Listening to and reviewing music critically.
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meccalecca
Voice of Reason
Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment 
- #11
- Posted: 02/05/2016 15:34
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| Satie wrote: | | Also try to read reviews of the styles you're presenting as you go through and do background research on bands to put them in context. |
Yeah. I think beyond just gaining the knowledge of jargon, people don't quite appreciate the effect reading has on writing. Writing often reflects what we read. We have a natural habit of mimicry. So if we read a lot of piss poor writing, our own writing is more likely to reflect it. This is in no way saying that if you read the work of Dostoyevsky, you'll be able to write like Dostoyevsky, but you'll likely subconsciously mimic some of his style in your own work. Not sure if this makes any sense at all.
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RockyRaccoon
Is it solipsistic in here or is it just me?
Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: Maryland
Moderator
- #12
- Posted: 02/05/2016 15:44
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I would also say, whatever an album makes you feel, write that.
Like, if you think the mood of the album reminds you of a foggy city street, then write that, whatever you feel in the abstract about an album is your own interpretation, so it's not wrong. People may wonder what makes you think that way, but they can't say you're wrong or something. If a Cattle Decapitation record makes you feel calm and at peace, write that.
I personally try to balance both the "feel" of an album, and an attempt at analyzing it technically (the instruments, the composition, etc) though I do the latter because I come from a musical background, so theory and instrumental proficiency fascinate me more than they do others.
The biggest key is to just keep writing. Even if it's shit, just keep writing and you'll get better at it. It's like any skill, you practice, and you'll find that you get better at vocalizing your feelings. Read music publications, see how their writers write so you can get a feel for your own voice. I, for example, try to avoid writing like anybody at Pitchfork because nine times out of ten I come away from one of their reviews saying "Yea, your trip to Boston was cool and all but what the fuck does this record sound like?". They go more for the "feel" and social context of music than anything else, and that's fine, just not my style.
Basically, just you do you and everything else will fall into place.
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- #13
- Posted: 02/05/2016 16:15
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| Gowi wrote: | | I have a problem with falling into this trap but with electronic music and textures/layering I'm not really "fluent" with, which basically means most of it which I'm unafraid to admit. I'm not sure if listening fluency is the only thing I need to get out of this trap I've created, so I'm curious to what I can do to remedy this as well. |
I mean people have different approaches. Personally, I describe the specific loops and what they evoke, because very rarely (never?) is an atmosphere a monolith - there are little bits that make up the whole. I like to weave webs of artists I think loops are reminiscent of or do impressionistic writing for these more abstract albums. I think this is where the flavor of writing specifically comes in. I partially forgive Fantano because comparing ambient music to chirping crickets or whatever is already hard enough to pull off in black and white, let alone coming out of the mouth of a melon, but in my mind it just clarifies further the limitations of YouTube-style "casual dude talking to a camera" reviewing. But I largely avoid writing about ambient music because I feel like for whatever reason certain Resident Advisor and Tiny Mix Tapes critics are able to really sell me on their descriptions without coming off as cliched on the one hand or up their own asses on the other (moooost of the time). I think I was ruined by premature exposure to RYM's infamous "train station" comparisons where every single fucking album with cassette static has something to do with fucking train stations.
This isn't in the realm of ambient music, but I think the impressionistic writing in this article, combined with a working knowledge of the idiom the composers work in, helps to clarify what are really quite opaque releases. The best music reviews don't just describe - they reveal. I haven't quite gotten there, but I hope to at some point.
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