Genre-hopping and a 1* review

I am the proud owner of my very first 1-star review!

You can read it here at Louder Than The Music.

I’d been pre-warned that the reviewer hadn’t really warmed to it, so it was with some trepidation that I clicked the link.

But that quickly melted into amusement as I read through the article - you see, I’m still not quite convinced it’s a review of my work. It is, however, an interesting case study on the preconceptions which accompany different genres.

So, next I headed over to that oracle of all tenuous wisdom: wikipedia, and specifically the ‘New Age music’ article.

An interjection at this point: for some reason, when the reviewer put my CD into iTunes, it labelled up the CD’s genre as ‘New Age’. I don’t know why. On my iTunes it’s labelled ‘Singer/songwriter’, and on the iTunes Music Store it appears to have fallen into the ‘Religious’ category (which isn’t necessarily much of an improvement!)

So, yes, wikipedia. It has two definitions:

“New Age music with an ambient sound that has the explicit purpose of aiding meditation and relaxation, or aiding and enabling various alternative spiritual practices, such as alternative healing, Yoga practise, guided meditation, chakra auditing, and so on.”

Not very me. Although I can see that the first track (an instrumental intro to the album, all of 54 seconds long) might reinforce that view.

“Music which is found in the New Age section of the record store.”

Haha, that’s brilliant! So, basically it’s the “couldn’t figure out where else to put it” category. I can live with that, especially when the other artists and influences mentioned include the likes of Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Brian Eno, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Philip Glass - elements of which you might well find subconsciously incorporated into my music.

I really don’t mind that the reviewer didn’t like it - after all, all art appreciation is subjective. (Around the time of making Puzzle I shared a flat with a heavy metal enthusiast - whilst we could both appreciate the work and skill put into the music the other listened to, we would have never actively chosen to listen to it. Perhaps I need to be more broad-minded.)

But I do mind that the reviewer got so blinded by the New Age thing that they evidently didn’t bother listening to the music. Where are the references to particular lyrics, images or musical bits they liked or disliked? Where’s the discussion of the themes that the artist might be trying to portray? How about even mentioning a particular track by name? Anything? I mean, I enjoy the genius of Scrubs as much as the next man, but what’s it got to do with me? Ah well, can't please everyone...

J

(In the interests of contrast, you might also wish to have a look at this slightly more positive example at New Life From Old, or listen for yourself at DLDown's bandcamp page.)