Sasha F-J Honors The Fire!

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with a killing joke review in the voice!!

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0338/frere-jones.php

paging alex in nyc!!

― geeta, Sunday, 14 September 2003 07:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Favorite sentence: "When I downloaded a Steve Albini song, it sounded EXACTLY like Killing Joke, but with a drum machine!"

― JS Williams (js williams), Sunday, 14 September 2003 08:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 14 September 2003 17:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm really really really really really really really fucking bored with reviews written as e-mails, or open letters to the artist, or any other tedious fucking structural gimmick. Just write a goddamned record review, for fuck's sake.

I bought the CD today for $9.99 at Best Buy, before reading this "review."

― unperson (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

why do people try to go anonymous and then leave their login visible? still?

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

cuz they're possessed with the lonely (LONELY) genius that comes with being P-diddy Freeman?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Perhaps you're right. That sentiment should have my regular posting name attached.

I bought the CD today for $9.99 at Best Buy, before reading this "review."

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Sunday, 14 September 2003 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

While I don't share his rage, I kinda agree with Phil Freeman, in music and (especially especially!) film reviews*.

* especially especially especially ones written as "studio memos"

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm sick of seeing writers use words - there's a five star/letter grade template for a reason people! use it! no more words!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, saying you don't like a particular writing style is EXACTLY equivalent to a hatred of all uses of language!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:35 (twenty-two years ago)

"just write a goddamned record review" (record review = "tell me whether I should buy this record")

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

that wasn't me who said that!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:39 (twenty-two years ago)

who said it was?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

uhhh... some guy

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

how often do reviews in that kind of style happen, though? not very.

― M Matos (M Matos), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:42 (twenty-two years ago)

anyway the equation isn't quite there blount.

it all depends what you mean by "a goddamn record review".

(&matos it depends if you count pitchfork or not)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:44 (twenty-two years ago)

good critics: insight, style

bad critics: judgment, "just tell me whether I should buy it"

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:45 (twenty-two years ago)

miccio to thread to dig up that pauline kael quote

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:45 (twenty-two years ago)

but even there it's like once every two weeks, which is 1/40th of the time. (this is pure guesstimation, I don't have the time or inclination to do it more scientifically and I assume no one else does either.) (then again assumptions are made to be broken.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

they're a tired scapegoat, yes, but I think in the case of fake-e-mail-exchanges-as-reviews, we can more or less blame Pitchfork.

― Al (sitcom), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Movie critics seemed to do it all the time for a while there, especially when dealing with genres they had trouble taking seriously.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 14 September 2003 22:49 (twenty-two years ago)

anyway, forms are exactly as tired as their practitioners make them, no more and no less.

― M Matos (M Matos), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

blame "shouts and murmurs"

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Matos I agree, it just seems to me that certain forms (especially the pseudo-epistolary for some reason) are much harder to master than others

(when it comes to reviews anyway)

― s1utsky (slutsky), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't mind in character reviews as long as the person doesn't make a big deal that they're in character (see Jane Dark). I ain't givin' you a pat on the back for pretending to be a strawman.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The problem with gimmicks is that they are. And I really don't see them as "style" or "a style." This particular route (the open letter, the email, blahcetera) is particularly unclever. Gimmicks are good (maybe) one time and after that the returns are exceedingly diminishing; we may only be seeing this thing in the Voice music section once a year but it's used in the general print media (especially among columnists) ad nauseum.

Maybe it's just my general suspicion of cleverness, which I generally fear as a hoodwink or sideshow to actual talent.

― don weiner, Sunday, 14 September 2003 23:58 (twenty-two years ago)

zzzzz

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 15 September 2003 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

That's exactly what I mean, Matos.

― don weiner, Monday, 15 September 2003 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

[sigh]

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 15 September 2003 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

i wrote a review of NIN's The Fragile in the Voice as a letter to Trent from one of his fans once. it was really funny. i even mentioned killing joke. but i was inspired by god. some gimmicks don't always work so well. especially if they are long and boring. plus, they hardly ever work if they involve the writer doing anything remotely mundane. like getting out of bed. or brushing his or her teeth. or driving around in a car with their best friend listening to the radio when all of a sudden a song comes on that changes their life. or if they talk about getting drunk a lot. if they bring themselves into it they should make sure that everything involving themselves is a lie. and it should be a funny lie. other than that, go nuts.

― scott seward, Monday, 15 September 2003 04:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i think sasha's killing joke review is great! i don't care what format it's written in -- it made me laugh

i might almost buy a killing joke album now (almost)

alex should i?!?!

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 15 September 2003 04:13 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I think Killing Joke are terrible, [insert some reference to pestulence and/or dismemberment]

― Alex in NYC (no, really) (M Matos), Monday, 15 September 2003 04:20 (twenty-two years ago)

brasshole!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Monday, 15 September 2003 04:24 (twenty-two years ago)

show me one post where I said that

― cinnibutthead (M Matos), Monday, 15 September 2003 04:30 (twenty-two years ago)

you uncouth slob!

― some panda talking (James Blount), Monday, 15 September 2003 04:37 (twenty-two years ago)

No, I think Killing Joke are terrible, [insert some reference to pestulence and/or dismemberment]

-- Alex in NYC (no, really) ([email protected]), September 15th, 2003. (later)

Don't do that.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 15 September 2003 11:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Jones shouldn't have have called himself Alexander (I like Scott's NIN review all the more because he doesn't make it clear this isn't how he REALLY talks). Though it's not a bad review.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 15 September 2003 19:55 (twenty-two years ago)

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