I just reviewed a bunch of tracks in YLC

Not too impressed so far with the tracks I've reviewed. There are a few gems but nothing really worth developing upon. A lot of seemingly unfinished or rushed music is being posted and I don't think it's fair that YLC is being littered with garbage and half-assed music anymore. I don't think it's fair of me to really come on here and say stuff like, "take more pride in your music." but for fuck's sake.

Also, I know I'm not gaining any fans by doing the sort of reviews that I need to do. But Jesus Christ, some of you really, really need to hear it. If you don't like what I have to say about it, that's cool, but the real shame is not learning anything from people's criticism.

i agree with you

i agree with your reviews

mo

  420 SMOKEN said:

but the real shame is not learning anything from people's criticism.

criticism is always good

duno, the stuff i heard is a lot better than the stuff that used to be in there.

  Gump said:

criticism is always good

indeed... as long as its truthful criticism.

I cant get past the stigma of putting a track up for review on a message board in the first place. I guess thats just personal. I still like to listen and review every now and again. basically, I dont want to make you famous (by buying your music someday) if you go on a message board and say "heres my ep i made in reason, its like breakcore...is it good?" etc. It makes you sound incompetant and like your music is not bringing our minds to new places. Thats why I hesitate to post anything. Its a personal problem mostly but mostly I don't want to know what the majority of you think of my music. Anyways, I was trying to make a point but my mind cannot quite get to it. But yeah. Its all a musical blur to me when I get on there.

But honestly, forget what I just said and keep making music! :laughing:

I don't post tracks coz I do it for my own personal satisfaction for the most part.

Excellent statement. I love the drums and piano line that come in at 2:14. Solid.

WELL, SOAP MY BOY, U´VE FAILED IN CRITICISM, U´VE SAID WHAT I WANTED TO SAY AND DIN´T CAUSE I TOUGHT IT SOUNDED RUBBISH, AND IT DOES!

I DIDN´T SEE ANY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICS BY YOU, ONLY DESTRUCTIVE ONES, AND THAT DIDN´T PLEASE ME BIATCH, WHEN R WE GOIN TO MAKE WILD SEX AGAIN SO THAT THIS SHIT COULD GO AWAY?!?!?!

AND BTW, U DIDN´T REVIEW MINES, MY HEART IZ IN PIECES....

YES, I WANT YOUR AIDS!!!!

We can already see the reactions of my criticism and frankly I am not surprised one goddamned bit.

I love it.

Completely miss the point of the thread and attack me for giving an honest review. People really want to touchy-feely this whole fucking place and it's turning everyone into musical faggots.

YLC pretty much now is the equivalent of a kindergarten or nursery school, where when a child makes a few scribbled lines on a writing tablet, he is praised for it. Everybody is the winner!! Yay!!!!

This DOES NOT WORK YOU GUYS. IT DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE.

yeah yeah.

i think the real issue is that the reviews need to be honest and straight from the hip, and yours generally are. as are promos for that matter.

whether i personally agree with what you say about either our music or another ekters stuff is neither here nor there. i think it's good that you take the time to communicate your honest thoughts on the matter.

sometimes i think you are right, other times I think you are well off the mark - but thats music innit. a very personal thing. you either like, don't like or don't care enough either way to give a fuck.

there's just too much of the latter going around these days...so its good to see some honest opinion either way.

a lot of folk here make music for themselves first and foremost, that's the reality of it at this level. it's shared in the hope that some (one or many) might like it too.

i agree there is far too much shite posted. but i also happen to think we make good music. clearly, most people face that dichotomy. thats just it though, we all think we have done our best and made some good music. then we all shoot off about a distinct lack of good music. maybe the problem with EKT is that there aint enough real top drawer stuff being posted to help support the tryers and up and comers.

where the fuck is E P Spies these days for example? fuck knows.

keep smoken P, s'all good dude..

Hey let's all be passive-aggressive instead.

Signs and Symptoms

Passive-Aggressive disorder is characterized by stubbornness.

Postponing and dragging assignments and lack of efficiency that might frustrate other people.

