Nit Picks Pet Peeves and Guilty Pleasures #1.1

Reviewing the Review: Part 2

The "Unbiased" Review

Most reviewers of any type claim that their reviews are "Unbiased," and many readers get upset when a review seems to rely on the reviewer's previous conceptions about a certain genre or a certain band. The more I read reviews and delve into my own feelings about music, the more I'm convinced that there really is no such thing as an "Unbiased" review. Any one person's opinion about music is going to be based on what they like and don't like, not based on some universal standard of what is and isn't enjoyable music. I happen to really like the complexity and creativity of progressive rock, so I might give a progressive rock album a score of 8.5, while another reviewer might give the same album a 6.5 saying that it was overly complex, unbearably pretentious and unlistenable. Neither review is "right" or "wrong," we each have different takes on what makes music good.

This brings me to the argument over "good" and "bad" music. Some people would posit that since each person experiences music differently, there isn't actually good and bad music. As a musician, I respectfully disagree with this. Each person is entitled to their own ideas of what makes music good and bad, but I think there is music that is by definition good, and music that is by definition, bad. The most important thing to remember when speaking to the quality of a piece of music, is whether or not it is in anyway advancing music as a whole. Now an album can do this in any number of ways, it doesn't just have to be musically 'complex,' but it needs to add something, whether that be a new way of conveying a message or story through music, or conveying a certain feeling or emotion, or even just being incredibly sonically pleasing. It is in these different styles of advancing music that much of the disagreement takes place. One reviewer might like it when music creates one type of mood, and therefore will like a band that successfully creates that kind of mood. A different reviewer, might not like that mood, and therefore might not like that band, but the second reviewer might likely agree that the band is good at invoking that mood. Another disagreement occurs when one reviewer points out that a band does a very good job of moving past the usual boundaries of music, while a different reviewer might posit that the band advances beyond overused song structures at the cost of creating a coherent and appealing sound. In this case neither reviewer is wrong, they just have different opinions on how best to combine the aspects of good music. In order to quantify these different aspects of good and bad music, I have created a simple rubric that I use for every album that I review that addresses each way in which I believe an album can succeed.

In reviewing an album, I always attempt to stay clearly rooted in whether or not the album contains good music, and outside of that my reviews can be terribly biased, because I think reviews should be biased. After all, an album review is one person's opinion on an album, not a bottom line that lays out how every person should feel about that album. A review should always attempt to speak to whether or not an album contains good music, while at the same time describing how much that particular reviewer enjoyed the album.

Stay Tuned for Reviewing the Review Part 3: The Score and The Rubric

Nit Picks, Pet Peeves and Guilty Pleasures #1: Reviewing the Review

Reviewing the Review: A Critique of Critiquing Critiques Part I

Lately I feel like I hear a lot of criticism of reviews. Not just music reviews, but movie reviews and video game reviews and more. I was discussing Green Day's latest album, 21st Century Breakdown with a friend, and I noted that Rolling Stone had given the album 4.5/5 stars, and my friend responded with something along the lines of, "yeah but rolling stone writes terrible reviews." I have also noted a surprising amount of internet hate towards Video Game reviewer Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw (Zero Punctuation) for the amount of hate that he shovels out onto fan favorites such as "Super Smash Brothers Brawl." In light of this, I've decided to start off my "Nit Picks" series with a discussion of reviews in order to give a little insight into how I approach my reviews. 

The Purpose of The Review

With so much hate surrounding reviews and reviewers, its easy to forget what purpose reviews are intended to serve. It's important to remember that just like music, reviews will provide different things for different readers, so I'm going to take this chance to discuss the most prevalent reactions that reviews might bring about. First off, a review is a chance for the reader to get a sense of an album, and its most common function is to help the reader decide whether or not they want to get the album. Unfortunately, this has lead to the common assumption that a review should be the final word on an album, dictating whether or not it is a good or bad album, and thus leading to the mentality that if a reviewer dislikes an album that the reader likes, then the reviewer must be personally attacking the reader's musical taste. This kind of thinking is what leads to the unprecedented amount of hate being leveled against reviewers. That being said, I do think that  lot of reviewers have moved away from the core purpose of a review. Many reviews spend too much time indulging the reviewers previous conceptions of the band in question. An album review is a chance to discuss and evaluate a single album, not an entire discography. 

Back to the point- Aside from providing a evaluation of an album to assist in the readers decision process, many readers read reviews to see what other people think of albums that they have strong opinions about. Everyone loves it when people agree with them, so why not right? This is one of my personal favorite uses of the review, because it often starts a dialogue about an album, especially when the reader and the reviewer disagree. It provides an opportunity to really think about what you liked and didn't like an album and that might stack up against someone else's perception of the same material. You probably wont start talking to the reviewer about their review, but a difference of opinions will most likely lead to discussion with a friend or fellow music enthusiast. 

In Review, a music review should be used to A) Give a solid Evaluation and Opinion on an album and B) Create a jumping off point for a conversation about music. 

Stick Around for Reviewing the Review Part 2: The "Unbiased " Review. 

