@BT, best wishes with the finishing process. The silver lining in dissertations is that they look far smaller in the rear-view mirror. I pray you'll get a good examining committee with questions in their heads that let you show what you know rather than let them demonstrate their prowess. We'll look forward to more MiG insights when you're basking in the glow of completion.
I can fully sympathise with you BT, apologies for suggesting you in the first place for the review. I do hope it works out OK with your dissertation and GP is right they do look smaller afterwards, just a step on the way. My supervisor told me that you never finish a thesis, you just hand in what you've got on the day it is due, as you could always add more - it is just a work in progress and a particular point has been reached.
@Craig - there's a comment waiting to be approved/trashed/spammed on the Kate Campbell piece. It looks like spam to me. Can you take a look? Spam it, if you agree.
@Jonah & GP - congrats on your growing notoriety - well done and well deserved!
Not sure, exactly. Tricky, because I've been working with Cowbell Music the last couple months on behalf of AAJ regarding Benjamin Koppel, a block of downloads, a block of album reviews, and maybe an interview (maybe). However, that doesn't mean I couldn't use my connection to add that MiG would love to do an interview with Anders.
Maybe that wouldn't be so difficult, actually, now that I'm typing it.
If someone on MiG wanted to interview Anders, how about type out a brief proposal and I'll see what I can do. I actually owe Cowbell an email, which I'll likely send next week.
Another potential interview has presented itself through higaru. MB's occasional collaborator Daniel Dorobantu (Thy Veils) is wondering if we'd give his music a listen and potentially do an interview. I can certainly take a listen, but wanted to throw it open to anyone. His music is at:
1. Tweeted about that nifty Bento interview, as well as a link to the emusers forum to join the discussion thread about their music.
2. I believe some discussion was had earlier about seeking other writers to participate on emusers and/or MiG. At some point, I could send out a tweet to that effect re: MiG. Is that something the group would want me to do, on occasion or do we want to try to get potential writers to join the forum first and sorta vet them that way? Just curious. Nothing I was looking to tweet anytime soon.
Unrelated. I unfollowed someone for MiG. It's a new thing called "The ECM Sound," a project which is attempting to document everything ECM has done. Not sure how involved ECM itself is. It's a pretty big task by this site, and I could see how it might be helpful to people depending on how it was compiled and organized. I was supremely irked, however, that something called The ECM Sound would have absolutely no music to stream on it. That, plus they make about twenty tweets an hour (one by the reviewer tweet account, then immediately retweeted by The ECM Sound account). Anyways, out of politeness, I refrained from making a snarky tweet about it, and decided just to vent here instead.
I glad you're running the Tweets, jonah. I wouldn't have the slightest thought to mention things in the Tweet like...well...me. It's fun to get an e-mail saying "... mentioned you in a Tweet!"
I think we want to vet writers through emusers at the moment so we can be sure they fit in.
My cousin is working on the graphic design for the blog and asked me to provide a few visuals that I like. I already gave him some of amclark2's work, but does anyone else have something in mind that should be included? I think I'll do the Swime cover as I think most everyone here likes it.
I agree re vetting. I do think emusers/MiG has an ethos. It's an ethos that includes welcome to new voices (I was one not desperately long ago, and am grateful), and I'd love to see new and more people write, but it's also not just any random platform for publishing things. I have this feeling that people who write for MiG should also care about it.
I'll likely be out of touch for much of the next week after tomorrow, depending on where I can get Wifi. Tomorrow I head off to Norway where I'll be teaching six workshops for teachers in five cities in five days, with very little down time. I'm not even sure where I'm staying in some places. At least it's perfect timing to listen to the new Pjusk album in its proper context.
How little down time will you have? Would you like me to send out a tweet asking for recs for shows occurring in whatever town(s) you'll be in? Who knows, maybe I could get you onto a "list" somewhere. I really don't know how much goodwill I've established to do something like that.
Hey, no problem. I'm already on twitter a bunch through BitW, and a little bit for AAJ, and then, of course, my personal alter-ego twitter account, so MiG isn't a burden or anything.
Jonah, thanks for the thought, but the schedule after Sunday is literally teach day-long workshop then hop on a train/plane and spend late afternoon/evening getting to the next city to start the next workshop the next morning. If I do get any time in the evening it will be spent sleeping. I will be hearing Bach's Johannes-Passion at the Cathedral in Oslo Sunday night with the Nederlands Kamerkoor though.
OK, there's another Classical Highlights awaiting review, and I should have a History post next week.
I'm really pleased with how MiG is turning out, though sometimes I feel there's a bit too much disparity between what I'm doing and what everyone else is doing. By which I mean if there's a general thrust to the articles on MiG it's of reviews of new albums and interviews with currently relevant artists, whereas I'm writing history and providing overviews of other people's reviews; plus the fact that Nereffid = classical and vice versa, means it feels a bit like I'm in a little niche. Does anyone else have that perception? Anyway, I'm not saying any of us should change what we're doing, because it's all good, and I know we all have little enough time to write the things we want to write. Getting some new writers involved might broaden the range of article styles.
