Uncommon music criticized by the common man. (Or, exercises in futility masquerading as critical thought.)

Monday, August 11, 2003

Okay, so it's later. Before I get around to posting the first review (which may not happen until tomorrow), I should just make a few things clear. First, there will be no points system. While I think point systems are valid, my goal is to try to make the reviews informative enough that you can determine (if you choose to follow my endorsements) whether the album is something you want to check out or not. I think a lot of places, both online and in print, rely too much on a ratings scale. It allows reviewers to get lazy or tangential, since they probably assume that the reader will just see the rating and stop there. They then proceed to wax pseudo-hip or come up with some clever narrative that is a total waste of time and energy. Well I say nuts to that. I will try (and my success rate will probably vary initially) to avoid typical reviewer critiques and actually write something useful.

Second, as I said, this will be reviews from things taken right from my collection. Since I don't have unlimited funds, I can't go out and constantly get new releases. There will be some, but I can tell you now it won't be constant, like Pitchfork. Also, there won't be one particular genre upon which these reviews will be based. While a sizeable portion of my collection is "indie rock" (and its various bastard spawn and offshoots), there's also hip hop, jazz, pop, classical, noise, etc. It will basically come down to what I'm listening to and in the mood for reviewing.

However, if this thing catches on, and some young label out there would like to hook a brotha up, I can be reached here.