Album Review Section

[Jason Tate]

Our album review section (http://www.absolutepunk.net/reviews/) has been revamped and put back online. As of right now only my reviews are up, but look for the staff to be getting all of their reviews back into the database very soon. The "latest review" module has also been put back (bottom left of your screen). We're very proud of the new system so I hope everyone likes it.

[jfb392]

I like this:
http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/4457/new1cf.jpg

Is it new?

[Jason Tate]

I like this:
http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/4457/new1cf.jpg

Is it new?
Yep. Very new. And there's a section on each review for users to rate the album in those same categories and the system averages those ratings and displays it in a "user ratings" box on the review.

[romantic rights]

I like this:
http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/4457/new1cf.jpg

Is it new?

i second that, its pretty darn cool

[jfb392]

Yep. Very new. And there's a section on each review for users to rate the album in those same categories and the system averages those ratings and displays it in a "user ratings" box on the review.Nice job, I'm really enjoying the new AP.

[fedhed7]

SWEET! i was always so confused in that section. now its awesome. good job guys.

[FeynmanWannabe]

What's the difference between Replayability & Staying Power?

[Jason Tate]

What's the difference between Replayability & Staying Power?
Short Term / Long Term.

Replability to me means can I listen to it again immediatly after listening to it once, long-term means will I be listening to it next year.

[FeynmanWannabe]

Short Term / Long Term.

Replability to me means can I listen to it again immediatly after listening to it once, long-term means will I be listening to it next year.

Gotcha. Figured it might be something like that. Good job.

[Katie Schmitz]

I want my journal back ...

[IAPAI]

Yep. Very new. And there's a section on each review for users to rate the album in those same categories and the system averages those ratings and displays it in a "user ratings" box on the review.

Great idea. This website has become SO fucking informative.

[AreTwoKay]

Wow I really like this

[Steve Henderson]

Now just need better reviews to go with the improved system!

Zing!!!! ;)

[myfirstpunksong]

I like it. I do agree that you guys only review albums you like though, which is a bit silly I think. When you click on 'reviews', all of the albums that are on the reviews homepage (that you can see the artwork for) have very good scores, all over 70%, nearly all of them over 80%, and even a few over 90%. I know people like to write about an album they enjoy but it just seems like there's not point in reading the review, if I see an albums been reviewed, I can tell it's supposed to be good. You could designate reviews of albums to staff reviewers at random maybe? That way you know they won't always be reviewing an album they enjoy. Come on guys, I know you like to support bands but tell us about an album you hate!

[Steve Henderson]

I like it. I do agree that you guys only review albums you like though, which is a bit silly I think. When you click on 'reviews', all of the albums that are on the reviews homepage (that you can see the artwork for) have very good scores, all over 70%, nearly all of them over 80%, and even a few over 90%. I know people like to write about an album they enjoy but it just seems like there's not point in reading the review, if I see an albums been reviewed, I can tell it's supposed to be good. You could designate reviews of albums to staff reviewers at random maybe? That way you know they won't always be reviewing an album they enjoy. Come on guys, I know you like to support bands but tell us about an album you hate!
Because a good amount of the bands that get reviewed pay for ads on the site...

[Jason Tate]

Because a good amount of the bands that get reviewed pay for ads on the site...
They do? Man, you sure know a lot about the inner workings of a website you don't work for.

[Jason Tate]

I like it. I do agree that you guys only review albums you like though, which is a bit silly I think. When you click on 'reviews', all of the albums that are on the reviews homepage (that you can see the artwork for) have very good scores, all over 70%, nearly all of them over 80%, and even a few over 90%. I know people like to write about an album they enjoy but it just seems like there's not point in reading the review, if I see an albums been reviewed, I can tell it's supposed to be good. You could designate reviews of albums to staff reviewers at random maybe? That way you know they won't always be reviewing an album they enjoy. Come on guys, I know you like to support bands but tell us about an album you hate!
Why do you want to read a review about a band you're not going to listen to? That's a weird cynical way to look at music. If you want reviews of albums not to listen to: buddyhead.com does that just fine. It's not about discovering a cool band to trash on (that gets done in the Trash Talk Forum and all over the internet enough), it's about discovering music you can check out and hopefully love.

