Pitchfork Writer Ruminates on Williamsburg in New Book

Longtime Pitchfork writer Amanda Petrusich throws her hat into the "Boy, Williamsburg sure has changed" ring in this excerpt from her new book "It Still Moves." Now, the book is about Americana and Folk music, so bear in mind that this rumination is an impulsive detour that most likely stems from some personal investment in Williamsburg--she just couldn't help herself.

Like most bandwagon Burg critics, she points to gentrification as the great art/fun-killer:

After a dizzying shower of newspaper trend pieces, condo developments, $4200-a-month lofts, and glossy photo shoots, the neighborhood lost its artistic cache, becoming less the terrain of trailblazing bohemians and more a haven for bond traders with iPods.

Unlike most, she includes herself amongst the guilty:

Studying the crowd, I check off rote signifiers of twentysomething Brooklyn hipsterdom: star tattoos, oversize sunglasses, studded belts, canvas bags with woodland animals (squirrels, deer, and finches, especially) patched in place, scads of rubber bracelets, American Apparel T-shirts, too much jewelry, choppy haircuts, skinny waists. We all look the same.

Also unlike previous critics, she engages in some original theorizing, and actually makes some pretty damn good points.

After all, the perceived appeal of today's Williamsburg is not the slummy industrial setting that gave rise to a hotbed of creativity--it is simply that alleged hotbed of creativity, whose essence has been tapped into to sell condos. As Petrusich puts it:

. . . it has to do with too much change, too fast, by young people culturally predisposed to celebrate grit. Williamsburg and Greenpoint are spared the flower boxes and refinished exteriors of equally (if differently) gentrified neighborhoods like Park Slope, and here, dirty vinyl siding and rusted tin awnings are reminders of a past that's been consumed and commodified by the present. I can't decide which revolution-- the one that erases all ugliness or the one that anoints it-- is creepier.

Then she turns to the show she's seeing, coincidentally Iron & Wine at one of the early Pool Parties, and of course, in true Pitchfork fashion, proceeds to wax poetic/grandiloquent about the mythology of the band, atmosphere of the show, mood of the crowd, like-sounding obscure indie bands, background of Iron & Wine's record label, styling of the vocal delivery, and the evolution of American folk music in general.

Whew.

And when you went to see Iron & Wine, you thought you were just watching a bearded guy sing you lullabies.

Comments

[al]

i knew i was a gentrifier when i moved here 9 years ago. we all looked the same then too, we just had different uniforms. i don't get where these things are in any way insightful or even interesting. i get it, we're gentrifying, it sucks. now what?

[Trevor B]

SNOOORRRRE

"It is the kind of record that gets passed between friends like dog-eared copies of Rilke or Robert Lowell, pressed into hands, slipped into mailboxes, tucked under pillows. It's impossible not to think that we would all be a little better off if it came standard in hotel drawers."

THis is the worst

[FAN]

i am a dreaded condo owner, but like myself, i've found that many of my condo owner neighbors have been in the area for a long time. people get older, they buy property in the area where they want to live. when you have a neighborhood like williamsburg that has many wonderful amenities and is extremely close to manhattan, it's simply inevitable that it will gentrify. really, although it's interesting to ruminate on this change, it's sort of obvious that it would happen. manhattan has priced out many people, and it's changed to the extent that some people no longer like it, so you're going to see more and more people moving and buying here. additionally, a lot of couples with children are simply unwilling to move to the burbs.

[diehipster]

Gentrification of Williamsburg and Greenpoint was inevitable? Hmmm, it took 300 years but who's counting? The hipster and art scene should be unheard of in Brooklyn. This site is called Williamsburg is dead? You mean as opposed to 10 years ago when the horrific chain of events began and things were lively? Oh, the "real" artists had their little sanctuary back then? That's what drew the douchebag midwesterners and college kids here a few years later. It's sites like this that add another brick to the next condo being built. You all suck. Stop blogging about the amazing new cheese shops, cupcake stores, thai food, gallery openings, ridiculously non-talented bands and performance artists, bird shit, dog shit, soy burgers, bicycle lanes and maybe the gentrification will cease.

But no, I'm wrong. You're all right. Right?