tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post6508142163692337157..comments2023-09-25T22:26:25.692+10:00Comments on mnml ssgs: Modes of Music, pt 1chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17030219185948353658noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-40646617299684394232009-06-22T04:52:42.980+10:002009-06-22T04:52:42.980+10:00your contentious post about dance music wasn't...your contentious post about dance music wasn't contentious, it was just wrong and shit and insultingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-1521878100632855882009-05-14T22:59:00.000+10:002009-05-14T22:59:00.000+10:00A moratorium should be put on the phrase "glacial ...A moratorium should be put on the phrase "glacial synth sound"marziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14920955254770987329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-60779968187318462512009-05-10T23:20:00.000+10:002009-05-10T23:20:00.000+10:00It is difficult, to fully express my idea is narro...It is difficult, to fully express my idea is narrow column, so forgive if it jumps around and is a little incoherent. Whenever your trying to flesh something out for the first time, both your ignorance and inconsistencies are painfully obvious.<br /><br />PC I think you understand the situation perfectly, when you use the word Slavish, dance is Slavish. It is so obvious in its attempts to manipulate the listener, the programmed beat does away with any idea that it is anything other than slaves following instructions. But it does not try to mask this, it exploits it, this is partly what I mean by Shameless. In doing so it uses the part of the mind that leads you to distraction, and lets the other part focus and explore. While your body is freaking out, like the malfunctioning robot it is, your mind is freed. I suppose you could say it it is a rather practical music. Good dance music provides better platforms and employs better techniques for exploration. Perhaps this is a way we can discern between good and bad dance music. <br /><br />I was reading somewhere the other day, that teachers should encourage their kids to click pens, for it allows the mind the concentrate, by distracting one part of the brain.<br /><br />Anyway, I love your Pied Piper example, it made me think. Does he not come to town and save the children from the deception of the towns people? Don't they dance of happily after him. Coincidence? Probably, but a funny thought.<br /><br />I guess you could say the slavery and freedom of different sides of the same coin. I feel that slaves are in the best position to find freedom, as they know where they are, everyone else has just forgotten the sound of the chains they are dragging around their feet. So I guess, through it's obvious and shameless manipulation of the slave, dance music frees you. That's where the best producers come in, once the platform is set up, how well do they stimulate you.<br /><br />Dance music, made by black Americans, descended from slaves, still social slaves, and also Germans pretending to be robots. I am going slave crazy here, I have to stop this wild speculation. <br /><br />The self conscious floors you talk of are awful, what I describe is obviously conditional and affected by the crowd, with it's agendas and it ability to leave them behind. The dance floor is a place where the idea of the individual and the mass really gets strange. <br /><br />I have more to say regards your rock queries, but I thought I would let you approach what I have written here first. I'm not sure I would say it is truth, but more towards the idea that it is does not profess to know the truth, it manipulates obviously and shamelessly.never really beganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919666571746723630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-24085479388788526442009-05-10T12:55:00.000+10:002009-05-10T12:55:00.000+10:00@ Oliver: wow, interesting comments, lots of thoug...@ Oliver: wow, interesting comments, lots of thoughts there.<br /><br />...what do you think makes rock music deceptive "full of lies and deception" while dance music is truth... and truth is shameless, somehow?<br /><br />...I wonder about that... <br /><br />...also, the dancefloor can be a place of freedom, but it is often also a place of conformity. Anyone who's ever felt self-conscious about their dancing, or tried to move in some other ways, would find this out very quickly with the looks designed to police and re-place the 'individual' back into their groove.<br /><br />...sometimes it's unity, but sometimes it's a bunch of dividuals with nothing in common but their proximity and their following of the instruction of the beat.