This is such a bad idea.
For several years, I've been collecting - both buying and being handed - various recordings on various recording media formats. They're all pretty much noise. Sure, there's some here and there in lesser, less challenging, inferior genres like drone and whatever category Swans cover bands fall in. There may even be the odd piece of plastic with - heaven forfend - beats. However, mostly noise.
My deep, dark, secret shame - possibly unforgivable - is this:
I forget to listen to the damn things.
Someone gives me a tape at a show. I'm seriously stoked and appreciative. And the little wonderful treasure that I've just been handed sits on a shelf collecting dust.
I read some awesome release annoucement, decide that I must have this now, Paypal the funds, receive it a week or so later in the mail, spend a few minutes admiring the artwork... then it's filed. Haphazardly at that. Precariously set atop a pile of books and forgotten.
(Don't ask how many books I have and haven't read... but that's another story.)
So, yeah, some rare flash of inspiration hits me amidst trying to get my house in order (and also taking a cue from Demian Johnston's excellent dead formats review blog). What better way to catch up by blogging about the experience?
Okay, don't answer that.
Foolhardy rush into narcissism aside, this will at least prompt me to cut down on the backlog. It'll be worth it to me, at least.
But first, two ground rules:
1) These are not record reviews.
... at least not in any traditional sense. I hate record reviews. I mean, I do read some, and I suppose I do enjoy reading the ones I seek out, and I've certainly written some in the past. But I hate them. Reviewers get off on seeing their name in print electrons and casting judgement on aesthetics encapsulated in numeric scores, and your enlightenment is the afterthought of a by-product.
This blog is no different.
But, if you're expecting quasi-traditional music reviews, you're not going to find them here. I might spend a Troniks Records review complaining about my co-workers. (In fact, I will.) I might do an overview of the short-lived Negation is Freedom label by using a Betty Crocker cookbook as source material for a conceptual writing experiment. (Hmmm. Hold that thought...) There will be no points system. Points are for winners.
Not to mention that these records probably went out of print years ago. Good luck trying to find them, sucker.
2) Do not send me stuff to review.
If you're a label and want me to review your releases, forget it. I buy what I buy. Maybe what I buy I'll end up writing about. The whole receiving records for free from a label thing leads to me feeling obligated to review things which leads to burden which leads to laziness which leads to sackcloth and ashes. I have enough guilt in my life as it is. I do not wish to add to this.
If you're someone I meet up with every so often, yes, I would love your new record. Just don't expect me to write about it. Even if I did, it would be a few years down the road. But yes, I do really treasure the tapes and CDRs and 7"s that I get, I really love them, even if it just takes me so damn long to listen to them. I'll do my best to correct that. If not, stage an intervention.
So, yeah, that about covers it. Expect failure, nod in satisfaction as goals have been met. It'll be fun either way.
First on the block: El Bombastico - Crack the Static Blood cs (What We Do Is Secret). I don't even know who the fuck that is.
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