Machine Dreams
Triffic piece on Paris Hilton by the unusually shrewd pop blogger David Moore. He points out at least one thing that had me guiltily thinking back to my own lazier moments, when he talks about the way commentators (sympathetic or otherwise) invoke the idea of a “pop machine”, a kind of hand-wave usually designed to cover up the fact that we simply don’t know how most pop records are put together in the studio. Moore touches on the language used to talk about this - “competent professionals” and such like, which tends to try and align the pop and business worlds, suggesting that modern studio musicians and producers are little more than suited drones. Even a lot of pro-pop writers (raises sheepish hand) are guilty of this sometimes, though from them it’s probably not intended as a diss: I find the idea of white-coated pop technocrats working hard on R&B R&D a comforting and intriguing one, even now.
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