
Social theory and good tunes go so well together. One of my favorite writers in this vein is Georges Bataille [1897-1962] and the songs collected below are assembled in the spirit of his work. Mystic, pornographer, frustrated dialectician, art critic, political and economic visionary –Bataille’s oeuvre is frighteningly bizarre and profound. Most people know of him for Story of the Eye , a classic pornographic novel. But in truth his best writing is social theory; in particular his ideas of the low, debasement, economic surplus, and useless expenditure seem as timely as ever. His later mystical writings about self-consciousness [...]