Music Writing Question. Fellow Nerds, Please Read & Respond.

I think this also depends on the forum and its audience. If you're writing for music geeks or would-be music geeks, you definitely shouldn't write down to them-- though of course, as you identify, the difficulty is not alienating non-geeks in doing so.

One nice thing about the Internet is that people tend to skim over references they don't get, anyway, and those who are actually interested can easily look things up. I like writing that's on my "instructional level," as English teachers would say; that's how I learn stuff.

"Schuller praises Rollins on "Blue 7" for the use of motivic development exploring and developing melodic themes throughout his three solos, so that the piece is unified, rather than being composed of unrelated ideas. Rollins also improvises using ideas and variations from the melody, which is based on the tritone scale, and strongly suggests bitonality (the melody by itself is harmonically ambiguous, simultaneously suggesting the keys of Bb and E). Also notable is Max Roach's solo, which uses a triplet rhythm figure later imitated by Rollins, again helping to give the piece a coherent feel."

Agh help

You might like it?

I don't know.

Or maybe this is what I was getting at was this:

Many music writers seem to think that their proximity to artists and a certain culture makes them more privy to some "special" knowledge, or that it speaks something about them as a person.

My real question is this:

Isn't that just conducive to a whole lot of reacharounds and blowing sunshine up people's asses?

I read the latter. And mounting my hobby-horse, or one of them, this is traditional a huge problem/limitation of pop music journalism from glossy magazine writers to plugged-in indie scenesters.

Cameron asks good follow-up questions too. I'd say it's possible to be immersed in a cultural scene and still maintain a critical distance. Not only possible, but necessary. And I don't think critics shouldn't write feature stories, quite the contrary it broadens your perspective and keeps you HUMBLE. Where tje distance comes in is on the personal level, when a journalist starts developing extra-professional relationships the conflicts begin.

Not saying writers should be dis-courteous pricks in the name of integrity, but in my experience this issue is blithely ignored.

(to be fair i haven't read thr rest of the wiki piece, let alone schuller's original -- but i have read a lot of schuller down the years, and he is much better at providing a classical-style MAP to non-classical performance and composition than he is at explaining to outsiders which places on the map they might want to visit, and what they will get out of it when they do)

(my main issue with quasi-academic musicology is that -- to me -- it's only STEP ONE, with the all-important step two being the interweave of the music thus analysed with the writer's and/or the reader's life -- ie stepo one = "this is what's going on" and step two = "this is why it matters to know this", but it's such a MONUMENTAL step one in terms of time and study invested, and lots if not most of the folks who do that investing don't ever seem to move beyond it)

"drum & bass" vs "drum and bass" vs "drum&bass" vs "DnB"

which seat can i take??

also:

"track listing" vs "tracklisting" vs "track list" vs "tracklist"

drum and bass

tracklist

title track

long player

I say drum'n'bass.

Rhythm section.

"I would suggest an archive search but I'm not sure of the best way to begin."

OH SNAP

BOOYA!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrh52eZR8X1qdm61io1_1280.jpg

CAMERON OCTIGAN,

http://essentiallove.tv/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/BeenServedFront2-1024x585.jpg

hoo boy i have fun in the morning. okay back to work.

drümmandbaß

to the original question "How much do you feel that knowing the artist effects your ability to be critical?" I recently wrote a review of an artist that i like and think is a good person. i didn't bash the new album at all, but i did include some criticisms of how it was executed / how well it did the things it seemed to be trying to do / how good the songwriting is / etc. anyway, the review ran but i still haven't linked to it from my fb wall bc i'm fb friends with the musician in question and i know logically that she'll eventually see it, but i feel kinda bad. obv the tension here is between doing right by ppl you like and being totally honest. probably the best thing to do is to stop liking ppl who make music so you never feel conflicted.

how about "EP" vs "E.P."

Why not C.D. too?

D&B c'mon

yet another reason to leave drum'n'bass firmly in the '90s where it belongs

I sure can't think of any other genres which follow the same problematic form.

what about the argument over whether or not you can put the X in HXC if it isn't specifically straight-edge hardcore

(which i'd argue is more 90's belonging - i mean psh whatev i still buy new d+b and mix it in)

OH GOD D+B THERE'S ANOTHER ONE

drum plus bass

i go by ebay:

1980s(6)

1990s(7)

Pop Vocals(11)

Africa: Sub-Saharan(1)

Alternative & Indie(56)

Ambient & Downtempo(4,321)

Asia: Eastern(9)

Bass(2)

Big Band & Swing(3)

Breakbeat & Big Beat(199)

Celtic(2)

Classic Electronic(167)

Classic R&B(1)

Concerto(2)

Contemporary & Pop R&B(4)

Contemporary Christian(1)

Dance(362)

Dancehall & Ragga(1)

Death Metal(1)

Disco(4,203)

Doom & Sludge(3)

Drum 'n' Bass & Jungle(783)

Dub(9)

East Coast(3)

Electro(897)

Electronica(15,182)

Europe: Eastern(2)

Europe: Western(2)

Experimental Rock(7)

Film Score & Soundtrack(10)

Folk Rock(1)

Freestyle(18)

Funk(13)

Gangsta & Hardcore(4)

Gothic & Darkwave(37)

Grunge(1)

Guitar(1)

Hardcore & Rave(230)

Hard Rock(2)

Honky-Tonk(1)

House(3,869)

Indian Subcontinent(2)

Industrial(58)

Keyboard & Synthesizer(1)

Latin Pop(5)

Mainstream Rock(2)

Motown(3)

Native American(1)

New Wave(12)

Post Rock(6)

Progressive & Art Rock(3)

Punk Rock(4)

Rap Metal(1)

Rock 'n' Roll(1)

Soul(9)

Symphonic & Orchestral(4)

Techno(4,118)

Thrash & Speed Metal(2)

Trance(6,549)

Trip Hop(1,275)

Turntablist(2)

Video Game Score & Soundtrack(1)

Vocal Jazz(1)

Not Specified(43,337)

@Mordy Less important to the artist in my experience is whether you liked it or not, and whether you wrote 'well' about it. If you're proud of the writing you should post it.

Kit and bass guitar fwiw

That has not been my experience. Artists can be very temperamental!

To the original question. I don't think writers should write about people they know well. It's a conflict of interest. I have done it myself, but declared the conflict of interest to the commissioning editor, who didn't care. I think, unless your friend only ever makes impeccable music, it's impossible to be completely honest.