[romantic rights]

Now just need better reviews to go with the improved system!

Zing!!!! ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/_the_razor_/ohsnapp.gif

[Ruggiero2oo8]

i like what i see.

great job.

[myfirstpunksong]

Why do you want to read a review about a band you're not going to listen to? That's a weird cynical way to look at music. If you want reviews of albums not to listen to: buddyhead.com does that just fine. It's not about discovering a cool band to trash on (that gets done in the Trash Talk Forum and all over the internet enough), it's about discovering music you can check out and hopefully love.

I see your point but sometimes I'd like to know if an album is not worth me spending my money on, that I should steer clear of. It seems any album that is reviewed on this site is by someone that likes it. By that logic, everyone should buy every album that is mentioned on this site. I'm not going to like every album on this site, but apparently they're all good. Maybe if you put a bit at the bottom 'For fans of:' or specify tracks to download that best represent the album. ?

[romantic rights]

I see your point but sometimes I'd like to know if an album is not worth me spending my money on, that I should steer clear of. It seems any album that is reviewed on this site is by someone that likes it. By that logic, everyone should buy every album that is mentioned on this site. I'm not going to like every album on this site, but apparently they're all good. Maybe if you put a bit at the bottom 'For fans of:' or specify tracks to download that best represent the album. ?

normally you know if you'll like an album or not, and now with bands posting music on their websites, puevolume, myspace, etc... you can easily check out a song or two to see if you like it or not before buying the cd. Maybe some people dont have good instints when it comes to music, but often i can go to a cd store, find some band who's name i have heard but not their music, and decide right then and there if that cd would be worth my money, normally if i buy it it is worth it

[Jason Tate]

I see your point but sometimes I'd like to know if an album is not worth me spending my money on, that I should steer clear of. It seems any album that is reviewed on this site is by someone that likes it. By that logic, everyone should buy every album that is mentioned on this site. I'm not going to like every album on this site, but apparently they're all good. Maybe if you put a bit at the bottom 'For fans of:' or specify tracks to download that best represent the album. ?
The objective is for you to find a staffer with tastes closest to your own and then follow his/her reviews .. not listen to every single thing every reviewer says as gospel. That would be silly. A review should pique your interest in what the band sounds like and then you should head over to the band's PV.com page and take a listen for yourself. In this day and age basing all of your buying habits off of words only would be a mistake. There are plenty of reviews that are not glowing representations of the bands (they're not up yet because the system just went online) but still give a fair discussion and outlook on what the band sounds like. I don't write bashing reviews because I just plain don't have time to waste on them ... if I am going to spend my time writing a review, I want it to be about something I am passionate about. If someone feels the need to really get something off their chest about a band, we have a "trash talk" forum that they can use (and all the cynics know right where to look for their sadistic reading), a review should be a discussion of the music on the disc, not 3 sentances about the CD and 15 about what the reviewer wants to do with their new plastic frisbee.

No one should tell anyone what they should or shouldn't listen to ... it should be a personal choice; our goal is simply to open up people's eyes to all the bands they never would have known to give a chance.

[Jason Tate]

I want my journal back ...
Second to next thing I'm working on.

1) AP Friends
2) AP Journals

They're the biggest things so I saved them for last.

Then some small things around the website - and then I'm done!

[Darren McLeod]

Because a good amount of the bands that get reviewed pay for ads on the site...
Just thought you might like to know that I have no idea which bands pay for ads on the site, and this has no effect on my reviewing. Jason doesn't tell me which albums to review, which ones to give good scores for, and which ones to give bad scores

[Drew Beringer]

Just thought you might like to know that I have no idea which bands pay for ads on the site, and this has no effect on my reviewing. Jason doesn't tell me which albums to review, which ones to give good scores for, and which ones to give bad scores

Yep.

[Scott Weber]

Just thought you might like to know that I have no idea which bands pay for ads on the site, and this has no effect on my reviewing. Jason doesn't tell me which albums to review, which ones to give good scores for, and which ones to give bad scores
Ditto.


Does this mean I have to move all my old reviews over...again? Arrrrrgh I've been at AP for like 14 months so I'm gonna have a lot of them to do.

