Pussy Bottom, Population 1
It's amazing how quick we are to impute bad faith - me to Antony, Alex Ross to me. So, no, I'm not saying Antony should be "outrageous" and "scandalous" according to some queer-punk-dance-club script. I'm saying that if what he's doing is supposed to be so mysterious, why is it so treacly, so full of dream imagery out of a Freud For Beginners book and intercessionals of group-hug therapeutics? However, it occurred to me last night that because Antony's stuff has this performance-art, visual-art, hell, just plain ART frame around it, I may have been led to apply exceedingly lofty standards to it - expecting it to have a political consciousness, a poetic acuity, a conceptual strategy. When it fails on those counts I start projecting a kind of stupidity on to it. But what if those aren't its ambitions? Project for this weekend is to re-listen to his new album deliberately as pop music and see if it sounds different to me.
Live Notes | Posted by zoilus on Friday, February 18 at 12:40 PM | Linking Posts | Comments (2)
COMMENTS
I think you have the right idea, and I hope you enjoy the record a little better the next time around. It does seem that if one delved too deeply into the record, as wells as Antony's "act", "intent," or imagery, one might not think that what they are hearing is overwhelmingly profound. What I think "I am a Bird Now" does put across profoundly is a distinct individual's warmth and humanity, which I find quite touching. But mainly I just think it's pretty music.
Posted by bedheaded on February 18, 2005 3:54 PM
Sorry, Carl, for imputing. That's what happens if you write comments at 2 in the morning: you start imputing all over the place. I highly recommend listening to the album as pure music — "forms sounding in space," as Dr. Eduard Hanlisck, a noted pussy bottom, once wrote.
Posted by Alex Ross on February 18, 2005 3:21 PM