Simon Reynolds, Retromania and the Atemporality of Contemporary 'Pop'
If you've read Retromania, then you really must read this. And if you haven't but have even the slightest interest in art criticism, you really should read both.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2118376
http://retromaniabysimonreynolds.blogspot.co.uk
via http://www.scoop.it/t/hauntology

"Yes, we could talk about the tyranny of 
generalization if we wanted to: we could point out that 
no sounds are without a history, that retromania is to 
some extent a necessary and permanent condition, that 
we have, in a certain manner of speaking, always been 
postmodern and that in this sense there is nothing 
intrinsically novel about the contemporary 
predicament. And every step of the way Reynolds would 
agree with us. Despite the rampant and sometimes 
dewy-eyed modernism with which he has pursued 
virtually his entire career, he is certainly no fool. Every 
step of the way, in other words, his provocation would 
still stand. Yes, I take your point, he would say, but still 
… can we really not do better?"