@Nereffid, your contributions to MiG are a BIG plus! It really helps prove MiG's 'About Us' mission statement. We're supposed to be widely diverse and no one appreciates your MiG presence more than I do because I know exactly what you mean about being your own niche. I have been thinking the exact same thing about my contributions! Most of the stuff I've been writing about are not new albums - it's just stuff I happen to love and want to talk about and hopefully provide a little more well deserved exposure.
I currently have a baroque piece in my head that I thought I might find time to start drafting this weekend (I feel a bit of urgency about that one since it is about a new release due out March 27 and it would be nice to have it up fairly close to the release date. I've been researching it already and wanted to get the 'bones' written ahead of time and then as soon as I receive the CD and get a chance to listen to the whole thing (rather than a piece or two), I could put the finishing touches on it and get it submitted.)
I'm also working on a draft of David Olney's new thematic EP series, the 2nd of which is being released March 20. I know I've been stuck in 'folk' on all my pieces so far (except for 1 baroque piece), and Olney is yet another folky, Americana singer-songwriter, but the first of his EP series, "Film Noir" is quite different.
In addition to those, I have plans to write some more baroque pieces soon and also I plan to cover some celtic and other 'international' CDs that are favorites of mine, but they will mostly be older releases. Also there's some blues CDs I want to write about, and maybe I'll do something on some of the old-time jazz stuff I like so much. But, yes, I agree with you that getting more authors involved will widen the diversity even more. And I also agree with you that none of us should change what we write about, because it's all good - and the fact that we are choosing to write about whatever excites us (not paying attention to getting too heavy in one category) makes it the best kind of writing because we are all writing about what we love.
@Nereffid, @kez, A couple of years ago I added a questionnaire to the end of an exam mid-way through a beginner semester in German. It showed that around 80% of the students in the class believed that most of the other students in the class were doing better than they were. I suspect this is a common dynamic where folk make individual contributions in a group setting but don't see each other much outside that setting.
Nereffid, I think your pieces are invaluable, both to MiG and in and of themselves. Once the history is complete I plan to collate my own copy and nurture the ambition that one summer I will sit in my yard with it in hand and digital versions of some big booster packs in my pocket and listen through it and get educated. (I have been reading and enjoying it as I go along, but I want to get the big sweep). The reviews roundup I personally use less, but I am totally in favor of it being there for those who do. In fact I kind of wish there were a practical way of doing it in other genres.
Kez, I've greatly valued your pieces too, and reasons for valuing them include that they are not necessarily current albums and that they have tended to be in genres that correspond with my profound ignorance. Every time I read one of them I learn something. And you write very well.
Same goes for Craig's Greg's, BT's, Jonah's, Scissorman's pieces. I really hope everyone continues.
For my own stuff, I have written a bunch of reviews because I am not sure I know enough in systematic terms about any given area of music to write other things, and because when I've had other ideas I have not had time, and because it's the easiest thing to write and the easiest way to drum up an audience. In terms of music at large I am a totally uneducated enthusiast. The thing I do know how to do is close listening and interpretive writing - both have close analogs in my professional work. I also write fairly quickly once I have the idea straight. My worry has been that I post too many reviews in a narrow band of genres - I am always happy when the rest of you post something that is nothing like what I had, so that things keep balancing out. I have several other recent albums in hand that I could review, and am also afraid of posting too much that is too similar. But I agree with Kez, enthusiasm should be the main motor. All of which is to say, we might all be in that 80% (and maybe it's good for us, as it was for my students, to point that out).
I'm kind of amazed at what we have achieved. I think the overall quality of writing is at the high end of musical blogs that I frequent, and is consistently substantial and interesting.
Nereffid and kez - There may not be much classical/folk outside of your works, but yours are some my favorite reads thus far. In fact, I found myself the other day dreading the fact that there are only a couple more posts in the History of Classical Music left!
I also intend to write more histories, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I agree with GP's first paragraph. I often feel like an amateur of the lowest order when posting to the same blog as you folks, but I keep going because it is just so much fun.
Comments
Sorry about your loss. Good luck with the dissertation. I'll have nice thoughts for you on both fronts.
Cheers.
Craig
http://cowbellmusic.dk/flotte-internationale-anmeldelser-af-anders-koppels-nye-cd/
Craig
@Jonah & GP - congrats on your growing notoriety - well done and well deserved!
@BT - good luck with your thesis.
Craig
Craig
Maybe that wouldn't be so difficult, actually, now that I'm typing it.
If someone on MiG wanted to interview Anders, how about type out a brief proposal and I'll see what I can do. I actually owe Cowbell an email, which I'll likely send next week.
Bandcamp
Soundcloud - An upcoming release.
Official website
YouTube
If anyone is interested let me know.
Craig
Craig
Edits made to Broderick "Float." Those were some good catches.
Cheers.
1. Tweeted about that nifty Bento interview, as well as a link to the emusers forum to join the discussion thread about their music.
