Kitsch sunset

[imomus]

It's one of life's little ironies that I've come to Berlin—surely the world's most kitsch and pastiche-friendly city—at a time when my own interest in kitsch and pastiche is dwindling. This might explain why I've hardly seen Stereo Total since I've lived here, despite declaring them in 1999 "the best band in the world" and releasing the compilation Total Pop on my Analog Baroque label. In an excellent interview in the current edition of English-language Berlin magazine Ex-Berliner, Francoise Cactus talks about her circle of Berlin peers (Peaches heads the list) and describes how it took leaving her native France to make her embrace her Frenchness and start drawing, in her songwriting, on the Chanson tradition.

The list of Berlin artists (or artists who've spent time in Berlin, or go down well here) who use kitsch, pastiche and humour in their work is endless; Peaches, Chicks on Speed, Gonzales, Kevin Blechdom, Felix Kubin, Andreas Dorau... There are also kitsch-formalists like Jason Forrest and Jamie Liddell who've adopted the city as their spiritual home. And it doesn't stop at music; sometimes the whole city feels like one big flohmarkt, a junk stall through which hipsters rifle for cool and funny retro stuff. Nazi kitsch would be a step too far, but there's plenty of affection for communist kitsch in the form of endless ostalgie and DDR souvenirs, or the sudden upswelling of affection for the massive, ugly gold-mirrored Volkspalast, the former East German parliament building which is about to be demolished.



Just this morning I've written a profile, for an American magazine, of a Berlin designer whose work cocks a snook at the Bauhaus; the legitimate mixture of attraction and repulsion underpinning his feelings about Modernism is surely one of the defining characteristics and chief motivations of kitsch irony. One reason Berlin seems so wedded to kitsch is that it's a city without a strong commercial ethic; life here is cheap, allowing people to make whatever art they want rather than trying to work within the formulae of what's "commercial". But pop music is a commercial format, so what emerges in Berlin pop is a kind of "artificial commerciality", an ironic and ambivalent use of commercial formulae by people who consider themselves artists, but remain fascinated by retro and mainstream tat. This ambivalence (and there's a connection with guilty pleasures, a sense of the lure of sin) explains the resemblance of a lot of Berlin pop to gaudy Greatest Hits compilations on East German labels like Amiga; today's Berliners, removed from the direct pressure of the commercial, identify easily with the communist citizens of the non-commercial DDR, both repelled and fascinated by a capitalism that seems distant and rather exotic.

Now, I identify very much with what Francoise Cactus says in Ex-Berliner about coming to terms, away from her own culture, with the Chanson tradition. I've also come, belatedly, to the conclusion that what I do (especially live) is a kind of Scottish vaudeville act. Perhaps it's no co-incidence that my most Scottish-sounding albums were made in New York and Tokyo. Folktronic imagined a very Celtic (and electronic) Appalachia, and Oskar Tennis Champion drew heavily on Ivor Cutler and Stanley Baxter in songs like "The Laird of Inversnecky" and "Scottish Lips". The album where I sound most Scottish, though, is surely Summerisle, my 2003 Berlin collaboration with Anne Laplantine. Here, on songs with titles like "Fingal Martin's Mistress" and "The Tailor of Dunblane", I sing with a light Gaelic accent about traditional Hebridean industries like spinning, fishing and weaving. Any more Scottish than that and you'd be living in a lighthouse in Stornoway.

Luckily, my odd, stilted, fragmentary phrases of pig-Japanese and Anne's cut-up guitar and computer techniques lift Summerisle away from cliché and pastiche. This is cute formalism, not kitsch formalism, and not pastiche of folk groups with names like The Spinners or The Weavers. So while I can admit that songs like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" achieve semi-greatness because of their mastery of over-the-top pastiche (listen to BBC Radio 4's excellent dissection of the song, Rhapsody in Bohemia), that's no longer the place I'm heading. Even if it's very much the place I live.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

More me, me, meing.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

That's funny, I've just got in trouble with one of the publications I write for, and it's for precisely not putting enough of my own perspective into pieces. They have a point: without a situated narrator who tells you where he lives, what he's feeling and doing, articles have a tendency to collapse into lists of links and stats.

But if you look closely at today's entry you'll see that it's about the sensibility of kitsch, the city of Berlin, the perspective of Francoise Cactus from Stereo Total, and a bunch of other things that aren't me, but are perceived from the fixed point of view I call "me".

[(Anonymous)]

OK, I'll swap you my inner most self for two of your thems.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'll have to consult my layers first.

[tassellrealm.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that kitsch exists.

The charming and the authentic aren't such strange bedfellows.

