When I saw on Carl Wilson's site that Brian Joseph Davis had put out a limited-edition EP of quotations from Theodor W. Adorno's Minima Moralia performed in the style of agitprop punk, I had to put down my $20 to get me some. It arrived today, and it made me glad. Greil Marcus wrote in Lipstick Traces that Adorno's assaults on mass culture are punk-rock rants at heart; the Minima Moralia EP brings that conceit to hilarious, dubious life. Davis plays squalling guitars; Dawn Unwanted drawls the lyrics. The pick hit is "Every Work of Art Is an Uncommitted Crime," one of my favorite lines from the Meister's writings. The song consists of that one line, repeated over and over, followed by screaming. I bow in the presence of genius.
