My latest column at PopMatters has posted. It’s about Kanye West’s new album, The Life of Pablo, and its evolving nature. I was reading a recent essay by the philosopher Boris Groys concerning contemporary art and the internet, and something clicked. West’s constant revising of his album has been treated like a novelty, so I wanted to dig a little deeper into what’s going on.
You can read Groys’ essay, “The Truth of Art,” at the art journal e-flux here. My thanks to Matt Mitchem, my CCAD colleague, for hipping me to it. I’ve been reading a lot of Groys lately for my book of music criticism; one of the challenges for that book, and this PM column, is to think through what he’s saying about visual art in regards to music.
I regret I didn’t write more about The Life of Pablo‘s actual tracks, but it just wasn’t in the cards given my subject. Maybe in an expanded version, or here on my site.
Robert Loss 