In a personal relationship, or during work, when this person is asked to do something - he will reply by saying yes, but in reality will do nothing.

Unlike other psychotic disorders in which the person who suffers the most is the patient himself, in the passive-aggressive disorder it is the environment that suffers. The individual does not refuse to carry out a request, thus there is anticipation of cooperating, but in reality there are no results.

I post music coz I want people to hear it, and hopefully like it. If they don't like it, then fair enough, but I don't agree with all this "honest" opinion stuff. You don't have to like, completely slag someone's track off to give them honest reviews. Just pick out the good points or something - (if there are no good points, then I dunno, just keep it schtum). We all need the encouragement! Hopefully, one day, with enough people saying "yeah mate, keep it up!", somebody might make it. Get a big record deal or something. But don't shoot us down for giving it a go. Most people who post in EKT can't make a decent track for shit (myself most definitely included), but we still enjoy trying. We still like to say "Look what I've done. I'm proud of it." What's wrong with that? The stuff you say about EKT being a Kindergarten etc is really harsh mate. Who the fuck are YOU to say something like that?? Aphex or something? I think not.

this all depends on whether the musician wants to really improve and possibly make a career out of his stuff. Perhaps you should state whether you do or not when you post a song. "C&C welcome!"

  Orubasarot said:

Shit music

I don't believe any of the music in EKT to be shit. Shit music = commercial, made for the masses crap. Everything in EKT, is, if nothing else, at least trying to be fairly original. It's music from the heart. No thought of profit or sales or kudos. Just honest electronic music, that may not be very polished, or even finished properly, but, I tell you what - IT'S ALL GOOD.

  BCM said:

  Orubasarot said:

Shit music

Everything in EKT, is, if nothing else, at least trying to be fairly original. - IT'S ALL GOOD.

Are you from some sort of opposite land where everything that is true is false and vice versa? Are you trying to be funny? Ironic?

  420 SMOKEN said:

  BCM said:

  Orubasarot said:

Shit music

Everything in EKT, is, if nothing else, at least trying to be fairly original. - IT'S ALL GOOD.

 

 

Are you from some sort of opposite land where everything that is true is false and vice versa? Are you trying to be funny? Ironic?

Yes to all of them. And no.

  BCM said:

I don't believe any of the music in EKT to be shit. Shit music = commercial, made for the masses crap. Everything in EKT, is, if nothing else, at least trying to be fairly original. It's music from the heart. No thought of profit or sales or kudos. Just honest electronic music, that may not be very polished, or even finished properly, but, I tell you what - IT'S ALL GOOD.

That's bullshit. I don't mean to single anyone out, but take Fez for example. He posts a threads saying shit like "I'm trying to make drum 'n bass" and "I want to know how to make a bass that sounds like other basses that I've heard." And you know what? Good for him. He's trying to improve his production skills. I doubt he gives a toot about making some composition from the heart that is personal and not meant to please anyone but him. I respect him for his straightforwardness. I bet more than half the people that post tracks are doing the same thing, secretly--maybe they don't even know it--and then forget all about it and just want people to like their track when it comes down to it.

But in reality, there is shit music on this board. There is bad production, and there are bad compositions. People are trying to improve. There's a reason they're posting it here and not making actual releases--they make boring, generic, and poorly-produced shit. But they're working at it, and telling them that they're music isn't shit because it's from the heart and not meant to please anyone but themselves is shortchanging them. If they really give a shit about making music, they'll want to hear that it's shit and that they need to work on things. If they're only interested in "here's some music I've made and I think it's good and I don't need to learn anything because I shower special snowflakes from the fruity loops heavens and please just like it I only want people to like it so that I can feel good about it" they deserve to be scared out of music-making by people who care more about improving them than they care about improving themselves.

If they just like making music but aren't passionate about improving it, fine, they can give it to their parents if they want kudos. If they don't think it needs improvement, they're full of shit.

