BRITTICISMS

Untitled, 1968-1973, polaroid photographs, by Carlo Mollino

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:28:30 -0600

Untitled, 1968-1973, polaroid photographs, by Carlo Mollino

On executing perfect "BlogBait":

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:55:58 -0600

Here’s how it works: take two disparate things that have nothing to do with each other (it helps if one of these things is controversial and political), find essentially irrelevant similarities between them, make a bold, provocative assertion about those two things, stretch out this flimsy premise over several supporting paragraphs, sprinkle on a little cynicism from a website looking for pageviews who then publishes it as if it’s an original, intellectually serious idea, and — voila!— you’ve got yourself some prime BlogBait! Just sit back smugly and watch as your half-baked column gets shared on Facebook and retweeted hundreds of times. And if at all possible, you should double down on this idea when you get called out and ostentatiously continue to miss the point.

via PostBourgie

Below is information on my latest post for tuneage: St. Vincent...

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:33:07 -0600

Below is information on my latest post for tuneage:

St. Vincent - “The Party”

(A Partial List of) Britt’s Favorites of 2009:

St. Vincent - Actor

Here We Go Magic - Here We Go Magic

Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

My personal list is a little bit longer but in the interest of time, I’m listing these first five here. 2009 was an amazing year for music, with many new acts releasing near-flawless debuts (Post-Nothing by Japandroids, Jewellery by Micachu and the Shapes) and some favorites releasing inspired and eloquent new material.

I’ve written about St. Vincent numerous times, but I truly feel that Actor is the most beautiful, intricate, and intelligent record of the year. Annie Clark packs enough punch in one song to make any listener a fan. On this track, one of the slower tunes on Actor, pay close attention to the annunciation throughout the beginning of the song. Clark’s words sound slurred and sensual, invoking the spirit of the lyrics and the story in the song.

“This is the day” by The The I’ve always loved...

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:57:10 -0600

“This is the day” by The The

I’ve always loved how this song is simultaneously beautiful and somber.

“Dancing With Friends” by Julianna Barwick It...

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:26:07 -0600

“Dancing With Friends” by Julianna Barwick

It certainly feels as joyous as this song feels…

"They always made me feel really uncomfortable, as looking at a packed room of pale, nearly-naked, skeletons with skin would probably make anyone uncomfortable. Yet! They played sick music, so I got over it."

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:04:00 -0600

"They always made me feel really uncomfortable, as looking at a packed room of pale, nearly-naked, skeletons with skin would probably make anyone uncomfortable. Yet! They played sick music, so I got over it.":

Some end of the decade thoughts, by me, for Brooklyn Radio.

"Unlike others forms of media, books remain to be so different from one another – influenced by such..."

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:09:35 -0600

“Unlike others forms of media, books remain to be so different from one another – influenced by such different realities – that I’m not sure they could be set against each other. There’s no such thing as the best book of the decade.”

- my dear friend Hafsa Arain

Promotional video for Chicago-based fashion label Saddle Tramps...

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:08:16 -0600

Promotional video for Chicago-based fashion label Saddle Tramps by Erin Frumet and Danny Nelson.

On Sunday, I went to the last vintage sale at Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park. I got a chance to catch up with Christine from The Sometimes Store, and Alma Weiser, who runs the events. I also met Erin and Danny and checked out some of their pieces, which are beautifully constructed, androgynous, and completely lightweight. This dress in particular would be a perfect, airy treat for summer.

"Do you like cream in your coffee?"

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:25:00 -0600

One time, a man tried to impress me with his collection of rap records and I felt very whatever, because he obviously didn’t listen when I told him what type of music I was most familiar with, and he soon realized this and then he changed the subject.

One time, a man said, “I’ve always wanted to date a…” and then he didn’t complete his sentence, and so I asked, “Date a what?” and then he changed the subject.

One time, a man said, “Black women are intimidating,” and I asked, “Like how?” and then he said, “I don’t know.”

One time, a man tried to run his fingers through my hair and I said, “No,” and he asked, “Why?” and I sighed, and said, “I have to go,” because I really didn’t want to explain why.

One time, a man asked me to hang out with his friends in Englewood, and I said, “That’s not…um…the best neighborhood to be in that late at night,” and he said, “Why does it matter to you? You’re black!” and when we were breaking up over the phone a couple of weeks later, and he asked me why, one of the reasons I gave was, “I lived in the hood. I don’t make it a point of trying to go back there.”

One time, a man said, “White girls just aren’t thick like Black girls are!” and I rolled my eyes.

One time, a man said, “You’re so bourgie!” and I was confused, because I thought society retired that slang in the earlier part of this decade.

One time, a man said, “Do you like cream in your coffee?” and another man asked, “Can I get a taste of your chocolate?” and another man said, “I wonder if you’re as sweet as a caramel,” and I mean, really? Seriously? Stop!

A lot of times, men have said, “You’re pretty for a black girl.”

"Ultimately, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a story of acceptance written by a bunch of bleeding heart liberals."

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:29:04 -0600

"Ultimately, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a story of acceptance written by a bunch of bleeding heart liberals.":

Rudolph and communism? Dentistry and homosexuality? My friend Colleen on the claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

"You can probably sort out for yourself many of the ways in which constantly using “white” to mean..."

