On Reviewing Music and Issues of Taste
No review today, but instead some thoughts on reviewing. I have recently been reading reviews on another blog, Iron Skullet, which has gotten me thinking a bit about the process of reviewing music. Iron Skullet and this blog share an approach to reviewing: we are both very critical, to the point where some reviews can seem harsh. I suspect that, like me, he sees listeners as his audience, rather than producers. Of course in this scene these are often one and the same, but it's a question of emphasis. If you write for producers, your blog is promotional. If you write for listeners, your blog is critical.
Among critical blogs, there is also a difference between those that choose only to review what they think is really good, and those that also post about music they think is mediocre or bad. Vehlinggo belongs in the first group. Iron Skullet and Synthwave Reviews are both in the second.
What prompts this post, though, is how Iron Skullet and Synthwave Reviews then diverge, and what this says about reviewing music in general. To show that, I want to talk about a specific album that Iron Skullet has reviewed: The Chase: Last Run by Tokyo Rose.
Iron Skullet gives this album a score of 65/100, or 6.5 on our 10 point scale. I'd probably give it the same score, or thereabouts. It is a mediocre album, in my view. Competent but uninteresting. This is the exact conclusion Iron Skullet comes to--but not always for the same reason. In fact he has two basic criticisms, one I agree with and another I do not:
1. All the songs sound the same.
Iron Skullet:
I agree with this critique. The album is monotonous, which is a problem for synthwave in general. I always like some variety and building/release of tension in albums. If an album is just 10 versions of the same thing, I quickly lose interest and wonder why this is an album instead of an EP. This is exactly how I felt listening to The Chase: Last Run.
2. The songs are "unchallenging" and "outdated."
Iron Skullet:
Here we part way, as to me, this sounds like someone who has a subjective preference for a certain kind of songwriting, and is repackaging that as a sort of objective truth. I also have my preferences, in that I would rather listen to “futuristic cars go fast at night” than Satanic Skrillex any day of the week, provided we are controlling for quality. If we are not, though, I'll take good Satanic Skrillex over bad outrun. Simples. I want "good" more than "bad," but if we are comparing good to good, I just prefer certain things over others. And as it happens, I would kill for an album in 2018 that does outrun right. Good outrun has motion, hooks and energy. Like this:
It is repetitive, but the repetition creates a form of hypnosis that is highly evocative and thrilling for me. So if Tokyo Rose had given us an album with some moments like this, I would have been very excited about it. Unfortunately, The Chase: Last Run is outrun-by-the-numbers. It is fine. It is not better than fine.
So, in my view, Iron Skullet is taking a problem of execution and quality control, and then making a sweeping generalization from that, which confuses a subjective preference for certain styles of composition for an objective difference in value between subjectively favored and unfavored approaches to composition. To complete the circle, bear in mind that this criticism of Iron Skullet is also completely subjective.
Reviewing: Taste Explained
It is clear that Synthwave Reviews share many things with Iron Skullet: a general approach to reviewing, a belief in the importance of being critical, and a similar assessment of The Chase: Last Run as competently made but monotonous and boring. It is also clear that we have some different preferences when it comes to styles of synthwave and approaches to composition.
Who is right? That of course is the wrong question, because taste can never be right or wrong. Just similar or different. And that means that reviews, like the one considered here, or the ones I post on this blog, should be read in a certain way. They are not objective statements of quality, in fact they cannot be. Rather, they are just explanations of taste--opinions laid out in detail and justified for the reader. Differences of opinion among reviewers, or between reviews and readers, are natural and inevitable. They should be welcomed, and discussed.
So don't ever hesitate to tell me why you disagree with something I write. I'd actually love to hear it.
Among critical blogs, there is also a difference between those that choose only to review what they think is really good, and those that also post about music they think is mediocre or bad. Vehlinggo belongs in the first group. Iron Skullet and Synthwave Reviews are both in the second.
What prompts this post, though, is how Iron Skullet and Synthwave Reviews then diverge, and what this says about reviewing music in general. To show that, I want to talk about a specific album that Iron Skullet has reviewed: The Chase: Last Run by Tokyo Rose.
Iron Skullet gives this album a score of 65/100, or 6.5 on our 10 point scale. I'd probably give it the same score, or thereabouts. It is a mediocre album, in my view. Competent but uninteresting. This is the exact conclusion Iron Skullet comes to--but not always for the same reason. In fact he has two basic criticisms, one I agree with and another I do not:
1. All the songs sound the same.
Iron Skullet:
The 16-track album is ostensibly packed with great music, though at least half of the entries are as similar in musical style as they are in name and theme. Tracks like “Hot Pursuit,” “Need for Speed,” “Tokyo Burnout,” “Midnight Chase,” “Gran Turismo,” and “Zender Overdrive” begin to bleed together in an anonymous blur of classic outrun-style synth music, pounding away with plain beats and drifting melodies.
I agree with this critique. The album is monotonous, which is a problem for synthwave in general. I always like some variety and building/release of tension in albums. If an album is just 10 versions of the same thing, I quickly lose interest and wonder why this is an album instead of an EP. This is exactly how I felt listening to The Chase: Last Run.
2. The songs are "unchallenging" and "outdated."
Iron Skullet:
Most entries on the album fall squarely within the Synthwave 1.0 style of songwriting, featuring a stiff, static beat that persists for the track’s duration while a similarly monotonous melody runs over the top. Each one sounds great for its first minute or two, but absolutely nothing changes as the song progresses, and what is exciting at the one-minute mark consequently becomes stale and wearisome by the four-minute mark....Synthwave 2.0 has been installed and running strong for over two years now, and there’s no going back to simpler days.
Here we part way, as to me, this sounds like someone who has a subjective preference for a certain kind of songwriting, and is repackaging that as a sort of objective truth. I also have my preferences, in that I would rather listen to “futuristic cars go fast at night” than Satanic Skrillex any day of the week, provided we are controlling for quality. If we are not, though, I'll take good Satanic Skrillex over bad outrun. Simples. I want "good" more than "bad," but if we are comparing good to good, I just prefer certain things over others. And as it happens, I would kill for an album in 2018 that does outrun right. Good outrun has motion, hooks and energy. Like this:
It is repetitive, but the repetition creates a form of hypnosis that is highly evocative and thrilling for me. So if Tokyo Rose had given us an album with some moments like this, I would have been very excited about it. Unfortunately, The Chase: Last Run is outrun-by-the-numbers. It is fine. It is not better than fine.
So, in my view, Iron Skullet is taking a problem of execution and quality control, and then making a sweeping generalization from that, which confuses a subjective preference for certain styles of composition for an objective difference in value between subjectively favored and unfavored approaches to composition. To complete the circle, bear in mind that this criticism of Iron Skullet is also completely subjective.
Reviewing: Taste Explained
It is clear that Synthwave Reviews share many things with Iron Skullet: a general approach to reviewing, a belief in the importance of being critical, and a similar assessment of The Chase: Last Run as competently made but monotonous and boring. It is also clear that we have some different preferences when it comes to styles of synthwave and approaches to composition.
Who is right? That of course is the wrong question, because taste can never be right or wrong. Just similar or different. And that means that reviews, like the one considered here, or the ones I post on this blog, should be read in a certain way. They are not objective statements of quality, in fact they cannot be. Rather, they are just explanations of taste--opinions laid out in detail and justified for the reader. Differences of opinion among reviewers, or between reviews and readers, are natural and inevitable. They should be welcomed, and discussed.
So don't ever hesitate to tell me why you disagree with something I write. I'd actually love to hear it.
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