Spex Magazine

[LadyLazarus]

I've recently got my hands on the March/April 2011 back issue of the German Spex magazine, which has a full two page article on John (which I can't read, knowing only some choice dirty German words and phrases). I'll be happy to share the article with everyone here if I can get a translator. IrisSala, are you out there?

[IrisSala]

I've recently got my hands on the March/April 2011 back issue of the German Spex magazine, which has a full two page article on John (which I can't read, knowing only some choice dirty German words and phrases). I'll be happy to share the article with everyone here if I can get a translator. IrisSala, are you out there?

Hey LL, I'm still here just not as frequently! If you can get the article to me, I'm happy to translate again - I should have some spare time over the next couple of weeks.

[LadyLazarus]

Cool! Will get scanning now. Thank you so much. You are a star.

[IrisSala]

Cool! Will get scanning now. Thank you so much. You are a star.

Thank you I've PM'd you back about the scans.

[LadyLazarus]

Hi everybody. I found this German Spex mag with a John feature in that the lovely Iris has once again kindly translated for us (with some help from the equally lovely flounderblue).
I must first state my little quibbles with the article before I post it and invite mausspacers to agree or disagree with me.
I cannot suppress the overwhelming notion that this writer did not even speak to John before doing this piece. Therefore, there are bound to be some erroneous misinterpretations, such as the analysis of Cop Killer as some psyhopathic serial killing fantasy. If the journalists here hadn't been so lazy and done a little digging they would have found that the 'cops' referred to are metaphorical authority figures: he's not actually singing about encouraging the murder of another human being, rather the mechanisms of power (be it bureacracy, capitalism, political regimes, bosses, etc.) that hold us back.

Also I feel that Badiou's 'Pitiless Censors' from the 15 Theses on Contemporary Art was somewhat bumbled here, too. Rather than repressed associations too terrible to communicate which urge censure, I believe Badiou is referencing the way that art is so widely circulated and accepted via consumerism these days that we should challenge what is being put out there for our consideration.

Throughout this piece, the author emphasises a cheerlessness and cold melancholia prevalent throughout WMBtPCoO, but I actually found it rather uplifting and warm in many places (especially with the twinkling organic chimes of Believer as a closer).

Lastly, this:

He was shouting his soul out through his
lungs so that the buttons popped off his shirt; all the while he was clutching the microphone in his
beautifully shaped, very strong hands as if by singing into [it] he could banish an evil spirit back into
the machine.

To me this reads like a pulpy romance novel, but being honest I guess it tweaked my loins a little in spite of that.

Okay, I'm done babbling. Enjoy the article (or alternatively enjoy picking it apart like I did)!

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?inglk7girxio45l

[IrisSala]

Hi everybody. I found this German Spex mag with a John feature in that the lovely Iris has once again kindly translated for us (with some help from the equally lovely flounderblue).

Hey LL, thanks for uploading the link! Always a pleasure to contribute to mausspace.

HI must first state my little quibbles with the article before I post it and invite mausspacers to agree or disagree with me.
I cannot suppress the overwhelming notion that this writer did not even speak to John before doing this piece. Therefore, there are bound to be some erroneous misinterpretations, such as the analysis of Cop Killer as some psyhopathic serial killing fantasy. If the journalists here hadn't been so lazy and done a little digging they would have found that the 'cops' referred to are metaphorical authority figures: he's not actually singing about encouraging the murder of another human being, rather the mechanisms of power (be it bureacracy, capitalism, political regimes, bosses, etc.) that hold us back.

I couldn't agree more with your quibbles. In fact the very first paragraph raised my hackles. No, /I/ do not see this sort of thing when I hear "this music". I also got a very strong impression that the journalist didn't speak to JM at all (or if he did, he conveniently discarded anything that did not fit with his own interpretations). I also find his interpretation of the Cop Killer lyrics astonishing. Cop Killer is the first JM song I ever heard and I didn't know a thing about the artist or his background or his philosophical concepts, and even so, nothing in the lyrics, even if taken literally, points to an individual who enjoys killing people, slowly and painfully, as the journalist would have it.

