demosthene

Well. I can only assume that my brain somehow completely failed to function the first time I heard this, cause I didn't remember it at all. Then, just now, I played it accidentally while attempting to play something completely different and.... WOW. This just rocks. That's all there is to it really.

Certain words and phrases have been overused in popular journalism, to the point where they no longer carry the effect they should. Words like "love" and "powerful", to name but two, have been used to describe all manner of mediocre games, films, etc. Hardly an issue goes by in which NME or Kerrang don't describe at least one album as "life-affirming". The problem here is that people are mistaking good journalistic style and effective, compelling writing with increased levels of hyperbolic enthusiasm. So, to say that I "love" this remix, or that I find it "powerful" and "life-affirming" would not only be untrue, but ineffective. The best, and most accurate, way I can find to describe this remix at this point in time is as a good remix. If pushed, I might even be willing to say that it is very good. Maybe I'm missing something which everyone else has picked up on, but this remix doesn't make me want to volunteer myself as djpretzel's bitch for all eternity, or tear off all my clothes and run out into the middle of the street while declaring that I have "seen the light". I like this remix. I could probably listen to it several times in a row. It will probably even end up on one of my cds of "random music what I likes". So what about a score out of 10? How many stars does it get? What percentage? Or none of the above? The problem with reviewing music, as with reviewing any other art form, is that it is a subjective experience. While I like this piece, someone else may not. I might like it now, but will I like it as much in a month, a year, 10 years? I cannot write enough words to describe the full range of emotions and sensations which listening to any one piece of music arouses in me. And if words are so inadequate to describe a piece of art, surely a number will be many times less so. What qualifies me to stick an arbitrary value on enjoyment of a piece, or an arbitrary limit on how much I may enjoy future releases? A perfect score implies perfection in a piece, and therefore a limit on how good a future piece may be. What if I give this mix 100%, and then tomorrow I hear one which I like even better? I will either be forced to re-assign any previous given scores, thereby implying some kind of de-valuation in enjoyment of those songs, or to give that mix 100% as well, even though I enjoy it more than this one, and I for one don't want to put myself in that situation.