Well, I'm not really saying my bosses were wrong, in retrospect. Just saying what my thoughts had been when reading/editing the review (in which the leaving-of-show was entertaining, until I got called out on it.) (For what it's worth, I've never personally left a concert I was reviewing before it was done, no matter how much I hated it. And I'm pretty sure I've never reviewed an album for publication that I hadn't actually listened to all the way through -- though there's a Nirvana album in my metal book I didn't have a copy of on hand when I wrote the review. But I've definitely written show previews of bands based on just a few songs.)
― xhuxk, Sunday, 16 August 2009 21:25 (fourteen years ago) link
didn't mean to come off like moses up there. an embarrassing number of albums i reviewed in the old RS record guide got only a cursory listen or two. a classic case of biting more than you can chew. previews or listings are exempt from review standards.
― m coleman, Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:02 (fourteen years ago) link
I've walked out early from two shows that I've reviewed (from a total of around 150), because a) I already had all the information I needed and b) I couldn't stand to be there a second longer. One was Seasick Steve, and the other was (to my surprise) Manu Chao.
― mike t-diva, Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:07 (fourteen years ago) link
you have to be some sort of wizard to get me to read a review of a live show. so, hats off to the people who have to write them. (i can think of maybe one in the last decade that was actually memorable. greg tate's springsteen show thing in the voice.)
(but then my gold standard might actually be bukowski's stones review in creem: http://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/charles-bukowski-jaggernaut-wild-horse-on-a-plastic-phallus-1975/)
― scott seward, Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:16 (fourteen years ago) link
i always stay till the end of a show. what if someone died?? also, i like concerts.
― 'dude, hydroponic uterus' (stevie), Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, there must be daily papers that still, at least on occasion, run reviews the morning after certain "important" shows, right? Which might well mean pages close early enough to require reviewers to file before shows end. (The dailies I read most seem to stick to the two-or-even-three-days-after rule, but I get the idea that that's a convention that's evolved over time. I could be way off on that, though; never tracked it very closely.)
And Scott is right -- of all the kinds of music criticism, live reviews are probably the most boring to read, and almost definitely the most boring to write (and to edit, which is why I delegated Sound of the City to sub-editors when they were available.)
― xhuxk, Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, in the Lehigh Valley they didn't sell beer at the big venues, so you could maybe have a soda. Since many of these had to be filed for publication in the morning newspaper, and they occured at night, they often mandated that the reporter had to leave the venue -before- the show was over.
This was before well before you could have a laptop with you and file wireless. Hard to imagine, but yes, lots and lots of people did it this way.
Anyway, the small clubs in the area were fairly dire. Most of the time the newspaper was interested in reviews of locals for special section on Saturday which would publish an anthology of reviews from the seven days +1 previous. Then you could always stay until the bitter end. This led to many situations in which having a beer was one way to get through the night. I recall one time being assigned to cover stand-up comedians performing at a local club, one in which the promoter had neglected to inform them was gay. One of the comedians, who was rather inobservant, had a routine based on gay slurs and homophobia.
It takes little imagination to realize ordering a drink in such a situation is the human and rational thing to do.
― Gorge, Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:24 (fourteen years ago) link
xhuxk you've blown my mind with this no-alcohol policy.
― BIG HOOS's wacky crack variety hour (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:27 (fourteen years ago) link
xpost: I mostly write for a regional "evening" daily (which actually appears around 10am), and we run all live reviews - no matter how big or small - on the website the morning after. Until around 6 months ago they also ran in print the day after, but that's now slipped back a day. And, um, live reviews are easily my favourite to write!
― mike t-diva, Sunday, 16 August 2009 22:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't drink, so I get a few editors assigning me for festival coverage because they like how I have the energy to stay on my feet and watch bands for 10 hrs at a time
is this something you've been told or something you're guessing?
