Reviews, in answer to Bitch One

[V Knid esq]

It's a fucker to be honest. For the newspaper I tend to just try and be as factual as possible, cos it's for a general audience who don't necessarily know the music, so really I'm describing and contextualising more than judging - therefore I don't always have to listen to the album tons. If it's something really good, obviously I will, but if it's a pop album that I've been told to review, I can get it over with in one or two listens, think who its aimed at, and explain it dispassionately. For more involved mag/online reviews, I will always try and live with the album and listen to it a lot for like a month or more. It's hard to do that and not get lazy, I mean, check out the NME singles reviews, where the reviewer is clearly just flicking through the pile of promos and writing on first impressions, but one does ones best etc.

Originally posted by bitch one
can i step into9 this entertaining tennis match and ask knid a question - when reviewing an album, at what point do you decide you've listened enough times to be able to trust your own judgement? cos sometimes i like a record first time i hear it, then 1 month later i think it is shit. or sometimes i hate a record, then realise it's great when i hear it on a sound system. or sometimes i love a tune when i'm in a good mood and hate it when i'm in a weird mood.

so do critics have a weird static opinion about music, or do you just feign one for the purpose of spewing forth readable copy which pays the bills ? or am i weird in having such a changeable relationship to tunes?

[V Knid esq]

And yes, I have made mistakes and raved about something I later got really sick of. Only once or twice, though, I think. Everyone's fallible and changeable though, and to be honest I have my doubts that people really pay that much attention beyond treating reviews as a glorified guide to what's being released that month. But fuck it, it pays, so I don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

[bitch one]

i see - yes i suppose i use reviews that way, simply as a vaguely informative guide to what releases i should check out, and i usually try to read between the lines of what the reviewer says. i guess trying to describe dispassionately and leave judgement to the reader is the way - i remember the old magic feet singles reviews were pretty good at this. but then if you have to write a big long involved thing for the next radiohead lp it's time to have an opinion.

i think usually it is best to just completely ignore reviewers' opinions. i remember the film 'adaptation' getting rave reviews everywhere, then when i went to see it i thought it was pretty shit - especially compared with charlie kaufman's other films -( i mean it had MERYL FUCKIN STREEP in it for pity's sake) but i could see exactly why a film critic (aka failed/wannabe screenwriter) would think it was amazing.

[Orang Utan]

Who do you write for V Knid, if it's not a secret?

[thomas hooked]

i'm sure i saw him quoted in bold type in an advert for the new Mike Ladd lp

[karitek]

i really like reading reviews once i've discovered the record to contextualize it for me. i usually just read the first and last couple sentences of a review otherwise - if it sounds good, i'll get the music, and then reread the review.

what are your fave magazines to work for knid? do you get to pick what you review or is it predetermined by the man?

[FiST]

Originally posted by thomas hooked
i'm sure i saw him quoted in bold type in an advert for the new Mike Ladd lp

aye i saw that aswell, something like 'this record is wicked' : joe muggs - no-future.com

there is no joe muggs on here tho.

[thomas hooked]

i'd quite like to see that 2 lone swordsman review collab quoted.
"you sway like the twin towers mate."

[Sheridan]

I personally hate reading reviews. and actually I hate magazines because I feel they are so wasteful on so many levels. but you have to learn about music someway. I love reading people's comments here. and if I like what they are saying I'll go and buy the album without even listening to it. come to think of it, the majority of the music I own I bought before ever hearing a single note.

[Sheridan]

Originally posted by FiST
there is no joe muggs on here tho.

joe muggs is knid.

[nickywalsh]

reading vknids reviews is like the rabbit eating a biscuit, it tastes nice and he will eat it quickly but it is very bad for him.

http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~sokaisha/rabbit/monokui/biscuit.JPG

[FiST]

Originally posted by Sheridan


joe muggs is knid.

yeah but there still isn't a user called joe muggs, which was a bit confusing for me when i saw the advert in vice.

[Lady E]

Originally posted by FiST


aye i saw that aswell, something like 'this record is wicked' : joe muggs - no-future.com

there is no joe muggs on here tho.

really?

where was that then?

[Lady E]

Originally posted by nickywalsh
reading vknids reviews is like the rabbit eating a biscuit, it tastes nice and he will eat it quickly but it is very bad for him.

http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~sokaisha/rabbit/monokui/biscuit.JPG

that is so gorgeous. i didnt know rabbits liked biscuits.

