Tag: authenticity

• The Mask is the Face: Self-Design in the Age of the Algorithm 

  We wear our souls in here. Second Life resident Biology’s offspring is culture, but culture feels little allegiance to its heritage. It has become rabid, turns back to devour its father. But culture is a Cronus, a middle way, a transitory stage. Culture in turn gives birth to the algorithm, but the algorithm feels little…

  suspendedreason

  February 26, 2018

  Essays

  authenticity, body modification, Christianity, identity, Second Life, transhumanism, trend forecast

• Regarding Rockism Pts 2 & 3: The Progress of Poptimism and the New Rockism

  Part One explored the origins and evolution of different authenticity models in American popular music criticism, breaking apart contemporary constructions into essentialist and personal models stemming, respectively, from European-American and African-American cultures. Now, in Parts Two and Three, poptimism’s rise to near-hegemonic acceptance is examined through the lens of Lana Del Rey and her shifting reception at Pitchfork…

  suspendedreason

  January 28, 2016

  Essays

  authenticity, Ellen Willis, intentionality, Lana Del Rey, Lindsay Zoladz, meta-criticism, music, nostalgia, persona, Pitchfork, poptimism, rockism, Ryan Dombol

• Regarding Rockism, pt 1: Black Truths, Noble Savages

  I. Introduction Controversy over Lana Del Rey has centered around everything from her singing ability and views on feminism to her interview last year with the Guardian in which she opined on musicians who have died young. (“Glamorous?” she was asked. “Ummmm, yeah.”) But within music criticism circles, one of the primary topics of conversation has been…

  suspendedreason

  November 23, 2015

  Essays

  authenticity, blues, fetish, folk, Lana Del Rey, meta-criticism, music, music criticism, Nitsuh Abebe, nostalgia, Pitchfork, pop music, poptimism, rockism

• Oh Boy: Christopher Owens, Headspace, and Artistic Irony

  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about two songs in my record collection. One is Jimmie Rodgers’ “T.B. Blues,” considered by some musicologists (e.g. Hugh Barker and Yuval Taylor) to be one of the first popular autobiographical songs. Rodgers made a career out of singing songs about other people—miners, gamblers, gunslingers, jailbirds. But in 1931,…

  suspendedreason

  January 28, 2015

  Blog

  alt lit, authenticity, Bob Dylan, Christopher Owens, Jimmie Rodgers, music criticism, New Sincerity, pop music, Ryder Ripps