purpose of reviews

[Bloated Slutbag]

Have also said before that SI's greatest contribution to noisekind, and it is such a wonderful resource-slash-repository, is the commented playlist. And might I also take this moment to toot that back in the days of the un-commented playlists I'd strongly advocated for commented playlists (likely one of several attempted self-retirements from the long-winded diarrhea of the keyboard that has long plagued the digits*), of which I believe SI can take credit for being the first to finally implement (and a big ol' shit hat's off for that!).

But just to pull my previously issued parenthetical aside out into the open, given the general trajectory of online discourse, when it comes to simply spewing words on the subject of sounds how could it possibly matter in what form/platform** those words are to be spewed? To be consumed at different measure for different purpose at different interval (single fire-emoji optional).

Still I'll put in a word for the formal review, emphasis on the formal, cuz I'd say that the formality might tend, at least for some, to attach a degree of personal responsibility (or anyway "attachment") to the spewage***, and how that may or may not dovetail****, as the comments of a certain blumpkin'd personage back at ye olde S&W might indirectly imply.

* there is a philosophy behind that, which has also occasionally been articulated if not again here today
** all threads to be found on SI & similarly minded forums, discogs, bandcamp, noise now playing, wcn discord &c &c &c
*** or if not commitment per se than er committal so to speak
**** quote hey there jay!!
Lick my ass dickhead. No, but seriously, you can go fuck yourself.Caught your review of my submission for the __________ ___ comp.You stupid bleeding-cunt fuck. Well, I suppose we all have our opinions, thought I'd share mine with you. end quote

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I can't even estimate how many reviews I wrote since about '92. Back then, zine with reviews was almost like extension of writing letters. You'd be recommending stuff to people, and most stuff you could not know to exist unless someone mentioned it in zine. I have been burned out on writing reviews so many times. Never burned out on listening records, but that "obligation" to analyze can get old, if you just wanted to enjoy what you heard. Playlist comment is just perfect. No obligation to analyze, but you may still have handful of worst to say why this particular title got repeated plays etc. Even now, after repeated rotations of K.Mizutani "Cemetery" LP, I don't feel I want to analyze it, but I most definitely would want to recommend it to people. First, to mention it even exists. Second, that it is damn good. Third, possibly selfish reason to that I got couple copies still here... haha.. Barely business, just that perhaps some Finn don't have to pay international shipping for LP they want to check.

[cantle]

What burnt me out doing reviews was writing about average releases... which seemed to make up the majority of things I had to write about. If you were too negative you'd read it back and think 'it wasn't that bad', like wise if you were too positive I'd think 'hmm I might have over sold it'... so I ended up stopping and never restarted....

[re:evolution]

What burnt me out doing reviews was writing about average releases... which seemed to make up the majority of things I had to write about. If you were too negative you'd read it back and think 'it wasn't that bad', like wise if you were too positive I'd think 'hmm I might have over sold it'... so I ended up stopping and never restarted....

Back with Spectrum Magazine (late 90's early 00's), at the time I was literally FLOODED with releases as I had a listed postal address and there was constantly a pile of 20+ promos sent that I then felt an obligation to review, regardless if I liked them or not - or whether they were any good or not. Obviously I got totally burnt out by that, and it killed my enjoyment of simply listening to material I was into at the time.
So......with Noise Receptor Journal, I made specific choices to avoid that burnout situation. I then make no bones about covering stuff I like in Noise Receptor Journal, and that I am not attempting to cover everything, given the underground is constantly flooded with new releases. I also discourage and basically don't accept promos, and pretty much all reviews are based on stuff I have purchased or traded for, and feel written coverage is warranted. From this perspective, readers can get a handle on whether my listening preferences align with theirs and something might be of interest to them.
Beyond that, I also enjoy review process for me personally, as it tends to focus my listening and sharpen my analysis of what an album is about. I have then noted that for a release I have reviewed, my memory and recollection of it is always much strong years down the track than for an album I appreciated, but did not review. I guess writing about something locks it into a different part of your memory. Just my two cents on this.


 

[cantle]

What burnt me out doing reviews was writing about average releases... which seemed to make up the majority of things I had to write about. If you were too negative you'd read it back and think 'it wasn't that bad', like wise if you were too positive I'd think 'hmm I might have over sold it'... so I ended up stopping and never restarted....

Back with Spectrum Magazine (late 90's early 00's), at the time I was literally FLOODED with releases as I had a listed postal address and there was constantly a pile of 20+ promos sent that I then felt an obligation to review, regardless if I liked them or not - or whether they were any good or not. Obviously I got totally burnt out by that, and it killed my enjoyment of simply listening to material I was into at the time.
So......with Noise Receptor Journal, I made specific choices to avoid that burnout situation. I then make no bones about covering stuff I like in Noise Receptor Journal, and that I am not attempting to cover everything, given the underground is constantly flooded with new releases. I also discourage and basically don't accept promos, and pretty much all reviews are based on stuff I have purchased or traded for, and feel written coverage is warranted. From this perspective, readers can get a handle on whether my listening preferences align with theirs and something might be of interest to them.
Beyond that, I also enjoy review process for me personally, as it tends to focus my listening and sharpen my analysis of what an album is about. I have then noted that for a release I have reviewed, my memory and recollection of it is always much strong years down the track than for an album I appreciated, but did not review. I guess writing about something locks it into a different part of your memory. Just my two cents on this.


 

I never got passed what was for you the Spectrum phase, it was at a similar time too.

I never went back to it so didn't develop a better plan like you did. Listening to metal for a couple of years instead work well as a palette cleanser so I could go back and listen to what I was doing previously