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Robin James@robinjames.bsky.social |
886 followers 523 following 981 posts
writer, editor, philosopher. Author of a book about #vibes & algorithms, another about WOXY/97X, among others. Writing a another book on 90s alt rock. Bylines Jezebel, Guardian, LARB, Real Life, etc. no views, just vibes.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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It's interesting that the Drake/Kendrick beef is happening precisely at the moment when hip hop proper has kind of dropped off the top of the pop charts in favor of Shaboozy/Wallen/etc and mostly white pop (mostly) girlies
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Headed to AEJMC and have a book project you want to discuss? DM or email robin.jamesATpalgrave-usaDOTcom to schedule a time to connect in Philly.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Charli's brat-based Boiler Room starts off with several direct references to The Streets
This is a look back to a time when 'indie' music was not so narrowly rock-and-guitar based and had heavy dance music influences, like UK garage & its descendants
t.co/Kjl8CS40pj
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Heard the new Kesha & Katy Perry - ppl are saying this + Charli & Chappell is 'recessioncore' but i'd say it's more like anti-Antonification: looking back to "Born This Way" chunky industrial synths & house vocals, i.e., KMFDM
1 replies 0 reposts 6 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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factoid meaningful perhaps only to me: "Live And Let Die" was the Bond theme song ('73) three years before Foucault's Society Must Be Defended lectures where he talks about "making live and letting die" ('76)
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Big "Save the planet, k1ll yourself" vibes, someone call Chris Korda
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I just realized that I'll pay off my mortgage the same year I'm eligible for max social security benefits, so I guess I know when I'm retiring
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Hyperallergic
@hyperallergic.com
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Despite contributing 7.4% of New York’s economy, most of the state’s artists earn far less than the living wage, according to a new survey.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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eg back in the late 2000s I coached UNCC's Ethics Bowl team & wow did the judges have a galaxy brain when the team argued "maybe the problem is systemic inequality" or "maybe the problem is capitalism"
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I have literally been saying this (about the whole field of ethics, not just this collumn) for decades
www.currentaffairs.org/news/2024/04...
2 replies 2 reposts 9 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I'm no election strategist but it sure would feel good to have something to vote FOR rather than something to vote against.
2 replies 0 reposts 8 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Just reminding people that I still have an active research program and I would love to come talk to your department or conference about either the vibes book or the alt-rock to alt-right pipeline project…
1 replies 1 reposts 4 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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The way AI calculates similarity is formally analogous to the way social media users collect images, hashtags, etc, together to construct a vibe. AI is literally just vibes at the most elementary technical level.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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this author wants conservative art to embody Enlightenment ideas of fine art and taste, when IRL mainstream conservative art embodies actually ancient Greek ideas of the 'ethical regime of art' - thus making it more conservative than his own position. that's why his argument is 100% incoherent
1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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the "ethical regime of art" ties the status of an artwork to the status of the content it depicts. Depicting the gods is higher status than depicting food. This is precisely what the Enlightenment idea of 'taste' supplanted w the supposed 'autonomy' of art.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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It claims the problem is "all conservatives in the arts know that a major sector of the audience they’re trying to reach will go in for the most appalling kitsch if it’s slathered in red, white, and blue" - but this is an ancient Greek theory of art; Ranciere calls it the "ethical regime of art"
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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My PhD is in the philosophy of art and hooo boy is this a MESS: what he's really objecting to is the fact that mainstream conservative art has a more...conservative theory of art than his Enlightenment idea of highbrow taste/fine art.
americanmind.org/features/a-m...
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I think this is a UK vs US thing? I'd always use the latter but I'm American.
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Burning Ambulance
@burningambulance.bsky.social
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One great American on another: Lucy Sante's obit for James Chance.
thebaffler.com/latest/james...
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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That Handbook is a BIG DEAL & will shape the direction of music industry studies for the better
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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yeah it's gross out
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tweety fish
@sifu.tweety.fish
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The entire genre of dancehall (more or less) came about when a reggae producer repurposed a "rock" beat he accidentally discovered on a casio kid's toy keyboard. People recently discovered the long-anonymous Japanese woman who programmed the beat was in fact a huge reggae fan and scholar.
