OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

You just know that, as soon as the italicized finale of that article was written, the author did that stereotypical "lean back-cross your arms-look 'tough'" move was ubiquitous among jerks mocking rap in the 90s.

Joey Badass is a 19-year-old dude, why are grown men worrying about his side hustle?

Chip-Fu is the most amazing rapper of all timez

Normally I'd get pretty annoyed if someone added something that they haven't yet read and really have no intention of reading but, y'know, fuck everyone connected with this:

Twee: The Gentle Revolution In Music, Books, Television, Fashion, And Film

The blurb alone is the worst thing ever:

New York Times, Spin, and Vanity Fair contributor Marc Spitz explores the first great cultural movement since Hip Hop: an old-fashioned and yet highly modern aesthetic that’s embraced internationally by teens, twenty and thirty-somethings and even some Baby Boomers; creating hybrid generation known as Twee. Via exclusive interviews and years of research, Spitz traces Generation Twee’s roots from the Post War 50s to its dominance in popular culture today.

Vampire Weekend, Garden State, Miranda July, Belle and Sebastian, Wes Anderson, Mumblecore, McSweeney’s, Morrissey, beards, artisanal pickles, food trucks, crocheted owls on Etsy, ukuleles, kittens and Zooey Deschanel—all are examples of a cultural aesthetic of calculated precocity known as Twee.

In Twee, journalist and cultural observer Marc Spitz surveys the rising Twee movement in music, art, film, fashion, food and politics and examines the cross-pollinated generation that embodies it—from aging hipsters to nerd girls, indie snobs to idealistic industrialists. Spitz outlines the history of twee—the first strong, diverse, and wildly influential youth movement since Punk in the ’70s and Hip Hop in the ’80s—showing how awkward glamour and fierce independence has become part of the zeitgeist.

Focusing on its origins and hallmarks, he charts the rise of this trend from its forefathers like Disney, Salinger, Plath, Seuss, Sendak, Blume and Jonathan Richman to its underground roots in the post-punk United Kingdom, through the late’80s and early ’90s of K Records, Whit Stillman, Nirvana, Wes Anderson, Pitchfork, This American Life, and Belle and Sebastian, to the current (and sometimes polarizing) appeal of Girls, Arcade Fire, Rookie magazine, and hellogiggles.com.

Revealing a movement defined by passionate fandom, bespoke tastes, a rebellious lack of irony or swagger, the championing of the underdog, and the vanquishing of bullies, Spitz uncovers the secrets of modern youth culture: how Twee became pervasive, why it has so many haters and where, in a post-Portlandia world, can it go from here?

"Years of research"

examples of twee include beards + pickles?

I don't see the problem with that blurb but I also don't care to read a book about twee so, yeah.

XP: Ha ha ha. Was just posting about the pickles.

I was ready to smash something to pieces until I read the phrase "artisanal pickles" and now I just feel despondent.

can we shoot this book and writer into the sun?

there is a lot of talk on the indiepop list about this twee book right now. some are dreading it. i'm looking forward to seeing just what a carnival-mirror-image of "twee" spitz manages to capture.

XXXP: I guess it's a personal POV that Bon Iver, pickles and couple blogging is better than acid house, drum and bass and hardcore but it was enough to spoil my afternoon.

obviously no one's read it yet, but i suepect the music will be the least of the twee book's concerns.

the first great cultural movement since Hip Hop

my prediction: pamplemoose gets two chapters; orange juice, half a page; the pastels, a passing mention.

my jaw was wrenched into an expression of horror by that part, and wasn't returned to it's proper place by any words following xp

"why don't you gently revolve on this"

So, is Marc Spitz twee's Greil Marcus or Twee Greil Marcus?

New York Times, Spin, and Vanity Fair contributor Marc Spitz

stopped reading here

one might say that the book description is worthy of a spitz take

I like how it traces the "roots of twee" to...children's literature

A lot of this stuff passes me by, and I tend to think "not for me, really" but the level of *vitriol* that gets hurled at anything of this aesthetic... well, I find it kinda baffling really.

