#brooklynization

[atelierofficecreation]

📽 BKc Shield Vest... comme Joey Starr ! À voir dans la dernière vidéo de Seth Gueko. @sethguekofficiel @iampunkfunk @thebkcircus #joeystarr #sethgueko #thebkcircus #paris #tresbrooklyn #brooklynization

[newflags]

Brooklynization of Culture, Cities, & Other Musings

If you haven't had the chance, I recommend checking out this funny, measured, thoughtful and thought-provoking piece by Justin Moyer of the band El Guapo. He does a great job examining some of my long-simmering peeves about the borough I recently vacated, where our band practices and ostensibly lives.

I enjoy how Moyer ponders and frets about the loss of unique, regional identities through the (admittedly) narrow lens of indie-rock. As an indie-rokker myself, I mostly agree with all of the issues the author raises, as well as most of his conclusions. Reframing the issues at a broader level got me thinking about a host of larger topics. Mostly I got to thinking about cities and identity and how so many people are grappling with questions of their place amidst larger sociopolitical forces such as migration, gentrification, globalization, and the internet/media.

I sometimes find it difficult to locate precisely where I stand on a lot of these broader issues, but I know how I lean, and I like where the author's reasoning points me.

Are our futures tied to the fate of cities, as David Simon believes? If so, can we fight Brooklynization? If the Brooklynization of culture is a force on the scale of say, gentrification, might it be futile to fight outright? If fighting is futile, how might a person mindfully navigate Brooklynization? The inclusionist/assimilationist/apologist in me asks: is there a way to Brooklynize while avoiding the pitfalls of a cultural uniformity? But even as I ask that question, I can't help but recall Antony Hegarty's point: isn't it fucked up that everyone in the creative classes somehow "needs" a MacBook Pro? Are we condemned to populate cities that are being transformed into playgrounds for the elite? Then again, aren't reclaimed-space parks nice places to stroll?

To further muddle discussions of regional identity, migration, and the internet, I am posting blues-guitarist Junior Kimbrough's track "Meet Me In The City", which I only learned about because Catherine turned me on to The Black Keys' Kimbrough tribute-record "Chulahoma". 

[flachlandoptik]

Early Gossip recordings reflect the trio’s native environs. Even with a four-string guitar and a drummer that lagged a bit live, the band was lethal. On 2003’s 'Movement', the band somehow sounds like a better version of Muddy Waters and a better version of Black Flag. Times change. On this year’s 'A Joyful Noise', The Gossip often sounds like Ke$ha.

justin 'destroyer' moyer über the gossip als beispiel für die so called brooklynization der musik