Appreciation of Top Favorite Music Reviewers

I like greenback because he has similar tastes to mine, and is rather objective in his reviews (ex : GTR, Anderson's 'walk into light' and Yes's '90125' get quite good ratings while devin townsend's 'Terria' is very poorly rated /// often the opposite with die-hard progsters).

lucas wrote: I like greenback because he has similar tastes to mine, and is rather objective in his reviews (ex : GTR, Anderson's 'walk into light' and Yes's '90125' get quite good ratings while devin townsend's 'Terria' is very poorly rated /// often the opposite with die-hard progsters). Be careful with some reviewers : sane trane abhors all that is linked to neo-prog so you will never find any positive review of a neo-prog album by him.

I agree halfway with Sumdeus.  I don't rely so much on reviews to make up my mind.  A lot of my friends depend on recommendations from other friends for music and I don't necessarily do so to the same extent.  I just want some reviews, discussions or articles to get the word out on an artist so that I might then check out samples of their music and decide if it's for me.   But I do like to read reviews of reviewers who are really good at describing music, even if I don't agree with all of their opinions.   Exitthelemming, Chicapah, Certif1ed, Epignosis, Negoba, AtomicCrimsonRush, ClemofNazareth, tarkus1980 (John McFerrin) are some reviewers that I enjoy reading.  

Outside PA, I know professional reviewers seem to get a lot of flak on almost every music discussion forum but I like some of Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Bruce Eder's reviews for Allmusic.   The website might sometimes try too hard to contextualise poor releases of big bands/artists but other than that, many of their reviews are well constructed and if you read the reviews for all the releases of a band, it puts their work in perspective.   I find them less opinionated than the typical Rolling Stones affairs (not to mention Christgau).


Edited by rogerthat - January 05 2013 at 01:29

rogerthat wrote: Outside PA, I know professional reviewers seem to get a lot of flak on almost every music discussion forum but I like some of Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Bruce Eder's reviews for Allmusic.   The website might sometimes try too hard to contextualise poor releases of big bands/artists but other than that, many of their reviews are well constructed and if you read the reviews for all the releases of a band, it puts their work in perspective.   I find them less opinionated than the typical Rolling Stones affairs (not to mention Christgau).

I agree, but unfortunately Allmusic has that really stupid system where the album ratings are decided by a committee and half of the time they don't match up with what the review has to say.

HarbouringTheSoul wrote: rogerthat wrote: Outside PA, I know professional reviewers seem to get a lot of flak on almost every music discussion forum but I like some of Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Bruce Eder's reviews for Allmusic.   The website might sometimes try too hard to contextualise poor releases of big bands/artists but other than that, many of their reviews are well constructed and if you read the reviews for all the releases of a band, it puts their work in perspective.   I find them less opinionated than the typical Rolling Stones affairs (not to mention Christgau). I agree, but unfortunately Allmusic has that really stupid system where the album ratings are decided by a committee and half of the time they don't match up with what the review has to say.

I [cross out "loathe," add "have had a beef of late with"] All Music. One of the most important contemporary producers, whose production has had a monumental impact spanning across differing genres, is Burial. And they can't be bothered to review his releases. In fact, of his many EPs, not a single one has been reviewed. A Burial release hasn't been reviewed since 2007. The EPs SOUTH LONDON BOROUGHS, STOLEN DOG, KINDRED, and TRUANT have all been ignored (despite all of them ranking among the highest releases of the year in a great many music publications, including Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, The Quietus, Pop Matters, Drowned in Sound, Tiny Mix Tapes, The Wire, Fact Magazine, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, et al). Also ignored by [cross out "the jerks at"] All Music is his EP with Massive Attack, and his EPs and singles made in collaboration with Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) and Four Tet. *Everything*  Burial releases is major news in the  music community - except for [cross out "the doofus brains at"] (Not) All Music. Once is an oversight. Thrice is sheer incompetence. But *EIGHT RELEASES???!* That's an insult, [cross out "and renders them utterly irrelevant and unqualified. Frack 'em."]


Edited by jude111 - January 05 2013 at 20:27

jude111 wrote: I loathe All Music. One of the most important contemporary producers, whose production has had a monumental impact spanning across differing genres, is Burial. And they can't be bothered to review his releases. In fact, of his many EPs, not a single one has been reviewed. A Burial release hasn't been reviewed since 2007. The EPs SOUTH LONDON BOROUGHS, STOLEN DOG, KINDRED, and TRUANT have all been ignored (despite all of them ranking among the highest releases of the year in a great many music publications, including Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, The Quietus, Pop Matters, Drowned in Sound, Tiny Mix Tapes, The Wire, Fact Magazine, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, et al). Also ignored by the jerks at All Music is his EP with Massive Attack, and his EPs and singles made in collaboration with Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) and Four Tet. *Everything*  Burial releases is major news in the  music community - except for the doofus brains at (Not) All Music. Once is an oversight. Thrice is sheer incompetence. But *EIGHT RELEASES???!* That's an insult, and renders them utterly irrelevant and unqualified. Frack 'em.

Guldbamsen wrote: Horizons wrote: jude111 wrote: I loathe All Music. One of the most important contemporary producers, whose production has had a monumental impact spanning across differing genres, is Burial. And they can't be bothered to review his releases. In fact, of his many EPs, not a single one has been reviewed. A Burial release hasn't been reviewed since 2007. The EPs SOUTH LONDON BOROUGHS, STOLEN DOG, KINDRED, and TRUANT have all been ignored (despite all of them ranking among the highest releases of the year in a great many music publications, including Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, The Quietus, Pop Matters, Drowned in Sound, Tiny Mix Tapes, The Wire, Fact Magazine, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, et al). Also ignored by the jerks at All Music is his EP with Massive Attack, and his EPs and singles made in collaboration with Thom Yorke (of Radiohead) and Four Tet. *Everything*  Burial releases is major news in the  music community - except for the doofus brains at (Not) All Music. Once is an oversight. Thrice is sheer incompetence. But *EIGHT RELEASES???!* That's an insult, and renders them utterly irrelevant and unqualified. Frack 'em. Kindred is a masterpiece. Love it. Exactly. Just as brilliant as Untrue - even if it's an EP.

I rate UNTRUE the highest, but I'm pretty fanatical about all his stuff. He released a new EP, titled TRUANT/ROUGH SLEEPER, just before Christmas. It kind of slipped under the radar due to its release date, but I really like it a lot :-)

^Are you always this cheerful?

DiamondDog wrote: Reviewers are generally nerds who know nothing more about music than your average punter (which is next to nothing in the first place) but think their opinion is more valid than anyone else's. They are closely akin to DJ's and game show hosts.

Edited by Gerinski - January 10 2013 at 06:56