RTP-area local music and culture

[bendy <bendy AT example.com>]

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