messageboard debates that flare up into all sorts of contested, conflicting accounts and claims. In that sense, I’ve maybe learned less about reggaeton’s history this way, per se, than about how people […]

Read More →
Whirl-a-whirls

Two other entities in the (other)worldly spirit I was speakin of — and I mean that in a good way — would seem to merit some shine on em, ‘specially since one’s got a new mix up & out :: London’s Heatwave crew bring the picante to the blogaparty, lacing together Spanish rap y reggae […]

Read More →
Nu Whirl Music, Blogged in Translation?

In a recent issue of the SEM Newsletter (March 2007, to be precise), Phil Bohlman addressed the issue of cultural translation and how it presents a paradox to ethnomusicologists — or perhaps more broadly, to those of us who mediate musical representations in myriad ways (including via links and mp3s): Should we understand our acts […]

Read More →
Blogariddims Orgy!

Those of you familiar with WHRB, Hahvid’s student-run radio station, will no doubt be familiar with its semester-end “orgy” ritual: as students go back (or begin) to read up on a term’s worth of material for their exams and papers, the radio station broadcasts marathon sessions devoted “to a single composer, performer, genre, or subject.” […]

Read More →
Mainly, To Amuse Itself

I know what you’re thinking — el fin de Delfin? No puede ser! But it’s been about a month and a half since the Chilean jokesters who made Delfin both a YouTubospheric laughingstock and legend — not to mention the undisputed king of tecno folklore — finally hung up their bloggy hats. As they write, […]

Read More →
Calculater, Termigrader

Given my own pet peeve around encountering holidayaganda too well before — or at all directly after — one of our days of nationally ritualized good cheer, I’m sorry to leave that last post up so long. If you’re asking, “Did you have to let it linger?,” in a light brogue falsetto, well, yes, I […]

Read More →
Upside-Down International Sound

As I mentioned in the last post, I’m headed to London this week (tomorrow today actually!) to participate in a Caribbean music seminar at Royal Holloway College. I’m honored to have been invited to join in the proceedings, and I’m quite looking forward to the various papers, the broader conversation, and the feedback I hope […]

Read More →
Linkthink #6573: AyAyAy Edition

/jace: I enjoy watching the notion of a mainstream dissolve into a trillion scattered data-bites. me: ME TOO! e.g., “enta omry = your my life ragaooney 3nak = give me back your eyes leh ayam elley raho = to the days we had and so on and so on… it would take forever to translate. […]

Read More →
La Musica Negra (Hispana?)

Having read no small # of reggaeton messageboard debates (esp over ?s of nat’l origin), I’ve developed a decent sense, I’d like to think, of when someone hits a good # of signposts. The following gem is quite solid in that respect — myths, misspellings, elisions and omissions, grammatical and historical slippage notwithstanding. Econowhimsical prose, […]

Read More →
Brave You World

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to sound like Time fckn Magazine or appear too technoptimistic. Indeed, allow me to repeat here — for those who aren’t comment readers — /jace‘s well-put and well-taken anxieties w/r/t web2point0h: i think most of web2.0 activities is lil autonomous nodes — blogs, youtube uploaders & viewers, […]

Read More →
In My Language (& Mine Too)

I asked for more arguments like this one — which is to say, compelling, self-produced video theses — and I think that A.M. Baggs’s “In My Lanuguage” most definitely qualifies. The pull quote: Far from being purposeless, the way that I move is an ongoing response to what is going around me. Ironically, the way […]

Read More →
HyperText

Saw this @ SavageMinds before it turned up ‘pon BoingBoing, but I was glad it appeared @ the latter too b/c I think it should be seen widely: not only is it interesting and inspiring, it’s cool and well-executed (& I’m pretty sure the music was made on friggin FruityLoops!). It might be hyperbolic, it […]

Read More →
Riddim Method Mixxage

A pair of GINORMOUS genre-busting mixes recently wiggled their way into the e-ther c/o two of my fave Riddim Methodists: 1) DJ Flack offers the latest in the still-stellar Blogariddims series. And “Beyond the Valley of the Smurfs” is srsly on some next next. Flack’s been digitizing his laaaaarge vinyl collection in an attempt to […]

Read More →
Copy, Right?

The following is a note I sent to the SEM list in response to a thread that started with this seemingly simple query (if not so easily answered). I felt the need to add my two cents after reading this post. I’ve added a couple more links, including one to a pdf version of the […]

Read More →