state of the art

Over on the Art of Noise blog (which I always forget to update) I'm taking part in the latest In The Dock feature, having lost both of my previous attempts (to prosecute Belle and Sebastien and defend misogyny in hip hop) and keen to get back on track. This time I'm up against Damo and prosecuting bands who straddle the very productive / low quality control divide. Brief extracts from both arguments follow.

Prosecution: "But for most of us, people who don't spend our time writing songs, but who certainly do spend our time slogging away in demeaning and demanding jobs, vying for parental approval yet cursing every wasted minute, the dream of being a musician has more to do with freedom - no more day jobs, no more scrabbling for half an hour to do something creative. The parties and the indulgences would be fine, but it's the idea of space that bewitches"

Defense: "Plenty of acts given lots of 'creative space' manage to come back with something massively self-indulgent. Sometimes it’s good to feel more than to think. The graveyard of dodgy records is littered with artists who were allowed to lose their focus... or worse, were forced to chuck something out quickly so that they could get back out on tour again."

Now go and vote on the best argument, whichever you think it is!