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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Re: Are professional music critics losing their clout? |
| Date | Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:11:08 -0400 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Dunn" <jasonhalogen@gmail.com>
> Gabriel is right on. In addition, I've found that "music critics",
> especially in Boston, have taken on what I call the "Pitchfork
> mentality",
> where your review becomes more about your own sense of sarcasm and
> wit than
> it ever was about the music your readers are ostensibly relying on
> you to
> explain and share with them. It's sad. I've read countless reviews
> where I
> learned nothing about the music, but learned plenty about the
> critic's own
> lifestyle or opinions in general.
Are you speaking of that douchebag Thorpe, late of the Dig and now
bespoiling the once-proud pages of the Phoenix? He's by some distance
one of the worst I've ever read. His whole schtick is that he's this
maverick taking potshots at sacred cows, but he chooses the most limp,
toothless targets imaginable. Wow, you think Coldplay is kind of
boring? Holy crap, what a startlingly unique viewpoint! Cuz no one
has EVER said that before! Plus he's one of those people who just
feels it's uncool to actually like anything, which is pretty much the
antithesis of my own viewpoint.
The Dig was better when Luke O'Neil was music editor: at least he
knows something about something. (Full disclosure: I used to write
for the Dig occasionally, back when they could pay their freelancers
on time.) I can't take seriously anyone who's been in charge there
since because they keep making the most basic factual errors. No,
Michael Brodeur, Bebel Gilberto is NOT Astrud Gilberto's daughter, and
no, she doesn't sound anything like her "mom," which you'd know if
you'd ever heard a note of Astrud Gilberto's music.
S
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