Catching up on some old(er) reviews
Howdy!
Last month Nicolas Mavrikakis foamed at the mouth and pretty much raved about Ondulations (at the MACM until March 6). He used 480 words without name dropping once. Hmmm, what happened? I find it particularly interesting that given his tendencies, he did not mention the Silophone, or the Symphony for Dot Matrix Printers, both of which were previously done by two-thirds of the folk involved in Ondulations. I still have problems with the length (but that's not M. Mavriakakis' fault). I'd give the review a B.
Also published last month, Le Devoir's review (by Michel Hellman) of the Surrealism show at the National Academy Museum, in New York. 289 words - what's the point? Also, while I appreciate Le Devoir's attempt at going international, somehow I can't help but think that a review of the Mark Lewis show at Triple Candie, or an interview with Gregory Colbert about his upcoming show ashes and snow might have been better. Not graded, because it is too darn short.
Then finally, it isn't old, but I figured I should give props where props are due, especially when it comes to the CBC's coverage of the Arts on line. They have this thing that they've decided to call the Alternative Canadian Walk of Fame. And while I'm not quite clear on what it is an alternative to, I always like it when John Oswald and people like him get press. Today Andre Mayer wrote 389 nice words about Mr. Oswald. There are only a couple of mistakes: 1. Mash-ups are two or more songs in the same key played at the same time - plunderphonics is as many songs as is physically possible edited together using a razor blade. recording tape, and scotch tape. 2. Rubaiyat is spelled with two a's. 3. And I've never heard mention of anything like "many Elektra artists hated the results and the label never released Oswald’s portion." From my memory (granted, not entirely reliable) it was released as a promo only CD for Elektra's 40th anniversary, and other than the cover, nothing was changed or prevented from being released. And is currently available all over the place as part of the plunderphonics box set available from Seeland. Also, given that the CBC's art website is on line, it would have been nice to at least see one link to Mr. Oswald's site, and maybe perhaps a mention of his winning the Governor General's award last year, eh?
[Update, 4:00 pm: It appears that the powers that be at the CBC have corrected the typo]
Last month Nicolas Mavrikakis foamed at the mouth and pretty much raved about Ondulations (at the MACM until March 6). He used 480 words without name dropping once. Hmmm, what happened? I find it particularly interesting that given his tendencies, he did not mention the Silophone, or the Symphony for Dot Matrix Printers, both of which were previously done by two-thirds of the folk involved in Ondulations. I still have problems with the length (but that's not M. Mavriakakis' fault). I'd give the review a B.
Also published last month, Le Devoir's review (by Michel Hellman) of the Surrealism show at the National Academy Museum, in New York. 289 words - what's the point? Also, while I appreciate Le Devoir's attempt at going international, somehow I can't help but think that a review of the Mark Lewis show at Triple Candie, or an interview with Gregory Colbert about his upcoming show ashes and snow might have been better. Not graded, because it is too darn short.
Then finally, it isn't old, but I figured I should give props where props are due, especially when it comes to the CBC's coverage of the Arts on line. They have this thing that they've decided to call the Alternative Canadian Walk of Fame. And while I'm not quite clear on what it is an alternative to, I always like it when John Oswald and people like him get press. Today Andre Mayer wrote 389 nice words about Mr. Oswald. There are only a couple of mistakes: 1. Mash-ups are two or more songs in the same key played at the same time - plunderphonics is as many songs as is physically possible edited together using a razor blade. recording tape, and scotch tape. 2. Rubaiyat is spelled with two a's. 3. And I've never heard mention of anything like "many Elektra artists hated the results and the label never released Oswald’s portion." From my memory (granted, not entirely reliable) it was released as a promo only CD for Elektra's 40th anniversary, and other than the cover, nothing was changed or prevented from being released. And is currently available all over the place as part of the plunderphonics box set available from Seeland. Also, given that the CBC's art website is on line, it would have been nice to at least see one link to Mr. Oswald's site, and maybe perhaps a mention of his winning the Governor General's award last year, eh?
[Update, 4:00 pm: It appears that the powers that be at the CBC have corrected the typo]
posted by Zeke's, the Montreal Art Gallery on 1.3.05
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