OK, is this the worst piece of music writing ever?

hi i wrote a piece about all this
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/the-new-york-times-sucks-poptimism

lol that url!

Can't (and don't want to try to) speak for the state of music criticism, but I will say that as a reader, I often get the impression that writers are approaching from the point of view of "what will be most likely read" or "what will be understood by the most people". My sense is that most criticism is presented as a survey of something that has already been discussed a lot beforehand, and the review itself is recap, presented in general terms. I can see how this can seem hiveminded, and though I do also notice that, I don't think they are necessarily one and the same phenomena.

Furthermore, I don't think that strategy is inherently bad. Criticism *should* be written so that people can understand it, arguably especially to people who aren't terribly familiar with what's being discussed. One reason I can't stand a lot of art criticism is because I feel like it's written to only be understood by people in the art world, or other critics.

However, I also think it is much easier to write something that will be grasped by the most people...when you're writing about music or art that in and of itself has already demonstrated to appeal to the most people. There's an understanding that gets grandfathered in, so you don't have to write an intro paragrpah explaining where the music came from, or why it's being discussed. I also think that when writers approach things in this way, they forgoe (imo unfortunately) the personal perspective, and don't let me as a reader know why they in particular are writing about this music. In that way, user reviews at Amazon or messageboards are actually more valuable, even though you have to sift through a lot of them to get a broader sense of the music/album. /2cents

xpost love the picture

this popular "critic" gives silly answer to silly question in this trolling video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be_HVMwiBAM

"Poptimism" is not about blindly accepting every piece of radio-ready music that comes down the pike and hailing it as the next important thing. Instead, it's about throwing out the artificial distinctions that elevate Serious Mass-Appeal Music (usually made by men, and with guitars) over Frothy Bubbly Stuff (which often appeals to women as much as, if not more than, it does men).

All that needs to be said really.

When I saw that the link was a video I knew it'd be that guy! xpost

Has Anthony Fantano been discussed on ILM? Am I wrong in thinking he's one of the most popular critics in the game right now? Dude is regularly clocking over 100,000 views of his videos on YouTube.

how many of those are accidental clicks though

I always thought it'd be funny if someone cut his hands off so that when he gesticulated it would just be these bloody stumps splattering blood on his walls.

lol someone sent me a really angry message after i deleted a sentence about tim hecker's virgins being anthony fantano's favorite album of 2013 from that album's wiki page

A lot of gimmicky earnest bands come from his area of Connecticut.

dude is terrible, would be nice w/ the bloody stumps for hands... also n1 @ dyl for deleting lame wiki-reference.

seems like the guy just repeats consensus opinions, but he comes off as the worst, maybe because he makes it seem as if all his opinions are "special" or "important" or "very clever" or just cool when obv they're not lol...

keeps showing up in my related videos on youtube, accidentally saw a few of his "reviews".

on a positive note his name reminds me of brian fantana :)

http://www.quotesworthrepeating.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Brian-Fantana-195x271.jpg

Anyone complaining about Fantano needs to do a YT search for coverkillernation. Holy fucking shit is that guy awful - the ultimate IMN (= Internet Metal Nerd). I think the worst thing about these guys is they're so stilted in their word choice and delivery, like they wrote up everything they're going to say without any thought for how those words would sound leaving someone's mouth as speech.

Animal Collective’s music didn’t just accompany my life, it embodied and sometimes even validated it. Here was a band that not only seemed to think that the bare fact of existence was as fucked-up and confusing as I did, but also managed to replicate that confusion in sound. Biking across campus, I listened to Sung Tongs' alternate-reality smashes at pitiless volumes, staring at my peers, thinking, "Damn, it’s weird to have eyeballs—could I love an insect if insects had eyeballs too?" Naturally, my academic advisors thought I was on the right track.

oh god

wait do insects not have eyeballs I am confused

i like that guy. he's nice. and he ilxors, no? i forgive him his youthful indiscretions. even though i despise animal collective.

i also don't think that video guy is that terrible. he's got his thing. he's working it. he can talk coherently. he could be a LOT worse.

I apologize for bringing that up. Just these days, psychedelic pseudo talk is insanely grating to me.

nah, it's cool. it's public music writing on a music site. i've read other stuff of his that i've enjoyed is all. he's hardly the worst of anything.

