Saturday, August 30, 2003
"Japanese Independent Music" - A meta-review.
Seemingly aspiring to such lofty adjectives as 'tome-like' (at 361 pages + CD) but falling markedly short of other more imperative ones such as 'comprehensive' (an entry on Kazumoto Endo, a key player in the '90s Tokyo post-noise scene, seems suspicious in it's omision) "Japanese Independent Music" by Franck Stofer seems as good a jumping-off point as any . . . at first glance.
Of course, since the book in it's English version (the original version was in the French) was published just a little over two years ago, perhaps something a little more subtle than a straight-ahead review is called for here in terms of critical style. This is due not simply to impending obsolescence of the information contained therein, but also to the fact that since publication, several pertinent, if not slightly pedestrian, reviews are now available on the internet by various sources, thus circumventing the need for yet another of that ilk. (Here is one such review by the well-meaning folks at METROPOLIS, which should more than suffice for the non-aficionados out there.
After all, Mr. Stofer's labor of love will never grace their coffee tables in the first place. Frankly speaking, the group of people out there who actually would loose sleep if they failed to meditate deeply enough on the implications of such pennings as contributing essayist Michel Henritzi's delighfully perilous "Extreme Contemporary - Japanese Music as Radical Exoticism" is admittedly infinitesimal. Perhaps even to the extent that it might serve to dissuade general musings on the work itself. However, since this isn't simply a question of how many sheep are being counted out there right now and by whom, it might be of some value to seek to engender a multi-faceted perspective on the volume.
Of course, since the book in it's English version (the original version was in the French) was published just a little over two years ago, perhaps something a little more subtle than a straight-ahead review is called for here in terms of critical style. This is due not simply to impending obsolescence of the information contained therein, but also to the fact that since publication, several pertinent, if not slightly pedestrian, reviews are now available on the internet by various sources, thus circumventing the need for yet another of that ilk. (Here is one such review by the well-meaning folks at METROPOLIS, which should more than suffice for the non-aficionados out there.
After all, Mr. Stofer's labor of love will never grace their coffee tables in the first place. Frankly speaking, the group of people out there who actually would loose sleep if they failed to meditate deeply enough on the implications of such pennings as contributing essayist Michel Henritzi's delighfully perilous "Extreme Contemporary - Japanese Music as Radical Exoticism" is admittedly infinitesimal. Perhaps even to the extent that it might serve to dissuade general musings on the work itself. However, since this isn't simply a question of how many sheep are being counted out there right now and by whom, it might be of some value to seek to engender a multi-faceted perspective on the volume.