Album Review: Memory and Humanity

Memory and Humanity

Funeral For a Friend

8.1

Great

Release Date: October 2008

Rubric:

Musicianship: 8

Musical Cohesiveness: 9

Song Structure: 8

Lyrics: 6

Emotional Energy: 8

Emotional Landscape: 9

Album Structure: 8

Production: 9

Variety: 8

Lasting Impression: 8

Funeral For a Friend is trying so hard to not be an Emo Rock band. From the Metal breakdown halfway through "Constant Illuminations" to the winding indie rock guitar line in "Charlie Don't Surf" to the schizophrenic musical tug of war that is "You Can't See the Forest For the Wolves," FFAF tries to distance themselves from the endless hordes bands whose sound falls somewhere in between Saosin, Alexisonfire, and My Chemical Romance. The bad news is, Funeral For a Friend is an emo band at heart, and can't quite seem free themselves from that moniker. The good news is, FFAF is at their strongest when they work from an Emo/Screamo bassline and attempt to push it, albeit gently, beyond its normal boundaries. Funeral For a Friend is about as good as Emo rock gets, and their abilities and strengths are showcased appropriately on "Memory and Humanity."

Musically, the album is solid, not shockingly good, but entertaining on the whole. Songs rarely move beyond classic Verse Chorus Verse structure, but many songs use juxtaposing styles and moods to give each song a distinct and refreshing feel. "You Can't See The Forest For the Wolves" and "Constant Illuminations" are both built on simple structures, but use "heavier" passages to help add energy and spark to what would have otherwise been two solid, but unremarkable tracks. "Beneath the Burning Tree" is one of the album's best tracks, particularly because of its unique structure that switches gears in the middle of the song, for a new, more emotionally powerful motif that moves through its own highs and lows before building to an emotional peak.

The one thing that truly makes Memory and Humanity stand out is its mood. Throughout the album, FFAF creates a consistently intriguing landscape that sucks you in like a good book or movie, and never really lets you go. You really feel the tension at the beginning of "Waterfront Dance Club", and you can't help but sing along when then tension releases into the anthemic line, "last call on the Waterfront!" The album's variety and structure plays well into the mood as well, making sure that the listener gets a break from the heavy, high energy songs when necessary, and pumping up the energy and excitement just when you think that the band is about to go completely soft on you.

Funeral for a Friend paints a picture in every song with their strong song writing, and this is only enhanced by the absolutely terrific production. Romesh Dodangoda's guitar tones cut through each track with just the right amount of distortion and bite, the drums really pop out, with the snare, toms and kick occupying the lower spaces of the recording, and the heavy cymbals supplementing the guitars and vocals, while still occupying their own space. With a band like Funeral For a Friend, many producers struggle balancing the the hard charging guitars and drums with the more flighty and melodic vocals, either giving completely precedence to vocals, allowing the emotionally powerful instrumentation to fall to the background, or bringing the vocals down too close to the instruments, obscuring main melodies and lyrics, but this is not the case with Dodangoda's handling of Memory and Humanity. Davies' voices soars and screams over the recording, but each instrument adds its own punch, a balance that allows the entire album to reach the emotional heights that many albums never will.

Memory and Humanity's weakest point is it's lyrics. Funeral for a Friend have never been the most clever of lyricists, and unfortunately it hurts them here. Lyrics are often repetitive, and sometimes don't really make a whole lot of sense together. One of the most crippling examples of this comes one of the album's prettiest tracks, "Building," in which Davies sings "Tin can in hand, waiting for God to come around, but he never comes around, he never comes around." Fortunately, only a few lyrics fall to that level of atrocity, and some songs, such as "Beneath the Burning Tree" contain really strong lyrics. On the whole, the poor lyrics are generally covered up by the strong song writing and crisp production.

Each band member shows off a decently advanced level of proficiency with their respective instruments, but each song is a band effort, and there are no particular standout moments for any specific instrument. Part of Funeral for a Friend's strength is their ability to layer multiple levels of (somewhat) complex musical ideas on top of each other without ever reaching beyond their station and attempting something that they can't pull off. Memory and Humanity works because each band member has the ability to stretch his chops when necessary with a heavy chugga-chug guitar flair or a strong drum fill, while always maintaining a high level of cohesion and precision. It's not the most musically exciting album, but what it lacks in musicianship it makes up for with a strong emotional punch. Matt Davies' singing is technically solid and sounds appropriately emotional and strained, and fits well with the lyrics (despite their shortcomings) and the mood.

At the end of the day, Memory and Humanity is a great album that is only occasionally held back by weak lyrics and the limitations of it's genre. The only other drawback is that there aren't any tracks that really stand out far and above anything you've heard before, it's just an overall solid collection of very good songs, and because of that, it may be hard to grab onto individual songs on the first few listens, since no songs really jump out at you immediately. Despite this, Memory and Humanity's consistency and infectious mood make it a must have for anyone even slightly interested in dark, driving and emotive rock.

Who Am I?

My name is Sam Tygiel, and I'm a Guitarist, Fluatist and Songwriter from San Francisco, and I find myself too often "over analyzing" my music, so I'm here to talk it all out, review recent releases as well as some older "controversial" albums, as well as write some Articles pertaining to my musical Nit Picks, Pet Peeves, and Guilty pleasure, all with an eye towards leveling the playing field and figuring out a new way to discuss and enjoy our music! 

So sit back, grab a bag of popcorn and get ready to disagree with me