Critics: how much did reviewing records change the way you listen to music?

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Sometimes, I think a lot

― dleone (dleone), Sunday, 16 May 2004 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)

How I actually listen, not very much, I always listened very carefully and 'critically. It changed _what_ I listen to quite a lot though. Specifically, I listened to a lot of stuff that wasn't very good.

If it's my own time and my own monet, good isn't good enough, it has to be brilliant.

― mei (mei), Sunday, 16 May 2004 18:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Chefs: how did working in kitchens change the way you cooked food?

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Sunday, 16 May 2004 21:31 (twenty-two years ago)

First I took a copy of Born in the USA and then simmered it in a white wine sauce.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 16 May 2004 21:33 (twenty-two years ago)

your chef metaphor doesnt work, matos.

more like, how did eating food for others change how you tasted what you ate.

― jack cole (jackcole), Sunday, 16 May 2004 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

or Critics: how much did reviewing restaurants change the way you eat food?

― common_person (common_person), Sunday, 16 May 2004 22:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Or: how did digesting critics opinions affect your bowel movements?

― omg, Sunday, 16 May 2004 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Jack, you're both right and wrong. My metaphor doesn't work but not for the reasons you say. The more appropriate metaphor would be, "Chefs: how much did cooking for others change the way you eat?"

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

of course, that's wrong, too, but I like the way it reads so ;-p

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

(anyway, I stand doubly corrected--Jack's original was right, and both of mine were wrong)

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:01 (twenty-two years ago)

You crazy guys. I agree with above that I always listened "critically", but most of the time not in the same way. For example, in the past I might have listened to a record and if it didn't have enough music that fit within the narrow confines of my expectations for it, I would have probably dismissed it and never thought about it again. Now, listening to and then writing about records is less about what I expect than it is in trying to capture my reaction regardless of what I thought I knew about the record. So, in a way, it keeps me more open minded when I'm listening.

On the other hand, I never cared so much contextual or historical things about records before writing about them. How one band's sound affects bands in the same genre, or how a particular producer is spawning copy cats while another band is standing in the shadow of their previous records. Because I know a lot more information about bands and scenes than I would have before writing about records, it's almost impossible not to carry some of that into listening to a record. In that way, it's almost a hindurance.

Most of all, I find now when I'm listening to music now, I have an almost automatic response to figure out what I might tell someone about it. This is especially the case when I'm listening to something I'm totally unfamiliar with - in those cases, I really have to fight off the urge to immediately analyze the record. I mean, is this OCD or burn out or normal critic behavior or what?

― dleone (dleone), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Oddly enough, I care less about the historical context of an album now that I've started reviewing more frequently. I definitely am listening more aggressively and reacting more immediately, but I don't try to stop myself from doing that. What I try (and often fail) to do is keep myself from actually telling somebody my take on the album until I've listened to it at least twice non-consectutively (the second time I know what I'm in for and am more likely to be able to appreciate the album as that rather than what I thought it would be before I heard it).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I'm listening to a Sunburned Hand of the Man CDR now (good stuff) but I'm not thinking in terms of conscious analyzation or anything like that. More of a 'hey, nice' feeling, and not one built around needing to communicate. In that regard, I think I do still draw a specific line between hearing something for review and just hearing something because, which I suppose is a good thing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:12 (twenty-two years ago)

YO NED, YOU ARE BECOMING ONE OF US. next thing you know you'll be shelling out yr hard earned cash for Wolf Eyes & Burning Star Core CDRs

i'm not a music critic, but when i review albums (which i do sometimes anyway), i take notes while listening. sometimes now, when listening to anything, i'll notice something and have the urge to grab a pen and write it down, or mentally try to figure out the best way to articulate it.

― Ian Johnson (orion), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:15 (twenty-two years ago)

YO NED, YOU ARE BECOMING ONE OF US

I heard about Sunburned through stuff like the Ptolemaic Terrascope, not you freaks. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish I did that. Write stuff down, that is. If I think I'm gonna write about something I listen to it a whole lot more than I probably would otherwise. That's the main difference for me.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:20 (twenty-two years ago)

i think i became more open to buying stuff i was less likely to like once i started reviewing.. and of course with an increase in volume means that i have less time to absorb an album.. so i guess im more inclined for immediate albums these days..

― chris andrews (fraew), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:25 (twenty-two years ago)

It makes me more aware, maybe -- I listen more intently, everything's magnified -- flaws seem deeper, great moments seem more amazing, and constant comparisons are more likely to run through my head in regards to what the stuff sounds like in context with other works by the artist/similar artists in that genre. I'm guessing this is fairly typical.

I rarely take notes. Usually I'll just get some ideas worked out, jot 'em all down in a first draft when they're still on my mind, and flesh out the remainder of a review while actually listening to the record and writing simultaneously.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 17 May 2004 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I have an intern that does all the writing for me. I don't write reviews, I write checks.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Monday, 17 May 2004 02:32 (twenty-two years ago)

'Cuz he's S-Dub for life

(insert choppy weirdo cut-and-paste synthtar riff here)

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Monday, 17 May 2004 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

'Cuz he's S-Dub for life

(insert choppy weirdo cut-and-paste synthtar riff here)

-- Nate in ST.P (n***p*****550...), May 17th, 2004.

