Monday, May 28, 2007

A Bad Review, From A Bad Reviewer

So Daoster showed me this review of The Aggrolites S/T recently...

"Aggro, meaning aggressive, meaning aggravation - possibly even a loose derivative of angst, right? Wrong.

The Aggrolites' eponymous Hellcat release, far more "lite" than "aggro" follows on the heels of 2004's Dirty Reggae debut and pretty much dispenses with any pretense either to musical progression or musical aggression. Three tracks in, and I've already heard more daffodil than a casual stroll through the fields.

Don't hear me wrong; there's nothing technically bad with the product here - but product is exactly what you get. The Aggrolites suffer horribly from that age-old crippler of talent: The REO Speedwagon syndrome. Every single song, every note, sounds like the same Xerox photocopy, producer-driven, genre-obeying, let's-forget-about-originality-and-crank-out-the-standards muck.

If you like core, progressive reggae, try King Tubby or maybe some Alpha Blondy. If you like suburban white boys who sound like every other lame skate band ever over produced..." - Imma Idiot

So I read this and thought WHAT A MORON!!!
First off who starts a review that way! He states the definition of Aggro. Whoop-Di-Freakin-Doo! Thanks for that, I really haven't had time to check my dictionary lately. But now we know what kind of retarded 3rd grade book review this is gonna be.
This guy needs to stick to his Kenny G records and shut up about things he has no clue about. I can only assume that The Aggrolites are the talk of the of the town in his area, and he decided to give em' a listen. Find out what all this ranting and raving was about, "what the kid's are into". Like most folks, he probably has only ever been exposed to a very thin layer of Reggae music. Perhaps he's heard a few Bob Marley, or UB40 records and a random group of songs on the radio. Like many of this sort, Reggae music is kinda "groovy", kind of repetitive, and all sounds the same. It's not something they dive into with deep admiration and anticipation of what musical path this will lead to.
Any true music fan knows that with any style of music, there is always a story to it. A history that can take one in many directions.
This understanding is clearly not held by this so-called reviewer.
He obviously perused through these two prolific Aggrolites albums in a hurry to write a few nonsense-ridden sentences. The Aggrolites play a key role in today's modern Reggae movement. Applying the influences of Soul, Funk, and so many others into a sound all their own. If anything, the Aggros are genre defying. Who uses that word anymore anyway?!...genre
And come on? "The REO Speedwagon syndrome"??!!
Less than half of the Aggrolite's fans actually know what the heck that means!!

So Mr.Moron, do us all a favor and SHUT UP already. Unless your going to actually take the time to do some research and write a worthwhile review.

3 comments:

  1. I haven't listened that much to the aggrolites yet, except for A Poet's Life with vocals from Tim Armstrong. However, I can only agree that thw review is quite stupid. Although I cannot comment on how he interpets the music, I can see that it's pretty stupid just from the review itself.

    The reviewer seems sort of obsessed with labeling this music. This is somehting I really dislike. I get this especially from the last sentence. And the comment that it sounds generic says more about the reviewers unfamiliarity with similar music than the actual music. It is also an arrogant review. Very, very arrogant. "I'm mister know-it-all and my defnition of good music is the best". I don't care anything for reviews like this...

    Nice site though! Will definately check this out when I come home from work =)

    Greeting from sweden

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  2. Imma Idiot, you are right. I saw the Aggrolites live and they spent half the time playing their tired-ass aggro reggea and the other half of the time giving us lines to sing, telling us to put our hands up or clap, telling us to sing along, and asking, "that all you got?!" when only a few people helped them out. They're trying to hold a couple of cliches together with "attitude" and it just don't fly. Lame, uninteresting band.

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  3. White boy skate band? I don't even frequent MO or listen to half of what Gabe listens to and even *I* know that the Aggrolites are nothing like a "lame skate band."

    Comparing the music of the Aggrolites to something as obnoxious as what you would hear out of a "band" like Sum-41 is like comparing a pair of perfectly round, firm breasts with my 90 year old grandmother's.

    Imma Idiot.... you should take more consideration into the name you call yourself and STFU.

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