<br /><br />...of course this can be a way to break free, but we can also become slaves to the rhythm, <br /><br />...and we can also slavishly follow the instructions that the music and the pied piper/DJ gives us... watch people's behaviour at any big box corporate rave event - it is actually one of the most incredibly conformist spaces imaginable.<br /><br />...we've talked about the death of chill-out rooms on SSGs before on this tip: what could not be incorporated within profitable clubbing/raving was slowly erased... nobody buying drinks, nobody obeying the call of the floor, no profit, no boom boom, and always the chance of overdose in the corner... think of the liability!<br /><br />...of course every situation is brimming with possibilities...<br /><br />...but many situations are dominated by a certain apparatus, a certain set of habits, and a proportion of people very, very eager to police anyone who steps out of them (eject this man, he's pelvic thrusting! 'It's called jacking..' You're damned right, it's disgusting...' ...)PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828854682227101864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-49097520512516468162009-05-10T07:19:00.000+10:002009-05-10T07:19:00.000+10:00The one guy who talks about the floor as being the...The one guy who talks about the floor as being the worst environment to listen to this music, seems to me to have completely missed out on a large aspect of electronic music. If he thinks socializing only involves talking, that seems very narrow. Perhaps he could chuck a few people my way, for I very rarely socialize with people when I talk to them.<br /><br />The dance floor is a beautiful and lonely place. Most of us spend our lives looking for things which we have in common, that unite us, and waste hours talking about it. Dance music is platform of certainty, somewhere people feel safe to express themselves, you know came before, you know what will come next, 4/4. You can dissolve in it, or assert yourself. I could expand... <br /><br />Also, what is this idea that it can't be live? That seems obviously wrong, when someone plays a synth on stage, how is that not live? I saw Cobblestone Jazz do a live version of India In Me, it utterly blew me away, it was played with little fidelity. Perhaps I have missed the point?<br /><br />Regards what defines it, I think futurism is a large part. I think obviously it using electronics to make music, and that is it simple put. Of course we could then speculate further, as ever when we don't fully understand we impose meaning. So I would say, it explores the unknown, it speculates, and it often does it rather paradoxically using the certainty of 4/4.<br /><br />It's differs from the usual instruments in one marked way. Unless you are an engineer, you have very little knowledge of how the sound is produced, what goes on behind the buttons and knobs. This uncertainty again allows exploration and experimentation. When one looks at a guitar, one knows exactly what is going on, same for other classical instruments.<br /><br />Perhaps there is a uniting theme to this post, I tend to think it has a lot to do with certainty, doubt, unknown and exploration. Very important to me, is also the idea of Shamelessness. To me it is a shameless music, that tends not to lie, it shamelessly manipulates you. Rock music is tired, and full of lies and deception (I am a scorned ex rock fan). Who wants to be deceived anymore than we have to be? We spend our lives being deceived.<br /><br />Apologies for the messy speculation, no doubt it contradicts, please correct me. I guess the applies mostly to my thoughts on 4/4.never really beganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919666571746723630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-53540277281119682062009-05-08T08:01:00.000+10:002009-05-08T08:01:00.000+10:00I think this discussion is actually more interesti...I think this discussion is actually more interesting than the text being discussed in it.Pietrnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-25360211215369174212009-05-07T09:26:00.000+10:002009-05-07T09:26:00.000+10:00@ all more recent comments: just logged back after...@ all more recent comments: just logged back after a self-imposed 'no look, no touch' policy for 48 hours. Thanks very much for the recent comments, I feel like it's not a total waste.<br /><br />As for the pt 2, I'll edit the responses for clarity to avoid some of the issues with phrasing.<br /><br />pt 3 is a concept piece to think of ways for looking for new spaces...<br /><br />...but I'm gonna chill for a while, make a nice cup of tea, and put on my headphones, and listen to some good, new music.PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828854682227101864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-69065000786029924282009-05-06T20:41:00.000+10:002009-05-06T20:41:00.000+10:00hehe. .hey . PC.. the drunks have arrived! ..axe c...hehe. .hey . PC.. the drunks have arrived! ..axe comments that don't get the point initially. you can't argue with these with these BIG/UGLY opinions.. pah! delete! ..they miss the point . <br /><br /> .this was going to be good .. a four part bit on last weeks comments .. NICE EFFORT! thankyou!