"Art-Damage", originating maybe with Richard Meltzer/Lester Bangs to describe elements of the No Wave scene, seems to have come back into currency as exponentially diluted fascination with No(w) Wave continues to creep into mainstream consciousness. It never really went away, long a favored fuzzy genre of critics of the Wire variety, as well as the name of a long-running Cincinnati radio show. 2003's Rhino Records collection may be somehwat at fault for the resurgence, splitting it's 4 disc punk retrospective ("No Thanks: 70's Punk Rebellion") into stylistic ziplock baggies, including Art Damage, enveloping Pere Ubu to Wire to Suicide, excluding Joy Division (electro-pop), Germs (hardcore), Dead Boys (punk), Stooges (proto-punk), Blondie (power-pop). I suspect mainstream use of of art-damage these days refers to all things pre- and post-punk in the early 80s sense of the word. The Grammies(.com) referred to the 'new British Invasion" (Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, Futureheads...Cooper Temple Clause?) as art-damaged.

The Wittgenstein-damaged among us might recommend playing language games to get at it's shifty meaning, pinpoint both the art and the damaged referents: Midheaven Mailorder describes Mr. Dibbs as "Noise, punk, art damage and spoken word styles" [emphasis mine], and of Black Dice: they have "the balls of both the white belt and art-damage scenes firmly in their grasp", nicely separating the Williamsburg fashion around the no-wave pop scene from the 'dangerous' “art damage” moniker. A 2004 SN&R review of The Little People: “may be the finest art-damage cartoon metal band you've never heard” in the teaser, but the review explains only that TLP are “the most brain-damaged metal band of all time”, inviting us to blithely puzzle at the chicken/egg relationship of brain-damage and art-damage. Alan Licht, commenting on his Siltbreeze solo set says: “I felt like this art-damaged NY jerk playing with his digital delay. Ron House accused me of "turning your back on pop," which was pretty funny if you ask me...” Is it art or is it damaged? Is it cake or is it eaten? I am high art and low-crass: fear me!.

However, the Wal-Mart "Conscript the Margins" award for the most effective instantiation of the death of a quasi-heuristic critical device in 2004 goes to the Fashion house, Juicy Couture for their new line of “vintage, distress wash ‘art damaged’ low rise jeans": ART DAMAGED blue jeans. Say the Juicies, "Juicy Couture takes having a rockin' good time very seriously and it shows in their sexy, flirty designs. Warning: only for the fun at heart!".

Also, Happy Birthday to one of my favorite composers of all time, Morton Feldman (aka Uncle Morty aka you got your minimalism in my timbral expressionism morty), who would have been 79 today.

xx

P.S.>> Christgau today on Britney Spears' Greatest Hits: "Her heart, her soul, her aesthetic maturation ("Oops . . . I Did It Again," " . . . Baby One More Time"). "