>I think when you're happier with yourself and your life, it's a lot easier to relate positively to the world around you...and that includes music.


ouch haha

Album Rating: 5.0

@Asleep: Thank you, I'm always grateful for praise from a superb (and superior!) writer like yourself. The musical struggles of domestic bliss are real, ha. It will never stop me from listening to everything I want to hear, but when something is palatable enough to be spun openly and freely, it definitely means it will get more playtime. Of course, frequency of exposure often leads to increased attachment, so that's part of what I was getting at in my review. It's so unfair to all the darker themed stuff that I still enjoy :-( At least I found several free hours to spin Iosonouncane. That album is an absolute beast.

@parks: what's ouch, did I inadvertently offend? If so, it's not personal. I've spent more of my life miserable than happy, so I can still relate entirely to the vibes opposite of this review.

nah not really [:

there are a lot of people who assume it the other way around, that if you don't like certain things (usually the same things they do!) it must be because you are miserable and not because it doesnt gel with what you're looking for / how you experience music

i think everyone gets different things out of art, possibly even different things out of different media of art for a given person, and though this statement is trivial it often feels in discussions that a lot of people dont have it internalised ...

Album Rating: 5.0

Everything you said is true, and to me, should be obvious. It's silly to assume someone is a miserable fuck just because they don't mirror your love for an album. I def think one's disposition and outlook on life has a huge impact on their own appreciation of music though -- not saying you'll suddenly open up to dubstep or BM if you've always hated them, but you'll probably enjoy the music you've always enjoyed with that much more fervor because as you're listening, happier memories are being formed around them as sort of an insulation; a barrier against diminished returns because now you associate it with happiness. Does that make any sense or am I delusional? The answer can be both ;-)

i think everyone has their own journey, and some may be comparable but probably not all are the same

for me, i shifted my focus away from music in 2017, 2018 and 2019 for the most part and also went through some tough times the effects of which i still very much feel to this day.. i have grown in a lot of ways that im sure arent obvious at all when im here arguing with annoying chuckleheads, and when i came back i found that im a lot more open to genres and styles than before, able to enjoy a lot of things i couldnt before, but also a lot more critical of the things that i did use to like regardless of how others see them... but its not a conscious choice, a lot of things i used to enjoy (esp metal but any genre really) dont do anything for me emotionally while also feeling like i've heard it all before and some bands already did it better

the rating system change is also more a result of that, than a deliberate change for its own sake, whats the point of giving out 3.5s and 4s like candy if i feel no desire to listen to those albums ever again right

Album Rating: 5.0

Oh absolutely! Everyone's journey with music is just as unique as their life's path, and I think that was part of what I was trying to get at with this review. I know some people will read it as a plea to 5 more stuff, but that's not really what I was getting at, like, at all. I was just saying to relate to your surroundings as positively as possible - in life and/or music - because this is all temporary. In your case (as well as mine, if you go back to the earlier 2010s), I do believe that turmoil is a precursor to happiness - you can't access the best part of your life without wading through some sadness first. I always loved the line "It's always darkest before the dawn"; that was basically my mantra in early 2012 when the love of my life left me, I lost my apartment, and my first ever career type of job was shut down. I was literally moving back home, single and jobless, and depressed as hell. By the end of that same year, I was dating my wife and everything had done a 180. Anyway, getting back on track, I went through the same ratings systems change you described multiple times. I always had this internal desire to be taken seriously as a critic; I wanted to have high objectivity and for people to take notice when I even so much as 4'd something because the reaction I was looking for was "Whoah! Sowing 4'd this, it must be good!" It's just not who I am though, and that is evident by the fact that every attempt I've made to wipe my own ratings and "rate more strictly" has failed within a year. Maybe in 2006-2012 I could have pulled it off, but my outlook on everything is simply too positive now, and my inclination is always skewed towards giving music the benefit of the doubt. I could still stand to 5 far less stuff, but I've sort of just embraced that as part of my personality and part of my brand as the site's hype maker.

Album Rating: 5.0

[comment too long, cont'd]



From a common sense standpoint, I totally agree with you though! Music in my opinion should start as a 1 and have to earn its way from there. With regards to having 3.5's and 4's you'll never listen to again, that's a whole new can of worms...I have classics I barely listen to, and it's not because I don't enjoy them - I just (A) outgrew them or (B) buried them over the years underneath newer gems, but I still love them when I do spin them. Ratings don't necessarily equate to listening frequency for me. I could have hundreds of 3.5's and 4's that I only listen to once in a blue moon (and I do!), and that's totally fine by me. Does not diminish their quality in any way, it just means I listen to so much music that I can't stop and fixate on a single release for very long. That's a personal preference when it comes to consumption...I often feel the desire to slow down and treasure each release, and maybe someday - probably post-sputnik - I will again.

Oh hush now, Sow, I couldn't cobble together a piece this well realised, personal but relatable and still remarkably readable.

Real interesting chat going on here too, love to see it. Enjoyment of music is a weird thing. I've definitely found that when I'm in a rut I end up finding an album that truly resonates with me and helps me through the muck, and that I then love for years, but I'm less likely to find anything that impacts me on such a deep level when life actually seems to be going well. But then again, I jammed the first couple of tracks on Sunbather the other day with the sun setting over our campsite on our hols, happy as hell, and it was a near spiritual experience, and I'm not even a massive bm fan. Don't really know what triggers those special connections to particular albums, other than that trying to force it simply doesn't work.

Album Rating: 5.0

A lot of truth packed into that post:



"I've definitely found that when I'm in a rut I end up finding an album that truly resonates with me and helps me through the muck, and that I then love for years, but I'm less likely to find anything that impacts me on such a deep level when life actually seems to be going well."