― Matos W.K., Sunday, 16 August 2009 23:21 (fourteen years ago) link
or maybe a little of each (probably the correct answer)
― Matos W.K., Sunday, 16 August 2009 23:25 (fourteen years ago) link
i wanted to revive this, but perhaps kind of ironically, i don't know what to write...
well i guess that's a fair enough question - when you're deciding to pitch an idea, how do you decide what to cover? if it's reviews etc, do you just have a look at what you've been sent that month from the flacks and pitch those, or do something else?
― the next grozart, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:46 (fourteen years ago) link
That's usually how it goes, or I call an editor and threaten to kidnap his cocker spaniel if he won't publish me.
― post-contrarian meta-challop 2009 (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:47 (fourteen years ago) link
music writers (especially for free weeklies), what is the worst pun-based headline you/your colleagues/your editors have committed to print?
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:49 (fourteen years ago) link
another question please: how many listens to an album in average before writing a review?
― Zeno, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:51 (fourteen years ago) link
oh god i've cranked out so many weak headlines -- don't know if any were particularly outrageous puns but i've had some dogs to be sure
― some dude, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:52 (fourteen years ago) link
Ha -- I just wrote a single review after listening to 1:30 of the song.
― post-contrarian meta-challop 2009 (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
it's probably pretty shitty ?!
― Zeno, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:53 (fourteen years ago) link
Zeno - for me it really depends on how much I like the album to be honest. If I've got, say 5 albums to review and 2 of them are awesome, one is just fine and 2 of them are shit then it's only normal that I listen to them as I'd listen to CDs normally. Biased? Maybe so. But I always always try to give even the most awful stuff at least two full listens. That said, if the PR company can't be arsed to send me the CD until a day before deadline then that's just tough.
― the next grozart, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
but there are lots of albums where it takes a number of listenning to figure out if you like them or not.it's probably very hard on a deadline (and with a potential of regreting what you wrote later on)
― Zeno, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 18:59 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm not a big 'repeat listener' as a music fan in general -- putting something on more than once in a week is considered heavy duty listening by my standards. With a tight deadline I might listen to it a couple times in the space of a day, if I have a week or more it'll be at least 3.
― some dude, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 19:00 (fourteen years ago) link
lol weezer
― post-contrarian meta-challop 2009 (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 September 2009 19:06 (fourteen years ago) link
related to puns, but how about using lyrics from other bands (or even other genres) to headline a feature story -- like say "the kids are alright" for Kriss Kross or Smoosh? any confessions?
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 19:07 (fourteen years ago) link
if i was writing reviews i would probably regret at least a little of them because of those traps:Holy Crap, this is amazing! Actually, no hold on.. it's shite!vs. the opposite
― Zeno, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 19:07 (fourteen years ago) link
i have used lyric-based puns more often than i care to admit
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 19:08 (fourteen years ago) link
haha since so many of them post here i almost feel like asking my former stable of writers to chime in on the worst punning headline i ever inflicted upon them.
lol i'll have a look and let you know if i find anything
― some dude, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 19:20 (fourteen years ago) link
i wrote one a bit back that is so stupid: Poker Flat Lets the Chips Fall .
god. headsmack.
― my bach penises and their contrapuntal technique (the table is the table), Tuesday, 1 September 2009 19:31 (fourteen years ago) link
Pun-wise, probably my review of A Grand Don't Come for Free: "Whither Thou?"
― if I don't see more dissent, I'm going to have to check myself in (Matos W.K.), Tuesday, 1 September 2009 20:00 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, this tends to follow how often I'd listen to the album anyway. You can recognise a really terrible record in a few songs, so I once reviewed an album based on two half-listens (because I couldn't bear to get through the whole thing / the second half-listen was for specifics while I wrote). I'll want to keep listening to a good record anyway, and the time it takes me to get bored of it is relevant to "how good" it is. Usually 4-6 times for a decent record, 8+ times for a really good one.
― bakerstreetsaxsolo, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 22:52 (fourteen years ago) link
I've got a techy question... I'm going to be conducting a phone interview soon. What are the ideal ways to go about recording the intervew? I've heard some people use Skype, others use adapters to hook up a recorder to a phone (I only have a cell phone... is there such an adapter?).