I'd post more reviews (negative reviews) but I consider myself to be one of those newbs that's doesn't know shit, so I don't feel comfortable telling people how to make stuff better. I do know, however, that there are lots of turds posted. My music is probably included. But hey, I like my music no matter what, and I'm interested in improving.

why i rant so long

whoa if you fast reply after just posting something it tags it onto your previous post. stellar.

interesting argument.

firstly, i don't think anyone should be discouraged from sharing their music. it does make more for everyone to weed through, but it's an innate desire of anyone who creates to share that creation with others. actually sometimes that's not true... there are those that internalise their art... but for the most part.

also i've heard a lot of good stuff on EKT. i've also heard a lot of bad stuff on EKT. some folks in there really know their stuff, and have been doing this for ages. some are new, and need guidance. constructive criticism is good. being harsh and vitriolic because you feel something sucks too much to warrant posting in a rather obscure forum seems unfair. it's completely acceptable to dislike something, but i don't see any reason to be mean about it.

i don't think my stuff is awful. i personally have been making this kinda music for a LONG damn time, and i've learned a lot. i usually only post my own stuff when i find it particuarly interesting for a specific reason. it's almost like a checksum for my aesthetic. what i mean is if i do a track and try something specifically new that i think stands out, i post it up here to see if others comment on it, or if people recognise what i'm trying to do.

the EKT crowd is generally pretty picky about their music, and that does show in a lot of reviews.

having said all of this, i find two "i think _____ could be better" or "maybe use _____ and less ____" comments are worth a million "yeah mate that's really good let me hear more" comments.

it was the same thing with my 'real life' band. people invariably gave you blind "you guys are awesome" feedback, instead of genuine feedback.

maybe they just didn't care.

but then why bother?

love,

c

i don't check a great deal out - but i'll probably find more tunes on the first page of YLC i quite like right now than i would on Boomkat

it's electronic music in general these days - there's so little that stands out or does anything for me... i find it takes much more effort than it used to, despite the internet thing, to find anything new or interesting

i think the mass appeal in creating electronic music has sort of guaranteed its long-term stability... were this 10 years ago, and things were this dry, i think everyone would be writing the genre off

of course, there's always a new crowd getting into electronic music for the first time - i remember when the most generic 4/4 bassdrum and synth stabs would have me rewinding my walkman 50 times in a row at school... not only do they have to be catered for, but music production takes so little time to get into now, half the demo's are by these ppl

back when you had to buy gear and learn it, you could spend 6 years before you make anything listenable

i always assumed the listening lounge was more a place to critique demo's and rough sketches on the whole

There are obviously poor ways to give criticism. See 420's reviews that are related to this thread for an example of poor criticism.

Mr. Smoken, you do often have valid and helpful points in your reviews, but wrapping them in self-important hostility is a tired style. People react defensively more to your arrogant and condescending tone than to the "cold, hard truth" that you allegedly give.

hmmm, i tend not to review a lot of tracks not only cuz i've been busy preparing to graduate, but also cuz (like others said) there is a lot of shit music being posted...so much shit in ylc sounds super derivative...either the style is totally jacked from someone like aphex....or all the sounds are presets....etc.etc. its really hard to write anything constructive when a track sounds like it was made it 20mins using reason/rebirth, and there was no mixing involved...i dont wanna tell someone there music is shit cuz theyre just trying to copy someone else + theyre doing it poorly, you know? whenever i post a track i try to make it something ive had to spend time on and it still doesnt please me...or a track that i like and is pretty original, but im not sure if it sounds competed....or shit like that....its annoying when someone is screwing around with reason for a little while, comes up with a few patterns n riffs then thinks its done exports it and posts it....reviewing a little diddy usually is pretty stupid unless the point is that....like someone making a crappy minute long pop song with crap production/sounds/vocals but its funny anyways...whatever...im just rambling...people need to start posting more completed works...stuff with substance...

Also I'd like to add I always hear like half finished tracks that sound like they could be some fucking awesome shit I could never do. Like crazy glitchy intense drums and shit but then it ends up being only that and like 2 minutes long. Its like, this might ne good filler on a venetian snares album but where is the fucking SONG. I mean, there are the songs, but not many of them.