This has always been the case for me, until quite recently. I'm sure it goes back to everyone's life paths being different, but there's definitely something about music that is magnified when things are not going so well. I always looked at it in the same way I do friendships - anyone can be an acquaintance, but the closest relationships are forged in difficult times. The same could be said for music.



"Don't really know what triggers those special connections to particular albums, other than that trying to force it simply doesn't work."

100%. I've already tried the "gonna play this indie-folk album that p4k hyped in a particular (usually nature-bound) setting" and it rarely lives up to the hype, and almost never creates that special emotional bond that has to occur spontaneously/organically. I've never once sat down and thought, "I'm gonna turn this album into a personal memory today" -- it just happens when you least expect it. Sort of like love.

first of all i'm glad things have improved so much for you sowing :]

i didnt take your review as a "plea [for others] to 5 more stuff", was just kinda rambling half-on-topic there sorry

i think a lot of people have some misconceptions about the point of critique and ratings... i think in general a lot of people let hangups get in their way especially when it comes to how they expect to be perceived... i don't think there's any point bothering to please others? i'm very much in the camp that jotw and jots are, do the best to explain and argue your opinion and your analysis without trying to sugarcoat things too much.. there is simply no such thing as pure objectivity in art... everyone will derive different meaning from different aspects of art for different reasons based on their own expectations, preconceptions, lived experience, culture, etc

there is certainlny a place for context and perspective in a review, why something is/was important, how it compares to similar things or previous output by the same artists, what deeper meanings can be found if any, but ultimately it's still just one person's perspective ... or i guess multiple people's, i've seen some weird stuff come from the newer contribs :]

i guess, even though my higher education did not include the arts at all, i subscribe to the idea that academics do, which ive already mentioned... i know a lot of people on the internet disagree, they want "objective" reviews meaning "tell me what this sounds like and if i liked this band's previous stuff would i like it or is it a change" etc... i find that to be a sad and kind of cynical commodification of art, treating it like a product that should check some boxes in order to be sold and consumed...

because, i sincerely do agree with a lot of people that i have opposite tastes and ratings to... the vast majority of music that people malign, whether it be here or on rym or in a broader context (eg: nickelback) is ... not that bad. there are things about it that are at minimnum competent, in fact it's quite literally engineered to be commercially successful, regardless of how you or i feel about it. you can find the good in anything really, and for me personally what that means is that i need to look at things differently i want my ratings to mean anything... i have no interest in appearing objective, i just want it to be a decently accurate expression of what i value and what i don't.. so a 1 is an album that is a waste of my time, a 2 is decent but not very engaging, and 4+ are reserved for the best of the best, the things that i connect with enough to know i will come back to them

see it's really interesting, we reached opposite conclusions from the same premises and feelings. it is precisely because there is so much music out there and so much relatively obscure interesting music, that i wish to only rate highly the ones that are so good they make me want to go back and listen again and again [:

precisely because basically everything is competent, i find myself less and less interested in things that are only competent and content to do just retread the same old ground

>anyone can be an acquaintance, but the closest relationships are forged in difficult times. The same could be said for music.

true that, i have a friend who had been trying to get me into gorillaz since like 2009 or something but outside a couple hits they never really clicked with me until recent hard times... was there any reason in particular even, i dont think so, it just kinda happened when it happened, and now i think they have like two (maybe three) genuinely good albums, although many here will argue that im still underrating them haha

obviously im using gorillaz as an example because theyre a very successful and "commercial" act, definitely the kind of thing a lot of people here would not expect me to like

Album Rating: 5.0

As someone who hasn't perused your ratings to see what you actually like, I think you hit on an interesting point unintentionally. They're not the sort of band you'd normally like, and a friend has been trying to get you into them for more than 10 years, and suddenly it clicked. I wonder how much of that was a result of evolving tastes vs. environment. I'd be interested in learning what the setting was (if you even remember) when it finally clicked. We can wax poetic about life, love, happiness, sadness, and depression forever as infinite influencers of musical perception, but I think it basically all boils down to environment. Almost a nature (what you're "programmed" to like i.e. your taste) vs nurture (where you're at, who you're with) dynamic.

well i dont usually like radio-friendly 2000s music but i do like hip-hop and a lot of different electronic subgenres so it's not the most unexpected thing ever i guess

they definitely have more of an "alternative" vibe than a lot of other super popular things, and more variety :]

environment is very important but i think so is mindset. a lot of people have prescriptive opinions on how things should be or what they should be like, so they tend to miss out on and dismiss what doesn't fit those preconceptions... i was similar too, at least for the most part.

Album Rating: 5.0

Also I didn't mean to gloss over everything you posted before. I'm in 100% agreement with everything you said, in particular the fiction of pure objectivity in music criticism and that the commodification of art, while necessary to some extent to keep it alive, can be taken too far.

Album Rating: 5.0

"environment is very important but i think so is mindset. a lot of people have prescriptive opinions on how things should be or what they should be like, so they tend to miss out on and dismiss what doesn't fit those preconceptions... i was similar too, at least for the most part"

Yup this is key. Sort of fits into the "nature" mold of being programmed for certain styles. Challenging your own borders is so important, both in life and in music. You'll almost always surprise yourself.

Album Rating: 5.0

“ tyman, you have to start out by giving it a 2 and then make Colton cash in on favors for every 0.5 increase ;-)”

alright Colton, you better start figuring out how you’re gonna get me to a 5 now

Parks dropping some truth bombs left right and centre.

heck. < 3

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

lmao tyman