Alienation and the Avant-Garde

Now they have alienation classes at college? When I was there we just took it for granted that that's what all the classes were.

The two heavyweights of your essay should, I think, be Bertolt Brecht and Viktor Shklovsky. My thoughts on the latter are in an essay on my site, which you're welcome to rip off if it's of any earthly use to you.

There's a good reading list on this subject on the Birkbeck College site.

i listen to a lot of "avant" stuff where i'm sure the intent is to alienate, and a lot of the time that's what i get off on. befuddled & bemused & baffled is in general how i like to feel during my leisure time.

however there is a lot of po-faced "avant-garde" stuff out there that alienates due to it's extreme self importance. ie the way AMM i don't think have knowingly denounced any connections third parties might make between them and various buddhist practices or reference to the guys & their work as "meta-music" . long songs - maybe it's an unnecessary prog / classical hangover. i don't mind playing something all day if the mood takes me, but i wouldnae expect anybody to listen / appreciate or hold the emanent sounds in any sort of esteem. now NNCK kinda get round the long song prog improv thing by being caveman ropey & having a sense of humour - it's still a music of a certain gravity, but with bad '80s sampled percussion stabs and blatant shameless tribute lou-reedisms. maybe that's what i gind refreshing compared to some of the more old school "academic" approaches. some of these guys haven't gotten over themselves or the pointlessness of their endeavours in the grand scheme of things.