In every article he types up there is always a mention of these words:
>vaudeville
>tin pan alley
>music hall
>futuristic music hall
>operetta
What is wrong with this fucking man?
also
>fresco
>lattice
>would have been better as a 5 song ep
Not to mention
>adolescent
>statutory
>succulent
>prepubescent
>matrimony
>Scaruffi completely gushes over an album, lists things he loves and doesn't mention a single negative point
>rates it 7/10
>lusty negro attitudes
wtf was Scruffles talking about here
>>66233638
>abbey road
>>66233667
the intrinsic sassiness of an independent black woman
>The fact that so many books still name the Beatles as "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long recognized that the greatest jazz musicians of all times are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Classical critics rank the highly controversial Beethoven over classical musicians who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Rock critics are still blinded by commercial success. The Beatles sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Jazz critics grow up listening to a lot of jazz music of the past, classical critics grow up listening to a lot of classical music of the past. Rock critics are often totally ignorant of the rock music of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that the Beatles did anything worthy of being saved.
What did he mean by this?
Here's a fun game. Post an excerpt from a scaruffi review, remove the artist/album names, and we guess what it is.
Here's an easy one.
>The production aspects of music were beginning to prevail over the music, so why not make them "the" music? The sound of [album] has decomposed and absorbed countless new perfumes, like a carcass in the woods. All sounds are processed and mixed, including the vocals. [artist] move as close to electronica as possible without actually endorsing it.
>>66233638
7/10 is good though. In his rating system it means "buy eventually". He wants you to listen to it.
>>66233721
i was gonna say bowie, but it's radiohead
>>66233718
Bitter jealousy in regards to the age of the Beatles' fanbase.
All of his reviews are just him comparing an artist to other artists.
>>66233721
Kid A - Radiohead?
>>66233741
Yeah, I know it's a good rating coming from him, I just think it's a bit odd is all.
>>66233638
I've rarely ever seen him actually list the things he loves about an album. Most of his "reviews" are pretty brief and only mention factual stuff about the recording of the album (dates, players, tracks, etc.). I don't think he actually has the capacity to properly analyse a piece.
>tin pan alley
STOP SAYING THIS YOU KIDDIEFUCKING EUROPEAN FAGGOT
>in tribute to tin pan alley
>in the vein of tin pan alley
nobody cares about fucking tin pan alley
>>66233840
What about a piece of 12-year-old ass?
>tin pan alley
HEH
>>66233752
>>66233783
It's Kid A
here is another one
>After his numerous exploits of the 1970s and early 1980s, [artist] never quite regained his stature as an oracle and a genius. He pioneered electronic music for the audience of rock music, but somehow was never fully in command of what happened later (particularly, the digital revolution). He seemed to switch from visionary protagonist to casual witness, and sometimes to mere technician.
>>66233667
>>66233840
mostly he just names something each track reminded him of
He's a terrible writer. Cool taste though
>>66233968
brian eno
>>66233489
I was young, far too young. He was wintering in Kent, whoever 'he' was. I may have convinced myself that it was all a dream. I first saw him when he held the door for me at the local railway museum, and our paths crossed again in the library; we both reached for the same copy of Nabokov's Pale Fire as he hummed the vocal melody of Van Morrison’s Cyprus Avenue. Our hands brushed, and we looked to each other – I with a nervous smile, he with a grin that has now come to haunt my mind's eye whenever I allow my thoughts to wander as I am taken in by the motorik rhythms of certain popular German progressive rock bands. "Take it," he said. "I much prefer his earlier work." I thanked him and turned to leave, but as I did so he grabbed my dress and tugged me back, forcefully wrapping his arm about my waist and pushing my bottom against the rock of his crotch. I respected the policies of the library too much to scream. He pressed his nose to my scalp – "You're a soft little machine, aren't you? Mhm... seven out of ten." For reasons I still do not entirely comprehend, his judgement relaxed me. I told him my train was not leaving for another hour and he led me back to his cottage. Foreplay consisted of him slapping me about the face and asking "What does my baby say?" until I tearfully replied with "W-we can live in the empty spaces of this life." I do not wish to recall the rest of the afternoon in any more detail, but it was, as you would expect, slow, deep, and hard. Part of my therapy has involved revisiting the library, wherein I overheard a man at the desk enquiring as to where he could find a book on the Beatles. The look that crept upon the librarian’s face is one with which I am all too familiar. My smile is stuck, I cannot go back to your frownland…
>>66233638
He doesn't have inflated ratings.
In case you need a better explanation about Scaruffi's scores that isn't the buying guide thing, here it is:
>0, 1, 2, 3... 6.5: flawed album
>7-7.5: great album
>8-8.5: creative (as in boundary-pushing) album
>9-9.5-10(?): innovative album
He said in an interview or something that the score goes up when the artist makes a piece that is "useful not only to the self": you can make a perfect album (no songs liked: 0, all songs liked: +7 points) but if the composition is nothing special, you don't go higher.
Scores around an 8 are given when the composition and execution are nailed: think about Pyrrhon's latest album, an 8, which is technical death metal taken to the max and very varied.
If your composition is entirely crazy, yet never heard of and very original (that will also constitute a landmark and won't be forgotten), you'll be awarded a 9: examples are Trout Mask Replica and the song "Sister Ray".
And that's how it goes.
>>66235314
do you have a link to said interview?
>>66233807
It makes sense if you think about it. Logically, a 5/10 should mean absolutely average, and anything over that is varying degrees of better than average and thus deserving of praise
>a la Merseybeat
>>66235330
I'll be honest, I kind of searched for it now but I could't find it. But hey, it's not like I'm saying bullshit. However the sentence I was referring to went like "I award innovation that doesn't stop/isn't useful only to the self".
>>66235471
I notice that too
he's pretty spot on sometimes too desu
In every article he types up there is always a mention of these words:
>hypnagogic pop
>vaporwave
>aesthetic
>postmodern
>nostalgia
What is wrong with this fucking man?
>>66235314
Even though I never saw that interview, this is pretty accurate.
I would say that a 6 or 6.5/10 is a good album for the people who enjoy that artist / genre though.
5/10s are albums with a couple of good songs, but nothing more.
And he certainly favor originality over catchiness.
I like his rating system, even if he is inconsistent sometimes, but hey, he is an old man who rated thousands of albums all by himself.
>>66233489
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/usa08.html
>comic sans
>>66233489
>it's a "comparing an album to unrelated european philosophy" episode
