Best Ever Albums

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Anti — Thu, 6 Aug 2015 20:03:19 GMT

Author: Anti

Posted: 08/07/2015 00:03

alelsupreme wrote:

Whatever you do DON'T write about some shit that happened to you like a few years ago and go onvabout how it made you feel all sad and shit and barely tie it to the album at all. Tons of people do this on RYM and its such fake-deep bullshit.

Yeah, I totally don't do this! *Quickly deletes album notes*

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Graeme2 — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 17:34:42 GMT

Author: Graeme2

Posted: 08/05/2015 21:34

noWaxJim wrote:

The key thing to bear in mind is that it doesn't really matter what you write, whether it be your emotional or critical response of whatever you're listening to. If what you write seems like a pile of dross, sod it - you'll only get better with practice (like most things in life).

Personally speaking I used write a stack of reviews for student newspapers and on places like Amazon which over the years I've read back and in some cases am really proud of. In other cases they're utter shit, especially as I've grown older and more catholic in my taste and have learnt to embrace things that I've previously shat on (not literally). Not only that, but the vast majority of my favourite records remind me of times, people, places, events and the like. From that perspective, it's impossible not to have some sort of emotional slant to what you write, and in many cases it makes for a more enjoyable read, which is crucial if your aim is to write for an audience (unless you're going to sit alone and read your own creation back to yourself ad nauseam - i.e. the critic's equivalent of having a wank). My favourite chart comments on BEA aren't necessarily those which give me a history lesson or even less are so over-concerned with the finest minutiae of detail that they strip the album of its soul. It's those that have a personal connection to the music, whether joyful, playful, hyperactive, mournful, regretful or painful that are more likely to get me to check something out I've never heard before. Hence my chart comments, and also why I love what the good LadyG writes on hers.

Of course, if you want to critically appraise a record an approach based purely on emotion isn't going to work, and you'll want to comment on all sorts of things like style, lyrics, mood, comparisons to other similar artists/works/rest of artist's output and so forth. There's a bevvy of weary hacks out there, though, so if this is what you want to do bring your own quirks to the party. And there's no better place to start than reading some of Lester Bangs' work, especially Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung. Just don't go all Scaruffi or Christgau.

I get Luke's point about trite it can be writing a purely emotional response - especially a negative one - which bears no relation to the art itself. However I also totally understand where Craola's coming from about a specific record being unbearable to listen to after a break-up (I had my own - What's Going On for many years until I was happily settled with my now wife). Crux of the matter is that there is no right and wrong way on how to concoct something. Just put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, and see what comes out. Good luck fella! (and I would say share it on 5150 except the site appears to be dead)

I only yesterday saw ladygodiva's chart. Quite possibly now my fave chart on here. The notes are wonderful. It's very cool chart and it's not even trying to be. I like mr novembers for similar reasons. Makes me want to add notes to mine but realise I'm not as cool as ladygodiva and probably a bit more boring 🤣

Re: Putting what you feel into words

craola — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 15:27:16 GMT

Author: craola

Posted: 08/05/2015 19:27

cray cray. did'nt kno we had teh typo dept. hear.

i like permafrost's excel sheet idea though. i was doing that for some time using google doc spreadsheets, but the interface is brutal. so i catalog here instead, but i do withhold a lot of my opinions (particularly on albums i'm not so high on OR too high on). sometimes, i wonder if i shouldn't have the dual jekyll / hyde accounts so i can have obnoxiously + and agonizingly - characters at my disposal.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Jimmy Dread — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 14:44:32 GMT

Author: Jimmy Dread

Posted: 08/05/2015 18:44

meccalecca wrote:

noWaxJim wrote:

I suggest putting a 'd' on the end of 'and', Jonny lad... 😄

Regards

The BEA Grammar Police

Actually, that's not grammar policing. That'd be Spelling, or more aptly, Typo Policing.

