In her memoir, Girl in a Band, musician Kim Gordon addresses how fashion and music are mutually constitutive outlets for creative expression and feminist critique.
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Music
Kim Gordon’s Self-Fashioning
On Radio: Live Music Festivals as Satellite Radio’s Premium Content?
Sirius XM's recent live broadcast of the Governors Ball highlights the persistence of place, of musical “hotspots,” within the satellite radio universe.
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“She Loves You”: The Beatles, Girl Culture, and The Ed Sullivan Show
The Beatles appealed to girls through familiar and comforting girl-group discourse, but they also became the “bad boys” who worried parents. Such rebelliousness, however, was managed through androgyny, not conventional masculinity.
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Accessing Beyoncé
Though initially met with surprise, the pop star returns to a number of themes with Beyoncé and will again, regardless of how she chooses to distribute them.
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The Cosmopolitan City and the Carnivalesque in Arcade Fire’s Reflektor Campaign
The promotional campaign for Arcade Fire's Reflektor reflects an increasingly mobile and interconnected experience of popular culture, as well as the persistent significance of local sites of production in popular music-making and promotion.
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What Are You Missing? Apr 28 – May 11
Ten (or more) media industry news items you might have missed recently.
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The Power of Women’s Voices in The Great Gatsby
The female voices on The Great Gatsby's soundtrack channel the hard-won feminist power of past generations.
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The Velvet Light Trap CFP: On Sound (New Directions in Sound Studies)
The coordinating editors of The Velvet Light Trap are seeking submissions for a forthcoming issue that explores new directions in sound studies.
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Different for Boys: Frank Ocean and the “Problem” of Male Bisexuality
Frank Ocean's alleged coming out story never uses the word "gay" and his music expresses desire for same- and opposite-sex partners. So how do we make the leap?
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An Incomplete History: “Women Who Rock” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
I found myself in Cleveland last week. My friend Amy Rigby, a musician who plies her trade in one of the parallel music industries that I talked about in my recent post about the Grammy Awards, had things to do in Cleveland. I’d been threatening for months to take advantage of being on sabbatical...
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The Materiality of Media
As culture becomes increasingly digitized, arguments for the “dematerialization” of media are becoming commonplace. However, media have always been, and remain, embedded in and structured by material objects, networks, and practices that delimit their uses and meanings.
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You Have Friends That Want You Back Home
Treme’s focus on how its culture and cultural economies are created and presented through music and cuisine has meant a majority of its almost 22 narrative hours watching musicians struggle with bar owners, the recording business, the law and each other.
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Whatever Happened to the Devil’s Music?
Surely in the final minutes of the last day of the Glastonbury rock festival, people are supposed to look sick, bedraggled and filthy, following a weekend of unfettered debauchery, but those kids are just too clean!. Come to think of it, why is Beyonce headlining anyway?
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Tremé: Feels Like Joy and Pain
The challenge facing Tremé (and every other media representation of New Orleans) is finding a way to balance a celebration of the city’s unique cultural contributions with an acknowledgment of its more conventional, and often more damning, histories, memories, and contemporary realities. Week 6’s episode “Feels Like Rain” responds to this challenge, self-consciously,...
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Late to the Party: Let’s Get Small and A Wild and Crazy Guy
In the latest installment of Late to the Party, I familiarize myself with Steve Martin's classic stand-up comedy albums.
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