Irving
Emeritus

Reviews 123
Approval 98%

Soundoffs 64
News Articles 34
Band Edits + Tags 24
Album Edits 186

Album Ratings 1515
Objectivity 82%

Last Active 02-24-17 4:45 pm
Joined 09-11-10

Review Comments 7,496

 Lists
09.11.13 Three Years On The Sput ♦07.10.13 Mid Year Performance Review ♦
06.05.13 Started A Vinyl Collection...01.02.12 Irving's Top 25 Albums Of 2011 ♦
07.08.11 Awesome Albums With Only Six Tracks06.14.11 My 2011 Thus Far; Ranked.
04.09.11 Ridiculously Fun Albums12.26.10 Reviews That Have Inspired Me
12.06.10 What's Next For Irving?12.05.10 Sputnik Malaysians
11.05.10 How Many Albums Do You Listen To Per Ye10.23.10 How Long Does It Take You To Write A Re

Three Years On The Sput

Three years ago to this day I posted my first ever review on Sputnikmusic.com - a 1,000+ rword treatise on Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier (which I gave a 3.5/5). The rest, as they rsay, is history: I've since gone on to post an additional 97 reviews (22 of which ended up rbeing featured), making Contrib at review #64 and eventually Staff at review #78. In that rtime, Sputnikmusic has gone from being my online haunt in between university lectures to my rsingular attempt at getting myself quoted on Wikipedia and Metacritic as much as possible. rNow, I know the term "Sputnik professionalism" is a bit of an oxymoron but I can't help but rfeel a slight twinge of pride whenever I see stuff I've written pasted and quoted next to paid rwriters and more established music sites. Despite what everyone tells you - and the damage rwrought by them stupid trolls - in its better moments, this site is pretty great. Cases in point: rI've made some good friends (albeit only on Facebook but heck isn't that 90% of our rinteraction these days) and discovered some pretty sweet music in the process...which is rwhy we're all wasting our time on here, I suppose. And it is thus that on my 3rd Sputnik rbirthday I'd like to salute each and every one of you - you make the site what it is, for better ror worse. And I would not have it any other way. Terima kasih, kawan-kawan. List is some of rmy personal milestones on here, interspersed with some pretty cool stuff you elitist pricks rtaught me how to love ;)
1Pink
Greatest Hits... So Far!!!

This album was my first-ever feature, bequeathed upon me by one Dave de Sylvia, who
has long since left our hallowed halls. In the spirit of salutations to the Sputnik
departed, here's a shout-out to Emeriti like Dave - stand up Adam Thomas (who I guess
is still here sometimes but whatevs), Conrad Tao, Jared Ponton, Keelan Harkin, my half-
Malaysian bro Kiran Soderqvist, Nick Greer, and Robin Smith. I studied the work of these
greats in the process of honing my craft...and look where it has gotten me. Cheers
gents. Always missed, never forgotten.
2Disney Soundtracks
The Lion King

When I wasn't reviewing shitty pop albums I tried to make a name/niche for myself by
writing reviews of Disney classics. While I thought they were humorous at the time,
they haven't aged all that well, and in recent times I've come to realized that they're
the same jokes over and over again (read: accusations of pedophilia, sexual deviancy,
and razor-thin plots on Disney's part). It was good while it lasted though.
3Soundtrack
Top Gun (Special Edition)

The next three albums are reviews that became very significant to me when I first read
them in my very first few weeks on Sputnik as an uber-impressionable User. BigHans'
review of Top Gun stands tall as one of my favourites of all time - choice lines include "I
no idea what a homo-erotic overtone was, and if you happen to ignore them, Top Gun is
the quintessential 80?s movie done right, chalk full of cheesy one liners, impossible
romances (and in this case, bromances), enthralling (for the time) action sequences,
and a well-executed avalanche of unintentional comedy" and "Even if you secretly like
to play Beach volleyball and perv out with other guys, Kenny Loggins has the formula for
you". Goddamn I miss you, Hans.
4Yellowcard
Ocean Avenue

