noisenerd reviewed Muse Sick by Ian Brennan
Sometimes thought-provoking, occasionally wrong
3 stars
A very quick read, as much of the book (as the name implies) is made up of short notes and observations that don't even take up a whole page. Not a complaint, just pointing it out.
Contains some great observations about music and our relation to it, as well as the corrupting influence of capitalism and consumerism on music. Also contains some good short pieces (but longer than the notes that make up most of the book) from the author concerning his recording work, mostly to do with what I suppose you would call folk music in places such as Rwanda and Pakistan.
Where I take issue with the material is pretty much any time modern technology comes up. While I agree with many of his observations concerning the commodification of music in the modern era, some of the things he says about the technology itself come across (at least …
A very quick read, as much of the book (as the name implies) is made up of short notes and observations that don't even take up a whole page. Not a complaint, just pointing it out.
Contains some great observations about music and our relation to it, as well as the corrupting influence of capitalism and consumerism on music. Also contains some good short pieces (but longer than the notes that make up most of the book) from the author concerning his recording work, mostly to do with what I suppose you would call folk music in places such as Rwanda and Pakistan.
Where I take issue with the material is pretty much any time modern technology comes up. While I agree with many of his observations concerning the commodification of music in the modern era, some of the things he says about the technology itself come across (at least to me) as the old "digital bad" argument, rather than any kind of real examination of the issues around modern music consumption. Some of this is understandable considering the author's background, but I just don't think this kind of thing is helpful to anyone.
This might seem a bit harsh, but I was really hoping for more out of this book in this regard. That said, I didn't hate it. Also, some may get more out of it than I did.