This forum sucks

[Dylan Thomas]

Those things wrote themselves, come on dinger you can do it.

Sorry man, I've wasted enough of my life on this music, there are more important things I'd rather be doing.


Besides, I don't even listen to stoner rock or doom much anymore.  I can't relate to it, so I'm not going to be able to write about it.  You should probably ask someone who actually cares.

Edit: On second though, I hope nobody does write reviews for here.  It actually saddens me when people take time out of their life to write about music, especially if they can actually write and connect with people well.  There are so many things that could be written about something that actually matters, that would perhaps make a difference in life, change things for the better, make the world a more joyful, peaceful place.  Writing about stoner rock CD's?  As one who's been there, I gotta agree with Shaft, that's a waste of time, resources and talent (not that I ever had any to begin with;))

as long as the art is good, the subject matter is not of central importance. who are you to say what "matters" to other people?

we have differing views on what an artists does i guess.

Well, the world is a twisted place.  People can do whatever they want, and whatever they think matters obviously.  I'm just jaded because I don't think writing crappy reviews makes any real contribution to the world, I don't think it matters in the grand scheme of things at all.  I think it's just a distraction, and if people didn't do it, they'd find something more meaningful to occupy their times.

A lot of times, I think the same thing about music as a whole.

[MadJohnShaft]

Chovie D has an advance degree in Fine Art so we have to listen to his opinion and embrace it, according to Washington State.

[CanookieWookie]

I enjoy reading reviews about music, specifically stoner/doom/hard rock/retro releases.  I enjoy finding a gem or two that I might have missed. 

[Chovie D]

"It actually saddens me when people take time out of their life to write about music, especially if they can actually write and connect with people well.  There are so many things that could be written about something that actually matters,"

stoner rocking reviews aside, this was the part I took issue with.
1. critical review of any art form matters
2. what matyters to one person, is insignificant to another
3. and mainly: subject matter is not a determinate for greatness or even good for determining if its worth doing(writing about, painting about, whatever it is you do). that is to say a poem about an ant can be more moving, more epic, than poem about a war (pick whatever analogy works for you).

thats all.

on the subject of stoner rock reviews. they were entirely worthless to me.
no, thats not true, they helped sell a few cds.
what I mean Is it was impossible to take any kind of stock in them or consider them as "feedback" on my work becuase the reviewers  never gave anyone a bad review.
after the tenth "must have slab of pure doomy bliss" in a row...it becomes like the gop fake scandal machine, you stop believing, listening, reading.

[JemDooM]

music is not meaningful? just a distraction from real meaning, stuff that really matters? its not important?

I'm disappointed Andy

[fallen]

on the subject of stoner rock reviews. they were entirely worthless

Agree somewhat... We have the internet now but all these music reviewers are writing the same way in the same format as they were for the papers and magazines.

Online we have sound and video. We don't need a thousand words describing how a band sounds or more often focusing on stage antics, gimmicks, costumes or who used to be in what band when we can just listen to a sound clip.

Luckily for me I can always click around Bandcamp to listen to new bands and buy new music.

[Lumpy]

Reviews are important. For one thing, reviews alert people about a release. And in a review forum, you can argue with your peers about your opinions (umm, discussion). And in some cases, if you value the reviewer's opinion, that adds weight to the review ("Wow man, Christgau liked it")*

*I hate Christgau

And like I said, reviews give a band valuable feedback, or at the bare minimum they know that somebody's listening and their musical efforts matter.

[CanookieWookie]

Well said Lumpster.

[Jor el]

I agree with Chovus

[Lumpy]

Well, it might be tricky to be sooper critical of an album on the same website that is selling that particular album.

We don't have that problem here. Hop to it, Shaft. Start writin', show the kids how easy it is.

[MadJohnShaft]

It was the rules on El Danno land, once back then I told whatshisname that and he wanted to beat me up.

[Chovie D]

Well, it might be tricky to be sooper critical of an album on the same website that is selling that particular album.

We don't have that problem here. Hop to it, Shaft. Start writin', show the kids how easy it is.

oh yeah , I totally understand why they had ot give everything a good review. not juts because they were selling the product...but also because these were people who all intereacted with each other and if tehy ever DID give anybody a bad review it was butthurt city. I think somoene once said somerthing mildly less than complimentary about Green Dragon, Or Ocean Green or Sea of green or whatever their name was and they freaked out and quit the site. They were a good band, a twopn  peice I think?  anyway, i get it.

reviews outside of the samll circle of internet friends are another story and yeah, they matter to some extent.

writing is writing tho, you can write about whatever the hell you want, or nothing at all, its all valid...even if its not all good.

