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Preview Mon Nov 16 2015
Music Critic Jessica Hopper Hosts MCA Talks with Neko Case, Run the Jewels
Jessica Hopper isn't afraid to admit she's had a "strange relationship with music."
We all do. She's just bold enough to put it all on paper.
Within the first couple pages of her new book The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic, she dissects how her marriage to music has impacted -- and other times -- interfered with the way she feels and functions. For her, music is a "language" that can "decipher just how fucked" she is.
Often (mis)guided by her experiences, the newly departed Pitchfork editor's anthology is a complete annotation to understanding how music has shared the burden in shaping the way we eat, breathe, talk and live. Her work proves that politics and pop culture are symbiotic, and love garnered by eager listeners provoke its growth.
From Chicago to California, Courtney Love to Kendrick Lamar, the Chicago Reader to the Village Voice, Hopper turns to mannerisms and the mainstream to unravel the spontaneity of music's subconscious.
Even though music serves as a private testament to our growth as individuals, it saves room to remind us that we haven't completely parted ways with our twisted teenage angst and our half-baked twenties' philosophies. Like it or not, a song so much holds the power to change the course of our mind, our heart and our soul. While lyrics always play devil's advocate to our lives, the chorus stands firmly as our conscience. The pauses or interludes in between tracks call for us to decide, to act and to reflect.
For Hopper, she has come to the conclusion that "there is a void in [her] guts which can only be filled by songs." As for the rest of us, we're left to figure things out on our own, and her simplest instruction is to start by listening.
In partnership for Pitchfork and MCA's art series In Sight Out, Hopper will host engaging discussions with acclaimed singer-songwriter Neko Case Dec. 9 and hip-hop duo Run The Jewels Jan. 16 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. Tickets for both events will be sold starting this Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 12:30pm.
