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  • From: bendy <bendy AT example.com>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: Rockin' the rock critics
  • Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 14:23:20 -0500

http://www.gapersblock.com wrote:

It all boils down to this: music
reviewers are even less successful in evoking the very sound of a piece of
music than an art reviewer is in evoking the visual elements of the work
they're reviewing."

It's the whole *dancing about architecture* problem, innut? Personally, I like music reviews which go out of there way to describe the sounds in non-musical terms, and heap on the comparisons to other bands. I think it's about the best you could do, if you read music reviews as a Consumer Reports activity. But I've never bought a record based on one review- it's only after you've read several that you get a sense that it might be worth taking a risk on it. And still it's a risk. American Music Club never did a thing for me; but the descriptions (sad) and the comparisons (Tom Waits) that I kept reading were totally valid. It just didn't add up for me.

I'd have never drawn a line between Neutral Milk Hotel and the Decemberists. But even if there isn't much they objectivly share, I think the fact that this guy liked the Decemberists shows the the comparision was valid at a subjective level.

bendy




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