panapp

DeRank ™: 7,88

DeAge™ : 6612 days • Here since 3 may 2008

Johann Sebastian Bach Matthäus passion

19 oct 08

Voto:

A competent review, but written at times in an almost deliberately poetic manner (not always achieving the goal) and occasionally displaying syntactic oddities that almost make me think of dyslexia issues. Nevertheless: the work is truly one of the pillars of music history, it encompasses everything and is the foundation of all that came afterward. In music schools, it is always taught that Bach is irrelevant to the history of music because he didn’t invent anything, no compositional or expressive form: he """simply""" brought to the highest levels all those musical genres that already existed (from the chorale to the fugue, from the concerto to the suite), and among these, also the recitative, a fundamental part of this work, which reaches here its best possible expression.

All Saints All Saints

19 oct 08

Voto:

The review is not much, but the album is largely salvageable. They came out when I was 14, and at the time I liked them a lot; hearing them again now, the effect is obviously a bit different, but all in all it's an honest pop group with interesting soul and r'n'b influences. "Never Ever" is interesting, "Bootie Call" is very nice, and "War of Nerves" is beautiful. By the way, they are not a manufactured group, and the lovely and talented Shaz is the author of all the songs.

Pierrot Lunaire Pierrot Lunaire

18 oct 08

Voto:

I thought it was Schönberg's work, in fact...

J.G. Ballard Condominium

18 oct 08

Voto:

@ CJBS: well, I hope I didn't overdo it; he is still considered one of the best living writers in the world. I repeat: maybe it's a bias induced by the material for which I had to read "Super-Cannes" (I read the other two because I wanted to), but unfortunately, he didn't strike me as the great genius everyone raves about. Still, give it a try; there's nothing stopping it from becoming your favorite writer! ;)

Art Spiegelman Maus (Maus, A Survivor's Tale)

18 oct 08

Voto:

@ JakeChambers: thanks for the reply. I'm glad you appreciate and love the comic, but what do you mean by "in its genre"?

J.G. Ballard Condominium

18 oct 08

Voto:

Congratulations on the review, but BALLARD NO. It’s probably an aversion instilled by my Urban Sociology professor, but I find that (despite the certainly interesting, prophetic themes and whatnot) Ballard's writing is completely unbearable, almost pretentious. I've read "The Atrocity Exhibition," "High-Rise," and "Super-Cannes": while in the first he is still linked to broader social themes, in the latter two he dives into the subject of social cohabitation and the inhabited space, seeming to tell the reader, “I’m really an expert on these topics!” inserting occasionally cringe-worthy phrases like (I’m making this up, but not really): “the killer ran through the hypogeal hall whose vault was supported by enormous béton brut pillars, an interesting solution used by Le Corbusier in 1953 at the La Tourette convent that embodies all the moral value and blah blah blah.” I repeat: he writes about extraordinarily interesting and relevant themes (sometimes even prophetic), but in my opinion, in simple terms, he doesn’t know how to write (or he’s just showing off).

Art Spiegelman Maus (Maus, A Survivor's Tale)

18 oct 08

Voto:

@ JakeChambers: "In its genre, a five" is a big mistake, born from the belief (not just in Italy) that comics are a "Cinderella" medium among the great manifestations of art such as painting, literature, architecture, music, and so on. Would you say of (for example) "Sgt. Pepper's" that it is a masterpiece in its genre??? What genre?? Music? One fine day we will realize that comics are media like the others, but I know it will take a long time (and even longer for animation).

Melt-Banana Speak Squeak Creak

16 oct 08

Voto:

I Melt-Banana... interesting experiment. At their debut, for obvious reasons, they were still quite immature, but they already knew what they wanted; over time, they really improved. So, the record is still somewhat "embryonic," as you rightly say, it doesn't even have a riff worth remembering, but there are many good ideas poorly executed. They'll get there.

The Darkness One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back

15 oct 08

Voto:

Review okay, but album that I give three stars only because the musicians are technically very skilled. Otherwise, they made a nice debut album and a second album that is quite unworthy. The fact is, in my opinion, that these The Darkness simply try to recreate the music that (I imagine) they like: glam, Queen, and so on. But glam and Queen were original: The Darkness are not at all; their records could be thirty years old and no one would notice. They are not hideously bad, but they are really out of touch (in the worst sense of the expression). They should come up with something new, otherwise it’s just as well to listen to Queen again (which is never wrong).