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:56:00 -0600

“You can probably sort out for yourself many of the ways in which constantly using “white” to mean “bourgeois” or “middle-class” or “educated” is sort of a backhanded insult to all of us who aren’t white — but I suspect, at this point, that it’s just tipped over into a general weariness with being a non-white person who’s spent too much time watching white people in the internet accuse one another of being white, or too white, or just generally playing a game of white-baiting in which the rest of us humans begin to feel like weird symbolic projections of the various neuroses of being white and feeling weird about it.”

- (via a grammar)

This is something that’s always bothered me, but I’ve never been able to articulate it in a way that at all makes sense or doesn’t sound “reactionary.”

“Just Be Good to Me” by The SOS Band Try...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:43:29 -0600

“Just Be Good to Me” by The SOS Band

Try this!

Listen to “Just Be Good to Me” while bundled up and taking a twilight stroll during a snow storm.

The feelings are immensely pleasurable.

Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:32:24 -0600

Illustration for Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination, by Henry Clarke

“She Dressed in Her Best” by Joy Orbison Beautiful...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:21:00 -0600

“She Dressed in Her Best” by Joy Orbison

Beautiful and sumptuous new track - perfect for late-nite consumption - by Joy Orbison.

“This is emotional dance music…for the dance floor.”

“Law & Order reruns are important to country folk. It keeps...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:03:47 -0600

“Law & Order reruns are important to country folk. It keeps the city close.” - Jenny Holzer in a feature about her home, and how she spends her time in it, for the New York Times.

Check out Rachel Antonoff’s homage to the “Top That” scene in...

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:16:31 -0600

Check out Rachel Antonoff’s homage to the “Top That” scene in Teen Witch, featuring Antonoff and Alia Shawkat from Arrested Development. So much awesome going on in this clip.

Less a homage and more of a scene-by-scene recreation, only this time, with Rachel Antonoff’s clothes complimenting the scene.

(via gotagirlcrush//Teen Vogue)

“Atlantis Chandelier” by Barlas Baylar for Hudson...

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:13:47 -0600

“Atlantis Chandelier” by Barlas Baylar for Hudson Furniture, Inc.

Things That Are Right and Good.

Proximity Magazine #6 will be released this week. This...

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:02:20 -0600

Proximity Magazine #6 will be released this week. This issue’s theme is “(An)Other Art Worlds” and features pieces on under-represented art scenes, movers and shakers, art initiatives, groups, spaces, and theoretical constructs” that help us, “imagine and remake the worlds we want to live and work in.” More information is available here. I plan on picking up my copy from Martine and Marco at Golden Age.

TOPS!: Albums of 2009

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:56:00 -0600

Favorite Album of 2009: Actor by St. Vincent
One thought:A cinematic synecdoche.
Key songs: “Actor Out of Work” and “Just the Same but Brand New”

Most Underrated Album of 2009: Here We Go Magic s/t
One thought: A triumph in loops
Key songs:“Tunnlevision” and “Fangela”

THE REST OF MY TOP TEN FAVORITES:

Post-Nothingby Japandroids
One thought: What it feels like to be seventeen.
Key songs: “I Quit Girls” and “Young Hearts Spark Fire”

Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors
One thought: The sharpest album of the year
Key songs: “Stillness is the Move” and “Useful Chamber”

Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear
One thought: Elegance overwhelming
Key songs: “While You Wait for the Others” and “Fine for Now”

Immolate Yourselfby Telefon Tel Aviv
One thought: Beautiful melancholy
Key songs: “The Birds” and “Helen of Troy”

Jewelleryby Micachu and the Shapes
One thought: Eclecticism as art
Key songs: “Golden Phone,” “Calculator” and “Vulture”

Two Suns by Bat for Lashes
One thought: Kate Bush-like
Key songs: “Daniel,” “Two Planets” and “Pearl’s Dream”

The Xx s/t
One thought: Perfection in silence.
Key Songs: “Basic Space,” “Crystallised”

The Future Will Comeby The Juan MacLean
One thought: Disco phantasmagoria
Key songs: “Happy House” and “The Simple Life”

FAVORITE EPs:

March of the Zapotec/Realpeople Holland by Beirut

Check out: “The Concubine”

Life of Leisure by Washed Out

Check out: “Feel it All Around”

Ayrton Senna by Delorean

Check out: “Moonson”

OTHER GREAT ALBUMS:

Dear John by Loney Dear
Check out: “Under a Silent Sea”

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix
Check out: “1901” and “Girlfriend”

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart s/t
Check out: “Young Adult Friction”

Wavvves by Wavves
Check out: “No Hope Kids”

Unmap by Volcano Choir
Check out: “Island IS”

Everything Goes Wrong by Vivian Girls
Check out: “When I’m Gone”

Yesterday and Today by The Field
Check out: “The More That I Do”

Dance Mother by Telepathe
Check out: “Can’t Stand It”

Manners by Passion Pit
Check out: “The Reeling”

Person to Person by Foreign Born
Check out: “It Grew On You”

Logos by Atlas Sound
Check out: “Sheila”

What English Sounds Like To Foreigners

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:04:00 -0600

What English Sounds Like To Foreigners:

Even though I knew the context of the song, the first thing I thought was, “God! I hate listening to music through my laptop speakers. I can never understand what they’re saying.” And then I leaned in and tried to read his lips, even though I knew it was not English, simply because it sounded so much like English (well, a good early funk track written in English).

(via absurdlakefront)