The Typo Department are out to lunch. The Grammar Police are covering. Now watch it or I'll get Officer !',"& of the Syntax Police on your case.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

meccalecca — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 14:34:20 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 08/05/2015 18:34

noWaxJim wrote:

I suggest putting a 'd' on the end of 'and', Jonny lad... 😄

Regards

The BEA Grammar Police

Actually, that's not grammar policing. That'd be Spelling, or more aptly, Typo Policing.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Jimmy Dread — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 14:29:55 GMT

Author: Jimmy Dread

Posted: 08/05/2015 18:29

meccalecca wrote:

I suggest reading some reviews on Tiny Mix Tapes an then doing the complete opposite of what they do.

I suggest putting a 'd' on the end of 'and', Jonny lad... 😄

Regards

The BEA Grammar Police

Re: Putting what you feel into words

meccalecca — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 14:18:48 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 08/05/2015 18:18

I suggest reading some reviews on Tiny Mix Tapes an then doing the complete opposite of what they do.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Jimmy Dread — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 14:12:04 GMT

Author: Jimmy Dread

Posted: 08/05/2015 18:12

The key thing to bear in mind is that it doesn't really matter what you write, whether it be your emotional or critical response of whatever you're listening to. If what you write seems like a pile of dross, sod it - you'll only get better with practice (like most things in life).

Personally speaking I used write a stack of reviews for student newspapers and on places like Amazon which over the years I've read back and in some cases am really proud of. In other cases they're utter shit, especially as I've grown older and more catholic in my taste and have learnt to embrace things that I've previously shat on (not literally). Not only that, but the vast majority of my favourite records remind me of times, people, places, events and the like. From that perspective, it's impossible not to have some sort of emotional slant to what you write, and in many cases it makes for a more enjoyable read, which is crucial if your aim is to write for an audience (unless you're going to sit alone and read your own creation back to yourself ad nauseam - i.e. the critic's equivalent of having a wank). My favourite chart comments on BEA aren't necessarily those which give me a history lesson or even less are so over-concerned with the finest minutiae of detail that they strip the album of its soul. It's those that have a personal connection to the music, whether joyful, playful, hyperactive, mournful, regretful or painful that are more likely to get me to check something out I've never heard before. Hence my chart comments, and also why I love what the good LadyG writes on hers.

Of course, if you want to critically appraise a record an approach based purely on emotion isn't going to work, and you'll want to comment on all sorts of things like style, lyrics, mood, comparisons to other similar artists/works/rest of artist's output and so forth. There's a bevvy of weary hacks out there, though, so if this is what you want to do bring your own quirks to the party. And there's no better place to start than reading some of Lester Bangs' work, especially Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung. Just don't go all Scaruffi or Christgau.

I get Luke's point about trite it can be writing a purely emotional response - especially a negative one - which bears no relation to the art itself. However I also totally understand where Craola's coming from about a specific record being unbearable to listen to after a break-up (I had my own - What's Going On for many years until I was happily settled with my now wife). Crux of the matter is that there is no right and wrong way on how to concoct something. Just put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, and see what comes out. Good luck fella! (and I would say share it on 5150 except the site appears to be dead)

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Anonymous — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 14:04:46 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/05/2015 18:04

as much as i'm irked by people on RYM who spin these silly tales about their own like life experiences instead of dealing with the content of the music, i really don't mind much until they're given like front page review positions or something. i think writing in that style is self-indulgent nonsense, but writing about music can be a hermetic experience where the infrastructure you're using to write (nowadays, blogs or social media like RYM) just exposes you to an audience at random. i've taken to just writing my own reflections in an excel spreadsheet i use as my Listening Log because I don't like receiving positive or negative feedback for something that's really just kind of a diary entry, but other people would rather that archive be saved somewhere (perceptually) more secure and accessible than their computer's hard drive

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Applerill — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 13:15:20 GMT

Author: Applerill

Posted: 08/05/2015 17:15

I dunno, House of Leaves made that sort of thing seem pretty fun.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

craola — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 12:59:52 GMT

Author: craola

Posted: 08/05/2015 16:59

alelsupreme wrote:

this album always reminds me of my first girlfriend. well, technically not "girlfriend" cause we were never "official", but we were "pseudo-dating". anyway, she introduced me to this album, so it always reminds me of her. i have so many memories of laughter, tears and fun times we shared together. so that's what this album represents to me. it's all tied up in that, which is why this album is SO awesome. it's hard to listen to it now though cause we broke up and she hates this band now. still holds a place in my heart though.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Anonymous — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 12:44:27 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/05/2015 16:44

alelsupreme wrote:

