- ISBN13: 9780805088526
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
A lively examination of the spirit and practices that have made the indie movement into a powerful cultural phenomenon You know the look: skinny jeans, Chuck Taylors, perfectly mussed bed-head hair; You know the music: Modest Mouse, the Shins, Pavement. You know the ethos: DIY with a big helping of irony. But what does it really mean to be “indie”? As popular television shows adopt indie soundtracks and the signature style bleeds into mainstream fashion, … More >>
Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture
Here are three good reasons to read Kaya Oakes’ fascinating new book, Slanted and Enchanted: The Evolution of Indie Culture:
1. For the history. Slanted and Enchanted contains a completely engaging, informed, and remarkably well-researched account of how independent art and culture have developed in the United States from the 1950s to the present moment. Oakes provides wonderful capsule histories of not only “major” underground art and cultural movements, but also many lesser-known ones. From the Beats to contemporary craft fairs, from punk to modern independent publishing, from the Diggers to Riot Grrrl, Oakes is on the beat with the scoop.
2. For the analysis. Oakes is not only concerned with providing a history of independent culture, but also with trying to understand what that culture means as we try to understand the larger issues of American history and society. Accordingly, she devotes considerable space in her book to questions of how indie culture works, what it means, and how it functions in relation to the larger mainstream culture. Oakes’ analysis of how corporate culture uses indie culture as a source of new ideas to rip off, rebrand, and re-sell is particularly illuminating.
3. For fun. Slanted and Enchanted is a lot of fun to read, not least because it clues you in on all kinds of interesting developments in art, literature, cartooning, music, and crafting in literally every part of the country. As I read, I found myself reaching for a pencil to take notes on cool new books to read, music to listen to, films to watch, websites to visit. And I also found myself writing down a lot of quotations from Oakes’ interviews and sources. Some of them are hilarious (”Poetry is like putting on a funny suit…”) and some are inspiring (”to make something on your own, regardless of the potential to bring in money, lends the end product an inherent sense of value that would be absent if it were a copy of a copy of a copy…”), but continually stumbling upon these little nuggets made the book a joy to read.
I was particularly taken with Oakes’ account of the Diggers, the legendary activist and guerrilla-theater cooperative, and with the Riot Grrrl movement that began in Olympia, Washington and then went on to conquer the world. I’d heard of both movements, but always wanted to know more about them. I found Oakes’ introductions very useful and also very interesting. (Thanks also to Oakes for mentioning Austin’s very own Effing Press. Here in Austin, we know and love Effing and it’s nice to see this fine press getting some well-deserved attention.)
If you believe in the possibilities of intelligent work done outside the boundaries of corporate cubicle farms, in the value of the handmade and truly original, and in the importance of not only creative energy but the ethics of careful craft and community building, I think you’ll love this book. I know I did.
Rating: 5 / 5
One of the terrible things that can happen to any vibrant subculture is for it to be dryly dissected in academia, or written about in a fluff piece by someone who knows the culture but doesn’t know how to analyze it. Fortunately for indie culture, we have Kaya Oakes, who as a scholar and indie maven manages to write a book that is as fascinating to read as it is enjoyable. Which is to say – very.
I don’t know a whole lot about indie culture as a whole, despite having been anywhere from its fringes to deeply embedded in it from my teen years until today. But reading Slanted & Enchanted has been enlightening, as well as entertaining. In current scholarship the trend is to be self-reflective while investigating one’s subject, and Oakes does this deftly, weaving in pieces of her own story and experience of researching the book, while including top-notch interviews and analysis of the key musicians, artists, crafters, publishers and other people who made indie what it is and are helping it to evolve. Oakes’s writing style is fresh and engaging, taking the reader on a journey through indie culture that is always approachable, never slipping into hipster hyperbole. Her background as a poet makes her writing come to life, and the whole book manages to tell a story as it lays bare the evolution of indie.
If you’re at all interested in contemporary culture, in modern music, independent art, independent publishing, or anything remotely related to those things, I think you’ll find this book to be enlightening and entertaining. Highly recommended!
Rating: 5 / 5