[JemDooM]

We should soup it up, sr.com has been around for so long, we should be proud of it and keep it awesome! I'll post some reviews when I get time, so long as they don't always have to be full on mega reviews so there's no pressure on anyone and we can just talk, I saw some rule/comment a while back about not being able to start a thread unless its a proper review and that put me off, but surely that's harsh, a few sentences can count and might lead to bigger reviews...

[Jor el]

I agree with Jumz

[Dylan Thomas]

music is not meaningful? just a distraction from real meaning, stuff that really matters? its not important?

I'm disappointed Andy

I have a real love/hate relationship with music these days.

Part of me really, really wishes I had never wasted so much of my life just wanting to play music all the time, and had done something with real meaning to make this world a better place.  Playing music held me back from doing a lot of things I wanted to do with my life, I was always making sacrifices so I could continue playing.  That makes me feel really bitter towards music as a whole, because my needs in life just haven't been met yet.

On the other hand, life kind of feels not complete if I don't have music in it in some way.  I really try to minimize it, that balance is hard to find though.

It's a constant struggle for me, I wish I could just give up everything that has to do with music and move on with doing the things I really want to do in life, it's just that part of me can't let go.

[MadJohnShaft]

That's for sure - besides needing to move some StonerRock product - once they needed to worry about giving a bad review to bands they were likely to run into in a bar.... The awesomegaydouchebag formulae were born.

[Chovie D]

its part of the journey andy. do you ever think you kind of are over thinking things and maybe you should just do what feels right?
the only things we're ever REALLY good at are the things we love to do.

making art or music does make the world a better place..maybe not in the monumental way your dreaming of..but  artists making art, musicians making music,  enriches society, humanity, and nutures our souls. you know... in general, not your work specifically 

[JemDooM]

music is not meaningful? just a distraction from real meaning, stuff that really matters? its not important?

I'm disappointed Andy

I have a real love/hate relationship with music these days.

Part of me really, really wishes I had never wasted so much of my life just wanting to play music all the time, and had done something with real meaning to make this world a better place.  Playing music held me back from doing a lot of things I wanted to do with my life, I was always making sacrifices so I could continue playing.  That makes me feel really bitter towards music as a whole, because my needs in life just haven't been met yet.

On the other hand, life kind of feels not complete if I don't have music in it in some way.  I really try to minimize it, that balance is hard to find though.

It's a constant struggle for me, I wish I could just give up everything that has to do with music and move on with doing the things I really want to do in life, it's just that part of me can't let go.

It sounds like you're feeling unfulfilled in some way, whatever it is, change it, make it right, but like Chovie says do what feels right too, surely you don't need to give up music to do the other stuff, push yourself hard and do it all, life's too short...

If you want to make a good difference in the world and do something that is to you, meaningful, then start planning it, make it happen, nothings stopping you...

as for music though, it does make a meaningful difference to peoples lives, there's no point going into how much and in all the different ways because we all know here, it goes beyond words...

[Dylan Thomas]

music is not meaningful? just a distraction from real meaning, stuff that really matters? its not important?

I'm disappointed Andy

I have a real love/hate relationship with music these days.

Part of me really, really wishes I had never wasted so much of my life just wanting to play music all the time, and had done something with real meaning to make this world a better place.  Playing music held me back from doing a lot of things I wanted to do with my life, I was always making sacrifices so I could continue playing.  That makes me feel really bitter towards music as a whole, because my needs in life just haven't been met yet.

On the other hand, life kind of feels not complete if I don't have music in it in some way.  I really try to minimize it, that balance is hard to find though.

It's a constant struggle for me, I wish I could just give up everything that has to do with music and move on with doing the things I really want to do in life, it's just that part of me can't let go.

It sounds like you're feeling unfulfilled in some way, whatever it is, change it, make it right, but like Chovie says do what feels right too, surely you don't need to give up music to do the other stuff, push yourself hard and do it all, life's too short...

If you want to make a good difference in the world and do something that is to you, meaningful, then start planning it, make it happen, nothings stopping you...

as for music though, it does make a meaningful difference to peoples lives, there's no point going into how much and in all the different ways because we all know here, it goes beyond words...

I do feel unfulfilled, and I feel frustrated.  The change is my relationship to music, getting rid of it from my life would make it right.  I feel like I've wasted half of my life playing stupid, meaningless music that I have no emotional connection to, and you're right, life IS too short to be doing things that are meaningless.  I appreciate your advice, though it's not advice I'm looking for, just a way out and to move on with life.