Like this vitriol says a lot more about the people who are expressing it than it does any (perceived or real) lifestyle of the people involved. It's one of ILX's uglier emotions.

the old "says a lot more about the people doing the criticizing" saw

It's PR fluff but is it possible we're actually offended by the idea that this book makes the case that his definition of "twee" is a cultural force the size of hip hop?

I mean, not that offended. It might be a good book, might be a bad one, but that's pretty ridiculous on its face. I think you're mistaking water cooler conversation for actual vitriol.

what's worst, standing around the water cooler talking about how you can't believe some judge's opinion on a singing competition television show, or standing around debating whether someone's posited take on a cultural force is valid

they're probably both bad, but it's ok to have opinions

Spitz posts on ilx?

from that "i listen to my husband's records" blog:

Part of me feels like I want to be avant garde enough to get this, but then another part of me feels like the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes!

she's talking about albert ayler! :(

And he was like, “Yeah, this album has gotten a lot of play.” Um, who am I even married too?!?

i dunno about you folks, but i don't know that i would get to the point of wanting to marry someone if they were so "amused" and condescending toward my tastes. i don't expect them to share exactly the same tastes (though having some common ground seems important) but... sheesh.

sorry I'm late to the party.

xpost isn't this the same author who wrote a memoir about being a punk rock drug addict wannabe badass? seems an odd follow-up subject.

lol amateurist

husband writes:

, this isn’t music that’s easy to listen to or to have on in the background, because you kind of have to dialogue with it

i actually do listen to a lot of this stuff in the "background"--or at least while I'm writing, reading, whatever.

Given the amount of ILX discourse on the subject, yes, I'd say it does *seem* to occupy a large space in the cultural landscape.

"the" cultural landscape: well, *your* cultural landscape

what are you guys discussing now; it's hard to keep up w/ this thread.

battle raps

"twee" pickles

actually reading around the blog isn't terrible; mostly annoying for her sort of pumped- faux-naive blogvoice.

arrrgh

pumped-up faux-naif

Let's just fold husband's record collection blog discussion into twee discussion to make things easier for everyone.

the idea that beards and artisanal pickles are twee kind of ignores the bike messenger types who are definitely into both

my gutter punk/crust punk friend ended up marrying someone who is definitely from the more northeastern us farmy/punk side of things and they'd be all about beards and pickles and they're not twee at all

Feel like I should at this point, start a list of Things I Only Know About Because ILX Goes On About Them So Much:

1) NPR
2) Portlandia
3) Poomplamouse
4) Wes Anderson

Actually, wait, no, Wes Anderson I think might be real because Daniel Kessler mentioned him the other day, but I'm still not entirely sure that Daniel Kessler isn't an ILX0r (or perhaps collectively hallucinated by ILX and made flesh) so I dunno.

No, this is not "faux-naif" or whatever. These are literally things I only ever see discussed on ILX and nowhere else in my world.

my main objection to the blurb is that it seems to conflate a lot of different things + aesthetics into a category so large it might as well be meaningless. i don't see how the book can handle that - if it really does cover beards, pickles AND Garden State.

I thought the same thing. It seems like this book is probably stretching the definition of twee to include everything that the official market of "NPR yuppie" want to read about.

Examples: Girls, This American Life, Pitchfork, Arcade Fire, Morrissey

Who's Daniel Kessler?

I may be off the mark, though, haven't had my twee-dar calibrated recently

there are probably literally hundreds of things I read about on ilm/ilx before anywhere else?

Not to mention Nirvana! I'm gonna go listen to twee classic "Scentless Apprentice" now.

lol imago to thread re: his take on american cinema
http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a560046/the-grand-budapest-hotel-beats-need-for-speed-at-uk-box-office.html

It's not "heard about first on ILX" - it is literally "never hear discussed, anywhere else *except* on ILX".

I don't know who this Daniel guy is but I'm guessing the fact that people out there in the world randomly talking about things is evidence that they're maybe not evidence of americentricism

Is it possible that ilx is just a lot more diverse than the groups we see outside ilx