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Thursday, 3 September 2009 14:18 (fourteen years ago) link
I do it real low tech holding the tape recorder up to my cell on speaker -- not the best way to do it (and you get that weird clicky noise that happens anytime a cell phone's near a recording device), but in a pinch it works.
― some dude, Thursday, 3 September 2009 14:35 (fourteen years ago) link
i have a device which is similar to this - does the job perfectly
― lex pretend, Thursday, 3 September 2009 14:42 (fourteen years ago) link
depends on the album, on the deadline, on when the PR deigns to send it to me. ideally, until i feel i have a handle on it.
― lex pretend, Thursday, 3 September 2009 14:43 (fourteen years ago) link
Lex, thanks for the suggestion.
― scott pgwp (pgwp), Thursday, 3 September 2009 20:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Does that Voice Memos thing on the latest iPhone software allow for this to be done easily? (This = recording phone interviews)
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 3 September 2009 20:18 (fourteen years ago) link
there's some conference call services that let you call in and they save the conversation to an mp3 or wav -- i'll bet one of them must be free somehow. (if you're technically nerdy and got a lot of free time, you can jerry-rig one up on your own computer for free.)
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 3 September 2009 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
Do any of you who are paid for your music writing have any general writing advice for people who want to get better at the craft? How did you go from sucking to excellence? I'm not a music writer, but I do write and am looking to improve. Thanks everybody!
― kshighway1, Saturday, 10 October 2009 05:19 (fourteen years ago) link
And by "the craft" I mean writing as such, not writing about music necessarily.
Writing often and having people call your shit awful.
― Roman Polanski now sleeps in prison. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 October 2009 05:27 (fourteen years ago) link
^^this
― it takes a nation of 51 to hold us back (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 10 October 2009 05:45 (fourteen years ago) link
or, write often and re-read the writing two months later and make sure that you think it's shit
― it takes a nation of 51 to hold us back (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 10 October 2009 05:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Don't get too wrapped up in reading crit, but read enough to work out your likes and dislikes about other writers and what you want or don't want to read, put yourself in the shoes of your own reader.
― some dude, Saturday, 10 October 2009 05:48 (fourteen years ago) link
I would go farther and say you need to take a look at the crit that you like and really try to figure out what makes it tick...try to analyze and isolate those elements which really make your motor churn. then try and figure out how to incorporate it into your own writing without being called a biter.
― dyao, Saturday, 10 October 2009 05:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Write when very drunk, very late at night. Then, after a few years, write when very sober, very early in the morning.
― Sickamous (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 10 October 2009 06:10 (fourteen years ago) link
wrote a really shitty review of some crumby 8-bit ironic post-IDM game music thing, along with a bunch of others. they got published, the bad one didn't - are people finding that mags less likely to publish bad (as in low-marks) reviews these days? i noticed the album had been given impartial column space in the news section of said mag, so maybe this had something to do with it?
― dog latin, Thursday, 10 December 2009 17:10 (fourteen years ago) link
I had an editor specifically request a positive review of something last week. Fortunately, I was able to deliver one honestly.
― neither good nor bad, just a kid like you (unperson), Thursday, 10 December 2009 17:23 (fourteen years ago) link
dog latin, i've noticed a sort of imperative to play nice w/r/t reviews and live previews over the last little while.
― LAMBDA LAMBDA LANDA (Beatrix Kiddo), Thursday, 10 December 2009 17:58 (fourteen years ago) link
not EVERYWHERE, per se. but in some places it's like "let's just review stuff that's good"
― LAMBDA LAMBDA LANDA (Beatrix Kiddo), Thursday, 10 December 2009 17:59 (fourteen years ago) link
"if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"
― LAMBDA LAMBDA LANDA (Beatrix Kiddo), Thursday, 10 December 2009 18:08 (fourteen years ago) link