Which is to say that we all tend to subscribe to certain ways of behaving— to consider them normal and not-an-act— and look at everything else as false, cramped, and artificial. The assumption is that everyone else is going to absurd lengths to seem a certain way, whereas you and the people you understand are just being yourselves. There’s surely no better example of this habit than the word “hipster,” a pejorative people lob at anyone who’s even slightly more interested in current trends than they are. That person must be doing it on purpose, to seem cool and superior, right? Which is possibly how you look to someone slightly less interested in current trends than you are— but you’re normal, and not trying too hard at all.

My impression is that a lot of the points made in this essay (which I thought was pretty great), are observations of tendencies that people generally have and that the current “environment” for online music consumption (i.e., more exposure to artists, reduced timeline to mainstream consumption, etc.) has allowed those tendencies to become easily observable.

I thought that second point, seen in part above, was particularly interesting because I know that it’s incredibly easy to fall into the trap of claiming authenticity and not contextualizing the style of an not relatable group. I don’t love the mid 90s R&B video analogy though, because imitation, whether in R&B videos, indie rock music, or elsewhere, is step removed from having style.

Also, I wonder if the argument has been applied too generally. Namely, the fourth point, which states, “we are suspicious of enjoying anything anyone else has told us about.” Though I certainly fall into this category, there is still a huge portion of the population eager to consume music through outlets like Pandora or Hypem. Services that tell the user what is like what they already know and enjoy, or worse, what’s “cool”. Though, perhaps the identity-less nature of these services makes taking such recommendations more palatable.

agrammar:

Is here, and spins off

from a piece I ran last week

which can be found here.

—Basho

trans. Kenneth Rexroth