All phenomena contain their own opposites.

This seems to be a recurring theme on your blog.

More here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Three

[(Anonymous)]

Strange that, seeing as it's his blog...

[(Anonymous)]

I mean the 'me, me, meing'...

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The process of transformation requires the three actions of affirmation, denial and reconciliation.

Being a bit less mystical than you and Gurdjieff, I already practice this, but I call it "Hegelian dialectics": thesis, antithesis and synthesis.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, let me barter with your strata, do!
Tell them I should like two
Of your thems for my self's most inner,
And I would like to take me and your layers to dinner.

RW

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, you're sounding a bit more cheerful now, whoever you are (the ghost of RW Fassbinder, perhaps?)

[(Anonymous)]

Will the real me please stand up! I stood you up at the Kempi, remember?

RW

[tassellrealm.livejournal.com]

"Being a bit less mystical than you and Gurdjieff"

Well, I don't really believe in God, and perhaps 'mystical' is a word much like 'kitsch.'

I'm a bit more misty than I am mystical.

"I already practice this, but I call it "Hegelian dialectics": thesis, antithesis and synthesis."

It's obviously something that you think about a lot.

pastiche

[(Anonymous)]

Pastiche has had rather a bad press recently; it is often used in a derogatory sense. Thus much of the architecture championed by Prince Charles is described by architecture journals as “merely a pastiche of Victorian/ classical architecture”. In other words it’s a fake, a phoney lacking integrity and substance.

The word pastiche originally implied a certain transvestisism; it was a knowing imitation of another, imitating, but respectful to the original. In the Late 19th century it began to acquire a second meaning, which implies less of a careful studied understanding and more of a mannered copying. A pastiche then became a msih mash of styles; as such pastiche became in certain quarters a term of abuse.

High Modernism of course disliked the whole idea of pastiche; the Greenbergian emphasis on the integrity of material saw pastiche as too lightweight, fey and threatening. Post modernism arguably embraced pastiche as a key way of displacing the integrity of authorship and of undermining the original in favour of the metatext full of quotes and nods and winks to this and that.

Pastiche if used correctly can be a reflexive tool; it allows the wearing of the clothes of the other whilst retaining a distance. Pastiche admits an attraction for the form and nuances of what is being “covered” but without succumbing to it. It is a tricky balance; get too close and you slip from pastiche into mimicry and then from mimicry into actually adopting the style of the other.

Pastiche is not kitsch, it can be applied to both to the popular and to the materialist. It is not an excuse for anything goes mix and match. Duchamp the arch practitioner of pastiche is often accused of ushering in a phase of simple reconctextualisation in fine art but Duchamp always kept his distance; carefully limiting the numbers of ready-mades aware of how seductive they could be.

http://stormbugblog.blogspot.com/

Re: pastiche

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I agree with most of that. I think the danger of pastiche culture is "easy power", though. Easy Power (I should have put this in my seven deadly sins thing the other day) is borrowing someone's well-established language and tapping directly into the emotions of an audience already primed like a pump. It's easy because the audience are conditioned and ready, like Pavlovian dogs, and it's power because to connect so widely and so directly gives you instant power. The Beatles and Queen were already pastiching widely, but Oasis and The Darkness tapped into the tapping in that the original artists were doing, pastiched the pastiche. And our age is full of these ever-tightening circles. The new Madonna single (acclaimed by many) sounds like a pastiche of what she herself was doing five years ago, mixed with bits of Abba and Donna Summer. As artists and audiences we must renounce Easy Power, otherwise we'll be nothing more than dogs chasing our own tails. And Duchamp provided the answer: delay. We must make and consume art that defers gratification, that doesn't add up, that disorients, that begs the question: WTF?

[(Anonymous)]

Yes I would agree that pastiching the already pastiched can be problematic, but a proper pastiche requires that you bring something new to the mix rather than just regurgitating or simply copying as arguably Oasis did. Duchamp was aware of the dangers of pastiching oneself and applied not just delay but also limitation; only so many ready mades. Others have been less choosy and galleries are awash with works that are in many ways variations on the ready-made. However whilst the sentiment expressed in “We must make and consume art that defers gratification, that doesn't add up, that disorients, that begs the question: WTF?” is a noble one it has the smell of high modernism; is there not a danger of unconsciously pastiching the supposed ‘rigor’ and ‘difficulty’ of the avant garde


http://stormbugblog.blogspot.com/

Re: pastiche

[dragonmonkey.livejournal.com]

Wow, this easy 'Easy Power' concept. That`s a very good one. Another little stink given a form. A new angle on retro. It would have worked very well as a seventh sin. Another little ambigous slight stink given a form. Has that not shown up in your blog before, or did I miss it? I recall you saying somwhere that you may have pastiched your own pastiche with ping pong/i>, or was it another album, where you mentioned making a Momus themed Momus album? But did you write about `easy power` extensively somewhere?

