Aldous Harding
Party
4AD
The Florence Foster Jenkins of Folk has released her brand new album. Yes, it’s on 4AD. It was produced by a geezer wot does some work with PJ Harvey init.
She’s been in the New York Times and elsewhere. Endorsed by Lorde. And so many others. And yet all I can hear is…
Plainly she takes Will Oldham a lot more seriously than I do.
http://www.allmusic.com/album/party-mw0003039267
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Well. Had Rob Mayes sending me a link to the Jools Holland performance – FUCK ME. WHAT SHIT. I then check her out on youtube.
Well – she is good. she can write. I hear – Kirstin Hersh – Mazzy Star – Trees. Good influences. Touring with Deer Hunter – fucking impeccable…really CAN NOT knock her for that. Insanely good infulences for a chick from over the hill in Lyttleton. I went from a WTF to a – your interesting.
true. This is the AllMusic.com review – http://www.allmusic.com/album/party-mw0003039267
Simon Sweetman is an ugly troll – the fact that he’s often disliked by readers who complain about him carries more weight than any of his opinions on pop recordings, which are all free to access anyway of course.
Simon Sweetman is a CRITIC. He does not lurk under bridges. he is a guy who creates conversation around NZ music – which is a good thing – as generally there is a lot of rose tinted ‘NZ music is the best in the world’ BS out there – which being a guy who works in the music sphere, outside go NZ, it’s an embarassment.
NZ music can be good it can be ugly, it can be amazing – just like music from anywhere – and Simon has a part in getting some grown up discourse around it. I would NOT have gotten to check Aldous Harding out – if I had not been alerted to her ‘eccentric’ perfromance on Jools Harding – or people being critical.
Are you serious? This review is definitely not “grown up discourse.”
No. I agree that there is space to say “yeah, this sucks”, but in relation to what? Simon Sweetman, if you follow his “work” going back over 5 years or so has mostly been about blunt, ugly, insecure insults toward performers. They can be: local, international, authentic, fake, disposable, black, white, old, young, even women.
I do know, and I agree with your statement, that in old NZ music mags like “Rip It Up”, NZ acts that were at best OK would be described as “amazing” and on the verge of international success, except they disappeared without a trace months later.
More people complain about Simon Sweetman than take the content of his opinions seriously. You may have worked in the music industry in some way, but Simon never has. The polite term is “critical dissonance”, i.e: being a total dick so that people read what you’ve said, then remember it because they found it annoying. Really, it’s pretty much what Paul Henry does, and people get no end of mileage out of complaining that Paul Henry is a dick.
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