Bartleboom

DeRank ™: 35,89
DeAge™ : 7611 days • Here since 9 august 2005
Love Contact
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
28 may 11
Voto:
I don't agree with this. An album - especially a great one - should be savored, not gulped down. You can’t drink a good wine straight from the bottle as if it were a can of Fanta. It's not enough to just know what it tastes like. You have to grasp the nuances. Otherwise, it's just quenching thirst, and who cares if what I'm drinking is quality wine or Tavernello? Binge-listening to the discography of Zeppa in a week is downright foolish, simply because within a month you won't remember half a note, you won't understand the evolution of the band, the differences between the albums, or the historical context. Perhaps it's because I increasingly struggle to listen to albums in full and with attention, but personally, I need a lot more listens to fully absorb an album than just a couple. Besides, the joy is lost... the disposable nature of music seems like a decent load of crap to me: what’s the point of listening to an album a couple of times and then immediately moving on to the next one?! I understand the disposable approach for "trimming" potential genres/bands that clearly don’t interest (it happened to me with some links posted by Untilted: I listen, realize there's no substance, and toss it). But once I find a genre/band I like, I don’t just want to "assimilate" it! I want to devour it like a lobster; it has to be "mine"!
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
28 may 11
Voto:
Until some time ago, I was one of those who mercilessly criticized anyone who dared to review an album that hadn't been released yet. In this, Trell was a very strict master. Over time, however, I changed my mind. I repeat, Gabri was right: waiting for the release is the act of fakes, perhaps even hypocrites. We all download albums (yes, okay, Geb and a few other purists don't, but I know at least two users from Debaser who have had record shops and download without a second thought), we all listen to them in mp3 (how many times do we see people in playlists and comments who have "a link" for such an album?! How many blogs are there that share rapidshare links?) and we all form an opinion based on those listens. Not just on Deb, but on the hundreds of review sites in Italy and around the world. Is Deb an amateur site?! Fine, let’s acknowledge that nowadays even those who love music use mp3s, download like dockworkers, and have the album before its official release. Period. It’s pointless to get indignant and fight against windmills. Let’s accept (whether with sadness or anger, no one prevents us from doing so) that the dynamics of the music industry have changed. Rather, let’s aim to develop a more in-depth critique, perhaps revisiting the same reviews after more careful listens, maybe after buying the album. But pretending that the whole world doesn’t already have an album in their iPod seems absurd to me.
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
28 may 11
Voto:
The fact that I no longer develop an attachment to records is essentially due to the great ease with which music is now available. And on this point, Geb might be right: back then, buying a record was almost a ritual, something that was contemplated, anticipated, awaited, hoped for... Now, of course, it’s not like that anymore. In those days, to get records, I had to wait until Saturday afternoon, take the train, the subway (often spending more money on the trip than on the record...) go into the store, talk to the guy at the counter, etc. etc. Today, all it takes is entering my credit card number: it’s obvious that the relationship with physical media has changed. It’s natural. The advantage, however, is that now I can listen to and buy anything I want, even things I didn’t even know existed before, most often spending much less, and most of the time already knowing that what I’m about to purchase is worth the money I’m spending. It’s (very) sad for the people who have poured their heart and soul into music for years, to be sure, but I believe that failing to see the positive aspects of this situation is shortsighted.
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
28 may 11
Voto:
More than punk, you seem more like Mario Merola: melodramatic + stubbornly stuck in the past. But I trust you. Regarding the fact that people are no longer accustomed to buying, I repeat, you’re not the only one who has realized this; most bands and labels have too (believe me: they are also pirating like crazy). And they behave accordingly. All the groups I know now record (at costs that are definitely lower than 15 years ago) just for the pleasure of having a physical support for their music. I don’t know a single group that complains about selling little. Instead, everyone, without exception, complains about not having spaces/opportunities to play. And even regarding poetry: about fifteen years ago, I and the four desperate souls I was playing with had to record a demo. We couldn’t afford it. Today we could do it in the span of a Saturday afternoon. With 100 euros I could master a number of copies to sell at a bargain price (the Mydriasi did it: 5 euros. Bought it), I set up a MySpace profile, one on Last.fm, one on Facebook, send the RAR archive to some site/forum, and I find myself being listened to by a hundred times more people than I would have fifteen years ago, when they sold cassette demos outside of concerts (and, believe it or not, nobody bought them... o tempora o mores!). To me, this seems very D.I.Y. Almost punk. Perhaps poetic.