2. I believe some discussion was had earlier about seeking other writers to participate on emusers and/or MiG. At some point, I could send out a tweet to that effect re: MiG. Is that something the group would want me to do, on occasion or do we want to try to get potential writers to join the forum first and sorta vet them that way? Just curious. Nothing I was looking to tweet anytime soon.
Unrelated. I unfollowed someone for MiG. It's a new thing called "The ECM Sound," a project which is attempting to document everything ECM has done. Not sure how involved ECM itself is. It's a pretty big task by this site, and I could see how it might be helpful to people depending on how it was compiled and organized. I was supremely irked, however, that something called The ECM Sound would have absolutely no music to stream on it. That, plus they make about twenty tweets an hour (one by the reviewer tweet account, then immediately retweeted by The ECM Sound account). Anyways, out of politeness, I refrained from making a snarky tweet about it, and decided just to vent here instead.
Cheers.
I think we want to vet writers through emusers at the moment so we can be sure they fit in.
Craig
My cousin is working on the graphic design for the blog and asked me to provide a few visuals that I like. I already gave him some of amclark2's work, but does anyone else have something in mind that should be included? I think I'll do the Swime cover as I think most everyone here likes it.
Craig
Hey, no problem. I'm already on twitter a bunch through BitW, and a little bit for AAJ, and then, of course, my personal alter-ego twitter account, so MiG isn't a burden or anything.
I'm really pleased with how MiG is turning out, though sometimes I feel there's a bit too much disparity between what I'm doing and what everyone else is doing. By which I mean if there's a general thrust to the articles on MiG it's of reviews of new albums and interviews with currently relevant artists, whereas I'm writing history and providing overviews of other people's reviews; plus the fact that Nereffid = classical and vice versa, means it feels a bit like I'm in a little niche. Does anyone else have that perception? Anyway, I'm not saying any of us should change what we're doing, because it's all good, and I know we all have little enough time to write the things we want to write. Getting some new writers involved might broaden the range of article styles.
I currently have a baroque piece in my head that I thought I might find time to start drafting this weekend (I feel a bit of urgency about that one since it is about a new release due out March 27 and it would be nice to have it up fairly close to the release date. I've been researching it already and wanted to get the 'bones' written ahead of time and then as soon as I receive the CD and get a chance to listen to the whole thing (rather than a piece or two), I could put the finishing touches on it and get it submitted.)
I'm also working on a draft of David Olney's new thematic EP series, the 2nd of which is being released March 20. I know I've been stuck in 'folk' on all my pieces so far (except for 1 baroque piece), and Olney is yet another folky, Americana singer-songwriter, but the first of his EP series, "Film Noir" is quite different.
In addition to those, I have plans to write some more baroque pieces soon and also I plan to cover some celtic and other 'international' CDs that are favorites of mine, but they will mostly be older releases. Also there's some blues CDs I want to write about, and maybe I'll do something on some of the old-time jazz stuff I like so much. But, yes, I agree with you that getting more authors involved will widen the diversity even more. And I also agree with you that none of us should change what we write about, because it's all good - and the fact that we are choosing to write about whatever excites us (not paying attention to getting too heavy in one category) makes it the best kind of writing because we are all writing about what we love.
Nereffid, I think your pieces are invaluable, both to MiG and in and of themselves. Once the history is complete I plan to collate my own copy and nurture the ambition that one summer I will sit in my yard with it in hand and digital versions of some big booster packs in my pocket and listen through it and get educated. (I have been reading and enjoying it as I go along, but I want to get the big sweep). The reviews roundup I personally use less, but I am totally in favor of it being there for those who do. In fact I kind of wish there were a practical way of doing it in other genres.
Kez, I've greatly valued your pieces too, and reasons for valuing them include that they are not necessarily current albums and that they have tended to be in genres that correspond with my profound ignorance. Every time I read one of them I learn something. And you write very well.
Same goes for Craig's Greg's, BT's, Jonah's, Scissorman's pieces. I really hope everyone continues.
For my own stuff, I have written a bunch of reviews because I am not sure I know enough in systematic terms about any given area of music to write other things, and because when I've had other ideas I have not had time, and because it's the easiest thing to write and the easiest way to drum up an audience. In terms of music at large I am a totally uneducated enthusiast. The thing I do know how to do is close listening and interpretive writing - both have close analogs in my professional work. I also write fairly quickly once I have the idea straight. My worry has been that I post too many reviews in a narrow band of genres - I am always happy when the rest of you post something that is nothing like what I had, so that things keep balancing out. I have several other recent albums in hand that I could review, and am also afraid of posting too much that is too similar. But I agree with Kez, enthusiasm should be the main motor. All of which is to say, we might all be in that 80% (and maybe it's good for us, as it was for my students, to point that out).
I'm kind of amazed at what we have achieved. I think the overall quality of writing is at the high end of musical blogs that I frequent, and is consistently substantial and interesting.
I also intend to write more histories, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I agree with GP's first paragraph. I often feel like an amateur of the lowest order when posting to the same blog as you folks, but I keep going because it is just so much fun.
Craig