There are several write-ups for this one but I'm referring to SowingSeason's. Although he
has gone on to write many more better reviews since, I can't help but keep coming back
to this one if simply for the fact that this is where everything began. Aside from studying
the work of my Staff and Contrib heroes I'd also lean over and try and take a peek at
what some of the better Users were doing...little did I know that I would end up washing
this particular User's balls for the next two years straight.
Congrats on your engagement, Sowing!
5Circa Survive
Appendage

The reason this album is here is due to the Elijah Kleman-shaped hole in my Sputnik life
right now. Apart from Sowing, I'd say that I was perhaps closest to Eli - in the early days
we'd doggedly check and comment upon each other's writing, never once failing to bring
the long knives out if we thought the other was letting his standards slip a bit. We've sort
of drifted apart since (I'm mostly to blame for that - I moved to a different timezone
entirely) but I'll never forget the unbridled enthusiasm that we cultivated on AIM as we
shared our respective applications for Contrib (neither of us succeeded in our first try)
and swapped album lists.
Special mention to Gyromania and Tyraelxy, who were part of that keener scene too,
back in the day.
6Justin Bieber
Under The Mistletoe

My first ever review as a Sputnikmusic Contributor.
7Jennifer Lopez
Dance Again... The Hits

My first review as a Sputnikmusic Staff...because I accepted a dare from Deviant.
I also love that the Wikipedia page for this album has the following excerpt: "In his
review of the album Irving Tan of Sputnikmusic put Dance Again... the Hits into the
category of a greatest hits album that "you get facial brickbat of moderate-to-raw
disappointment at the discovery of how thin and forced the artist?s discography
really is." He wrote that having another artist featured on nine of the thirteen tracks
"gives the impression that as a product, having Jennifer Lopez alone is simply not
enough". He further criticized the decision to include the Murder Remixes of "Ain't It
Funny" and "I'm Real" over the original studio versions, stating that it was almost like
"Sony Music held their hands up and admitted that the initial cuts that they
published simply weren't up to scratch". Tan concluded that for a greatest hits
album, the track listing is "simply all over the place", with no indication that the
record executives or Lopez "looked around for a logical start" or an "easy access
ramp to her seven-album canon."
Dayum!
8Keane
Strangeland

Amongst other things, Sputnikmusic also gave me some solid hardware - I won a
Sowing-organized Keane contest about two years ago, and Trey was kind enough to
send me my winnings: a Keane poster (lol), and a CD and vinyl copy of Strangeland
(which my mum absolutely loves).
So cheers for that!
9The National
Trouble Will Find Me

Speaking of vinyl, this site also cultivated my interest in owning them slabs of wax. All the
research and planning came good about a week ago, when my Rega RP1 arrived along with a
Denon 720 AE integrated amplifier and Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 speakers. My vinyl collection
is still pretty small - I only own a grand total of nine records - but I'm loving the journey so
far; this National album was the first vinyl record I ever bought.
10Gorguts
Colored Sands

My rap sheet of shoutout ends with a salutation to my current line-up of colleagues on the Staff
board: Jom, Trey, Deviant, Channing, Adams Downer and Knott, Robertsona, Angel, Cam,
DaveyBoy, Eli, Greg, Hernan, Jacob, that weathered old hag once known as John Hipster Hanson,
JViney (whom I once shellacked for writing a poor review of Gorillaz...imagine my surprise when
he made Staff two days later), Kyle, Lewis, Magnus, Mike, Nick, Rudy, kingsoby, and fellow
second language speaker Voivod. It truly is an honour to form the current generation of Sputnik
Staff with you fine people, and long may it continue. Everyone should also please, please,
please, for the love of God, write and rate more. It's seriously just Jacob and Greg propping us
up at the moment.
11Rush
Permanent Waves

The next five albums are great records that I found thanks to the recs and trolling
from the fine community here. S'up sonic/KILL.
12Thought Industry
Songs For Insects

Trey Industry.
13Bon Iver
Bon Iver

AOTY 2011 - BONNIE BEAR!!!
14The xx
Coexist

AOTY 2012 Adam Downer said I ruined Christmas by rating this 5/5.
15Jenny Hval
Innocence Is Kinky

AOTY 2013-elect. Believe it.
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