Continuing with the reflection that was going
on last week, you may remember this post:
My opinion of music journalism hasn’t really
changed. I have been reading some articles on MCR’s breakup, and they fill me
with so much rage as obvious things are gotten wrong, and points are broadly
missed.
Okay, perhaps I am too emotionally invested
to be a fair judge there, but I read a review of Chantal Claret’s The One
and Only on another site, and again, there was rage. It was so juvenile in
tone, and the language was imprecise, and it really bugged me.
I know it’s not always
that way. I have read good pieces on Mudhoney, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show,
and Ministry lately. Obviously, those were written more as historical articles
than as reviews, but still, they were written with respect for the music, for
the people, and with intellectual depth. That can happen! It usually doesn’t,
though, so I am sticking with not pursuing professional music writing, and
fully embracing it as an amateur.
I am really loving it. First of all, it
excites and amazes me that the internet makes the world so small. I have
reviewed a band from Turkey, and from South Africa, and a Swedish groove metal
band is on deck for Thursday. Sure, the majority of them are from the US or
England, just like in my youth, but it’s still cool.
Even with that, I’m becoming more aware of
regions that way. Yes, English, but look at how many of them are from
Manchester? Is that their equivalent of New Jersey? Will I have to make two
musical pilgrimages? Can I get guides for both? (Actually, I’m pretty sure I
could get people to take me around Jersey, and I have a few Twitter connections
in Manchester. It could work out.)
Also, I feel like I am getting musically
smarter. No, I don’t necessarily know more about music, especially on a
technical level. However, a few months ago I mentioned having musical fragments
get stuck in my head and having a hard time identifying them, and I am getting
much better at placing things, perhaps because I am listening more actively.
Also, it’s exciting because I have been getting
some good feedback lately. First of all, as I mentioned with Titors Insignia,
they asked me to review them, and gave me sound files! And I got the following
comments on Our Fold:
From a fan: Spot on that. It's
fantastic you take the time to do this. Our fold have been my favourite 'new
band' for a while now.
From the band: Thanks for the review Gina. Very honest
and detailed. More or less hit the nail on the head. :)
Gush! I know that this is something I am
doing strictly as an amateur, and it is just a hobby, and so there should be a
limit to how much I worry about it, but I do! I want to accurately represent
the music, and help people find their audience. Even if it’s not my favorite, I
want someone who would like it to be able to read it and realize that this
could appeal to them.
That of course makes me worry about being
mean, too. I still have mixed feelings about that. Usually I send the band the
link. With Crash Boom Bang and Bonaventure I didn’t, because they were not very
positive. I have wondered if maybe I should only review the bands I really
like, but that doesn’t feel honest. So, I guess I am going to keep doing what
I’m doing.
Part of me also worries that there is such a
backlog. I have scheduled my reviews through the end of May, and there are
another 30 bands after that. I’m gaining new bands faster than I am reviewing
them. I have thought about just doing a long stretch of reviews to clear that,
but I don’t think I can. If I was trying to do five bands in a week I wouldn’t
be able to do any of them justice.
As it is, they become such a part of me now.
My original goal was to go over the catalog three times for each band, but with
a smaller catalog that often ends up being more, or maybe I will just keep
listening because I don’t think I have really “gotten” them yet, and so by the
time the review is posted, that band is in my head forever. So perhaps doing
this at all is a little crazy, but it feels like a privilege.
It’s interesting how it relates to the rest
of the writing. Looking at the comic book, there were some scenes that it was
always clear would happen, and then it was about figuring out what bound them
in between. If I knew A D F and JK, then what was B C E G H and I?
This is kind of similar. I will listen, and
there are words that stick out, like “curious and dreamlike”, and then it’s
making those words make sense, plus adding pertinent information for the band.
With “The Chancer” by Titors Insignia, “otherworldly” came up for the intro,
and I was arguing with myself that it wasn’t really otherworldly, it was…and
somehow there was never any word other than otherworldly, so I had to work with
that.
So that’s what I’m up to, and I love it, and
I am getting more confident about it. For the future, I have those 30 bands and
counting, as well as concert prep, which I also take seriously. I am seeing The
Gaslight Anthem April 16th, and that means that not only am I going
to listen to every Gaslight Anthem song before then, but I will be listening to
Horrible Crows, and watching Every Word Handwritten, and listening to their
opening band, Westchester United. And for Fall Out Boy in June, yes there is
listening to them, but also With Knives and Damned Things. I think for MSI I
can just listen to MSI, but I’m still figuring a lot of this stuff out.
I had taken a break from working through the
guitar comments, but I am getting back on that. I have about 40 left, after
listening to about 130, so I anticipate getting done around June. The plan then
is to re-read Nothing Feels Good, but slowly this time, and listening to
all of the bands mentioned.
At that point I will probably be ready to
start checking out some of the bands that the kids listen to. There’s at least
twenty that I had never heard of before, and I get the impression that most of
them are in this next wave of what could reasonably be called Emo, except that
maybe half of them lean more towards emotional hardcore and the other half lean
more towards pop, but it’s too early to say. After that, I should probably
start that Guitar Heroes of the 70’s book, listening to bands as I go.
I will probably often be running a little
overstimulated. Fortunately, I may love that.
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