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-- How to get local music into the store -- Where, o where, can i buy schicky gnarowitz's music? -Sasha We have no idea. We tried looking online and couldn’t find anything, so we had a crazy idea. If you want to find music from any local musicians, try calling your favorite record stores and ask if they have any. If they don’t have it, maybe they’ll pick it up! -- In response to mlp v2:i3, Reviews -- Dear E.D. Agra: Thanks so much for your delightful review of my CD, Letting Go of Strings. I completely defend your right to your opinions, and your writing is impressively multi-syllabic - though tearing your ears off might work better than tearing your eyes out when being forced to listen to something you dont like. Different senses. Im honestly puzzled, though, by the absolute viciousness of the attack. The views you express behind your pseudonym are so extremely opposite of other publications that Im wondering if I at some time ran over your cat or something. If so, I apologize profusely and will, in fact, go check my tires for fur. In the meantime, I wish you better music to listen to. Nobody should have to be so angry, and Im sorry that you are. -Gina Noell Ms. Noell- Yes, I despised your record -- that's true -- yet never have I thought my opinion of someone else's art to equal a personal vendetta. Art is always personal and we, as human beings, have a right to our personal opinions if nothing else. Anyone who chooses to believe that an artistic review can absolutely abstain from personal bias is deluding themselves and should stick to creating work in and for their own basement. You freely offered your record up to MLP for review, let me remind you, and recieved a critique as promised. Regards, P.S. In my review of your record where I write, "...I feel like tearing my eyes out..", I am referring to the writing and not the sound. Eyes are used for reading, you see, and not for listening to mediocre music. Thus, I am quite correct in my acknowledgement of the proper senses. to eda, your review of gina's recent work was a particularly fine piece of gutless journalism. if you're going to personally attack another's work, it seems reasonable to be personally accountable for what you write. hiding behind an anonymous tagline only deflates an already weak argument. it's fine to be critical of a piece of art, but the manner in which this review was written seems to indicate a personal vendetta. or maybe you simply are unable to provide a cogent, well written review. sincerely, Dear Mr. O'Brien, I'd like to respond on behalf of E.D. Agro, because I personally have a strong reaction to your accusation. First of all, I will admit that the review was vitriolic, but I believe the only part of it which could be considered a personal attack was the line about "her producer husband." I've discussed this point with E.D., and we both agree that it was a foolish comment because it detracted from an otherwise direct assessment of the work. It has led you, Ms. Noell, and possibly some readers to believe that we've got a "personal vendetta" against the artist. This is not true, and I regret the misunderstanding. Ms. Noell seems like a very pleasant person, and I admired her email in response to the review. It was charming, humble and humorous. I agree with my writer, and think that the CD is simply awful, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Gina herself seems like a very nice person. As for the part about "gutless journalism," if you think an "anonymous tagline" deflates someone's analysis, then I suggest you dismiss the entire record review section of our magazine altogether. Only a couple of the names in that section are real. We don't do this to protect the identities of the reviewers, we do this because it takes the spotlight off of the reviewer and puts it back on the artist. My major complaint with record reviews in this industry is that too often the writer is trying to upstage the work at hand by exposing his own clever writing. We originally adopted a policy of pen names in the review section because it shouldn’t matter who’s writing it. For practical reasons, that’s not always that case any longer, but there are those who still prefer to use pen names (like many writers the world over). If this seems like unaccountable and cowardly journalism to you, then I would recommend you tell your friends to avoid sending their albums to us. None of us are professionals here. We do this because we feel strongly about the music in Portland. It'd be foolish to say that every artist in town is brilliant, and it'd be downright self-destructive for us to withhold our honest opinion when an album is full of problems. So again, I apologize for the one unfortunately personal statement. I do stand by the rest of the review, however, and if you would like, I can direct you to a number of less honest publications. -David Also. Not only was Maranda Dabel's review of The Roulettes EP catty and dull, it was a total waste. I can't see any “liberated” music fan taking seriously a reviewer whose banal prose include the rousing proclamation that she's “not a dumb girl.” Really? I don't see any proof. Get over yourself you talentless hack. If this album caused you "pain", that's just one more reason to like it. -Rory Store Rory- Apparently you haven’t noticed that almost all of our reviews are dull, and a fair number catty. I find it shameful that you would only pick out Maranda’s review of The Roulettes EP, banality being a specialty of ours. Oh, and I have no idea what you’re talking about, “‘liberated’ music fan.” My friend, it is not our aim to liberate any music fans, only the music itself. Some of it should be liberated to the masses. Some of it should just be let go. Did we give your favorite band short shrift? Tell us off: letters@musicliberationproject.com. |