Re: Putting what you feel into words

alelsupreme — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 12:42:25 GMT

Author: alelsupreme

Posted: 08/05/2015 16:42

Whatever you do DON'T write about some shit that happened to you like a few years ago and go onvabout how it made you feel all sad and shit and barely tie it to the album at all. Tons of people do this on RYM and its such fake-deep bullshit.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

craola — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 12:18:31 GMT

Author: craola

Posted: 08/05/2015 16:18

Graeme2 wrote:

keep it simple. the school of writing stuff like "standing on an iceberg smoking a crack pipe, naked, getting blown off by a polar bear with a shotgun" to sum up what an album is like does nothing for me apart from being funny. if that is your thing, fair enough. I just like simple, maybe I'm simple :lol:

honestly, reviews that get to be more abstract make more sense to me than overly analytical ones. you can geek out about 11/4 time siggies, binaural beats, pitch intervals, aggregates, dodecaphonics, codas, slurs and rallentando all you want, but it doesn't do any favors. i frankly don't care. but if you tell me some album is icy, cold and melancholic all at the same time, you're connecting me with something worth listening to.

*edit: slight trolling on my part. simple is good 😄

...but emotions and adjectives are better 😁

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Graeme2 — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 11:40:14 GMT

Author: Graeme2

Posted: 08/05/2015 15:40

keep it simple. the school of writing stuff like "standing on an iceberg smoking a crack pipe, naked, getting blown off by a polar bear with a shotgun" to sum up what an album is like does nothing for me apart from being funny. if that is your thing, fair enough. I just like simple, maybe I'm simple 🤣

Re: Putting what you feel into words

shoopadoowop — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 10:54:05 GMT

Author: shoopadoowop

Posted: 08/05/2015 14:54

I tend not to really think about it too much, I just write my thoughts, simple as that.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

zdwyatt — Wed, 5 Aug 2015 09:49:14 GMT

Author: zdwyatt

Posted: 08/05/2015 13:49

I generally don't write about how an album makes me feel, because all good music just makes me happy. Instead, I try to offer some context about an album. Do I think this is the best album by this artist? Is it a personal favorite? Does it remind me of other artists? Was I disappointed in a long-anticipated release? Or was I surprised by a new album from an old artist?

I wouldn't get caught up in trying to review albums, per se. Just leave a short comment that explains the star rating you gave.

Re: Putting what you feel into words

dmercado — Tue, 4 Aug 2015 23:29:08 GMT

Author: dmercado

Posted: 08/05/2015 03:29

shaydndepriest wrote:

Although 8 could never be AOTY unless it was a shitty year.

When you've given an 8 AOTY...

Re: Putting what you feel into words

Anti — Tue, 4 Aug 2015 23:21:13 GMT

Author: Anti

Posted: 08/05/2015 03:21

RockyRaccoon wrote:

(aside from something super outlandish, like saying that Burzum album you just listened to was so sunny and upbeat).

Oh wait... You didn't think that??

jk...

Re: Putting what you feel into words

RockyRaccoon — Mon, 3 Aug 2015 07:59:48 GMT

Author: RockyRaccoon

Posted: 08/03/2015 11:59

callinmclinden wrote:

How do people go about commenting on albums? Sometimes i really struggle with putting how an album makes me feel and I feel like my comments can sometimes be underwhelming. I also tend to overthink way too much and kind of "over-sell" albums a little. I kind of feel like i should just cut the crap.

I dunno, I'm pretty much rambling now, basically how does everybody go about writing comments and reviews (and ratings to some degree)?

For me, I just write out exactly how the album made me feel. What kind of emotions it evoked, what kind of imagery the music drew up in my head, what influences the music seems to draw on. The beauty of music is that everyone hears something different in each piece, so there isn't any "wrong" answer (aside from something super outlandish, like saying that Burzum album you just listened to was so sunny and upbeat).