14 replies 167 reposts 431 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I would also note the US national anthem starts on a friggin pickup note, making it musically even worse than the UK national anthem, which is also in the very un-marchable 3/4 time.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Happy Laurie Anderson's "National Anthem" day: "It is a big improvement over most national anthems, which are in 4/4 time" (she's being sarcastic)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cE6...
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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He was very much alive and kicking when I was in grad school and my first few years out & at that time I was the only person in the anglophone world working in feminist philosophy of music, so was kind of always asked about his book and work and...yuck.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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"Rodger Scruton Legacy" chair ooof if that doesn't tell you all you need to know about this guy
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I've been wearing Brooks Adrenaline running shoes for like a decade and am wondering if there are new better stability shoes out there? How do they compare to the trendy Hokkas? etc.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I also think there's something to the fact that in N America the analytic/continental divide put continental philosophers professionally on the same side as Af-Am & Latinx philosophy so that by my generation we were taught by like Alcoff & Gooding-Williams, ppl reading across CP & non-yt traditions
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I literally told a colleague the other day "futurisms slide easily into f2scism, just look at the Italians." The same could be said of the CCRU.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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It's been sad to see her turn out this way, and I don't see how anyone can defend her now that all this new evidence is out. It adds to my suspicion that there was something ultimately intellectually rotten at the core of the CCRU, w her, L4nd, the vampire's castle, etc.
luketurner.com/Nina_Power/
2 replies 0 reposts 8 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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In a march, a "stinger" is the repeated last note that emphasizes the song is done. In academic prose, every good paragraph ends with a sentence that acts like a "stinger" -- it clearly and concisely drives the main point home.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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(sometimes I wonder if people still realize I am continuing with my scholarship/see me as a scholar)
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Today Hype & Nyx were playing, got too wound up, & needed to be separated. I pulled Hype back & without any direction from me Juno herded Nyx away to the other side of the yard. Dogs are amazing social people.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I am organizing an office lunch party - recs on fun restaurants in Manhattan that are good for groups & have activities (like Clinton Hall)?
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I have a craving for the veggie club sandwich at La Bodega in Oxford
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Vicky Johnson-Dahl
@vickyjohnsondahl.bsky.social
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"no, I'm not related to Trent, but I am a big industrial fan"
31 replies 315 reposts 1252 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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This same dynamic gets replayed today in e.g., TS vs Charli discourse, where TS is presented as basic & Charli as edgy. Same dynamic but between women & not mediated by a white guy like in the 20th c film & the 19th c opera.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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This clip from a 1953 musical re-tells the 19th c opera "Carmen" & depicts the gender/race/sexual dynamics of 19th & 20th c pop/mass culture: 'good' pop culture = non-white femininity, 'bad' pop culture = white femininity
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Qm...
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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At the hair salon yesterday the muzak was all Chappell Roan & Charli, anecdotally my 26yo stylist said TS was "too mainstream"
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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thanks!
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Bonus points in this review for incorrectly identifying a logical fallacy in the piece haha
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Just got some reviewer feedback that my work is "too philosophical" 🙃 🤷♀️
3 replies 0 reposts 9 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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In other "debates I absolutely do not want to watch" news, I was offered a press pass to view the taping of a debate in which Peter S1ng3r will defend Effective Altruism.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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London folks, Palgrave is hiring an Editor for Media, Journalism, & Communication (basically the UK version of my role): springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Spring...
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Maintaining a writing practice while also holding a day job is not easy, and it would be a lot harder if this was book one rather than book five. But I’m slowly getting there. And in some ways I think working in shorter spurts keeps me from getting lost in the weeds.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Making steady progress on the vibes book, an hour or two of writing every day. I *think* I will have a full first draft by the end of the summer?
1 replies 0 reposts 5 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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I dreamt last night that a philosopher was trying to explain popular music to me like I was not…me.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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Hey one thing that is eternal is the scholarly record so if somebody wants to pitch me a book on MTV News I'm all ears. Depending on the copyright situation it could even reprint important articles.
0 replies 10 reposts 10 likes
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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NYC friends C and Juno and Nyx and I will be spending the weekend there later in July and if you'd like to hang out (and even meet them) lmk that would be fun.
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Robin James
@robinjames.bsky.social
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the 'voice' metaphor for agency, participation, enfranchisement, etc., is just liberal representational politics smuggled in the back door
3 replies 0 reposts 3 likes