[Lady E]

Originally posted by FiST


yeah but there still isn't a user called joe muggs, which was a bit confusing for me when i saw the advert in vice.

which issue of vice is it?
sorry to be sad. but it would be great if people came to the site because of the great reviews section. hint to the reviewers to do some bloody reviews.

[thomas hooked]

i'll do a bloody review if ya want.

[Lady E]

i like your reviews thomas. ive been to your site, which is a very good site indeed.

i suggest everyone visits it.

ive also now seen the mike ladd advert in question. its in the dos/donts issue of vice, which actually made me laugh a lot.

[thomas hooked]

i'm blushing.
thanks. need to be a lot more disciplined about it all though. i'm spread too thin at the mo. sat here simultaniously working on a drab magazine and a sneaky freelance eastern beer advert and wittering on on two internet forums. not condusive to clarity of thought.

[cut out]

reviewing stuff for overload was one of those great/horrific experiences. great cos i got to hear a lot of new music, awful cos I also had to sit through loads of faceless bollocks. Great cos I got to write utterly stupid shit in an attempt to make them interesting, awful cos I felt guilty about trivialising people’s art. Great cos I got to slag some people off really, really badly (beautiful pseudonyms!), bad cos I often said something was good or shit when after more listens I changed my mind.

And when I read my photek interview these days I can’t believe what a gushing idiot I made myself look like. God knows, I love writing – but it’s too high risk!

[wheezer]

I still can't read the review section... *sniff* *sniff*

[V Knid esq]

I'm having a quiet weekend this weekend and I've got some wicked new weirdy albums so I WILL add some more reviews, promise.

I hadn't seen the quote, but they asked me if they could say it - I think it was something like "funk rock that shits all over N*E*R*D". That's the second time I've been used in an advert, how exciting! (the first one was a really wet comment - I called the Memory Band something like "lovely, lovely music")

At the moment I write in the Daily Torygraph and Word mag. Word is fucking ace, and lots of people I admire like David Quantick write for it, so I am well happy to be in it.

Give the rabbit another biscuit, Phil, go on, don't be stingy!

[Lady E]

Originally posted by wheezer
I still can't read the review section... *sniff* *sniff*

WHY? thats crazy

ill have a look at your settings...

[Loz]

Originally posted by bitch one
but then if you have to write a big long involved thing for the next radiohead lp it's time to have an opinion.

One thing amused me. Kid A, panned almost universally by the critics for various reasons, it was too difficult, they were taking the piss, where are the songs, etc.

Then end of the year.. guess which album makes it into nearly everyones' Best Albums of 2000 list?

(It was Kid A, before you ask, Phil)

[emef]

'kid a' was a ripoff, that and 'amnesiac' should never have been 2 lp`s
if they had put those lps out as one with some of the well shit tracks ditched from both it would have totally seismic

i remember reading an interview with them as kid a came out and they were talking about amnesiac following soon cos they had so many new tracks, yeah right... morning bell twice and the second version is shit.

[Loz]

Amnesiac is a bit of a throwaway record, some brilliant stuff on there, Spinning Plates, Life In A Glasshouse, etc (live version of Spinning Plates is just... well amazing), but to me, Kid A is a perfect album. The songs don't all stand up on their own, but as an album, I think it's the most cohesive thing they've ever done, everything fits in there perfectly with everything else.

Amnesiac is really just a collection of songs, they don't hold together as well.

I could just be talking out of my arse, however, but that's what I think.

Kid A is a massive grower, though, and until Hail To The Theif came out, was my favourite Radiohead album.

[emef]

the best tracks off kid a i liked straight away, they are great but there are dross tracks on it, even the title track is shit... maybe i just like to hear thom singing without some stupid effect on his voice
but both lps merged together would have rocked.

the bends is still my favourite radiohead lp but hail to the thief is brilliant, much more an lp than either of the previous 2

[Sheridan]

what about ok computer? that is my personal fave.

[emef]

yeah total classic lp, but i`ve played it to death... overplayed it in fact
and 'the bends' has all the tracks that make me weepy (or would if i was a bloody girl) ;)

[Loz]

you are a big girl, emef

and there is nothing shameful in that ;)

[emef]

are you trying to say i wear a bra? ;)

[Loz]

I won't judge you, emef, if you decide to wear pretty lacey bras. It's the 21st Century, after all.