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New Writer: Jonny Park
by Jonny Park, May 03 '08
book review of mine (on B. S. Johnson's The Unfortunates) can be read in the
May '08 issue of The Believer, which will be out in bookstores and newsstands
soon. There is also a rumor that I'm working on a novel, but that rumor holds true
for approximately 70% of the NYC population, so let's just discard that rumor. I keep
a bookish blog at selfdivider.com if you're interested in that sort of thing.
I've also founded a group called The Blue Notebooks at Columbia University,
through which I've interviewed many intellectuals and artists. In the picture
below, I am talking with Alex Ross, the classical music critic for The New Yorker,
as he is looking for an mp3 file of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" to
compare it to the tape-loop effects in Stockhausen's Kontakte.
I'm an omnivorous, promiscuous slut when it comes to music. My true passion is
for classical music, though. I like everything from pre-Renaissance polyphonal
music to Steve Reich & Elliott Carter. My favorites are everything Bach, late Beethoven
and late Brahms, Schubert, Richard Strauss & Messiaen. I also like following the careers
of young composers today who are doing interesting work, like Unsuk Chin & Nico Muhly.
Right now, thanks to my fellow music-obsessed buddy Marc, I'm really into everything
related to The Band. When I was a bit younger, I was a huge Fugazi fan and I admit
to having gone through The Pavement phase (okay, leave me alone.) These days,
some of the music I follow: Radiohead, Sonic Youth & Wilco (obviously), Luciana
Souza, Interpol, Spoon, Ricardo Villalobos, James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem,
Panda Bear from Animal Collective, etc. And I never stopped loving Joy Division, ever.
I'm also not ashamed to admit that I'm a big consumer of hip-hop, although most of
what's out there right now is crap. I like The Clipse, Mobb Deep, earlier Jay-Z, EPMD...
Jazz - of course Miles Davis, but also Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Bill Charlap, Clifford
Brown... and this kid Tyshawn Sorey who's a devil of a musician, whose career I'll
follow with glee.
I don't really subscribe to any kind of audio philosophy, except that your system should
be able to play back your software the way you prefer to hear it. It's possible to love
the big-scale orchestral music of Mahler and the sotto voce bossa nova of Joao Gilberto
at the same time, so why get into a fit about SET vs. mega-wattage solid state or
electrostatic vs. horns? Once you become closed-minded and dogmatic about your
preference, I believe you effectively become an audiofossil. The gear out there these days
is phenomenally rich and diverse, and it would be a shame if one loses out in getting closer
to the live experience of music just because one won't stand for music being pumped out
of anything other than an 8-watt SET or 1500-watt monoblocks.
In these pages, too, I hope I can be an effective advocate of open-mindedness in listening
to gear and music, if nothing else. I am very happy to be a part of the Sonic Flare family, as
I believe this new approach to hi-fi is sorely needed. For too long, hi-fi has been related to
elitist snobbery and parochialism. The usual quaint cliches used in audio circles, like WAF,
toe-tapping, etc, contribute to this reputation, too, in my opinion. Hopefully we can change
this up a bit, go at it in a new way.
Comments
Welcome to Sonicflare Jonny!
Ragan
Posted by: Ragan Mena at May 3, 2008 9:58 PM
Thanks for the welcome, Ragan.
Posted by: Jonny at May 8, 2008 3:42 PM
Excited to have you at sonicflare, Jonny. That's a great bio, and a great review.
Posted by: Tyler Beebout at May 13, 2008 5:01 AM
Thanks, Tyler. I saw your review & bio, too, and sounds like we have a lot in common. I'll look forward to your future reviews!
Posted by: Jonny at May 13, 2008 3:10 PM
