Scuba's Personality = Sasha's Expander.

slackk

slackk

-
actually there are probably far worse things than this album i just don't really want to know what they are
 
E

estring

New member
Webstarr said:
The reactions to this album are very opposed, people either are all over it or absolutely detest it
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who are these people that are all over it? The positive reactions that I've seen generally fall into two categories: aspirings blatantly begging the retweet and the routine show of support/half-hearted defence by people who are (or in anonymous cases I'm guessing that they are) stakeholders of some kind in the same industry.

This post from a few pages back seems representative:

looks said:
y'guys got hang ups. man's been playing big rooms so let him fill them up if he wants. TBH, I can dig this perspective and vibe. Appropriate amount of self-consciousness with an obviously talented touch. Heavy handed? sure. but, it's 2012 and I can take it like a man.
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1. Insinuation that you must have some sort of hating-related issue, or a deeply repressed love of insipid progressive breaks that you cannot bring yourself to acknowledge if you don't like this record.

2. Appeal to functionality. "big room", prime time, etc.. Do these ever NOT indicate complete dreck? I honestly feel like it is an iron rule that whenever the old mixmag/knowledge/press release functionalist descriptions like "quality soulful tune for the ladeez" or "peak hour amen stormer" are invoked, you are dealing with a bad record.

3. Half-hearted, unconvincing protestation that the reviewer, y'know, really honestly enjoys the record - really. Does anyone here believe for one second that this commenter actually does "dig" this record?? I find it very hard to believe. I mean: "dig".

4. Vague, unsupported sounds-like-something-a-critic-would-say claims that are meant to establish that the purported enjoyment has some objective justification. "Appropriate amount of self-consciousness with an obviously talented touch." What is an appropriate amount of self-consciousness? And where is the evidence of obvious talent in this record?

Anyway, call me crazy, but I get the sense that someone like "looks" stands to benefit from Scuba's career, somehow, some way, however minor. Seems like circling the wagons to me. If those are the only good things you have to say about a record, why else would you even bother?
 
A

alex nephric

Member
I'm not only enjoying the album, but like his recent output way more than his previous releases. Additionally I have absolutely no stake in Scuba's career and do not stand to benefit from it in any way.
 
S

SecondLine

Well-known member
estring said:
Seems like circling the wagons to me.
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I dunno, I mean you've got to remember that the world doesn't solely consist of massively complicit industry types and the kind of people who post on dissensus.

The vast majority of people exist somewhere in the middle, and they probably all love this sort of stuff
 
outraygeous

outraygeous

Well-known member
SecondLine said:
I dunno, I mean you've got to remember that the world doesn't solely consist of massively complicit industry types and the kind of people who post on dissensus.

The vast majority of people exist somewhere in the middle, and they probably all love this sort of stuff
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I like this comment.
 
E

estring

New member
SecondLine said:
I dunno, I mean you've got to remember that the world doesn't solely consist of massively complicit industry types and the kind of people who post on dissensus.
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Fair enough.

Just to clarify, because I was in rant mode yesterday: I'm not alleging that some secret cabal pushing this record or anything. "Having a stake in Scuba's career" was probably the wrong way to phrase it. What I was referring to is the more insidious "speak no evil of someone else in the industry because there is no rational gain to be had by doing so/big up everyone else because there is nothing to lose but many potential things to gain" kind of thing. It's the old "everyone is nice to everyone in LA because they never know who they are going to work with". I'm pretty sure this has already been discussed here

SecondLine said:
The vast majority of people exist somewhere in the middle, and they probably all love this sort of stuff
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I guess we're really just speculating here, but I'd disagree. I don't think it was merely a coincidence that the last time this sound was being pushed was the same period where megaclub attendance collapsed and there were all those articles about "recession in clubland" etc. The big club experience became not-fun largely because people were being force-fed this bland style of progressive house + breaks + trance.

I think that this style is actually very analogous to Muzak (I don't mean that as a straight up insult), sociologically speaking. It's calculated to push certain buttons (hands in the air time, etc.), to not have any elements that could offend, can be easily reiterated many times without being the exact same song, etc.

The thing is, the masses can still hate things like Muzak that are calculated to not offend anyone. I don't know where people get the idea that bland and inoffensive equates with popular. If you look at the success that say David Guetta has had at the expense of the headlining DJs who used to play this sound, whom he has now replaced, I think it points to the opposite conclusion. I can see a lot of people loving the in-your-face-bad David Guetta songs, but I can't see many people really loving this stuff.
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
estring said:
who are these people that are all over it? The positive reactions that I've seen generally fall into two categories: aspirings blatantly begging the retweet and the routine show of support/half-hearted defence by people who are (or in anonymous cases I'm guessing that they are) stakeholders of some kind in the same industry.

This post from a few pages back seems representative:



1. Insinuation that you must have some sort of hating-related issue, or a deeply repressed love of insipid progressive breaks that you cannot bring yourself to acknowledge if you don't like this record.

2. Appeal to functionality. "big room", prime time, etc.. Do these ever NOT indicate complete dreck? I honestly feel like it is an iron rule that whenever the old mixmag/knowledge/press release functionalist descriptions like "quality soulful tune for the ladeez" or "peak hour amen stormer" are invoked, you are dealing with a bad record.

3. Half-hearted, unconvincing protestation that the reviewer, y'know, really honestly enjoys the record - really. Does anyone here believe for one second that this commenter actually does "dig" this record?? I find it very hard to believe. I mean: "dig".

4. Vague, unsupported sounds-like-something-a-critic-would-say claims that are meant to establish that the purported enjoyment has some objective justification. "Appropriate amount of self-consciousness with an obviously talented touch." What is an appropriate amount of self-consciousness? And where is the evidence of obvious talent in this record?

Anyway, call me crazy, but I get the sense that someone like "looks" stands to benefit from Scuba's career, somehow, some way, however minor. Seems like circling the wagons to me. If those are the only good things you have to say about a record, why else would you even bother?
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This is a fantastic rant. Chuckles ahoy.
 
S

sgn

Well-known member
Can't say I'm even remotely surprised that Pitchfork would rate this highly. Other than the occasional Sherburne review and Blackdown's Grime/Dubstep articles (RIP), their electronic music coverage is shit. I am surprised that Ryce wrote that though. Guess there's no accounting for taste/secret cabals.

"But look at Personality's cover art: There's a real piece of a human on there.." - this is such a terrible line.
 
J

Joey Joe-Joe Jr. Shabadoo

Well-known member
"in a way, going so outright "pop" is one of the gutsiest, risky things a pillar of the scene like Scuba could have done."

gutsier than making a good album?

such a load of shit
 
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