Quote:
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Writing about music without writing about how it affects your life is, to me, an exercise in surreal opacity, like writing about sex or child-rearing without talking about love
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That’s something to think about. Recently, I’ve been posting a lot about music from 2016 to the present. Often I’m reviewing music released very recently, sometimes even the same day (thank god for free time). I’ve found it’s much more challenging to write about brand new music because you haven’t had time to build a relationship with it. When I write about Beefheart or Suicide, for example, I have decades of personal history with this music and it’s easy to write about. With the Ramones and Coltrane, however, sometimes it gets more difficult because my love for them is so deep. I don’t just love their music; I love
them. It gets so personal it becomes uncomfortable. Naturally, if you’re going to take time to write about music, even if it’s just a hobby on a forum like this, you probably want there to be some purpose. Recently, for me that purpose is to help the reader navigate through new music. She pinpoints something there that’s an obstacle to think about.
Here’s a book I’d like to recommend to you:
Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures
By Mark Fisher
A lot of it is about his relationship with music. The title is a nod to the band Japan, you might have noticed.
