[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by noumenal

Oh, ok. Shit. You'll have to educate me, !@#$%!. I have a general idea of what you're talking about, but I haven't read what I'm supposed to, I guess. I'm just saying that an avant-garde is contigent on there being a perceived trajectory within a defined musical practice. I find it really depressing that there is no defined practice or trajectory today, but sometimes (often) I think that I'm just not looking at it the right way, so I'm primed and ready to be convinced otherwise.

lyotard's "the postmodern condition" makes a lot of commonplace points but summarizes this quite well, while managing to talk ass about science.

if i can cheapen these arguments with a swift summary think of modernism as ruled by the idea of progress. progress is the big narrative. hegel and marx having the notion of history reaching a final goal.

with postmodernism all faith in "great narratives" is lost-- especially, faith in progress. this relates a bit to the discussion on revolutions form the other thread. there is no progress, history is random, cultures interpenetrate, there is no "center", there so the project of modernity collapses and the avant-garde with it.

i hope this explanation doesnt suck, though im sure it oversimplifies. im working at the same time i post this. slackerdom...