I feel like there is a place for negative criticism, and 7 Piano Sketches is exactly that place. Since it's André putting it out, it's going to get a lot of attention. It's a record in an obscure genre that is going to get more press than anything else in that genre does, a record that people are going to seek out, listen to, and possibly buy - and many of those people aren't going to be familiar with the music, they're only going to be checking it out because it's by André. So if isn't any good (or if it *is* good), it's important for people to know that.
When it comes to mainstream genres, though, I really don't need negative reviews. What I need are reviews that highlight the quality stuff that would otherwise fly under the radar. If Foo Fighters or J Cole or Dua Lipa put out an album and it isn't very good, who cares? It's going to get streamed millions of times whether or not P4K or whoever says it's good or bad.
And if some indie rapper or garage band or bedroom producer puts out something that isn't very good, again, who cares? It'll come out and disappear into the avalanche of music that I hear once (or not at all) and never think about again.
But. If that lesser-known artist puts out something good, something worth listening to, *that's* what I need a review of. Again, because so much music is being released, quality stuff, stuff that deserves a wider audience, is constantly getting missed. That's where reviewers/curators are indispensable: in shining light on music that deserves a larger audience.
Hard to disagree with any of that, Christian. I did a piece last December on the worst albums of the year based on the AOTY aggregator. It was basically past-their-prime big name artists like those you listed getting panned. There is little point putting the boot in to a tiny band, but I think there are occasionally records by smaller artists that generate a lot of press hysteria despite not being particularly strong. It can be nice to offer a counterpoint in these cases. Lambrini Girls was one such release this year. Or Sleaford Mods another year. I enjoy exploring why I don’t hear what others seem to be ecstatic about.
Agree with this! I’m always on the search for lesser known artists with talent who make great music and those are my favourite recommendations to give. I also interview smaller artists I love - not only do I have the best time during those conversations, but getting to share their creative process and artistry with others means that new people will hear their work who may have not otherwise :)
These days, I mostly read Shindig, Stewart Lee’s reviews in the Idler and Maggot Brain - meaning most of the reviews are written by people who if not actually friends, are my wife’s friends.
I value the relatively tight curation, but know that I have to calibrate the enthusiasm.
What I am aware of is that these magazines are unlikely to cover Little Simz or Sons of Kemet - which is fine, because I have other sources by which I vaguely keep up with the strands of contemporary black music I enjoy.
And I do miss the role that Q or Melody Maker used to play in my life, in terms of arguing why something was good and worth persevering with.
In fact, I was running to ‘Daydream Nation’ earlier, which is a great example of a record I bought on reviews and strength of ‘Teenage Riot’ and didn’t get much out of until the 7th listen - when like a 3D eye picture, it clicked into place in a way I can’t unhear now. It was definitely the multiple superlative reviews that made me stick with it.
By the mid-90s, I’d lost that trust. It’s tempting to blame ‘Be Here Now’ but I think that was just a symptom of the shift from informed criticism, which saw itself as a vanguard in shaping tastes, to a more publicity facing model
I think another struggle is that up until the mid-90s, a critic could easily point out the ways in which Sonic Youth or Tricky or Bjork were doing something new.
There were precursors and influences, but not in the modern sense of being able to sketch out what a band sounds like by naming 3 bands from 30-40 years ago.
If you were writing for The Wire, you would be more focused on whether a record was novel than if it actually had any possible lasting value.
(Honestly, the largest collection of stuff that went to charity shops was stuff bought on basis of mid-to-late 90s Wire reviews. The middle-brow Select magazine recommendations, because it turns out that while I don’t mind a jam, I really like songs and melodies)
If I was to start writing reviews - I think I would struggle on that point.
One of my favourite albums of the last 12 months is The New Starts album - ‘Darren Hayman goes full Tim Machine’ is the claim on the sticker. I’m less sure how I could make general claims for its greatness.
It’s certainly not opening up anything *new* but I still feel there is room to discuss things like quality of songwriting
Thanks for a really thoughtful comment. I grew up with Q, Select and Melody Maker and the latter was a big influence when I started writing (terrible) reviews for No Ripcord. Some of the criticism of the prevailing Britpop trends was vicious - Neil Kulkarni in particular.
Yes I didn’t always agree with Neil either. I spent far too much of the 90s listening to The Stone Roses and would have bristled at that piece then. Now? I kind of see where he’s coming from, but he inserted a dig at Straight Outta Compton that I think was a little harsh. He always elicits a reaction though and has a wonderful way with words. Agree with your take on André’s record too.
Yes, someone shared one of Neil’s posts about The Stone Roses the other week. I didn’t always agree with him - he liked metal and I didn’t - but there is something to be said for writing from a standpoint.
(Although it has to be informed - which is why Matthew Shipp lands harder than someone who hates jazz hating an album of bad jazz.
Of course, it encouraged me to actually play it and it sounded exactly like what I expected it to
Hell yeah - this was a great read. As someone who thinks 2 of one of his favorite band’s most popular albums are two of their most average and said so in his album ranking, I don’t ONLY want curation with zero criticism.
Thanks Doug, I’m glad you enjoyed the piece. I have similar feelings about some of my favourite bands. Whether I’m using numbers or not, perfect albums or 10/10 ratings are few and far between for me - if everything is AOTY or a masterpiece, these sentiments quickly lose their potency.
