Originally posted by chode_breath
And you still think that's going on, numpty? You don't think that the site might have revised their policy after that nasty press? My mate works in their office and its pretty clear things don't work that way any more.
And you think RA would ever admit stuff like that still goes on? I don't think they'll ever be stupid enough to pull a review again, but I think they will always be biased towards sponsors and collaborators, whether they admit to it or not.
quote:
As for your number points...they are useless for two reasons. 1 and 2 because Ra always covers "underground music" (like theres even a way to define that!) i.e . tiny labels, hand-stamped releases, white labels, etc. Number 3...have you not noticed all the trance that Ra covers in their news section? Its been appearing there for ages. And the last one, have you considered that the stigma exists because people DON'T LIKE TRANCE?
I specifically meant trance when I was talking about underground stuff. RA cover underground music as long as it's trendy. I have never seen them cover something totally off the radar just because it's a good release. I've never seen any trance come up on the RA news section. There's certainly none in the first five pages of news, so it can't be very extensive coverage. And frankly, who gives a ? Occasionally rewording press releases is neither here nor there.
As for not liking trance, I can accept that a lot of people don't, but you can't play the "30 DIFFERENT REVIEWS WITH DIFFERENT TASTES" card and then try and claim that none of them like any kind of trance. Why isn't this supposedly autonomous reviewer who can trainspot AraabMUZIK's Jam & Spoon samples reviewing some trance? Most of them probably don't like trance because they simply don't listen to it. There are people on TranceAddict who can't find any of the good coming out, so a bunch of people entrenched in the trendy tech-haus-step world of RA aren't going to know about that stuff. The whole point is that a good percentage of the RA readership would probably love this if the site made any effort to cover it. I'll also go back to the fact that RA have openly stated that they completely ignore trance by default.
Finally, where the did I call RA "pretentious", exactly? Are you reading what I'm actually writing at all, or are you just seeing "RA CRITICISM RA CRITICISM RA CRITICISM" and retaliating with irrelevant bull and presuppositions?
Sykonee
quote:
Originally posted by chode_breath
I agree with you on that ty araabmuzik release but that was only one reviewer. Its funny reading Ra where all the users are constantly complaining about bias and favouratism on the site, all the while ignoring that there are like 30 different reviewers on there with different opinions.
If that's the case, why does everything only score a 3-4/5 anymore? It's like RA doesn't want to slag off anything, lest they piss off one of their promo pools, yet they're also hesitant to declare anything a 5/5 Classic, lest they get caught hyping a next-big-nothing and ruining their underground cred.
Or is the sound of the underground truly just a bunch of competent but ultimately forgettable releases?
LAdazeNYnights
quote:
Originally posted by Sykonee
If that's the case, why does everything only score a 3-4/5 anymore? It's like RA doesn't want to slag off anything, lest they piss off one of their promo pools, yet they're also hesitant to declare anything a 5/5 Classic, lest they get caught hyping a next-big-nothing and ruining their underground cred.
ROFL it's so true.
Looking through their recent reviews: December has one record rated below 3 (Franck Roger & Mandel Turner - After All...a record that's been killing it already so their review doesn't mean it seems)
I do think, though, that to give a record a 5/5 (a 'perfect score') shouldn't be taken so lightly and, in that, they've got it right. Similarly, 1 or .5 rated records don't come around that often either since, well, why would they bother to review such e unless it's making the rounds/from a respected producer/on a respected label. One can't expect their scores to fit some sort of normal curve with 2.5 being the average because they don't review 'everything' but still, 90%+ of recent reviews scoring either 3.5 or 4 is a bit ridiculous.
ripped
their editors' reviews are boring anyway
what's really worth reading are the comments on the forum
Rodri Santos
Digweed is boring, curious that Sven is so high last time i saw him even trainwrecked apart from an absolutely non special set.
Sykonee
quote:
Originally posted by LAdazeNYnights
I do think, though, that to give a record a 5/5 (a 'perfect score') shouldn't be taken so lightly and, in that, they've got it right. Similarly, 1 or .5 rated records don't come around that often either since, well, why would they bother to review such e unless it's making the rounds/from a respected producer/on a respected label.
Such would be fine if they always had that policy, but it wasn't that long ago where you'd see a 5/5 or 1/5 drop at least once a month. Once their profile truly expanded around 2008 tho', away went their more contentious tendencies. If that isn't playing the PR game, I don't know what is.
Frankly, they should just be rid of their rating system since it no longer seems to serve any purpose other than to occasionally let a Stephane Girard score cause a ruckus in their forums (and even he ain't droppin' the 1 bombs like he used to).
Woony
quote:
Originally posted by Sykonee
If that's the case, why does everything only score a 3-4/5 anymore? It's like RA doesn't want to slag off anything, lest they piss off one of their promo pools, yet they're also hesitant to declare anything a 5/5 Classic, lest they get caught hyping a next-big-nothing and ruining their underground cred.
Or is the sound of the underground truly just a bunch of competent but ultimately forgettable releases?
I actually looked into this, for singles they only ever give 5s for reissues of obvious classics. New singles NEVER get 5s (at least in the last 3 years or so). 2-3 albums a year get 5s. (this year the machinedrum album and K-S.H.E. - Routes Not Roots for example).
By the way here's the RA top albums list: http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1423
BIG ING SURPRISE, NICO JAAR #1 AGAIN. But I think other than that the list has some pretty good picks regarding the genres RA covers.
Woony
I listened to some of these araabMUZIK tracks and WHAT THE is this anyways? A Ronski Speed vocaltrance track with some mediocre hip hop beats under it? Ignoring fact that most people will find the sampled track mediocre to begin with, this is pretty much sampling the track and tapping some buttons on your maschine for 2 minutes and the track is done.
By the way I recognized the original immediately and I think it's a pretty nice track even 3 years later. (and I hate pop Trance as much as most people here these days :p)
sljiva
quote:
Originally posted by Woony
By the way here's the RA top albums list: http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1423
BIG ING SURPRISE, NICO JAAR #1 AGAIN. But I think other than that the list has some pretty good picks regarding the genres RA covers.
Yeah, that's surprisingly interesting list of choices (though they just couldn't resist to include couple of obvious atrocities - such as James Blake). Pretty nice coverage from all across the electronic music spectrum, not just disposable techno/house niche that usually occupied most of the list. And yeah, Machinedrum should've been up there on top.
Neonbeats
RA is generally pretty good source for "underground" edm. I do wish they would break out into more genre's. Is there any good "underground" trance or prog? I dunno.
Guest
I stopped reading RA a long time ago. If I found any benefit in that site whatsoever, if i thought it would help me find great records, trust me I would at least skim it from time to time. They seriously ing suck, are corrupted by their own desire to generate revenue, and for the most part have terrible taste in music.
LAdazeNYnights
Pretty pleased to see The Weeknd - House Of Balloons on that list. Probably the single album that got the most play for me over the course of a year (that is, the album I listened to the whole way through the most times. dozens.)
