The New Allmusic: D/D?

Discogs has definitely been handy for me in terms of filling gaps in compilation series this year -- and at a good rate too. The drill down on specifics makes it handier in comparison to, say, Amazon Marketplace, and while I do order from both regularly as well as crosschecking in terms of price, generally Discogs gets the nod precisely because I can find more things, often obscure ones, in comparison. Good deals seem to turn up more often on Discogs too, but often in a fluke sense -- still, when that means half off of an out of print box set, hey.

But again, the AMG is not set up for that and does not exist for that. A fusion of the two would be an interesting site indeed, but I feel it would be overkill, perhaps?

I think that would be overkill, yes. They are different beasts and I prefer them to stay that way?

ok thanks, i was wondering if i was actually missing something. i've never had any use for 'consumer guide' reviews. bios i can usually get better / more info from wikipedia.

I can see that. Tbf it's also just something I got used to, from since before Wikipedia ever existed. Maybe their bios are better now?

The AMG books were a welcome replacement for my tattered Trouser Press guides for bathroom reading 15 years ago. Is there anybody working on print compendiums like this anymore?

(Because, if there's one thing I want in my bathroom, its Ned.)

Ah, print record guides! Ah, humanity!

I've I've found rateyourmusic.com has replaced Allmusic for me.

rym has this kind of "wikipedia" thing going for it, with all the benefits and problems that entails. it's true that of late i've found more music there than i have on ilx, which used to be my go-to place for music.

there are some cool lists on rym, that's mostly how i browse it

Because, if there's one thing I want in my bathroom, its Ned.

Teh passion.

there are some good lists, but so many of them are totally free of any sort of further explanation or context, and when they contain thousands of entries it gets exhausting.

i do the genre charts a lot, particularly when i'm looking for the most acclaimed works in a genre i'm not familiar with. occasionally i make lists but it's pretty tedious work and my tolerance for tedium is in direct proportion to how much i'm getting paid for it.

Because, if there's one thing I want in my bathroom, its Ned.
Teh passion.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, August 20, 2016 12:35 AM (1 hour ago)

RYM: useful in theory. The community is the problem. I got on one of the narcissist mods' bad side a few years ago and got banned as a result, and now they ban me any time I re-register, like I'm on a "WANTED" list. Doesn't even matter if I use a new IP, someone recognizes my pretty specific taste and alerts the mod I offended, lol

I just use RYM as a little corner of the internet to ramble semi-coherently about stuff I've heard. I've never had trouble w/ mods since I mostly keep to myself but the general userbase kind of annoys me sometimes. Occasionally if I'm really bored I look at the forum, and it really makes me appreciate how (largely) peaceful ILM is - not that RYM is the worst by a long shot but there's only so many times you can read some arsehole in his early twenties spouting received wisdom as Objective Fact before you want to punch the screen.

the reason i've tended to give the rym forums a wide berth is that i think i'm maybe a little too much of an elitist for them. they're just full of people asking dubious questions in garbled english, people arguing about "SJWs", people talking about their drugs, people who won't shut up about dream theater and/or radiohead. that's more brain filtering than i'm up for most of the time. it's too "internet".

but they're kids, you know! that's how kids are.

Plus from what I've gathered, RYM is nothing compared to /mu/ when it comes to insufferable kids talking about music.

not from what i've gathered, but i've also gathered that it's got a lot of overspill from /mu/

RYM is right in the middle of the venn diagram of /mu/ and tumblr

god RYM is another internet reification of awful opinions into something pretending to be Truth

dunno about the forums, just mean the concept and the lists, the lists

Unfiltered lists from RYM reflect overrepresented demographics (there's a lot of metal and prog, for example). The "custom chart" and friends/favorites functions on RYM are essential for getting lists that are closer to my own tastes (an intersection of shambhala, indie 'gaze, avant-jazz, etc). But adding/culling favorites to get a better poll of people like me is really time consuming.

i do see internet culture in general a little bit differently, that advocacy for "truth" long ago ceased being part of it. the "ha ha only serious" ethos dates back to at least the '80s, but only lately have the 4chan alt-right started applying it to racism, for instance. the pretense here is not "truth" but "lulz".

lists in the internet era are imo largely an exercise in recontextualization, a digital outgrowth of mixtapes not vulnerable to dmca takedowns, a necessary evil in an age defined by data overload and sorely lacking in understanding, possibly a first step towards that elusive understanding, but in few minds a substitute for it.

rym for me is good for the would-be omnilisteners, people who have indifference to genre ingrained in their professed ethos, although seldom if ever in practice, as well is, really, for the genre obsessives with a completist bent. there's this one guy in particular who has a deep, deep obsession with midwestern aor/prog, which is not a genre i have a particular love for, but his deep love for the music is contagious. that's social music, i can get behind that.

i'm at a point where i can regularly get good stuff out of that site by basically poking it with a stick a little bit.

>there's a lot of metal and prog

Well... the RYM charts are big on buttmetal but all the good stuff's unrepresented. There's a small clique that knows what's up but, like, Death's 'Symbolic' being the top rated death metal album on their charts just gives me the heebie-jeebies

Rate Your Music has always been a major indicator to me of people who think they are a lot more knowledgeable than they actually are. Like, it strikes me as being for people who want to intellectualize music over just enjoying it.

You're probably all mostly right in your criticism, but I reckon I should probably speak up for the only site I spend more time on than ILX - there's plenty of users who make the site worth using and it's a great place to actually discover stuff (far better than here if I'm honest) especially if you're willing to read a little bit. Just do what I do and ignore charts, the consensus is always turgid and bland as fuck no matter where you are. Just look at those Acclaimed Music polls that we're running.

my least favorite thing about RYM are the users who just discovered & started identifying with "poptimism" this year and are really parochial about it... I'll take all the objective elitists in the world over them.

yeah i mean people can bag on the site all they want to but i just found five great records there in the last hour without really trying.

Using the RYM charts is definitely improved for me by filtering out genres I don't care much about.

I guess I don't understand why everyone is talking about it like it's dead? I just went there and looked up the debut album of the forgotten power pop band Artful Dodger and it seemed p much the same as it's been for awhile?

Doesn't work if you use a certain ad blocker, I guess?

Oh, I don't have an ad blocker on at work but it's fine the ads weren't too bad but some ppl are really babies about any ads I guess

anyway just try it you will be fine everyone and reading a review of a post-peak steve winwood album before you know it!

I DONT WANNA

arc of a diver bro read that shit

I gorged myself on AMG in high school, haven't been able to stand the design since

Would dig a collected AMG works of Andy kellman or Ned raggett book

Too kind.

The Collec-Ned Works, Vol. 1

compnednium

The AMG Omnedbus

^this

The Consumned Guide

Tempting ideas.

Since Allmusic is now blocking people with ad blockers I would like to restrict Allmusic from appearing in my search results for album reviews. Is that simple to do?

i think if you type "-allmusic.com" (not including the quotation marks) it'll exclude it.

on google anyway.

so just preface it with a dash in other words.. or something

A Sentimental Neducation
xp

Ned, Just Admit It: Raggett on Cali Punk

RYM users, can you elaborate a little on how you find good music there? This is what I do whenever I'm there: browse through some lists, click an album title I don't know, read some reviews, check out YouTube for some tracks. Is that it, or are there better ways to find more stuff?