<br />.iD3o3https://www.blogger.com/profile/10919500976684466233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-37836277278204304552009-05-06T20:05:00.000+10:002009-05-06T20:05:00.000+10:00Nothing against the music they've praised thou...Nothing against the music they've praised though PC - who could argue with Villalobos or Carl Craig? - and more against what they've left out -<br /><br />No American R&B, hip-hop, jungle, dubstep... One of them even apologises for having heard nothing that excited him/her in the last five years! Come on, of course people on the blog are going to be upset with that one!marziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14920955254770987329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-26199482367454802462009-05-06T09:15:00.000+10:002009-05-06T09:15:00.000+10:001. I think there are a lot of implications to AF's...1. I think there are a lot of implications to AF's final sentence in (1). I lost my train of thought when I started thinking about records being chopped into samples, turned into a track, and then played as one record in a whole set.<br /><br />2. When dance music is excluded, I agree mostly with the headphone philosophy. I don't necessarily need headphones, but I need to be paying attention. Playing Pole or Murcof as background music strips it of all meaning because you can't hear the details in the sound. I think this is a major reason for the resistance of most of the public to electronic music, in the IDM (sorry...) sense.<br /><br />If I can put a piece of non-dance electronic music on and do the dishes or browse the web or whatever, I'd usually admit that it's just as much some other genre of music. The new Dorian Concept album, for example - obviously electronic, but really works just as well if you call it hip hop.<br /><br />3. I'm probably one of a handful of people to be really into clubbing without drugs (I mean serious clubs where there's a decent proportion of the crowd there for the music). I can say positively, without a doubt that there is something to be gained by listening to music loud, in a large space, with other people. You cannot recreate that environment or the emotions involved with headphones. Listening to Alva Noto or Kangding Ray in a club would probably still be very, very interesting, even with no dancing. "Installation" would then be exactly the right word, though. That's very well put.<br /><br />4. Chill out, people. Try less hard to be right.Benjaminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02814454042919302080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-86794537428380295802009-05-06T08:53:00.000+10:002009-05-06T08:53:00.000+10:00"...the performance aspect relates, for him, ..."...the performance aspect relates, for him, to the fact that 'live PA' performances are often simply re-assemblies of pre-made recordings... of course there is a spectrum here, but would you be able to say that 'live PA' is as live as, say, a small jazz group playing an improv?"<br />yes. helge sten (deathprod) is an integral part of improve band supersilent. He plays samples and a whole lot else. The premise is the same as a “live pa.”<br />“~NB: it didn't take a hermeneutic genius to mine these ideas out of what AF was saying. Araki, I wonder if you read through the answers very carefully?”<br />take a look back at what AF posted. how are we supposed to know what the12k comment was in reference to? or what AF means by "live"? No where does it say "live PA." that's a failure to communicate. Why are you blaming the reader for not missing an idea that's not clearly articulated? <br />PC, I resent your comment. You're asking us to do close readings of the text, but AF's opining without clarification of his position and without provision of evidence to support his claims. maybe you don't need that context since you know him, but your readers need convincing. so do us a favor next time and contextualize, rather than presume we're all lazy readers. Writing has value only to the extent that it succeeds in communicating ideas to readers. Each sentence must convince the reader to persevere.<br />In these comments conversations, we're looking to polish an idea expressed in a post, and polishing should heed reader comments, especially what they don't get. we're never gonna get anywhere if your interview is not communicating what it intends to in the first place. We're certainly never gonna get anywhere with an editor who doesn't give his readers the benefit of the doubt. <br /><br />You're a smart dude. i'm wondering why i even need to be writing this. alas it's come to this. <br /> <br />that said...