Nah, it'd be an easily recognizeable sample from a 70s/80s MOR artist, cut up to tha' funk limit (police, phil collins etc), soon revivalising said artists career as the god-fathers of hip-hop..

― chris andrews (fraew), Monday, 17 May 2004 02:54 (twenty-two years ago)

What I try (and often fail) to do is keep myself from actually telling somebody my take on the album until I've listened to it at least twice non-consectutively (the second time I know what I'm in for and am more likely to be able to appreciate the album as that rather than what I thought it would be before I heard it).

Mentalism! Everyone knows you have to listen three times (first to get acquainted, second to analyze, third to see whether or not you stand by what you decided the previous two times.)

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 17 May 2004 10:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Reviewing records made me not enjoy listenign to music. Nearly.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:14 (twenty-two years ago)

When I have written record reviews I like to read all the other reviews of the record and sloppily synthesize all of the information gleaned adding my own bad jokes and aliteration.

This has not affected how I listen to music. Although I have now run into writer's block which you'd think would have been impossible.

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Monday, 17 May 2004 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

"Reviewing records made me not enjoy listenign to music. Nearly. "
Me too! But it was a very gradual, almost subliminal process, More dramatic was the effect when I stopped reviewing records. Felt like I could really focus on the music rather than accompanying ideology, journalistic angles, cultural context, etc.

― lovebug starski, Monday, 17 May 2004 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Personal rule: I try to NEVER read reviews for an album I'm reviewing prior to writing and submitting my review. I don't want to take the chance of stealing, subconsciously, from someone else's work.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 17 May 2004 14:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I wrote reviews of CD's for awhile, but though the editor seemed pleasantly surprised by my work, I just burned out on it pretty quickly.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I often read other folks' reviews of albums when I'm writing one myself. This is because I throw away the press release along with the envelope, and only keep the CD, so sometimes there are quirky bio-facts I don't know and need to wedge in there to seem 'with-it.'

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Not as much as having a baby did!

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Monday, 17 May 2004 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't listen anymore. i simply read them

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Monday, 17 May 2004 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

the liner notes you mean?

― jubal harshaw (jube), Monday, 17 May 2004 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I would think having any relationship with music other than "listener" would necessarily affect the way you listen to music.

I haven't written many reviews in my life, but I do remember a profound change in the way I listened to music once I learned how to play the guitar and started playing in bands and started being able to recognize structure, chords, melodies and arrangements critically.

― martin m. (mushrush), Monday, 17 May 2004 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

nah, i read the records. like text-based analysis kinda wonkery

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Monday, 17 May 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

i think i still listen with the same pre-critical "critical" ear, if anything i feel like i can much more readily distinguish between something i really like and something that in the grand schemes is pretty much inconsequential. eg i loved the exploding hearts album but realize it's hardly anything worth writing home about (though i did). i don't know, i'm kinda happy how i can handle this sort of dichotomy.

― Nick Sylvester, Monday, 17 May 2004 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Personal rule: I try to NEVER read reviews for an album I'm reviewing prior to writing and submitting my review. I don't want to take the chance of stealing, subconsciously, from someone else's work.

b-b-b-but if you do that you might just be rehashing what everyone else has already said, w/o knowing!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 17 May 2004 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

or Critics: how much did reviewing restaurants change the way you eat food?

i'm going to answer this seriously! it's totally changed the way i eat/appreciate food and in a really positive way i think, that i'm very very grateful for.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 17 May 2004 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

b-b-b-but if you do that you might just be rehashing what everyone else has already said, w/o knowing!

if you actually end up doing this (i.e. if two separate people say the same thing about an album w/o coordination), then it's worth saying again. most reviews don't have the same analysis of an album, but when they do, it's good for readers because the solidarity lends both critics more credence. nothing would be lost because presumably, if everyone said the same thing about an album, it's because there's not much else to say about it. one could argue that it could also be due to the writers' neglect to write about harder topics within the album, but if anything, this will only be more true when a writer has read reviews, since he will then know what he's "supposed to" talk about, or will simply settle for the common analysis.

― Kareem Estefan (Kareem Estefan), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 01:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Before I started reviewing records I never got mail like this;

From: "****** ******" <***************@*********.***> Add to Address Book
To: [email protected]
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 23:16:44 -0500

Hey Weirdo, your reviews SUCK! Do you just try to find the worst music possible to love because everybody else thinks that it sucks? Go get a real job. You are BAD at this one. REALLY.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 11:46 (twenty-two years ago)

A bit much of Marcello to be sending you emails like that Nick

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

such reaction nick! surely this is a good thing to invoke such an emotion. i am in awe ..

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh that's nothing! That's practically a come-on!

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

This is much nastier;

"People like you make me fuckin' sick. You obviously have never realized any of your dreams so you try to suck the life out of other peoples. if i ever run into you on the street i'll be sure to kick your fucking gay ass, you slimy little dirt-bag. i hope you die of aids."

Not even sure what it was in response to - mind you, I'm not sure what the first one's about, either.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

was that last one from nicky wire?

― the surface noise made by people (electricsound), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Too intelligent for him

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

As far as I know I've never even typed the word 'preachers' on Stylus, let alone slagged the Manics.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 12:15 (twenty-two years ago)

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