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From:
To:
Date:
Fri, 16 Jun 2000 00:36:24 -0700
Subject:
Re: [idm] constructive criticism and cannibals
Msg-Id:
<200006160736.AAA07510@screech.weirdnoise.com>
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<06263442133573@mirage.tcinternet.net>
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Okey dokey. Let me flagellate the deceased equine one more time. I promise, it's off to the glue factory after this one. Metaphor is good. Opinions are good. I'd love to hear some good ones. I don't care how colloquial your language is. I don't care if the music I like gives you the runs and makes your eyes cross. I don't care if the music you like makes me break out in hives and projectile vomit. Tell me about it. Describe what you hear. If you think something sounds like a room full of monkeys banging on old hubcaps while their gorilla buddy flushes toilets in 5/4 time, then SAY SO. Simple value words like "bad," "garbage," or "stupid" don't tell me a damn thing about how the music sounds. Yeah, it tells me how you feel, on some third-grade level, but frankly that's of little use to me. I don't even feel bad that you've wasted a precious hour of your life listening to something you feel is worthless or just vaguely sub-par. But you can make it more worthwhile, for you and for me and for all the folks at home, if you manage to be a bit more courageous and try to describe what you hear and what you like about it, and what you don't. OK, I'll be blunt. I don't read IDM for any sort of social bonding. I don't read it to validate my views on what music is, Intelligent or Otherwise. I read it to learn and share knowledge, impressions, and ideas about the various beat-oriented electronic musics that folks may or may not call "IDM." I read it to find out about music I might want to seek out or avoid. I read to share information. The fact that you or I find something agreeable or disagreeable is, on its own, of little interest to everybody else. I'm sorry to break that news to you if you haven't realized this before. However, I'm keenly interested in what you've heard that I haven't heard (even if it's something I've listened to before), insofar as you can describe it to me in a way I can understand--and there are quite a few others here who follow and contribute to the list for the same reason. It's called "discussion," and it's what 'most any good mailing list is about. Good information is useful no matter whether the opinions behind it are agreeable or not, 'cause the opinions really don't matter to anyone but the people who have them. OK, 'nuff said from this quarter. -Ed --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org