That AC one is cuet IMO.

I mean, it's kind of bloggy and personal but I think if it were a different band this kind of writing would get an easier pass.

nah, it's cool. it's public music writing on a music site. i've read other stuff of his that i've enjoyed is all. he's hardly the worst of anything.

― scott seward, Thursday, April 10, 2014 10:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a marked contrast to your reaction to the feeble woman writing about her husband's record collection

this is no better i wonder why you're cool with it

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

does this have nearly the high profile the record collector blog did? is npr pimping this dude's writing? is there a dearth of male critics writing about music professionally and then you have maybe one of the more influential and powerful media networks in america promoting this garbage instead? does it play into existing sitcom worthy stereotypes? is it a concept blog? what npr shows does dude work on? which npr affiliate does he work for? is it in new york?

can't believe scott has the audacity to give someone a pass because he likes their other stuff

someONE or someMANGUYMALENOTLADYone?

some DUDE obv

"I mean, it's kind of bloggy and personal"

he has his own column. i think he can write whatever he wants. his tastes are hardly my tastes. but i think he's a decent writer. i mean he writes about one of my favorite groups here but then sadly he has to bring up vampire weekend which almost kinda ruined it for me but it's still a decent enough thing:

http://pitchfork.com/features/secondhands/9251-in-the-land-of-the-sophisticated-savages/

and the record collection thing really was worse than most things to me. it just made me cringe a lot. is she still working her way through the stacks?

yup

the feeble woman

― lex pretend, Thursday, April 10, 2014 7:25 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nice. She should really rename her blog that.

The author of that AnCo article is the best critic writing whose tastes rarely intersect with mine.

Mike Powell is a great writer imo.

See his essay-interview last year with Ariel R.

The author of that AnCo article is the best critic writing whose tastes rarely intersect with mine.

otm. powell's piece about new age at pfork was really great as well

This AP review of Outkast at Coachella was written based on the livestream, which he admits:

http://www.the-review.com/ap%20entertainment/2014/04/12/outkast-reunite-headline-coachella-festival

Basically the lows:

*The Grammy winners performed two dozen tracks -- seen via its livestream on YouTube -- as they celebrated 20 years in music since the release of their 1994 debut, "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik."

*They crowd seemed energetic -- especially across social media -- but that was hard to hear at times through the livestream.

You think?

this is the same dude who called nin's "hurt" a Johnny Cash cover. he's one of the absolute worst working right now.

(And his editors are just as culpable.)

i like the _concept_ of reviewing livestreams. i mean its much more likely that i'll watch one than drag my ass to some overcrowded mess of an arena or encampment or whatever to watch some people from a great distance.

I wouldn't confuse watching with reviewing a livestream. Especially if in the latter case you're actually going to claim that the crowd seemed into it, but it was hard to tell, because you weren't, you know, there.

It was really hot in Austin today, or at least that's what the weather channel said.

It was super-crowded at the club, or so my friend told me.

The sound was muffled and terrible, or at least so it seemed on the amateur recording of the show I just downloaded.

at least half of event coverage on the internet is based on crappy livestreams, which I know isn't the same thing as a live review but undoubtedly does affect things

i mean it is far more useful to me to suggest if i would enjoy watching a livestream than going to this festival, since there is a possibility i'll watch the livestream, and zero possibility i'd go to that festival

Eh, I hear the crowds on the livestreams suck.

nb: a large reason i wouldn't go to a festival is precisely the crowd, so

Man, this seems to be a theme:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/music-festivals/6050402/coachella-2014-the-replacements-soldier-through-problematic

So it says only a few hundred watched the band, and then half wandered off, and many were unenthusiastic. Saw somewhere a mention of other low turnouts for "heritage" acts like Bryan Ferry or Neko Case (?). I want to see a piece about what acts people actually were excited to see, unless that is too hard to discern from the stream.

coachella is one of those fests that sells out before the lineup is announced, so for people to not be into the bands isn't too surprising. festivals of its ilk have "music" maybe eighth or ninth on its list of priorities, just under sunscreen vendors and ahead of mist tents

Is this officially the beginning of the Coachella backlash?

"the beginning"