Also I feel that Badiou's 'Pitiless Censors' from the 15 Theses on Contemporary Art was somewhat bumbled here, too. Rather than repressed associations too terrible to communicate which urge censure, I believe Badiou is referencing the way that art is so widely circulated and accepted via consumerism these days that we should challenge what is being put out there for our consideration.

Throughout this piece, the author emphasises a cheerlessness and cold melancholia prevalent throughout WMBtPCoO, but I actually found it rather uplifting and warm in many places (especially with the twinkling organic chimes of Believer as a closer).

Again, agreed. Additionally I have a major issue with this constant comparison to, and putting into the same drawer as, 80s synth pop. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against 80s synth pop, I love a lot of it, but it's so LAZY to go - hey, there's a guy who can write proper songs, and he uses synths, so he's obviously an 80s throwback and he sounds like (insert bands here).

There are a few interesting bits in the article but overall to me it is the written equivalent of someone who's very much in love with the sound of their own voice and the genius of their own ideas.

Lastly, this:

He was shouting his soul out through his
lungs so that the buttons popped off his shirt; all the while he was clutching the microphone in his
beautifully shaped, very strong hands as if by singing into [it] he could banish an evil spirit back into
the machine.

To me this reads like a pulpy romance novel, but being honest I guess it tweaked my loins a little in spite of that.

Haha, nicely put.
There's no trace of irony in this passage, so what amused me was the fact that after insisting on John's cheerlessness, weirdness and psychopathic leanings, the journalist salivates over the shape and strength of his hands. This part I find hard to disagree with

Okay, I'm done babbling. Enjoy the article (or alternatively enjoy picking it apart like I did)!

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?inglk7girxio45l

[IrisSala]

C'mon people! So many views, so little discussion! What do you guys think?

[Deadserfs]

Well I think Cop Killer is in some ways a serial killer fantasy. John obviously doesnt' feel that way but listen to how deadpan the delivery is! There's no way that an impassioned pleading singer would ever be able to convey that unwavering sense of conviction. "Let's kill the cops tonight", that is mathematical certainty not aggression! I know it's an ABHORRENT fantasy and OBVIOUSLY I don't advocate the killing of cops (or any human being) but I think it can be a fun image to play around with because of how bluntly it is proposed and how effectively it will be carried out. That interpretation can even have positive impacts in your own life if you invest it with a similar, if almost programmed, sense of purpose and fearlessness. Killing the censors and cops in your head and such...

And about the whole pulpy romance bit thing, that's also part of what makes JM a special person, if you were to accept him as a pop entity that can be abstracted from his music (which is what this forum does anyway ahha). I don't think it's something one should necessarily feel ashamed about (but it's good that you berate yourselves a little bit for slipping into that way of thinking haha). I dig it, it speaks to his emancipative qualities as a musician and thinker that he can simultaneously evoke I dunno, saved by the bell teen idols and Dante's comedy in the same mental-dream collage. On that puerile, a little embarrassing but equally valid level of appreciation, people can do whatever they damn well please. It's harmless and doesn't detract from the associations with the harder hitting stuff that his work carries (so long as it doesn't reach a crazy level of saturation). I can't think of anyone who generates this level of talk among his peers or in the pop industry besides maybe Frank Ocean. that's an exciting thing.

[Eugenia]

Deadserfs, I concur. A lot of JM's lyrics can be philosophically analyzed, and most around here would like that, but I have this feeling that a lot of it is exactly what it says it is.

[LadyLazarus]

John himself has said that the philosophy stuff just comes up in discussion around the music after the fact; it probably isn't conceived with that in mind. He's also very stringent about not making lyric sheets available so people can have their own interpretations.

I totally agree, Deadserfs. I think a part of what makes John such a singular individual in the realm of pop (whatever that is) is the fact that he is so honest and enthusiastically invites people to speak about what he is doing. When I saw his show in the summer, he seemed genuinely interested to know what I thought of it. It's that sort of attitude that makes his work exciting: he's never going to take it for granted and is continually seeking ways to make it the best it can possibly be. There is seemingly none of that banal 'pop musician' posturing, with the patented smug attitude and self-righteousness. On the one hand, sometimes I wish he had more self belief so that the creative process wasn't such a hardship for him, but on the other, that little bit of second-guessing makes him perhaps more tuned in and extra special.