psychopompe

A new album, due to obvious reasons of temporal detachment and sedimentation, in my opinion, can NEVER have a 5/5. For me, the maximum is 4/5. It's a rule I've had since I started writing here. Anyway, I wasn't saying these are lacking compared to what’s out there now. I was referring more broadly to the fact that only mediocre to poor things are being released, and that we self-aggrandize because from a broader perspective, one realizes the short-lived and meager quality of a lot of the "stuff" that’s popular. I take refuge in derivative material, which I know is inherently wrong, but at least it doesn’t have too many pretensions. I kind of like CYHASY, but all the hype they build around them at this point feels contrived. @Dave: it’s obvious that in hip-hop or black metal, there are very few velvet tracks, but in the realm of popular music, boasting velvetian (like beatlesian) influences is like bragging to your friends about being a carbon-based organism.

Downloaded and listened to... well, honestly, I don’t really feel the Red Crayola. The Velvet, for obvious reasons, a bit yes (to be honest, you can find Velvet influences practically everywhere in the last 30 plus years), but it seems like trying to attribute artistic aspirations to the band that they don’t have. So, I mean, they're trying, they're even likable, but from that to being sufficient is a long way off. Maybe I'll be proved wrong, but for now, it’s an album with no head or tail.

Downloaded a while ago. Never managed to listen, but the absurd dynamic where after several EPs many bands from across the Channel completely alter their sound in the entire album is something that makes no sense. It happened to me with the bandits years ago, fantastic single with beautifully thick '60s sounds. I hear the album and they seemed to have become Oasis. Truly makes no sense.

shit updating the browser sent me the previous comment. damn editors!

Unfortunately, there's no way for me to make you understand that I'm not an editor; I've never been one, and being one wouldn't allow me to write reviews almost regularly. If you're sharp enough, you can spot editors because they rarely do reviews. If you want to know why the reviews of enrybaxx have been removed, do like I did: write to editors@debaser.it and you'll learn the truth, which is much more interesting than your penny-pinching deductions. I felt the need to respond to you because you show a significant ignorance on the topic of the controversy. Oh, and by the way, pick a female relative at random up to the third degree and remind her that I owe her the rest of the aforementioned fellatio performed on me.

Unfortunately, there's no way for me to make you understand that I'm not an editor; I've never been one, and being one wouldn't allow me to write reviews almost regularly. If you're sharp enough, you can spot editors because they rarely do reviews. If you want to know why the reviews of enrybaxx have been removed, do like I did: write to editors@debaser.it and you'll learn the truth, which is much more interesting than your penny-pinching deductions. I felt the need to respond to you because you show a significant ignorance on the topic of the controversy. Oh, and by the way, pick a female relative at random up to the third degree and remind her that I owe her the rest of the aforementioned fellatio performed on me.

ghemison annoys me as well, snobs, obviously. Criticizing a priori and painting everything with the same brush is, however, dangerous. With this, I don't mean to say that the reviewer did this; it was more of a warning, in case the aforementioned thought that way.

Why then not sign your name? Anyway, I don't think I'm mistaken about you, but that's not the point. Since you’re one of those on the site who lacks the courage to sign your name, I shouldn't even argue with you. But excuse me, do you really think we sent Enry away? Over just two controversies regarding his untouchable reviews? Go check the comments he made on Terry Riley's review, and you'll understand that calling him aloof and sensitive is putting it mildly. Honestly, I have very little envy, because most of the time I didn't like his reviews; I even told him so. It's a pity because some of his proposals were actually interesting. But leaving over some critiques (which were quite mild) is a problem of his, not mine or the site’s. And anyway, the reason I prefer a review like Enea’s is precisely because of the sharp point (and here you support my theories about your identity) regarding the scant knowledge of instruments (Moog, theremin, and so on) that you express. A review doesn’t need to be an article from a magazine specializing in musical instruments; I just need to know that there’s a VCS3, a Moog, a theremin, and that’s it. I couldn’t care less about the model, the serial number of the record, and other trivialities. If I want that information, I go to specific websites. If I'm here, I want to read people who write well, who can create images in addition to providing mere information. To put it bluntly, your comment shows envy because someone has invaded your "musical courtyard" and talked about something only you presume to write about. There’s a difference between making random reviews without any knowledge of the subject, and doing a review like this, which even leaves someone as uninformed as me interested. I’ll finish by noting your clever play on words when you talk about mEnzione. Well, in line with what was written in the previous comment, I quote verbatim: "Oh clumsy implorers, rampant sgabazzone! Your MINZIONI seem to me like drivel of fat on filthy bees." For text analysis, please consult the aforementioned Vogon prosthetic or equip yourself with a handy amplifier of metaphors.

Ah, then if the lyrics are the important part, the excerpt you mention is indeed quite superficial: unfortunately for Albarn (or for whoever wrote the lyrics), the world is GRAY with shades that are sometimes more white and sometimes more black. Seeing reality as divided into categories makes life easier, that's for sure, but unfortunately, like every classification, it has no correspondence to reality. At least the social one.

You really go looking for verbal trouble... I should start by saying that I like Albarn, a clever guy with good taste and a good business sense; I liked Blur quite a bit. Let's first address the fact that there were already two reviews, practically at the same time, resulting in an unintentional double. You have no excuses; you wanted to write this one even though there were already others. However, repeating that duplicates harm the site (fine for historical albums, but for new releases that in six months will be forgotten or won't make music history anyway, it seems like a waste of time) is just empty words. Moreover, if you say that half the songs remind you of "Think Tank," I feel like I'm listening to "Think Tank," right? Anyway, the album itself isn't bad, but declaring that there won't be any other albums for you in 2007 is still racist toward other musical tastes... Damn, you've already decided in January for the entire 2007. Forget about five-year plans! But what really angers me is that in your review you do what "Colossal Youth" does: you presume that Albarn is better than the intellectual stuff that the “musical connoisseurs” here enjoy. Open your eyes? Keep your expectations in check, my son; at best, you'll just be opening your ears—this isn't a contemporary art site. You demonstrate considerable arrogance and, above all, a real lack of foresight and contextualization of musical phenomena. Perhaps history will prove me wrong, but I doubt that good ole Albarn will be remembered in the musical annals as "the most eclectic artist of recent years, if not the last half-century." I don’t want to start naming all the people who are ahead of him in line, but let's just say the line is quite long. So, just like "Colossal," you shouldn't be throwing around judgments with blinders on; you shouldn't presume some cultural musical superiority, as you end up making the same mistake you criticize. I’ll finish by saying that the annoyance toward the “musical connoisseurs” of the site might be natural, but beware, because it’s an attitude that society today instills in many (I'd like to say it's Berlusconism, but unfortunately, it's not just that). Much better is the culture of the sheepish, the Italian trash films, the “let's all get along Italian-style.” Essentially, it's the culture of mediocrity.