Books of music criticism can be risky. There's a fine line between thought-provoking opinions about the state of the art and sounding like the dishevelled bloke who plonks down next to you at the pub one night and starts banging on about King Crimson.
Music writing should be prickly, though. You want it to poke at you like a phonographic needle, challenging your assumptions and likes while hopefully exposing you to some groovy new sounds.
Dutch-born, Australia-raised, UK-based Michel Faber is best known for inventive novels like Under The Skin and The Book of Strange New Things.
With Listen: On Music, Sound And Us he dives into nonfiction for a sweeping survey of how we engage with sound, in a work he calls "the book I've wanted to write all my life".
So, what sets Faber's work apart on a crowded section of the bookshelf? There's a long tradition of so-called "stale, pale males" like Lester Bangs, Nick Kent and Greil Marcus holding forth with certainty about why Bob Dylan or Lou Reed or The Clash changed the world.
"There's nothing more self-absorbed and tribal than music," Faber writes.
What gives Listen an edge is Faber's own wideeared willingness to hear new things, questioning his own opinions and much of music criticism's general vague ignorance of anything but friendly, English-language songs.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 27 - February 02, 2024-Ausgabe von New Zealand Listener.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 27 - February 02, 2024-Ausgabe von New Zealand Listener.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Spilt milk
Excess dietary calcium goes into toilets, not bones.
To the Max
The testosterone and torments of late adolescence are centre stage in this novel about finding your place in life.
A chemical killer
A new book outlines the life of a woman who may well have been New Zealand’s most prolific poisoner. What was it that led police to exhume the body of her husband from its watery grave?
Creating the WOW factor
Meg Williams, in charge of the biggest festival involving a bunch of people wearing wacky outfits, admits she's not very flamboyant in her own dressing.
Leaving it all on the park
After cancer treatment, Graeme Downes takes stock of a musical life leading The Verlaines and lecturing future generations of songwriters.
Wrong message
A UK journalist who came here to talk about Rwanda’s authoritarian regime found herself the victim of a social media hate campaign.
Busting a gut
IBD is escalating, seemingly thanks to the Western lifestyle, and New Zealand has one of the highest rates in the world.
The point of Peters
There's been much to admire about the NZ First leader's politics over the years, but where has it got him?
Don't call us ...
Finland's ingenuity galvanised the rapid global uptake of cellphones, so it's paradoxical the country's latest claim to fame should be the elevation of no-speakies to a new commercial opportunity.
He is here
In the week my brother died, there was a storm in the universe.