Re: pastiche

[imomus.livejournal.com]

did you write about `easy power` extensively somewhere?

Not extensively, but it came up in this July piece (http://www.livejournal.com/users/imomus/124553.html) about Adam Green, where I mused:

"The power of rock and cool is "easy power" because it's a Faustian pact, undermined by its own eternal, deadly effectiveness. In exchange for a Pied Piper-like power over the masses, rock performers give up their right to art's real strength: its detachment, its capacity to alienate and estrange experience. Rock power appeals to the adrenal glands; it's viscerally interesting but conceptually boring. What works in a stadium doesn't work in an art gallery, and vice versa. If rock is mostly recognition, art is cognition, the first encounter with something new and potentially disturbing."

Re: pastiche

[tassellrealm.livejournal.com]

I like the new Madonna record.

I think the Abba phrase is used to better effect on this record than on the original. I like the lyrics too.

In the Sixties, Motown copies were (in my view) frequently ten times better than actual Motown records.

Billy MacKenzie was a better singer than Bowie.

Frequently the original is still the greatest, but who would want to ride around in a Model T Ford over an up-to-the-minute Merc.

'Progress' is not alway an illusion.

To one degree or another everything is a unique event.

Has anyone here ever heard the Anthony Newley version of Goldfinger?

[(Anonymous)]

Was doing my makeup while reading your blog this morning and found the reflection makes my face look quite pink. I imagine it does this to all your readers, Must be an addictive end of the light wave spectrum or something.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

is there not a danger of unconsciously pastiching the supposed ‘rigor’ and ‘difficulty’ of the avant garde

Actually, of all the dangers there are, that's for me a fairly acceptable and minor one. In fact, I could even see it as a virtue; I think a lot of what I call "Cute Formalism" is a kind of friendly, domestic-scaled pastiche of the avant garde. I'm thinking of some of my fetish records, by Lullatone, Nobukazu Takemura, Yuko Nexus6, etc.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Honestly, it's all "me me me" with you blog-readers, it really is!

;-)

Re: pastiche

[imomus.livejournal.com]

who would want to ride around in a Model T Ford over an up-to-the-minute Merc.

Perhaps the kind of people who get married in a vintage Citroen (http://www.monminouweb.com/kaori%20web%20contents%20image/odji/Oct-4.jpg)?

[(Anonymous)]

I am fine, perhaps a little spiky this month but basically happy and well. Please remember at all times that Momus is a game with masks played by Nick Currie and others. Momus is art-play, and even the name-calling and the verbal violence that happen in a Momus column happen without real insult being intended or real blood being shed. I, Nick Currie, have nothing but affection for Mr Ed Ball, the Creation artist, and sometimes in fact listen with pleasure to the songs of Oasis. Momus, however, speaks with a different voice. Momus is an avatar, a political figure, an 18th century man of letters writing a 20th century 'Dunciad'. Momus is shadow play, a piece of art. And art, as Eno said, is where you can crash the plane and walk away. Life is much more precious, but much less free. I love them both, and I don't intend to abandon either just yet.

[kubia.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of what I call "Cute Formalism" is a kind of friendly, domestic-scaled pastiche of the avant garde.

Yes, you are absolutely right. This was the thought I had when I stumbled across records by above or by others such as vert or matmos. And I'm absolutely delighted that the techniques of the avant-garde resurface in the realm of pop music and have done so for at least 10 years now. It takes away the self-indulgence of self-proclaimed avantgardist and brings back the fun! Just think of Jim O'Rourke's pastiche record Eureka.

[nomorepolitics.livejournal.com]

meeooow me more me me meing!

But I never realized art and life were seperate, except that some people try to confine it within the walls of a gallery.

[blndsnnts.livejournal.com]

What’s most interesting about pastiche is that it's about the artist’s encounter with her own expectations of the culture in question because no one can put oneself in another’s shoes.

I’m failing to grasp the difference between cute formalism and Western pastiche. But I’m thinking cute formalism is 'undiluted' pleasure and play while… that’s what rock-n-roll is. :/ Where's the cognition factor? Yes, cute formalism delays in the Western world because it’s outré. But in Japan, otherness must be so constant a reinvention that it doesn’t exist. Otherness, on the other hand, is *the* theme of the Western world.

raunch of kitsch or...

