Lance -
I had a long response penned, but my computer
just rebooted. Argh. Much of it was superfluous
anyway, so I'll just be concise.
First off, I didn't accuse anyone of lying because they have
friends and get free promos. I just worry that my only
source of information on releases is from radio DJ's and retailers,
some of whom just seem to paraphrase promo sheets (no insults
to anyone, just my personal interpretation).
I cannot disagree with you more on the final sentence of
your response. The purpose of this list is to have discussion
about music people on it enjoy and to talk about releases
one might not otherwise come across. One of the best ways
to hear about a release is to hear a myriad of opinions, both
positive and negative, from all sorts of diverse people on this
list, which helps to flesh out what exactly a record is like.
I have heard not one other person with any articulate criticism
of Quench, or L@N, or anything else you've brought up
in the past month. That includes myself, and I intend to change that.
You accuse me in your response of "spouting off".
I think that's quite far from the truth. Instead why I am trying
to do is promote intelligent, critical musical discussion.
In "critical" I mean articulate, meaningful analysis of any
piece of musical work in the genres this list covers.
Whether the result is positive or negative is irrelevant as
long as honest opinions have been conveyed. Lance,
you're right that there are a ton of new releases coming out
every week, which is precisely why everyone should comment
on them, and frequently. If I heard ten things about the
new Sator Rotas CD, for instance, I'd be absolutely thrilled,
no matter what the opinions expressed were, because it
would be a great barometer of the record (I haven't even
gotten to listen to mine yet I have so many records in
stacks that haven't been touched, probably half of which
I have heard nothing critical, insightful or informative about
on any list).
Lance, you know I respect your enthusiasm for music a great
deal. But I would guess that you buy more music than 95%
of this list. I probably buy about 60-70% of what you do,
maybe even less, but I realize there are a lot of people on here
who just don't have the money or the interest in spending
all sorts of money in "unsucessful music ventures", which
is precisely why I see a big need to not only promote what
we like, but address why we didn't like records. It is certainly
my issue that putting everything on an equal playing field
is of paramount importance, and that means trying to be
as honest, articulate and helpful about all the music I hear
as I can be, because as someone who likes to buy a lot
of good music I want to turn other people onto music I liked and
give caution if I thought something was an unwarranted purchase.
I can't speak for anyone else, but review sites like Forcefield
or magazines like the Wire were immensely helpful to me when
I began to get into electronic music some years ago, and Lance
I know that getting opinions on what releases to check and what
not to check helped you as well, as it has everyone. Knowing
what releases are perhaps not as worth it as ones which are
is essential to spending time and money on things worth
time and money. If somebody hasn't heard of a lot of releases
a store has (entirely likely) and nobody mentions a thing
about them, and they aren't in the store to have the luxury
to listen to them (a luxury I, and many on this list, don't have),
not saying anything doesn't help them. Saying what you
thought, and why, does.
_And Here Is The Summary_
I certainly agree no one person can
decide for anyone else if something is "bad". But they
help provide perspective (do you generally agree with this
person? do you know? did they mention what other records
you might like if you liked this or if you like certain records
that might mean you liked this one? was this release
generally better or worse than the artists' other ones or
other artists in a similar style and why? does the
reviewer find this a common flaw/merit? etc.) and an outlet for
people to do their own research on upcoming releases.
In conclusion, I wish we had reviews like the ones you
can see on
http://www.2350.org for example. You have
positive and negative reviews, but most of all you have
insightful and descriptive reviews from a variety of people
providing a variety of viewpoints. That's what matters.
And I'd just be a hypocrite if I stated how good this was
and didn't back it up. So yes, expect some reviews
from me of many, many records ASAP.
Matt
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org