One-word reviews? Here’s a few

Zola Jesus

By Princess Stomper

One-word reviews? Here’s a few:

Lanie Lane – To The Horses

Lynchian.

Amon Tobin – Isam

Textured.

Zola Jesus – Conatus

Spectral.

DJ Food – Magpies, Maps And Moons EP

Bouncy.

Verdict: insufficient text.

Editor’s comment: Princess, for these to work as reviews they probably – but not definitely – need to stand alone.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 21st, 2012 at 3:49 pm. It is filed under Princess Stomper and tagged with , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

6 Responses to “One-word reviews? Here’s a few”

  1. Princess Stomper says:
    January 21, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    @ Editor – I wouldn’t have suggested them as standalone reviews because it was more making-a-point than trying to actually review the music:

    A review should explain:

    1. What’s it like? (Why should you like it?)
    2. Is it good – does it succeed at what it’s trying to do?
    3. Why?

    One word, no matter how apt, cannot communicate that information. I seriously doubt anyone clicked on any of those links after reading that word and thinking, “Hmm – that sounds like the sort of music I’d enjoy – I’d better check it out.”

    I seriously doubt 140 characters could have done that, either.

    When I wrote for print magazines, I was asked to sum up my thoughts in 200 or 300 words, and I found that pretty restrictive, too. If there’s one really great thing about writing for the internet, it’s that you’re free of those shackles and can really go into detail if need be.

    But if it’s Oasis, that one word will do fine. You really don’t need to know any more.

  2. Princess Stomper says:
    January 21, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    PS – Perhaps I should have gone for a one-character review instead, in which case the above would have merited:

    Lanie Lane: *

    Amon Tobin: !

    Zola Jesus: ?

    DJ Food: “

  3. Julian says:
    January 21, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    “Spectral”

    That’s dreadfully unoriginal in today’s musical climate. Aren’t there about 10 bands called Spectral or Spectrals?

    Must do better.

  4. Princess Stomper says:
    January 22, 2012 at 12:11 am

    I was trying to communicate “ethereal” and “gothic”. How would you have put it?

  5. Erika says:
    January 22, 2012 at 2:25 am

    Here is my review of the one-word review: ridiculous.

  6. Paul says:
    January 23, 2012 at 5:30 am

    I kinda like your one word reviews I think each of them capture the essence of the sound perfectly demonstrating the superfluous nature of most of the words in music reviews.

    In a word I find your one word reviews inspiring.

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