October 10, 2005

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I didn’t know until I read this awesome list of musician bloggers that The New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones had a blog! I love his criticism.

Addendum: I love it because of incisive thoughts like this one, from his latest column —

The catchy chorus [of Fiona Apple’s song “Extraordinary Machine”] is a warning to those (her fans included) who underestimate her resilience: “Be kind to me, or treat me mean. / I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine.” As she completes the phrase, her voice leaps girlishly into her upper register, and it’s as if she were gripping your arm so firmly that you could feel her nails dig into your skin.

When I first read this, I thought, “Hmm, that’s not how I hear that chorus.” But upon re-listening, Frere-Jones’ remark struck me as totally apt. Even if that’s still not exactly how I hear it, SFJ has evocatively communicated how he hears it, which is a rare and valuable gift for a critic to have.