[Steve Henderson]

They do? Man, you sure know a lot about the inner workings of a website you don't work for.
Seems coincidental to consistently read glowing reviews about bands with banner ads across the top of AP.

[Jason Tate]

Seems coincidental to consistently read glowing reviews about bands with banner ads across the top of AP.
You reviewed all three of those albums as well (Thrice, Allister, Panic!, Valencia, Houston Calls, Thin Dark Line); were you getting paid off to do it? No. Because the albums came out, and you (and we) reviewed them because they were being discussed a lot. The fact that they were recent album releases means the labels were promoting them and buying banner ads. You're reaching for an argument here where the facts (and common sense) simply beat you down. It's ok to be jealous that people read our reviews, but you don't have to accuse my hard working staff of something that's just blatant lie.

[Jason Tate]

Ditto.


Does this mean I have to move all my old reviews over...again? Arrrrrgh I've been at AP for like 14 months so I'm gonna have a lot of them to do.
:( I can help you do it.

[aloneatlastnj]

hey Jason - take into consideration the Podcast thing will ya? i think itd be a great extension of this website..possibly make it a bi-weekly thing with a different staff member each time. it seems you have enough guys that you could do that..possibly feature a different band each podcast...just some suggestions

[hudg213]

I'm tired of everyone telling Jason that he has biases towards bands... for example the Yellowcard thing when people said that he ignored their news because he didn't like their personnel moves, and now you saying that he reviews albums based on banner ads? Please... pretend like you have some intelligence. I mean, look at what Jason has done... you can't build a site that grows this large and yet remains true to its roots if you sell out like you own victory records.

[Jason Tate]

hey Jason - take into consideration the Podcast thing will ya? i think itd be a great extension of this website..possibly make it a bi-weekly thing with a different staff member each time. it seems you have enough guys that you could do that..possibly feature a different band each podcast...just some suggestions
We are, it's a process .. but I'm slowly trying to build that into fruition.

[fourletterword]

I do like the chart thats been added to the review that has the different categories, but I don't like that artwork is one of them. There can be an amzing album but if the artwork sucks it will bring the average down. And to me the artwork of an album isnt nearly important enough to be able to adjust the the final rating of it. Just my two cents though.

[Drew Beringer]

I do like the chart thats been added to the review that has the different categories, but I don't like that artwork is one of them. There can be an amzing album but if the artwork sucks it will bring the average down. And to me the artwork of an album isnt nearly important enough to be able to adjust the the final rating of it. Just my two cents though.

I usually just give the artwork the same score that I'm giving the entire album, so that it doesn't throw it off.

[Jason Tate]

I usually just give the artwork the same score that I'm giving the entire album, so that it doesn't throw it off.
And artwork can be simply given a N/A if you don't want to rate it.

[duffe]

I like this:
http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/4457/new1cf.jpg

Is it new?
That is really cool.

[Scott Weber]

:( I can help you do it.
k cool. i got the email, i need to read it...i have about 20 things to do tonight so i'll figure it out as soon as I can, thanks though

[X__inhope]

i like it. good job

[Steve Henderson]

Ah, a civil reply gets deleted...nice!

No response to that one? Come on, man....grow up.

[Jason Tate]

Ah, a civil reply gets deleted...nice!

No response to that one? Come on, man....grow up.
What are you talking about? I responded (http://www.absolutepunk.net/showpost.php?p=2067404&postcount=28) to you on page 2.

[Domenic182]

New reviews are sweet. Good work on this.

[Steve Henderson]

What are you talking about? I responded (http://www.absolutepunk.net/showpost.php?p=2067404&postcount=28) to you on page 2.
Goddammit, then I typed up like a 1 page thing and it somehow vanished. Oh well.

[inthepyramid]

to me the biggest problem with the review section was the search engine, whenever i would type in a band to search for i would get every band but the one i was looking for.

[Jason Tate]

to me the biggest problem with the review section was the search engine, whenever i would type in a band to search for i would get every band but the one i was looking for.
That's fixed.

[NameTaken69]

the new stuff is sweet

[pdlawry]

i really think you guys should review as many albums as possible, and try to be unbiased please.

