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more *******ing about 'tech house' and 'grand theft culture' (pg. 4)
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
So what is the concept communicated by his cover to you? |
As Adam said, the concept is gritty, industrial, raw. Obvious connotations of grimy warehouse parties, which seems perfectly in keeping with the Chicago/Detroit obsession to me. The scratches, peeling skin and dark moody background all accentuate that effect. Much more likely to me than the designers were trying to fool people into thinking he's black. It's not as though he's "white", anyway.
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
And let's not forget this jackass who is piggybacking off of Kenny Dixon Jr.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Moodymanc
"his name is a tribute to Moodymann" :haha:
:nervous: |
That's obviously a pun on "Manc", the term for someone from Manchester. Note that his vinyl artwork often features pictures of Victorian terracing, the stereotypical image of working class, industrialised Manchester. I suppose Joy Orbison is totally piggybacking as well, and Jichael Mackson is appropriating black musical iconography.
I totally get that ty tech house is making references to Chicago and Detroit for credibility points, but turning this into a race thing just seems to be a strained attempt to add outraged liberal superiority to your grievences against this boring strain of music. Especially when you get stupid enough to start looking for literal evidence for your own metaphor. |
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| shaw |
| In honor of this thread, I'm changing my avatar back. |
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| LoveHate |
am i the only person, who thinks its outragous of what shlomi is being accused of here?
i mean..techno and house wise...detroit and chicago are the birth places ..and i think its ing cool...that artist all over the world till this day pay homage.... |
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| nefardec |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
As Adam said, the concept is gritty, industrial, raw. Obvious connotations of grimy warehouse parties, which seems perfectly in keeping with the Chicago/Detroit obsession to me. The scratches, peeling skin and dark moody background all accentuate that effect. Much more likely to me than the designers were trying to fool people into thinking he's black. It's not as though he's "white", anyway.
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So people from chicago and detroit are dirty? I've never been to a warehouse party and come back with grime on my face. Why doesn't he have a track on his album called "Grime Funk" or "Ash to Mouth"? |
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| Adam420 |
Oh come on Adam you surely get the point, no? Can we maybe talk about this instead?
:p |
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| nefardec |
The point of this thread is, not so much to call out Shlomi Aber on the race thing, though I will call him out as a (convicted) hack.
It's just to bring up the discussion of race as it involves this music. And I do think it tends to be kind of shoved under the rug or veiled in a convenient, faux colorblind idealism.
The interesting thing is that the originators of techno had a kind of utopian race-less vision of the whole thing. You know, the whole george clinton and kraftwerk meet in an elevator situation.
However, I think the way things actually developed, that vision has become a 'carte blanche' (pun intended) for people to liberally plunder from a tight, local group of musicians descending from a musical tradition and culture that made their music what it was, regardless of their post-rationalizations and theoretizing.
some more reading: http://www.moodmat.com/?p=977 |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
So people from chicago and detroit are dirty? I've never been to a warehouse party and come back with grime on my face. Why doesn't he have a track on his album called "Grime Funk" or "Ash to Mouth"? |
You've almost certainly come back with it all over your feet. You seem to be in an alarmingly literalist mindset at the moment, though. When we talk about "connotations" of an image we don't mean the literal visual content, but rather the implied values and subtexts of that content. The cover doesn't connote a grimily authentic warehouse rave by showing Aber at a warehouse party. That would be ing stupid. As would literally photoshopping Aber black to show how down with Detroit he is. Christ, I hope you're not this ham-fisted with your own visual designs. |
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| nefardec |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
You've almost certainly come back with it all over your feet. You seem to be in an alarmingly literalist mindset at the moment, though. When we talk about "connotations" of an image we don't mean the literal visual content, but rather the implied values and subtexts of that content. The cover doesn't connote a grimily authentic warehouse rave by showing Aber at a warehouse party. That would be ing stupid. As would literally photoshopping Aber black to show how down with Detroit he is. Christ, I hope you're not this ham-fisted with your own visual designs. |
Is the photo dark or not? Are there scratches or not?
The ARTIST made it literal, and so I am judging it on that criteria.
The metaphor works precisely because it has a literal counterpart.
Duh.
I feel that you are giving this guy WAY too much credit. Do you really think Shlomi Aber's Ovum records album designer is thinking about subtexts? |
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| nefardec |
| quote: | Originally posted by Adam420
Oh come on Adam you surely get the point, no? Can we maybe talk about this instead?
:p |
Haha.
The thing with that is, to me that comes across more as the theme/subject of a documentary or a period piece. It's not like Sascha Dive's album is called "I am the blackest panther"
With the shlomi aber, the title "Detroit Days Chicago Nights" implies that he has actually experienced these things for himself and has created these musical memory capsules so that we can see the world through his (black) eyes. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
Is the photo dark or not? Are there scratches or not?
The ARTIST made it literal, and so I am judging it on that criteria. |
Yes, there are scratches and there are peeling sections and there is grime. So black people from Chicago and Detroit have sunburn (somehow)? The scratches and whatnot are the most compelling evidence that you're pulling out of thin air. But oh wait - one of the track titles contains the word "black"! He must be literally trying to look black!
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
I feel that you are giving this guy WAY too much credit. Do you really think Shlomi Aber's Ovum records album designer is thinking about subtexts? |
Do you really, honestly think that the designer is trying to fool people into thinking Shlomi Aber is a black man by shooting him in shadow and then photoshopping grime onto his face? It's such a ing stupid suggestion there are no words for it. |
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| nefardec |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Yes, there are scratches and there are peeling sections and there is grime. So black people from Chicago and Detroit have sunburn (somehow)? The scratches and whatnot are the most compelling evidence that you're pulling out of thin air. But oh wait - one of the track titles contains the word "black"! He must be literally trying to look black! |
You have exactly as much evidence for your theory as I do for mine.
Except mine fits in with his documented attempts to rip people off. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
I feel that you are giving this guy WAY too much credit. Do you really think Shlomi Aber's Ovum records album designer is thinking about subtexts? |
Do you really, honestly think that the designer is trying to fool people into thinking Shlomi Aber is a black man by shooting him in shadow and then photoshopping grime onto his face? It's such a ing stupid suggestion there are no words for it.
| quote: | Originally posted by nefardec
You have exactly as much evidence for your theory as I do for mine.
Except mine fits in with his documented attempts to rip people off. |
Arf. So he's ripping off a skin colour? |
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