<br />if AF is willing to take the stance that "'live PA' performances are often simply re-assemblies of pre-made recordings," then i'll bring up some examples of 12k artists, which happen to be japanese, like fourcolor, minamo, sawako, who all take signal-processing-based approaches to making music, that is, approaches that don't “merely re-assemble previously sourced sounds”. however, this doesn't necessarily mean the music they make is any better or more valid than electronic dance music. Hundreds if not thousands of musicians do this (many of them badly), just as hundreds if not thousands of people play a bunch of loops on Live (many of them badly). <br />looking at his favs list in the next section (“Vlad Delay/Uusitalo, Mouse on Mars, Villalobos, Frank Bretschneider, Andreas Tilliander, Gas, Rhythm & Sound - nothing within the last five years”, I fear”), i'm left scratching my head. I see the usual suspects of mille plateaux. I don't see xennakis, la monte young, bernard parmegiani, tod dockstadter, asmus tietchens, david berhman, et al... the musicians people who are a part of mille plateaux are indebted to. <br /><br />"NB can I just say I'm pretty tired of this really combative, antagonistic, hostile vibe that people have put forth in the comments so far."<br />If you perceive my response as “ combative, antagonistic, hostile,” then what are you guys doing in the first place? your interviewee is making polemics, and your framing of the post is dialectic. Did you expect that people wouldn't challenge these points?<br /><br />i'm looking forward to the rest of the posts, btw. you're not wasting your time, but you obviously did open up a can of worms.alwaiz al reddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07870594826598659993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-79731789885993527082009-05-06T06:10:00.000+10:002009-05-06T06:10:00.000+10:00@ PC:
I don't think this was a waste of your time ...@ PC:<br />I don't think this was a waste of your time at all. Though the most vocal bunch in the comments section are usually people throwing reactionary hate, that's not at all how everyone feels. I love the whole spectrum of SSG content and pieces such as this make for really thought provoking reading. <br /><br />Even if some might find your friends' responses pedestrian, this is an opinion piece- and that's what they're giving- opinions.<br />I also get the impression that some of your interview subjects may not be in the same group of blogosphere EDM aficionados as many of the readers here. Sometimes I get the impression that in this endless search for cool, people in the blogosphere get their sense of perspective a little bit skewed.<br />For example I would say Kid A is one of my favorite pieces of electronic music (note that the question was about electronic music, not dance music). That doesn't mean I've never heard of Donnacha Costello. It means Kid A is a fucking great album, whether or not it's a "cool" thing to say that anymore.<br /><br />In addition we're all subject to forces of time and place and access to music. Maybe the person who doesn't like electronic music from the last five years just hasn't heard pieces that are to their liking. Perhaps they stopped clubbing. Perhaps they don't have time to search the net and learn about new stuff coming out. I would recommend to that person (based on some stuff they <I> do</I> like) that they might want to check out:<br /><br /><br />Intrusion- The Seduction of Silence<br />Kangding Ray- Autumne Fold<br />Byetone- Death of a Typographer<br />Alva Noto's new albums<br />Honig's Surfaces of a Broken Marching Band<br />Francesco Tristano-Auricle/Bio/On<br />Carl Craig & Moritz's Recomposed Album<br />Move D & Benjamin Brunn's Songs From the Beehive<br /><br /><br />All from within the last year. All thorough in their design and deliberate in their structure. And (I think) all excellent.<br /><br /><br />Anyway- back to the post-<br />PC: Despite your warning in the preface to the article I think many of the commentators thus far have come across something in the article which they oversimplified and then immediately launched into a diatribe about. <br /><br />It might help cut down on future angry reaction posts if you put some brackets in the article after the "The Ricardo Villalobos stuff you've given me recently" part and mention what that stuff is. <br />Just for the sake of preventing the inevitable "This guy has never heard of Villalobos!? Then his opinion means nothing to me!" comments. <br />Cuz you know there will be more...