IDM Mailing Archive

I hate this fucking nonsense: * "Rae becomes haunting and cold, like a child left home alone on Christmas. Tear-shaped chord swells and a faint drawbar organ finish out the piece. This song is a close cousin to "Krib"; its primary emotion is wistful aloneness. " * [garbage ep] "Played at high volume, it sounds like the end of the world; a vast funeral for the soldiers of another galaxy; a ceaseless, wailing alien rendition of Taps. " * [tri repetae] "Stud: it begins with a pure supersonic oscillation, a drumbeat only dogs can hear; it ends in a wash of outerspace feedback, like solar rain. It evokes vastness, solitude, wandering. The album concludes in a similar storm. " * "The soaring climax brings a storm of percussive clicks and clanks; it sounds like a million glass marbles colliding in a hurricane. The coda fades away into childlike xylophones, playing tranquilly like the melodies at the end of Pule. Drane2 is an aria, a grand and mysterious anthem. " does this drivel actually attract anyone? why must people try so hard to sound so intelligent and come off incredibly phony? i dunno. this bothers me. :: wells oliver / s0ewoliv@titan.vcu.edu / http://mute.simplenet.com :: 'try to smile as they devour our youth'

wells wrote:

quoted 11 lines I hate this fucking nonsense:

> I hate this fucking nonsense: > > <snip stuff> > > does this drivel actually attract anyone? why must people try so hard to > sound so intelligent and come off incredibly phony? > > i dunno. > > this bothers me. >

Well i only read reviews for entertainment purposes. 99% I disagree with and the other 1% are useless......seems to me people are using it as an excuse to do some creative writing instead of doing something meaningful..... spaul

I also have a big problem with most music reviews, but I think well-written reviews are a real artform. Seems to me, people make 2 major mistakes. Either they try to give you a synopsis of the album, often a track by track description of what you hear when, or they go in the opposite direction, describing the music's imagery in flights of purple pose. It's hard to quantify what makes a good review, bu it seems that good ones set the music in various contexts, and analyze it within those contexts. Thus, you might talk about Come to daddy in the context of Aphex's older work, in terms of the current IDM scene, in terms of certain aesthetic qualities like dancability or production values or whatever interests you. You want to paint a picture of the album in a lot of different ways, so the reader can understand what the album does and where both it and the reviewer are coming from. But the key final step, IMO, is to then fit all the details into the larger picture, a sort of ! fina l analysis of the album in the reviwer's eyes, the album's defining traits... This is obviously over simplifed, and plenty of other approaches work just as well. But being too mechanical, or too personal and subjective tends to ruin a review for me... Sam

quoted 6 lines Well i only read reviews for entertainment purposes. 99% I disagree with and the

>Well i only read reviews for entertainment purposes. 99% I disagree with and the >other 1% are useless......seems to me people are using it as an excuse to do some >creative writing instead of doing something meaningful..... > >spaul >

At least people are posting reviews instead of talking about inane subjects that just clutter your mailbox. Sure the reviews may not be on target or a little over zealous. But they are a sign post of what is out there. They let you know what has been released and allow you to search them out so you can listen for yourself. Case in point: I read wire magazine. Do I particularly like it? not really. To pretentious but their reviews let me know what has been released. I then go listen to the items I am interested in. I usually ignore what they say about an album but with out the mag I wouldn't know about 20% of the music I listen to. The other 80% I listen to is made up from independent research, friends, 313, www.forcedexposure.com, record stores and lastly idm <which recently hasn't turned me on to squat>. I know that I post reviews occasionally and I get positive responses from people. Most people's reactions are what is this? when did this come out etc.. The reason most people ask these questions is because the list is to damn busy whining, talking about panties, or being judgemental. So instead of whining do something about it. Post your own reviews. -daniel

a note to everyone who wants to write record reviews\ study lester bangs' book and the review archives at www.nme.com\ that's the real shit\ steve

quoted 6 lines I know that I post reviews occasionally and I get positive responses from

>I know that I post reviews occasionally and I get positive responses from >people. Most people's reactions are what is this? when did this come out >etc.. The reason most people ask these questions is because the list is >to damn busy whining, talking about panties, or being judgemental. > >So instead of whining do something about it. Post your own reviews.

You know, Im as guilty as some about perpetuating the inanities that 'clutter' the list, but I also wish there were a few more reviews on here and less bitching. However in order to promote an atmosphere more conducive to people posting reviews, some of the flaming and slamming on this list needs to mellow out. I think that of the 1000+ people on this list, there must be plenty of lurkers who just scored some tunes that I need to know about, but are often afraid post them for fear of being under the highly critical IDM microscope. I buy stuff all the time that inspires me to mention it here but I ususally dont get past the "SEND" button because I dont feel like setting myself up for an IDM-Slam because I may have made a weak reference or didnt use enough flowery adjectives. I think that if we bother to subscribe to this list, we should try to improve the signal/noise ratio by posting more reviews, and IM also of the opinion that even the most poorly written review is "pure signal" if it clues me in on good music. Even if its: SOLVENT/SUCTION CD: ME LISTEN 2.. ME THINK SOUNDZ GUD. YOU GO 2 WWW.SEROTONINUSA.COM AND YOU LISTEN LONG TIME, YOU LIKEY LIKEY METHINKS!!! (actually, lets not do the numbers-as-words thing, that *IS* beaten to sorrowful death around here ;( ) As for the review lurkers, if its an artist not already beaten to death, SAY SOMETHING! Even if all you can do to describe the music in terms of how it sounds compared another artist, I think that is great. All your post has to do is make me listen to it in the shop/online, and the choonz should take it from there. ernie Ernesto Ikerd, (817) 763-4795 Company Graphics, Dept 17, MZ-1156 Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems Fort Worth, Texas