MMJ in the New Yorker

[TSarge]

Well, MMJ was written up in the New Yorker, and unfortunately my theory that most music writers/reviewers are douches was confirmed. Sasha Frere-Jones managed to display what I hate most about critics: that pontificating on negative observations seems to make the critic feel as though they are good at what they do. Anyway, read for yourselves:

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2011/08/01/110801crmu_music_frerejones?currentPage=1

[headhunter]

This could be the most poorly written music review I have ever read.

If ignorance is bliss, then this writer is clearly a happy idiot.

[Penny Lane]

Another reason I don't read The New Yorker.. and also don't write music reviews

this cracks me up (and confuses me)..

comic efforts than like evidence of catholic taste.
his tone is woody and satisfying (although i kind of like this)
James's lyrics are an oblique defense of a genre, maybe any genre, like punk once
sheer, unironic optimism that shades into nondenominational worship
James chants in an unfussy way

and calling the best song on the album
Bob Dylan's oddball eighties moments **sorry but Bob Dylan never wrote anything in the 80s to compare with this song...no offense..

oh and ps--I had to come back and edit, the more I read this, the funnier it becomes. Headhunter pointed out the funniest part:

A complete letdown is the treacly "Wonderful (The Way I Feel),"

(I looked the word up, according to Merriam-Webster, "resembling treacle (as in quality or appearance)" so I looked up treacle  and it's either "molasses," "medicinal compound formerly used to fight poison" or "something heavily sweet or cloying" , so I then looked up cloying and it says "disgusting or distastefuly in excess") I am giving this over compensating for being a failure at life writer the benefit of the doubt and hoping that he or she was comparing Wonderful to molasses. (because that's pretty cool, right?)

How can someone use so many words to say nothing at all? Comparing this band to everyone from Radiohead to Beck and then implying that String Cheese Incident is one of the pioneers of anything is crazy.

Hmmmmpf! I need to write another Letter to the Editor.

[EasyRyder]

well that was painful...I literally have a headache after trying to make sense of that pile of nonsensical shitcake.

I would provide concrete examples, but Penny- you summed it up 

[Crispy]

I agree, that thing hardly makes any sense, begins a conclusion with a teeny, vague ramble about a 5-year-old tour DVD, and then just stops.

[My Morning Tube top]

Wow I have yet to get receive this issue at my house. When I do I will ask my mailwoman to kindly place it in the front yard, with hopes that a dog will come pee on it...
That review is all over the place, ignorant and irritating, Boo :(

I guess Yim missed the mark when I heard Wonderful last year at Newport and you couldn't hear a pin drop, goose bumps gallore... what is she talking about? I call this one a fail.

[buster douglas]

WOW I agree with everything that's been said, what a shit ton of unnecessary drivel!

Critical writing can be tough and I understand writers' desires to distinguish themselves with colourful language and/or unique perspectives.  I've read every bit of press concerning Circuital and related tour and sure, every article has homogenized into the same summary: great live act, they returned to a hometown makeshift studio, Jim James is a rocker who later discovered the magical nuances of soul music, and Circuital is a decent record by a veteran band that acknowledges their roots whilst exploring new territory etc. etc.

So someone writing a review for a well-regarded and poignant newsmagazine would probably want to flip the script a little bit.  Having said that, this piece of garbage never should have made it past first draft!  He still mentioned all of the above points and then pours bullshit all over all of it.  It's like he took a regular sandwich and said "hmm how can I jazz this up?" and stuffed it full of shit and now we have a shit sandwich.  Are there no editors at this magazine to keep a leash on a writer's ego gone astray?  What was the point of even writing page 1?  And the "conclusion"!? .  This article is like 5 separate articles (only 3 of which actually concern MMJ) mashed awkwardly together with little regard for narrative or consistent context.  I am not a regular reader of the New Yorker though I'm aware of its occasionally pretentious reputation, but I am shocked that this made it to press.  I'm not just defensively saying that as a fan of MMJ, in fact, if I wasn't a fan of MMJ I would have a much harder time making any sense of this at all.  It's so crazy that it's almost like a satire piece on the entire medium.

Better luck next time Sasha.

[bluesky]

summer intern?

[TSarge]

It's like he took a regular sandwich and said "hmm how can I jazz this up?" and stuffed it full of shit and now we have a shit sandwich.

haha that made me laugh.

A friend put it this way in an email to me: "This was clearly a "throwaway" article aimed at amping readership for a struggling critic who needed to ride the shoulders of some act that had a highly vertical fanbase that was bound to click on the link."