I feel like there is a place for negative criticism, and 7 Piano Sketches is exactly that place. Since it's André putting it out, it's going to get a lot of attention. It's a record in an obscure genre that is going to get more press than anything else in that genre does, a record that people are going to seek out, listen to, and possibly buy - and many of those people aren't going to be familiar with the music, they're only going to be checking it out because it's by André. So if isn't any good (or if it *is* good), it's important for people to know that.
When it comes to mainstream genres, though, I really don't need negative reviews. What I need are reviews that highlight the quality stuff that would otherwise fly under the radar. If Foo Fighters or J Cole or Dua Lipa put out an album and it isn't very good, who cares? It's going to get streamed millions of times whether or not P4K or whoever says it's good or bad.
And if some indie rapper or garage band or bedroom producer puts out something that isn't very good, again, who cares? It'll come out and disappear into the avalanche of music that I hear once (or not at all) and never think about again.
But. If that lesser-known artist puts out something good, something worth listening to, *that's* what I need a review of. Again, because so much music is being released, quality stuff, stuff that deserves a wider audience, is constantly getting missed. That's where reviewers/curators are indispensable: in shining light on music that deserves a larger audience.
Hard to disagree with any of that, Christian. I did a piece last December on the worst albums of the year based on the AOTY aggregator. It was basically past-their-prime big name artists like those you listed getting panned. There is little point putting the boot in to a tiny band, but I think there are occasionally records by smaller artists that generate a lot of press hysteria despite not being particularly strong. It can be nice to offer a counterpoint in these cases. Lambrini Girls was one such release this year. Or Sleaford Mods another year. I enjoy exploring why I don’t hear what others seem to be ecstatic about.
Agree with this! I’m always on the search for lesser known artists with talent who make great music and those are my favourite recommendations to give. I also interview smaller artists I love - not only do I have the best time during those conversations, but getting to share their creative process and artistry with others means that new people will hear their work who may have not otherwise :)
These days, I mostly read Shindig, Stewart Lee’s reviews in the Idler and Maggot Brain - meaning most of the reviews are written by people who if not actually friends, are my wife’s friends.
I value the relatively tight curation, but know that I have to calibrate the enthusiasm.
What I am aware of is that these magazines are unlikely to cover Little Simz or Sons of Kemet - which is fine, because I have other sources by which I vaguely keep up with the strands of contemporary black music I enjoy.
And I do miss the role that Q or Melody Maker used to play in my life, in terms of arguing why something was good and worth persevering with.
In fact, I was running to ‘Daydream Nation’ earlier, which is a great example of a record I bought on reviews and strength of ‘Teenage Riot’ and didn’t get much out of until the 7th listen - when like a 3D eye picture, it clicked into place in a way I can’t unhear now. It was definitely the multiple superlative reviews that made me stick with it.
By the mid-90s, I’d lost that trust. It’s tempting to blame ‘Be Here Now’ but I think that was just a symptom of the shift from informed criticism, which saw itself as a vanguard in shaping tastes, to a more publicity facing model
I think another struggle is that up until the mid-90s, a critic could easily point out the ways in which Sonic Youth or Tricky or Bjork were doing something new.
There were precursors and influences, but not in the modern sense of being able to sketch out what a band sounds like by naming 3 bands from 30-40 years ago.
If you were writing for The Wire, you would be more focused on whether a record was novel than if it actually had any possible lasting value.
(Honestly, the largest collection of stuff that went to charity shops was stuff bought on basis of mid-to-late 90s Wire reviews. The middle-brow Select magazine recommendations, because it turns out that while I don’t mind a jam, I really like songs and melodies)
If I was to start writing reviews - I think I would struggle on that point.
One of my favourite albums of the last 12 months is The New Starts album - ‘Darren Hayman goes full Tim Machine’ is the claim on the sticker. I’m less sure how I could make general claims for its greatness.
It’s certainly not opening up anything *new* but I still feel there is room to discuss things like quality of songwriting
Thanks for a really thoughtful comment. I grew up with Q, Select and Melody Maker and the latter was a big influence when I started writing (terrible) reviews for No Ripcord. Some of the criticism of the prevailing Britpop trends was vicious - Neil Kulkarni in particular.
Sorry, posted mid-comment.
I thought ‘it’s going to sound like mediocre Keith Jarrett’ and it sounds exactly like a mediocre Keith Jarrett impersonation.
Yes I didn’t always agree with Neil either. I spent far too much of the 90s listening to The Stone Roses and would have bristled at that piece then. Now? I kind of see where he’s coming from, but he inserted a dig at Straight Outta Compton that I think was a little harsh. He always elicits a reaction though and has a wonderful way with words. Agree with your take on André’s record too.
Yes, someone shared one of Neil’s posts about The Stone Roses the other week. I didn’t always agree with him - he liked metal and I didn’t - but there is something to be said for writing from a standpoint.
(Although it has to be informed - which is why Matthew Shipp lands harder than someone who hates jazz hating an album of bad jazz.
Of course, it encouraged me to actually play it and it sounded exactly like what I expected it to
Hell yeah - this was a great read. As someone who thinks 2 of one of his favorite band’s most popular albums are two of their most average and said so in his album ranking, I don’t ONLY want curation with zero criticism.
Thanks Doug, I’m glad you enjoyed the piece. I have similar feelings about some of my favourite bands. Whether I’m using numbers or not, perfect albums or 10/10 ratings are few and far between for me - if everything is AOTY or a masterpiece, these sentiments quickly lose their potency.