<br /><br />-Brad--Brad-noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-2084477121721690172009-05-06T01:54:00.000+10:002009-05-06T01:54:00.000+10:00yay! i'm not alone in my adoration of "hounds of l...yay! i'm not alone in my adoration of "hounds of love". some of kates other albums are good, but hounds is really something special.pafufta816https://www.blogger.com/profile/14946382715164657516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-90617371193807484162009-05-06T00:19:00.000+10:002009-05-06T00:19:00.000+10:00minimal sausages, maximal convolutionminimal sausages, maximal convolutionAndrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02278160953930387833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-85150244833524962512009-05-05T20:00:00.000+10:002009-05-05T20:00:00.000+10:00As Morrissey once said, "It's so easy to laugh, it...As Morrissey once said, "It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate/It takes guts to be gentle and kind."<br /><br />And it's even easier when you do it anonymously over the internet, innit?thawkinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15203255936349195738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-40815358480382661352009-05-05T17:44:00.000+10:002009-05-05T17:44:00.000+10:00So Part II is dance music, huh? Let me guess: it's...So Part II is dance music, huh? Let me guess: it's too repetitive for them and they don't like it.<br /><br />How absolutely fascinating.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-73859181925737073682009-05-05T16:39:00.000+10:002009-05-05T16:39:00.000+10:00NB can I just say I'm pretty tired of this really ...NB can I just say I'm pretty tired of this really combative, antagonistic, hostile vibe that people have put forth in the comments so far.<br /><br />I'm going to disengage by unsubscribing from the comments for two days or so and leave the ideas-making (not just comment[h]ating) to other people.<br /><br />...Hope this wasn't a total waste of my time.PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828854682227101864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-31779826294782917572009-05-05T16:34:00.000+10:002009-05-05T16:34:00.000+10:00@ Araki: AF was referring to a very specific event...@ Araki: AF was referring to a very specific event that 12k ran at Roppongi Hills Information Centre in 2003. It was a sound installation using these weird electrostatic speakers that looked like daleks, and there was plastic that had been applied to the wall to ceiling windows that refracted the lights of the passing cars into different colours... that's all.<br /><br />In defence of AF on other two counts (and part of why I think it's interesting):<br /><br />AF sees clubs as one of the worst possible sites for electronic music, which for him is about close listening to a recording of carefully designed sounds (designed to be produced and listened to as recordings in quiet environments)<br /><br />~ this is interesting in that, anecdotally, AF's opinion seems to resonate with what I know of a lot of listeners who listen to electronic music but have never been into clubbing ~<br /><br />...the performance aspect relates, for him, to the fact that 'live PA' performances are often simply re-assemblies of pre-made recordings... of course there is a spectrum here, but would you be able to say that 'live PA' is as live as, say, a small jazz group playing an improv?<br /><br />~NB: it didn't take a hermeneutic genius to mine these ideas out of what AF was saying. Araki, I wonder if you read through the answers very carefully?PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828854682227101864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-7794494564299157662009-05-05T16:27:00.000+10:002009-05-05T16:27:00.000+10:00i do however appreciate taylor deupree's field rec...i do however appreciate taylor deupree's field recording twitter. i think it may make for an interesting project.alwaiz al reddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07870594826598659993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-38843125040737496762009-05-05T16:19:00.000+10:002009-05-05T16:19:00.000+10:00PC, i'm gonna keep an open mind, but this isn't th...PC, i'm gonna keep an open mind, but this isn't the most convincing start. <br /><br />i have to agree with dan here.<br /><br />dunno if he's the one interested in classical/electronic music, but AF takes some polemical positions, which don't seem backed up by requisite knowledge of the music. <br /><br />"night club is possibly the worst venue because the music is relegated to be on par with the wallpaper... Harsh, I know, but I think electronic music blindly follows the tradition of live music (which is exactly what it is not) uncritically. The 12k thing in Japan you told me about sounds intriguing."