... competitors?

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

Squid.. what do you mean by "cheaper"?

I had a listen to the tracks on your MySpace, and I'd have to say I was hardly blown away, this music is mediocre at best. Not to say that you are not talented, or you shouldn't be proud of your work, but come on "fingers of steel" I think someone is a bit too full of themselves. Reading this thread all of the way through, your comments were off-putting enough for me to safely say I would not ever purchase your music, even if it was decent.

competitors, as in people who show a competitive attitude, or people who act as if they are competing with you. My wife watches TV programs detailing the course of competitions among junior chefs, artists, and fashion designers. Many of these aspirants give other aspirants misleading opinions and incorrect information. Some of this may be deliberate but some is the competition itself affecting impressions and judgment. This is what "Conflict of Interest" is all about. And yes guitarists in other groups have an apparent conflict of interest that they are unaware of.

cheaper = less willing to spend

I have received abundant positive and encouraging reviews. The only negative comments I received were here. All were tightly wrapped with unnecessary derogatory statements and most were laced with nonspecific global condemnations (e.g., "bad'). I get it--you didn't like it--but many other fine people do like it and mention a couple of songs that strongly appeal to them.

My signature sound is that I have no signature sound. I adjust settings and choose guitars, pickups, and effects according to the piece and the feel I want it to have. Musicians with a fixed signature sound can easily fall into the trap of all songs sounding too much alike...once you've heard one chadish you've heard them all, isn't that so Ivan?

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

I'll bet you folding money you painted that self-portrait in your avatar? ;-]

Look, people have offered honest opinions and some constructive critizism..obviously your feelings have been hurt and now you've become defensive.

Yes, other musicians are probably going to be the harsher critic because guess what..they know a thing or two about writing, playing and recording music. Actually I think you came to the right place for some food for thought. You'll never get this kind of feedback from your family and friends.

Take the critizism and reflect a little I say.

Last edited: Oct 14, 2010 15:58:03

IvanP
And I have a problem with that, especially as you present yourself as the great surf music hope, which no doubt some people out there are inclined to buy into - and then God help us all.

Speaking of "buying into," it seems like part of the core issue here is that no one is buying the album in question.

Which makes sense, since buying a copy would require the following thought process: "These samples are really bad. The songwriting is directionless, dull and limited. The musicianship is lacking. The guitar tones are hollow and off-putting. There's no cohesion in the performances. I should buy the CD just to make sure it's not the CD Baby player and my headphones causing all of these problems."

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

Anyone who knows about only part of a music CD and harshly criticizes the whole is not merely unjustified but obviously biased, compelled to criticize, influenced by ulterior motives, and cheap. As in too cheap to obtain the CD and audition the entirety before criticizing the entirety. This is what I meant by cheap, not how extensive your personal property is.

So you heard some clips and you heard some streaming tracks, some of which are on the CD and some of which aren't. Even if you listened to all the streaming tracks you heard less than one-third of the CD.

Of course you are committed to the statements you already made regardless of anything such as complete information. This too is obvious, all of you who wrote criticisms of the whole CD on the basis of a small part.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

A person is cheap, because he doesn't want to buy your shitty CD? I was unimpressed with all of the tracks posted, so why would I want to go out and spend money on more? Learn to take some criticism dude, perhaps you could benefit from it.

Squid
Anyone who knows about only part of a music CD and harshly criticizes the whole is not merely unjustified but obviously biased, compelled to criticize, influenced by ulterior motives, and cheap. As in too cheap to obtain the CD and audition the entirety before criticizing the entirety. This is what I meant by cheap, not how extensive your personal property is.

So you heard some clips and you heard some streaming tracks, some of which are on the CD and some of which aren't. Even if you listened to all the streaming tracks you heard less than one-third of the CD.

Of course you are committed to the statements you already made regardless of anything such as complete information. This too is obvious, all of you who wrote criticisms of the whole CD on the basis of a small part.

Yes, I did commit to my opinions based on incomplete streaming tracks. That's because that's exactly what they are there for, as Sean just explained. Those clips are provided so that listeners can come to an informed personal decision on whether they like what they hear in an album or not. True it mostly just provides you with a general sense of the feel of an album and I agree that sometimes these clips don't quite provide a full picture and leave me wanting to hear more to get a better sense. But in this instance the impression is immediate: that the tones are SO bad, the performances SO inept, the writing SO uninspiring that I don't need to hear the rest to understand what I'm in for. No further exploration is required.

I have no ulterior motives. I just like to hear enjoyable surf music, that's all. I have found nothing enjoyable in any one of your songs or song clips, and as a surf fan that frustrates me.

I'm not competing with anyone. I would love nothing more than to see more enjoyable surf bands out there. There are plenty of bands that I think are of a higher musical and technical caliber than mine. I'm not threatened by them at all. I'm inspired by them. I am NOT inspired by the music of the Insanitizers.

Am I biased? Yes, crappy music biases me towards negative, criticizing music reviews. Sure I used the generality "bad." But I used it in regard to each specific aspect of the music (tone, musicianship, writing) that all sucked.

Am I cheap? No, I just don't buy music I know I won't like to hear more of. That's practical. I am adventurous enough to purchase albums I feel I might enjoy if I explore them further. Sometimes I do like them, sometimes I don't. I don't lose sleep over money spent on duds, at least I tried.

You asked for constructive criticism and I provided some, now my opinions are illusions? Yes, there is always subjectivity in musical tastes, but there's no subjectivity to the fact that your drummer and rhythm guitar can't keep time together, or that your recordings are of poor quality. That's simply bad music making. Work on it, please and I'll start to enjoy your music more. I'm not asking perfection of you. If I only liked perfect music I wouldn't listen to any music at all.

What I am asking you is to stop telling everyone that they don't understand their own tastes, that we somehow don't know what's good for us until we've heard it from you. I know what I like and I know the reasons why I like it. I know I don't like your music and I've outlined for you the reasons why. I know it hurts to hear and I'm sorry for that. I know I've been rude and snarky but your attitude has been aggravating too so I can't help it.

Now, check it out homeboy:

Why are we the ones being accused of ulterior motives and cheapness?

I think we need to stop replying to this thread.
and then it can disappear.
and they won't sell any copies of the cd.
if we keep replying, some poor sap will be intrigued to buy it.

Jeff(bigtikidude)