I laughed, I cried! Excellent takes on the whole mess. While I definitely agree on the participation trophy aspect, I don’t think there’s enough space in the art world for much negativity these days, especially if it’s someone’s weapon of choice. There’s nothing worse than listening to an art critic bloviate about how bad something is (usually to make themselves look smart). There are enough artists out there that need lifting up, so I think sticking to the positive has value. To me it’s understood that if something isn’t mentioned that it’s probably not worth mentioning. I wish the numbers would just go away, however. I like Gabbie’s system… “Albums worthy of…” We can figure out the rest!
Thanks for the comment! I do broadly agree with your perspective and don’t want to see any more outright negativity, but I also want to see less gushing praise. I like reading about flaws and imperfections, even on good records. It helps me appreciate that a critic has really listened and made an independent judgement. When I see websites with, say, their own music festivals, I sense a conflict of interest and I struggle to trust the opinion.
If I can only afford to buy 2-3 LPs a month, or can only spare the time to listen to 3-4 records in a given week, I want critics to highlight the best of the best. I think it’s hard to find meaning in the almost unanimously positive noise right now. And sometimes a more balanced review lifts an artist up more than an overhyped one, which often invites an immediate (they’re industry plants!) or delayed backlash. I don’t think I’d have as much of a problem with numbers if they were distributed a little more evenly - but I like Gabbie’s approach too!
I actually agree with this completely, David. The quiet part that I haven't said in my own newsletter but will tuck away here is that I'm simply too much of a coward to discuss negative aspects of albums in any forum where I'm not entirely anonymous. The pushback (or outright misogynistic vitriol) still takes me aback after all these years. I'm less likely to get it when I'm recommending albums rather than critiquing them.
It’s a terrible that this is the case, isn’t it? When we had comments on No Ripcord in the early days it was the case then too. Sometimes we even had writers attacking writers (although that was more common in the film section). I almost touched upon how Joe got threats for critiquing Katy Perry a few years ago (and for not praising Beyoncé quite enough) but they’re his stories to tell.
"It’s a nice mantra, but the natural end-point of #bekind criticism is a situation where everything is ostensibly good or great, leaving the reader none the wiser. This leads us to a perfectly valid question: what’s the point of music critics?"
Where this might lead is the absolutely useless field of art review—a functional autopsy that can't ruffle feathers.
Viva Hate, as a former music critic-curmudgeon once declared...
I haven't heard all of these, but I've heard some, and actively liked more than you'd think (I recommended Personal Trainer, even!). The Voidz record was genuinely awful. Otherwise .... I mean, you don't need me to tell you how stupid I think album ratings are.
Personal Trainer is the big outlier here. That record does not belong in a list of worst albums. I can understand bland records being criticised but they took some chances and it was a fun listen. I’m struggling to guess what else you liked.
I agree that album ratings as they are currently used are stupid. The generally positive tone of pretty much all reviews is also a problem. Some publications exclusively write glowing reviews.
We listened to 120 albums on the pod this year and Kendrick Lamar was my worst by a long margin. Gave a few of those a spin as potentials and they are all pretty bad.
I laughed, I cried! Excellent takes on the whole mess. While I definitely agree on the participation trophy aspect, I don’t think there’s enough space in the art world for much negativity these days, especially if it’s someone’s weapon of choice. There’s nothing worse than listening to an art critic bloviate about how bad something is (usually to make themselves look smart). There are enough artists out there that need lifting up, so I think sticking to the positive has value. To me it’s understood that if something isn’t mentioned that it’s probably not worth mentioning. I wish the numbers would just go away, however. I like Gabbie’s system… “Albums worthy of…” We can figure out the rest!
Thanks for the comment! I do broadly agree with your perspective and don’t want to see any more outright negativity, but I also want to see less gushing praise. I like reading about flaws and imperfections, even on good records. It helps me appreciate that a critic has really listened and made an independent judgement. When I see websites with, say, their own music festivals, I sense a conflict of interest and I struggle to trust the opinion.
If I can only afford to buy 2-3 LPs a month, or can only spare the time to listen to 3-4 records in a given week, I want critics to highlight the best of the best. I think it’s hard to find meaning in the almost unanimously positive noise right now. And sometimes a more balanced review lifts an artist up more than an overhyped one, which often invites an immediate (they’re industry plants!) or delayed backlash. I don’t think I’d have as much of a problem with numbers if they were distributed a little more evenly - but I like Gabbie’s approach too!
I actually agree with this completely, David. The quiet part that I haven't said in my own newsletter but will tuck away here is that I'm simply too much of a coward to discuss negative aspects of albums in any forum where I'm not entirely anonymous. The pushback (or outright misogynistic vitriol) still takes me aback after all these years. I'm less likely to get it when I'm recommending albums rather than critiquing them.
It’s a terrible that this is the case, isn’t it? When we had comments on No Ripcord in the early days it was the case then too. Sometimes we even had writers attacking writers (although that was more common in the film section). I almost touched upon how Joe got threats for critiquing Katy Perry a few years ago (and for not praising Beyoncé quite enough) but they’re his stories to tell.
"It’s a nice mantra, but the natural end-point of #bekind criticism is a situation where everything is ostensibly good or great, leaving the reader none the wiser. This leads us to a perfectly valid question: what’s the point of music critics?"
Where this might lead is the absolutely useless field of art review—a functional autopsy that can't ruffle feathers.
Viva Hate, as a former music critic-curmudgeon once declared...
I haven't heard all of these, but I've heard some, and actively liked more than you'd think (I recommended Personal Trainer, even!). The Voidz record was genuinely awful. Otherwise .... I mean, you don't need me to tell you how stupid I think album ratings are.
Personal Trainer is the big outlier here. That record does not belong in a list of worst albums. I can understand bland records being criticised but they took some chances and it was a fun listen. I’m struggling to guess what else you liked.
I agree that album ratings as they are currently used are stupid. The generally positive tone of pretty much all reviews is also a problem. Some publications exclusively write glowing reviews.
I guess I only really liked the Justice record apart from that, but SOPHIE deserved better
The best thing about Justice is Joe pronouncing Justice.
c'est vrait
I don't get it... this is all just mainstream slop... of course it's horrible.
We listened to 120 albums on the pod this year and Kendrick Lamar was my worst by a long margin. Gave a few of those a spin as potentials and they are all pretty bad.