For those unfamiliar, Piero Scaruffi is a well-known (and, to some extent, notorious) figure in online music journalism. He runs an eponymous website/database, scaruffi.com, and his opinions regularly stir up controversy among musicians, music labels, and fans. His infamous Beatles article is still routinely copypasta’d (read: here) and gained him a spike in popularity amidst the music community for being a well-argued (albeit often argued against) analysis of their career, and a contrarian stance to the music community in  general.

But, beyond that, his database is expansive, covering 7000+ artists, as well as commentary on politics, science, travel, cinema, technology, and multiple lengthy essays pertaining to the histories of music genres.

Scaruffi is a significant figure for me because, back in, about, 2006, I was just getting interested in music journalism, and stumbled upon him via discussions on listology.com, where he is/was regarded pretty highly by users, many of whom would make “favourite album lists” that more or less copied his choices. Of any singular person, his opinions did more to influence my developing interest in music, and, in some indirect way, probably inspired me to start reviewing. I recently contacted him and he agreed to answer a handful of questions.

Tristan: To what extent is musical history important in analyzing music? Can a reviewer cover a genre alien to him/her and deliver a worthwhile think piece? This is a relatively general question, but feel free to go on whatever tangent you’d like.

Piero: If you are “analyzing” music, then…

Greetings fellow users!  As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session.  It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.

This week, Mort. won with his review for Crystal Castles’ newest, Amnesty (I) (read: here)

Excerpt: “Overall though “Amnesty (I)” is mostly devoid of warmth. It’s also weirdly industrial in its execution at points, the drums packing more weight and the synth more intense, yet at the same time lacking the robotic feel a lot of industrial has. It might be cold and harsh but it still feels very human. It’s a good example of how Crystal Castles can nail down the darkly serious style they were so obviously attempting on “(III)” without sacrificing momentum and the ecstatic energy they’re known for. It may not be a total curveball in the band’s discography, but it is the most cohesive and focused Crystal Castles have ever sounded which is saying something for such a scatterbrained band.”

I had the… dubious honour of sitting down with Dean (aka Mort.) and asking the tough questions.

Tristan: I sent you some pics earlier. What’d you think? Yay / nay?

Mort.: what pics man??

Next question. This is totally off the record btw: thoughts on SowingSeason? I think he’s doing a pretty bang-up job eh.

He is although I’m pretty confused as…

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.

This week, the winner of this titanic battle was none other than Archelirion aka. AaronIsCrunchy aka. Aaron Chidwick. He was chosen for his neat little review of Gatecreeper’s new album, Sonoran Deprivation – do check it out, if it’s not too much trouble.

Arch’s file photo – might be outdated.

Jac: Alright, I’m terrible at breaking the ice so I’m just gonna jump straight into it. You’re the first non-Aussie to win this review competition in about 5 weeks. How does it feel to have finally dethroned us

Arch: Didn’t realise there were so many Australians on Sput to be honest, let alone writers! Feels good though, gotta return some kinda title to Britain.

Anyways, tell us about the man behind the Archelirion moniker (also, is it pronounced “Arch” or “Arc”?); who is Aaron Chidwick and what makes him tick?

It’s kinda ‘Arc’ as the ‘ch’ is similar to that in ‘loch’. I could tell you the IPA for it, but that’d be pretty fucking lame. But anyway, I’m a 21 year old history student currently living in Portsmouth, UK. I have an unhealthy interest in language, enjoy shit telly and love…

Greetings fellow users!  As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session.  It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.  In the first week of the competition’s history, Gameofmetal won with his review of Equilibrium’s album Armageddon, which you can read here.  I’ll start the next week’s competition tomorrow via the lists section of this site, so feel free to check out the selected albums and participate if so desired.   But for now, let me introduce you to Brett Tharp, better known as Gameofmetal – a Sputnik contributing reviewer and winner of the review competition’s debut.

Authentic photo of Brett Tharp rocking out to Metallica’s ‘One’

Sowing: I’ll just get straight to the point – what’s your favorite The Bunny The Bear song?

Gameofmetal: Wow, getting right to the big questions aren’t we? I like “The Seeds We Sow” actually. Has a catchy hook even if there’s not that much more to it.

Cool, figured I’d throw you a curveball to start.  So how did you come up with the username Gameofmetal?

Well I’m generally terrible with usernames, so I just combined my two favorite things at the time, Game of Thrones and Heavy Metal. It’s a little lame, but I’ve gone by it so long now that it’d…

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.  This week’s winner was cryptologous, who reviewed Norma Jean’s Polar Similar.

cryptologous is more badass than you, period.

Sowing: So you’re Australian.  Elaborate. 

cryptologous: Aye matey. I was born and raised in the UK, but have spent a good deal of my teenage-to-adult years living in this brown Southern Land. As for Aussie activities, I am a big fan of the art of barbecue. I attend a good deal of gigs here, but that aside, introversion and crappy puns are my main deal. That is probably more my English side showing than anything, but ya know, barbecues. Aussie Aussie Aussie.

I love barbecues.  Do you guys grill weird shit because it’s Australia?  You know, like Koala toes or something?  Or is it your typical American fare like burgers and dogs?

Well, probably the weirdest commodity commercially available for the avid barbecue fan (or any Australian male) would be kangaroo meat. That being said, a couple years back during a road trip, I stopped off at a camping site. Some bloke rocked up in his truck and headed straight for the barbecues with a lizard he had run over during his travels. Gave us…

Greetings fellow users! As some of you are aware, I’ve started a little user review competition in which the winner receives an automatic feature, as well as a “user spotlight” session. It basically consists of an informal chat in which I ask some personal questions as well as some silly ones.

This week, Sputnik mainstay Michael Snoxall won a hard-fought user review challenge with his coverage of Eternal Champion’s The Armor of Ire (here).

Foreword by Tristan Jones:

When I was in Boy Scouts as a young buck, I remember an explanation of the Scouts’ custom of shaking with the left hand, as opposed to the right. It was meant to be a sign of trust, lowering your shield in order to greet your fellow warrior. That’s a pretty good analogy of Sputnik ex-staff Eli K. (Xenophanes) and user Michael Snoxall (OvDeath) dropping their guards, allowing an exchange of deep-rooted personal musings as brethren. Honoured, I acted as the mediator, and the instigation between myself and Eli went something along these lines:

(Dramatization)
Tristan: Hey Eli would u like to do an interview for this week’s review challenge? it’ll be a real wing dinger

Eli: tbh you couldn’t pay me enough. which, incidentally, would be zero anyway.

Tristan: *at this point I typed something about likening Eli to Leonidas from the film “300” due to his rather striking beard but then I caught onto Eli’s aloof demeanour and decided against that, so I hit the DELETE button…