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[CScheiner]

So I decided in my free time I would make a CD/Artist review blog because I am musically unbiased. I am looking for people to throw out albums for me so I can get this rolling, because most of the albums I have downloaded for review are new ones and I would like a bit of a mix (hip-hop, trance, country, indie, whatever).

Unfortunately due to my ability to be uncreative with names it is called Yelling About Music. You can visit the website here: http://yellingaboutmusic.iblog.com (note: I e-mailed Jeph in correspondence to the name and if there are legal issues behind it).

I am asking you, the QC community, to help contribute to this cause by increasing the hits to the point where I can decide if I want to buy online space after I hit a certain amount in the month. Also, I will gladly add contributions from everyone.


First thing's first though, what is everyone's input thus far of the site? Any and all help will be appreciated and positive feedback or constructive criticism is appreciated as well.

[Trashole]

I agree, the calender has got to go. Just seeing it there is like "wait, what is that? why am I seeing this calender?". Unless you really like it I'd say I lose it. It creates a visual diversion, in a negative way.

Now, based on your page you seem very organized. (opening summary followed by analysis of each track, closing summary, and personal rating) Organization is good as long as you make it subtle. The content and layout of the blog seems unfinished to me. If you are going to do this I think you really need to apply everything you have into it. Remember, music is very important to a lot of people and if you want people to listen to your opinion it has to be important to you. Also, I have a slight objection to the format in which you've developed for your blog. Artist/ album review is just that, a review of the artist or album as a whole. When you leave your review sectioned up, in the manner you have, you take away from the final product. Dissect and analyze in your notes, organize your information, then create your "masterpiece" and post it.

[Melodic]

Don't describe the music.

[Dimmukane]

Be the music, and tell us how you feel.

[Jackie Blue]

The opening paragraph to the Spiderland review made me think "I have already read this exact thing about a hundred times".

I recommend avoiding reviews of such albums.

The site looks fine, but your claim of being "musically unbiased" is, I think, kind of weird and not possibly true.

[CScheiner]

Well... First of all, you seriously should have figured out a different name, dude. I'm not just talking about legal disputes, but don't you think it's kind of weird to first nick Jephs music blog name, and then use the community he laid the foundation for to help you get off the ground? It strikes me as slightly odd, at least. But hey, if Jeph's cool with it then I've no say in the matter

To be perfectly honest I did not even notice the tab that said Music Blog until today. Somehow, I was oblivious. I was actually worried for taking it from the comic but now I realized that there is a blog like this lol. I will arrange to change it.

There is a reason Scott F. Fitzgerald and Hemingway are so well liked! They convey good writing with a really basic vocabulary, which I think is what everyone should strive towards, especially in reviews or articles.

Well said! That would be an excellent reference point.

Don't describe the music.

Be the music, and tell us how you feel.

Another two well said things that I have not kept in mind. I did choose these albums out of interest along with personal respect.

Also, I have a slight objection to the format in which you've developed for your blog. Artist/ album review is just that, a review of the artist or album as a whole. When you leave your review sectioned up, in the manner you have, you take away from the final product. Dissect and analyze in your notes, organize your information, then create your "masterpiece" and post it.

The writing is fine, just try a different format. Try to write about how the songs make you feel rather than just describing exactly what they sound like. Try to pick up on any themes in the lyrics and attach them to a wider concept. Maybe involve a tiny bit of history so we appreciate the context. Broaden the scope of your reviews in general, basically.

I will take your approach on this, and at least redo the albums again and from there build up my writing style so it is complimentary of what I feel while remaining subtle in its overall format.



In this case I decided I would take on a new website name. http://thegoodvibrations.blogspot.com/

I would like some originality to this as well and I still intend to write about albums and artists, but I will incorporate the QC readers thoughts in mind, as you QC members seem to be very intelligent in the music field.

[De_El]

I think you need to get a sense of who your intended audience is.  Unless you're trying disseminate information to the masses, there's not a whole lot of reason to review Spiderland, because 1. it's not current and 2. a lot of the people who are mildly well informed about alternative and underground music scenes already know it.  If it was just a writing exercise, that'd make sense, but there's so much hype and information already out there about Spiderland, your time would have been better spent reviewing something else.

Also: are you going to review records as they are released, or as you discover them?

[CScheiner]

I think you need to get a sense of who your intended audience is.  Unless you're trying disseminate information to the masses, there's not a whole lot of reason to review Spiderland, because 1. it's not current and 2. a lot of the people who are mildly well informed about alternative and underground music scenes already know it.  If it was just a writing exercise, that'd make sense, but there's so much hype and information already out there about Spiderland, your time would have been better spent reviewing something else.

Also: are you going to review records as they are released, or as you discover them?

I am going to be doing both. My intentions are to mix up the genres but review new and old, the former being more common.

[DarkAvenger]

The writing is good, but I too think that the ratings for each track is quite boring. In fact they don't seen to have much purpose as they don't seem to affect the final scores much.

Also glad to see you've picked a different name, stealing Jeph's just isn't cool.

[Inlander]

Actually if you do a Google search for "Yelling About Music" you'll find that there are several different blogs/music groups/what-have-yous with that name, quite apart from the two that Jeph has created.

[imagist42]

That does not make it any cooler to blatantly take the name from the dude (not any of the numerous other sources) because he was "uncreative with names," then talk about it on the forums the dude created.

[Thrillho]

So I decided in my free time I would make a CD/Artist review blog because I am musically unbiased.

Yeah, that was a joke, right?

[mfpole]

I think you should mention why you like the CD more, because I'm not really convinced why you gave Spiderland such a high score. Also, what other people said.

[Hljómalind]

If you're going to make friends and influence people, that is, gain readers and respect for your opinions - presumably the aim of the site - then you need something a bit different. There are so many music review sites, and there's no particular reason for people to be interested in yours anymore than they are comments and articles on other sites.

Here are some ideas:
- institute a more complex rating system, wherein you actually fly to the homes of the artists you review to fix your reviews to their door (taking a dump in their roses for the mega-unfavourables);
- demonstrate your phenomenal writing prowess;
- act out your reviews using Lego characters, sock puppets, and your penis;
- append your blag to your already tremendously popular wobcomic about music-obsessed characters (warning: this may have been tried before);
- spend all day prowling the networks for early leaks, and thus have the first word on new albums;
- turn your site into a Flash game archive, with reviews only unlocked after players have killed off zombies, scored a bullseye, found all the hidden objects, and navigated the wire without touching the sides;
- opt not to review albums everyone has already read ten thousand reviews of, unless you have something notably new or interesting to add;
- porn, porn, porn;
- write all of your reviews in haiku, or pig-Latin;
- paint your ratings on the bodies of attractive hipster girls and post the pictures ("Emily's stomach gives this album an 8 out of 1.0 ... oops, sorry, that's her belly button").

If for some reason you choose not to adopt my awesome ideas, then at least drop most of the ratings. If you want to give an album a thumbs up or down or fine, but there's no reason to rate the sound engineer's choice of underwear while giving a different score to the session organist's choice of breakfast cereal.

[Melodic]

I will make a Pig Latin machine, and it will be oh-so pretentious.