About M-of-M
Mood of Monk is an online arts journal, launched in Australia on November 1st, 2010.
To read Mood of Monk is to read a collection of experiences and reactions. Not one of them is an objective truth, nor does it pretend to be. We aim to represent the art world, not through pop deconstruction, but through response. We will play with the form, and hope to grow in our appreciation of the intangible nature of artistic endeavour.
Mood of Monk does not publish traditional reviews or critiques. Our contributors are poets, storytellers, screenwriters, painters and filmmakers, and their responses take the form of their art. Mood of Monk will not tell you what to buy. We will not tell you one album is better than another. We will not denigrate the arts through comparison, nor will we feign objectivity through arbitrary rating systems.
WHAT DOES “MOOD OF MONK” MEAN?
In short, Mood of Monk’s title borrows from jazz pianist Thelonius Monk’s line: “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
Though the interpretation of that statement is hotly contested, we’re going with the idea that while there may be some superfluity in writing about music, using one form to express another is a method we feel is worth pursuing to its greatest extent. This is true whether the original artform is a new pop album, or an Italian Opera.
["The Lexicon of Musical Invectives"] is a collection of nasty reviews of classical music, from Bach to Wagner…it’s music criticism from the 19th century, and they’re ripping Tchaikovsky a new a–hole, but the thing that really gets me is that it’s written so beautifully. It’s nasty reviews in beautiful language, and that’s what I want. My dad will forward me some of the stuff people write about me, and I think it’s all bullshit. It’s all, ‘Oh, this sucks, that sucks, blah.’ I don’t want that. I want you to write poetically about how bad I suck.”
Regina Spektor, MTV.com
Mood of Monk won’t cater to badly written criticism, veiled biased and crude, faux-scholarship. Instead, we will be presenting a range of material with pointed artistic drive. Rather than critiquing the arts, we want to engage with them creatively. We want to make what we present an individual experience, an exploration of the artist and a showcase of the inspiration which is so often overlooked. There is MUCH more to come on that topic, but if you agree with us and you want to be a part of the venture which seeks to realise this theory, welcome aboard.
FROM THE EDITOR
Arts criticism holds great potential to be terrible, vapid writing. But it is not necessarily the writers who make the form banal and repetitive. The form itself is limited and that limitation is perpetuated by editors worldwide. Arts criticism, at its heart, is a subjective attempt at providing what readers inevitably read objectively. While some may argue that audiences have the capacity to reject the ideas of a certain critic, such rejection requires knowledge of the writer, the publication and the genre. While it would be nice if readers were so astute as to follow the careers of arts journalists, the truth remains that most dip in and out with little care for the byline. Writers continue to write with objectivity which, in a perfect world, is given by their personal stature, body of work and background knowledge.
Beyond that, the rise of street press and online publishing means that anyone who has a smidgen more of an inkling about art can become a critic.
“Very few writers truly analyze music from an artistic perspective any longer. Now, a success is a record that sells and is relatively homogonous, not one that is creative or innovative—good sales or bad.”
Max Neibaur, Frequency Magazine
The obvious response is to provide a publication which aims to upload standards of journalism, allowing for nuanced writing, rich with imagery. However, it is foolish to believe that one such publication would have impact on the publishing spectrum. What Mood of Monk proposes – and it is not a goal easily achieved – is a medium which acts as antithesis to the empty criticism of the arts.
As creative writers we need to define, engage and drive a new form which opposes the subjective/objective divide. We need to publish real human responses, both emotional and intellectual. By providing the anti-thesis to what exists, we can push popular culture to look for something a little better. Some sort of middle ground which informs our experience AND whets our appetite. In the last two years, I have already seen mainstream media alter its format. I cannot say exactly what might have inspired such alterations, but I do believe it comes from the existence of more left-of-centre publications, such as ours.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Samuel Webster began Mood of Monk after being a freelance arts critic for multiple publications including Channel V, MusicWeb International, Onya Magazine, and Trespass Magazine. He had always written in a style which matched criticism with a poetic twist and soon became frustrated that the industry looked down upon critiques which referred to the emotional response of the critic. At the same time, street press and online publications began publishing reams of music reviews from people with little musical knowledge, who saw fit to compare every new artist with an established one.
In response, Samuel began Mood of Monk, a publishing platform for writers to engage with the way the arts inspire and trigger an intellectual response.
Samuel holds a Bachelor of Arts (Writing and Cultural Studies) with Honours from the University of Technology, Sydney, a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Secondary Teaching from the University of Technology, Sydney.
In 2011, Samuel published PROTOGENOS, a book of visual poetry with Sydney Dance Company, and collaborated with choreographer Rafael Bonachela on 2 ONE ANOTHER, Sydney Dance Company’s premiere season for 2012. He is currently working on a libretto, play adaptation, fictocritical essay and poetry collection.