I am a subscriber to the New Yorker and enjoy the fiction, poetry, and long-form reporting, but have never read any of the critical reviews. I think I have avoided it almost out of instinct, as I'm always suspicious of critics and ESPECIALLY music critics.

[beatnikdaddio]

"You know these guys are bearded without seeing a photograph of them"

geez.... reallly? that's the first thing that comes to mind when you listen to the tennessee fire? this dude's lame.

[Penny Lane]

not an intern--an intern would have had an opinion--- i looked him up, guess he used to write for Spin and a bunch of other music mags, used to be in a bunch of terrible bands, he has a website (also terrible)...

i would have respected him more if he would have actually had an opinion about the album other than whatever this was, my roommate is a subscriber and she says it's their thing to use big obnoxious words..and she actually knew what treacle meant..scary!

[Crispy]

"You know these guys are bearded without seeing a photograph of them"

geez.... reallly? that's the first thing that comes to mind when you listen to the tennessee fire? this dude's lame.

This was the stupidest thing about this piece -- talk about circular reasoning! TTF practically invented beardcore.

[Penny Lane]

"You know these guys are bearded without seeing a photograph of them"

geez.... reallly? that's the first thing that comes to mind when you listen to the tennessee fire? this dude's lame.

This was the stupidest thing about this piece -- talk about circular reasoning! TTF practically invented beardcore.

:)


PS-if you want to insult him on Twitter, he's @sfj  (of course I'm WAY too mature to do that, but if you want to...)

[vespachick]

As (one of) the resident Brit Pop guru's Penny, I cannot believe you had to look up Treacle!!  What do they teach you kids in college?!?   ;) ;D

[Penny Lane]

As (one of) the resident Brit Pop guru's Penny, I cannot believe you had to look up Treacle!!  What do they teach you kids in college?!?   ;) ;D

you're the third person to tell me that! WTF... is it in a Morrissey song or something? ha!

[vespachick]

As (one of) the resident Brit Pop guru's Penny, I cannot believe you had to look up Treacle!!  What do they teach you kids in college?!?   ;) ;D

you're the third person to tell me that! WTF... is it in a Morrissey song or something? ha!

It's just common British-ness, I thought. Perhaps I listened to too much of The Jam in my youth. (IMPOSSIBLE!!)

[WSS2]

If I highlight words and press Shift+F7 enough, I'll sound smart-like!

[NoVa_NoLa]

 ???

Maybe it's just my mood today, but I read the article and wasn't offended by it.  I've read worse, that's for sure.  I dunno...I just figured out what that this sentence is about Highly Suspicious:
"seemed more like comic efforts than like evidence of catholic taste.:

Edited to add:  I should admit that the New Yorker was a required "text" when I was in college.  I don't enjoy this style of writing...it's as if the whole article is one big metaphor for no good reason.

I am still sort of baffled by the hippie, punk, long hairs, and beard references.  I mean, I had to look up a handful of words used in this article and the most descriptive terms used to describe the fans deal with hair.   ;D

So, I guess there are parts that I just roundly ignored...but, to me I saw the only digs as the semi-complaint about First Light and the full complaint about Wonderful.

Is there sarcasm here that I am just refusing to see?

[Crispy]

I wasn't offended by the negative criticism, people are going to disagree about what they like -- it happens around here often enough! It was mostly the nonsense and poor style that got me, even more than the haughtiness. Which I am obviously guilty of too, by using that word. (<--- Is that irony, or coincidence?)

[tdb810]

???

Maybe it's just my mood today, but I read the article and wasn't offended by it.  I've read worse, that's for sure.  I dunno...I just figured out what that this sentence is about Highly Suspicious:
"seemed more like comic efforts than like evidence of catholic taste.:

Edited to add:  I should admit that the New Yorker was a required "text" when I was in college.  I don't enjoy this style of writing...it's as if the whole article is one big metaphor for no good reason.

I am still sort of baffled by the hippie, punk, long hairs, and beard references.  I mean, I had to look up a handful of words used in this article and the most descriptive terms used to describe the fans deal with hair.   ;D

So, I guess there are parts that I just roundly ignored...but, to me I saw the only digs as the semi-complaint about First Light and the full complaint about Wonderful.

Is there sarcasm here that I am just refusing to see?

I'm with you Nola....just didn't have a strong reaction, and liked this part:

"The ultimate yes is still onstage, where the group sometimes spends up to four hours disarming the doubters."

Not that I was ever a doubter :D