<br /><br />Is he referring to taylor deupree's 12k? because you'd have a hard time convincing me 12k doesn't follow tradition uncritically. several of those releases are a tired continuation of musique concrete without the rigor. 12k's been around over ten years; how does AF not know of them and be so bold to make such claims? <br /><br />"electronic music is concerned with... producing an aesthetically pleasing sound...I think 'live' electronic sets are disingenuous - the live event is a reproduction of the recording, which inverses the chicken-and-egg order of performance and recording)" <br /><br />what a bunch of contrived bullshit. go ahead, please tell us indeed why goodiepal's music is disingenuous, since it is very much performance-based.alwaiz al reddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07870594826598659993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-27721145365222048632009-05-05T12:40:00.000+10:002009-05-05T12:40:00.000+10:00Fair enough.
I apologise for my rash assaults on ...Fair enough.<br /><br />I apologise for my rash assaults on your site. I don't merely want the music, I actually prefer reading the opinions, but they too often drift off into jaded whine. This post has the potential to be quite interesting, I just feel that what has been said thus far has been disappointing and obvious. I'll refrain from future criticism until I'm willing to back it up and put my money where my mouth is.Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-38746881009793509862009-05-05T12:23:00.000+10:002009-05-05T12:23:00.000+10:00@ Dan:
You are very 'anti' this post... yet you ...@ Dan: <br /><br />You are very 'anti' this post... yet you want to engage... <br /><br />...I would say: consider what flak like this does, what it is asking. As I'm reading it, you're asking SSGs to 'shut up with the opinions and give us some music'.<br /><br />...you do this with opinions (ie, while blogging, and blogging in an editorialising mode), but you do so without laying your cards on the table, so to speak. Dan is a three letter word.<br /><br />So <br /><br />...first of all, tell me about yourself:<br /><br />how long have you been listening to electronic music?<br /><br />When did you feel entitled to offer your opinions - in a way that isn't 'amateurish'? <br /><br />What are valid opinions? Are we to regard your comments in this section as valid opinions? <br /><br />What qualities would you say are essential to add 'value' to a post?<br /><br />Would this include the valid opinions of people who were not amateurs?<br /><br />As someone who has passed beyond the threshold of an amateur (as you appear to have done, by positing opinions), do you reserve the right to regard other people's examples as name-dropping while offering your own names as interesting descriptions that add value to a debate?PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828854682227101864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-90241998401561535352009-05-05T12:11:00.000+10:002009-05-05T12:11:00.000+10:00Further, namedropping Cage and Rimsky-Korsakov doe...Further, namedropping Cage and Rimsky-Korsakov does not constitue a particular interest in the interface between classical and electronic music. The comparison to classical recording modes is also inaccurate - contemporary classical recording involves painstaking studio work, just that such tricks are kept hidden.Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-2496486234375918832009-05-05T12:03:00.000+10:002009-05-05T12:03:00.000+10:00This remains an empty, vapid story , yet to offer ...This remains an empty, vapid story , yet to offer anything of value, but I await greater things from the subsequent posts.<br /><br />Excitement and positivity do not equal boostering, and your site is frequently very good at offering gateways to interesting new music, just not in these fluffy opinion pieces.Dan, formerly anon.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7220957931635097123.post-42158097374947791562009-05-05T12:01:00.000+10:002009-05-05T12:01:00.000+10:00NB on the newness of the RV: I gave that particula...NB on the newness of the RV: I gave that particular person a copy of Vasco pt I last year, when it came out, the first time anyone - even Mr Anonymous - would have had a chance to listen to it.<br /><br />...NB the broader current that anon seems to be arguing for is one that is actually anti-opinion:<br /><br />Who, precisely, is allowed to have opinions?<br /><br />Professionals?<br /><br />And for the rest of us, the appropriate response to music seems to be<br /><br />"positivity, openness, excitement"<br /><br />in the absence of any critical perspective.<br /><br />Boosting, in a word.<br /><br />NB: the unwitting irony of this position is that it is, of course, presented as STRONG opinion (in a blog).PChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11828854682227101864noreply@blogger.com