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by Edwardo

June 18, 2007 1:06 PM

It's bad enough that I always feel like the New Yorker is just slumming when they decide to wake up their Pop Music critic from the long snoozing he seems to do between publishing anything in the book, but it's even worse when they decide to review a CD from a band that I have followed for a long time.

That's how I felt when I opened up the Arts section and saw that Sasha Frere-Jones was taking on the new record by Spoon.

It sent me right back to 1997 when Radiohead's OK Computer came out. I had practically had The Bends glued to my CD tray for the previous two years and as the mainstream press started to write about them, I wondered if they were talking about the same band!

All I can say is, if you're going to write about music, write about something you love (or hate). By the end of the review, not only was I starting to do a little snoozing myself, I couldn't tell if he liked the band or not.

I did find out that Britt Daniels would never be photographed in an untucked T-shirt and the new album sounds like Billy Joel. What the fuck??

Maybe Sasha should have copped the line in the Richard Serra review a few pages away — it encourages the viewer to take a childlike view of the artist's work to best enjoy it.

In fact, many pop culture critics should try out the advice in that paragraph.
"Don't try to understand. Play"

–Edwardo

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Slideshows

Cobrasnake from 90210 to the Sunset Junction
Beverly Hills princesses and Silver Lake leather daddies looking for parking
Seeking the Rage: Among the Protesters at the DNC
The group Recreate '68 tries to ignite the passion of another generation
Crazy 4 Cult 2 at Gallery 1988
More artwork and photos from the Friday, 8/22 opening in Hollywood.