I used to work at a store where some of us employees liked to dress up for Halloween. One year the young woman I worked with that day dressed in her full Goth regalia (this is someone with a spiderweb tattoo), and when one customer said to her, "I love your costume," she replied, coldly and seriously, "It's not a costume." Ever since then I have thought of Halloween as the one day each year when Goths "fit in."
From whence does "Goth" come as a description of this subculture? Not from the original Goths, Germanic barbarians who sacked Rome and later founded the kingdom that eventually became Spain and Portugal. Rather, it comes from "Gothic fiction," an English literary movement (so called in reference to the architecture of castles) that dates from Horace Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto.
Such famed literature as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,...
From whence does "Goth" come as a description of this subculture? Not from the original Goths, Germanic barbarians who sacked Rome and later founded the kingdom that eventually became Spain and Portugal. Rather, it comes from "Gothic fiction," an English literary movement (so called in reference to the architecture of castles) that dates from Horace Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto.
Such famed literature as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,...
- 10/31/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
When I was growing up, New York 's best (now long-defunct) classical radio station, Wncn, played only American composers' music each Fourth of July. With the classical world dominated by Europeans, this was a welcome and educational corrective. In the history of American music, independence wasn't achieved until the 20th century; 19th century composers such as John Knowles Paine and George Whitefield Chadwick studied in Europe and blatantly imitated European models. Listening to their music "blind," few would guess they were Americans. There was Revolutionary War-era vocal writer William Billings, but his originality was more a lack of proper technique. Continuing Wncn's tradition, here's a look at true American classical. music.
There is a bit of chauvinism in this article, as "American" here refers not to all the Americas (North, Central, and South) but rather the colloquial usage in the United States to mean that country's residents (hence, the Mexican Carlos Chavez,...
There is a bit of chauvinism in this article, as "American" here refers not to all the Americas (North, Central, and South) but rather the colloquial usage in the United States to mean that country's residents (hence, the Mexican Carlos Chavez,...
- 7/4/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
26. Fennesz: Endless Summer (Mego, 2001)
Finally, an album the Futurists would approve of! Arguably the first masterpiece of glitch electronica, which perturbs ambient flow with interjections of what sound like electronic mishaps (“glitches”), Endless Summer is mellow yet disturbing, a milestone in '00s’ electronica’s greater acceptance of more abstract, non-dance-oriented music that’s as avant-garde in intent and sound as anything the classical avant-garde has created (though often modern electronica artists are strongly influenced by the old-guard avant-gardists such as Pierre Schaeffer, Bernard Parmegiani, and Tod Dockstader). There’s actually a lot of variety on this album, ranging from the manipulated solo keyboard of “Before I Leave” (its vibrato beating quickly) to looped soft rock calling to mind the Beach Boys to looped drones that highlight the glitches’ rhythmic pattern in a quiet way. This particular Fennesz album is listed here because it was such a trendsetter, but I...
Finally, an album the Futurists would approve of! Arguably the first masterpiece of glitch electronica, which perturbs ambient flow with interjections of what sound like electronic mishaps (“glitches”), Endless Summer is mellow yet disturbing, a milestone in '00s’ electronica’s greater acceptance of more abstract, non-dance-oriented music that’s as avant-garde in intent and sound as anything the classical avant-garde has created (though often modern electronica artists are strongly influenced by the old-guard avant-gardists such as Pierre Schaeffer, Bernard Parmegiani, and Tod Dockstader). There’s actually a lot of variety on this album, ranging from the manipulated solo keyboard of “Before I Leave” (its vibrato beating quickly) to looped soft rock calling to mind the Beach Boys to looped drones that highlight the glitches’ rhythmic pattern in a quiet way. This particular Fennesz album is listed here because it was such a trendsetter, but I...
- 1/8/2010
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
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