[Jason Tate]

i really think you guys should review as many albums as possible, and try to be unbiased please.
Bias is a necessary evil in music. I'm a firm believer that remove all bias removes all passion. As for review as many albums as possibl; I think I speak for all reviewers when I say: We try. The sheer volume of albums coming out makes it difficult though. Hopefully the review section will continue to grow in the next few months and become something we can all be proud of.

[minusthejosh]

very good job jason. it's becoming better and better each time i visit. thanks for all the work put into the site :thumbsup:

[Scott Weber]

Bias is a necessary evil in music. I'm a firm believer that remove all bias removes all passion. As for review as many albums as possibl; I think I speak for all reviewers when I say: We try. The sheer volume of albums coming out makes it difficult though. Hopefully the review section will continue to grow in the next few months and become something we can all be proud of.
i second this.

[Darren McLeod]

i really think you guys should review as many albums as possible, and try to be unbiased please.
We do our best to review as many albums as possible. You have to remember that (to my knowledge) the whole reviewing staff is made up of college students who are extremely busy, and we do this out of our passion for music - we don't make a cent from these reviews.

Bias in music is also something that is a double-edged sword -- sometimes it will help an album because you love the artist so much, but usually it works backwards. Don't believe me? Just look at albums this year - people who loved previous efforts by Thrice, Against Me! and Every Time I Die have been quick to jump up and say they don't like the new albums from straying too far from their favourite album the band has put out., or just not being quite as good. Hell, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Gutter Phenomenon is progression from Hot Damn!, but I'm trying.

We try as hard as we can to be unbiased, but it is next to impossible to be unbiased in life, whether people admit to it or not.

[Drew Beringer]

We do our best to review as many albums as possible. You have to remember that (to my knowledge) the whole reviewing staff is made up of college students who are extremely busy, and we do this out of our passion for music - we don't make a cent from these reviews.
Bias in music is also something that is a double-edged sword -- sometimes it will help an album because you love the artist so much, but usually it works backwards. Don't believe me? Just look at albums this year - people who loved previous efforts by Thrice, Against Me! and Every Time I Die have been quick to jump up and say they don't like the new albums from straying too far from their favourite album the band has put out., or just not being quite as good. Hell, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Gutter Phenomenon is progression from Hot Damn!, but I'm trying.
We try as hard as we can to be unbiased, but it is next to impossible to be unbiased in life, whether people admit to it or not.

So true, btw Darren, Gutter Phenomenon fucking rules. :thumbsup:

[Steve Henderson]

You reviewed all three of those albums as well (Thrice, Allister, Panic!, Valencia, Houston Calls, Thin Dark Line); were you getting paid off to do it? No. Because the albums came out, and you (and we) reviewed them because they were being discussed a lot. The fact that they were recent album releases means the labels were promoting them and buying banner ads. You're reaching for an argument here where the facts (and common sense) simply beat you down. It's ok to be jealous that people read our reviews, but you don't have to accuse my hard working staff of something that's just blatant lie.
Okay, I will try posting this again to see if it doesn't "vanish."

First off, the jab about the readership of reviews was unnecessary. We do not have and likely will not ever have the amount of hits that AP gets. And you know what? That is just fine. It doesn't mean that we will stop trying for more, but it is not the most important metric. Honestly, I would put up any of our reviews against the best AP has to offer. Not myself maybe, but Andres and Andrew could run circles around most reviewers at about any site out there. Don't believe me? Well, you have AP staff members coming to the site praising their work. I can provide a link if you'd like to see.

You mention the fact that I reviewed the same works you mentioned, and in doing so, illustrate the fact you missed the point entirely. Yes, I reviewed the albums, but did I give them all positive scores? No. We are running an Allister contest on our site, and I still panned the album, for example. I just said it was coincidental it never happens here.

As for the negative reviews issue, you are being short-sighted about the potential of a negative review. Sure, there are reviews that are ruthless for the sake of asserting indie cred, and really give no insight into why an album was so hated. A good reviewer, though, will not only say that he disliked an album, but more importantly WHY he did. As an example, say I reviewed Jack's Mannequin and gave it a bad score because I said I didn't like the vocals. You, on the other hand, might love Andrew's voice, and in turn, might disregard that part of my review and still buy the CD (relax, this is just an example). My point is that a review can be negative without being harsh or preachy, and in the meantime can do a great service for the reader.