Hauntology

Pantheon · Post by **Pantheon** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:00 am

I just stumbled upon this rather interesting article on hauntology,
and it seems the writer uses boards of canada as a key reference.

Im far to tired to give it a proper read just now, but i thought others may like to also check this out.

http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/10/ ... esent.html

I did a few searches and I havent found any other posts linking to this.

wmarsh · Post by **wmarsh** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:37 am

Things are ruined as soon as people start giving silly names to them.

hexagonLife · Post by **hexagonLife** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:47 am

wmarsh wrote:Things are ruined as soon as people start giving silly names to them.

How dare you, my girlfriend is a ghost. Or imaginary. Either way, you can't see her.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:57 am

^^^

Infinite E · Post by **Infinite E** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:39 pm

rouges foam is great, have you read his post on burial? very interesting.

mheumann · Post by **mheumann** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:09 am

Simon Reynolds coined the term "hauntology" in the November 2006 issue of Wire magazine. He threw it out as one of many terms he used to describe the music coming out of Ghost Box (and he wasn't even a fan of the term at the time). Since then, the term's taken on a life of its own, and it's now being used to describe any music that has a vaguely retro-feel to it. Obviously, BoC's music (especially Geogaddi) has been given this "hauntological" revisionism by many different authors.

Obviously, BoC's music is far too complex to be summed up in a single word, but that's true of most music. So enjoy the article cited above (and read Reynold's article, too--it's actually quite good) but don't take any of it as gospel. The music's the thing; words just fill up the space between releases.

Negamuse · Post by **Negamuse** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 12:20 pm

"Hauntology" makes me uncomfortable in the way that "Electronica" made me uncomfortable first time I heard it.

That said, I don't have a problem with labels, I find they're OK as long as you remember they don't label the music itself, but people's reaction to it. So I might listen to BoC and get one thing off it, and then if I hear another musician that I get the same vibe from I might use the same label. But you listening to BoC might get a completely different vibe off it, and then you'd use a different label and we'd both look at each other's labels and go "wtf?"

It's a lot like how we can both look at the colour red and call it "red", but I'll never be sure if you don't see it the colour I'd call green.

Dissolved · Post by **Dissolved** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:33 pm

I'd agree with that. Labels have their uses but always come with the danger of pre-colouring conceptions before the listener has gone in with virgin ears. I find it easier to look at those pigeonholes but not absorb them, it's more fun to come up with your own thoughts on the music anyway.
'Hauntology' does sound pretty absurd, it's a fun term but it shouldn't be more than that as stated. It can't hope to come close to covering all the intricacies of such music. Labels have a shelf life and that's the way it should always be, if they stick for ages (like IDM) then I'd put it down to a lack of imagination.

turquoise70 · Post by **turquoise70** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 1:24 am

i only got as far as the bit about Derrida, but that part was cool.