[pressurised.livejournal.com]

thinking of these terms over the last few days:

Individuals strive to flourish in the circumstances where they are thwarted, and they seek to thrive not in an abstract universalist language such as ‘the american dream’ but in the terms that belong precisely to those circumstances. There are now some living who genuinely wish to succeed in life, as examples of ‘raunch’.

Moral condemnation of such ‘success’ is no more acceptable than condemnation of the casualties of these industries. However, ethico-political resistance to the triumph within, rather than over, squalid conditions is essential. And such a resistance must involve awareness of, and constant re-orientation towards, the generality of social relations which cause such grotesques.

At first this is remarkably easy, we are determined to understand all surface aberrations as phenomena of the distorting pressures of capitalism, but when pole-dancing produces its first great poet things will become more difficult. The appropriation by ‘art’ of outsider voices, that is of those voices determined by, and expressive of, the most squalid conditions, is whatever else it might be, most of all an appropriation.

Traditionally, there is a moment where the artistic sensiblity, which first refuses the moral condemnation of formalised symptoms for a deeper connection with the social force that determine both it and them, suddenly baulks at its own understanding of such a force in favour of the immediate aesthetic embrace of the symptoms for themselves.

Re: pastiche

[tassellrealm.livejournal.com]

Well, why?/why not?

You can no more avoid being modern than you can having a heritage.

To me, what's interesting is how third-force comes into this.

[(Anonymous)]

Well it is inevitable isn't it? When there is a writing there is an opinion of a perception derived from the writer, and when there is a reading there is an opinion of an opinion derived from the perception of the reader. Even when one manages to disguise those silly me's and I's and the occasional more ambitious we's.

Re: raunch of kitsch or...

[imomus.livejournal.com]

when pole-dancing produces its first great poet things will become more difficult

Ha ha ha, I'm not holding my breath!

I'm sure my least favourite choreographer in the world, Bob Fosse, has tried, though.

Re: raunch of kitsch or...

[tassellrealm.livejournal.com]

when pole-dancing produces its first great poet things will become more difficult.

Very astute.

Re: raunch of kitsch or...

[tassellrealm.livejournal.com]

When Elvis Presley first appeared on the scene, it's clear by listening to early English attempts at rock and roll that they thought they were playing striptease music. The implications of which give an impression of Elvis usurping and commandeering an already established female role - raunch, if you will.

Re: raunch of kitsch or...

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I'm all in favour of developments coming from erotic energy. I don't want people thinking I'm against sex, or even pornography, which can be incredibly beautiful. It's just that I see raunch as a presentation of sex which is self-contradictory, in that it presents taboo and liberation from taboo at the same time. In my guilty pleasures (http://www.livejournal.com/users/imomus/86472.html) piece I tried to pin down this inherent contradiction:

"The Enjoying Guilty Pleasures DVD is, according to the Amazon blurb, "a delightfully erotic sampler of "kinky" sex acts that are actually healthy, imaginative and fun... [much talk of "forbidden fantasies" and "taboo treats"]...

"I'm slightly confused by that blurb, because it seems to be suggesting that we banish guilt, while at the same time saying that taboo "adds spice to sexual lives". Do Drs. Herb and Louise intend to drop the word "kinky" from future editions of their DVD? Or do they perhaps intend to drop the inverted commas they've placed around it? Will sex get more or less "kinky", more or less "taboo", more or less "guilty" in the future? And what if, taking away the guilt, we found we'd taken away the sex too?"

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Try Hamburg; better red light district, and they all know Palais Schaumburg (local band).

[blndsnnts.livejournal.com]

I botched 'otherness' there. I meant otherness as a cultural thing, not as psychoanalytical, which is actually the proper sense of the term.

Re: raunch of kitsch or...

[tassellrealm.livejournal.com]

Sexual philosophy is essentially about selling books and making careers.

Some women are sexually agressive, some women are sexually passive.

Neither of them need be corrected, in my view.

[(Anonymous)]

I think it would be interesting given your recent comments about irony and ambivance to actually move away from pastiche. Could you write a song where you draw upon your roots but ensure that it is played straight ? "Summerisle" does seem to be exploring this territory rather than exploiting it like Folktronic. My favourite "Folktronic" song is actually "Pygmalism" and the ones that work around the Paul Klee titles partly because the vaudeville is more surreal then just fake folk parody ( which I know is the defining theme). These are of course the seeds of "Oskar" which I think is my most played album of yours. So perhaps the Scottish themes will return in a less self-conscious form, especially given your ex-patriot perspective ?

Richard

Re: pastiche

[jina---.livejournal.com]

"Easy power" is a most annoying word.
pastiche has to do with influence and there's nothing revolutionary about it.
but it's not power.