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
28 may 11
Voto:
First thing: if you want to make a general speech, that's fine. However, I don't believe you're in a position to make a personal speech directed at me or others, where you judge me/us. You know nothing about me. You don't know what I do, what I buy, whether or what I download, how many and which concerts I go to. Have a chamomile tea and start being less melodramatic, because you're not the only one whose little heart shop has closed down. For the rest, I still think you're reasoning with outdated categories. And quite a bit in a hippie way, rather than punk. Did they close the shop down the street? They did for me too. Only in the meantime, they opened Amazon and Play.com. And I find (buy) things on Amazon that the little shop down the street couldn't even get me through imports (e.g.: The Heads, who press at crazy rates in very limited editions). It's a shame, but - according to your reasoning - I can prove my "belonging" much more now than before. Fanzines don’t exist anymore? It’s a shame. However, today there are tons of websites and forums, free and with a potential audience hundreds of times larger. As for record labels, I believe they are destined to disappear altogether. If someone is a decent tinkerer, all you need to record is a PC and a 200 euro Korean Ibanez. With various platforms (MySpace, Last.fm, Facebook, YouTube...), every band has the opportunity to reach an infinite number of listeners and take care of their own distribution and promotion. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem to me that when there was no rampant digital downloading, niche bands were cruising around in Ferraris. It seems more likely that Mr. TDK, who made blank cassettes, was the one driving a Ferrari. But maybe I'm wrong...
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
27 may 11
Voto:
Look how good I am, I’m copying and pasting Alberto from King Bong’s response to my question on the internet, peer to peer and the like: "Actually, one thing we know: whether it’s because it’s hard to stand out with this music, or because the audience is no longer used to paying for music, we know that we will never be able to support ourselves as King Bong. We pay for our albums out of our own pockets, the equipment too, and so do thousands of musicians. We don’t think things will change, so we say we have adapted and are trying to make the most of the situation, accepting the problems of the Internet while leveraging it and its resources to reach a broader audience."
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
27 may 11
Voto:
The fact that there are no perceivable differences is not an opinion, but a physical-biological factor. I had read an article on the subject that discussed the limits of "perception" of the human ear, but I can't find it anymore. In any case, in order to perceive the differences between a 320 kbps mp3 and an original CD, you need at least a good sound system, and we both know that, by now, the only ones with a good setup are you, your friends, and a few others lucky enough to inherit one from their vinyl-loving hippie uncle. The whole story about the lyrics, the smell, the inserts (lyrics and inserts in niche productions?!? practically never seen, but okay... Oh wait, there are the Mallues vinyls which are pressed in 500 copies and sold for 60-70 euros. Not exactly wholesale, is it?) is an added value that may interest you (and me), but it certainly does not pertain to sound quality. As for the "niche bands that focus on CD sales," I recommend you check out the interview I did with the bassist of King Bong (for the record: a niche band, of which I own the original CD). Another case that comes to mind is the Treehorn, a side project of Ruggine, whose album is available for free download pretty much everywhere. I also think of Squadra Omega or the hundreds of bands that send their albums to Stonerobixxx to be offered as free downloads on that blog. Ufomammut themselves have repeatedly stated that they focus much more on (and make a living through) the graphic project Malleus than on selling records. And we're talking about a band that is definitely not niche. Mydriasi (already more niche) sell their first album for something like 10-12 euros: do you really think they are counting on sales?! But then for what? To make a living off music? To become rock stars? Let's not joke around, please. By now, at concert booths, there is less and less stuff. A few years ago, I used to come back from concerts with the trunk full of records. Last month I went to see Ufomammut and three other bands, and they only had 2 CDs and the latest album on vinyl. If the labels and bands you mention are counting on sales, well… I’m sorry, but they/you have picked the wrong era. Maybe it's time to realize that. I find you a bit too agitated... is it that no one bought the CD from your band and you took it hard?
Bon Iver Bon Iver
Bon Iver Bon Iver
27 may 11
Voto:
Well... for me all this indignation comes a bit too late. Nowadays, even the bands themselves no longer believe in or focus on selling records. Let alone the listeners. For years now, the internet has been systematically flooded with reviews before the official release of an album, not just on Debaser (in fact, I wish we were overwhelmed by reviews of new releases!!!). This also happened back in the golden days of music magazines, when reviews were done using demo versions. The only difference is that the versions circulating in mp3 are almost always faithful to the official version (I've NEVER found any differences, and I buy an average of 30-40 albums a year). Is the audio quality lower? It might be, but first of all, that's not always true (to hear the differences in a 320 kbps mp3, you’d need a really good stereo or a very good ear), and secondly, you don't always need excellent audio quality to form an opinion about an album (the last album I listened to in mp3 - the one by Monkey 3 - had great audio quality, but it was absolutely terrible). Gabri is right: it's pointless to play dumb. The album (not this one, but in general) we all download, we all listen to it in mp3, and we all form an opinion. The bands know this too (after all, more and more of them are making their albums available for free download). Why shouldn't we review it? And what if the reviewer had sent this review on the 22nd? How long after the release can reviews be sent? Ultimately, a review should be more of a prompt or a personal analysis; for me, real criticism is always left to the comments. All this anger seems frankly anachronistic.
O'Death Broken Hymns, Limbs And Skin
O'Death Broken Hymns, Limbs And Skin
27 may 11
Voto:
The fact that this review is not overwhelmed by a flood of comments and suffocating votes is outrageous! I will discuss it with Obama and the other heads of state...
Bullfrog Dungeon Keeper
Bullfrog Dungeon Keeper
27 may 11
Voto:
I, on the other hand, after seeing it on YouTube, downloaded it! :D
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