Posts Tagged Reviewing
Archive
November 14, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Revisiting Stinky Jim’s Stinky Grooves Sessions: One of my All-Time Favourite Mix CDs
I’ve often said that one of the great joys of discovering music – one of the great joys of reviewing music – used to be when you were sent something, no expectations, no prior knowledge, no idea but press play. See what happens. It’s different now. We don’t even need music reviews. There are a […]Archive
June 2, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 66 – Danny Mulheron
Welcome to episode 66 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and Le Petite Chocolat. This conversation is me chatting with the actor, writer, director Danny Mulheron. I hadn’t met Danny until he bounded in through the doorway, found the piano in our house and started hitting the […]Archive
March 16, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 54 – Graeme Tuckett
Welcome to episode 54 of Sweetman Podcast brought to you by Phantom Billstickers. A chat with film reviewer and film maker Graeme Tuckett. You can read Tuckett’s reviews – and watch them – on Stuff.co.nz, he’s written regularly for the Dominion Post and before that Capital Times; he’s been a film reviewer on RNZ and […]Archive
March 15, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Music Matters: There’s More To Life Than Music…But Life Always Needs A Soundtrack…
Someone once asked me to write an answer to this question: “Why does music matter?” And I wrote back straight away, semi-facetiously, “It doesn’t – that’s the beauty of it. Next…” I wasn’t trying to belittle a valid question. And I was only part-joking. I often think of a great quote by one of my […]Archive
February 27, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
No Exit Strategy: Writing Through It
You have no exit-strategy. You got into this as a young, dumb idealist. You wanted to write. You listened to music. You wanted to write about music. You built up a bit of a portfolio of reviews and other journalism – those cat-stuck-up-a-tree, old-person-turns-100, triumphant-local-sports-team 300-worders. There was a time at Journalism School. And a […]Archive
February 25, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Eight Simple Rules For Getting Reviewed: Advice To First-Album Makers
1. Offer up your album, DVD, book as a physical copy if you have it. Don’t just send a stream/link only – or at least check in with the reviewer, make the offer to send the physical copy. And if it costs money to download your album remember to send a free code with your […]Archive
December 30, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Talk Back: When Musicians Take Fire At The Critics
A while back I was given a very nice gift – the May issue of Creem magazine. From 1977. There’s an almost unintelligible review of Leon Redbone by R. Meltzer. And there’s a review of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours that singles out Dreams as the only decent song, suggests that Christine McVie has really let her […]Archive
December 15, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Sweetman Podcast: Episode 42 – Nick Bollinger
Welcome to episode 42 of Sweetman Podcast brought to you by Phantom Billstickers. A chat with music journalist and broadcaster Nick Bollinger. I’ve been reading Nick Bollinger’s reviews for over 20 years. He’s been writing them for more than 30. Well, as I found out when I finally sat down to talk to him, he […]Archive
October 29, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
The Good And Bad Reviews Are Equal: It Is All Just Opinion After All
Earlier this year I spoke with a journalism class – the subject: reviews, reviewing… I’ve given talks on this topic before. It usually goes much the same way: potted history of my life and work. How I got into this. A bit of a discussion around what is required of a review, how to do […]Archive
October 21, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Finding Hate Mail: Old Friends…
Hate mail is fan mail in this game – a thought that’s probably kept me blogging for seven years… Over the weekend we moved our big three-year-old son into his new big-boy room. That meant listening to a lot of Beastie Boys (fantastic moving/packing/unpacking music) and it meant swapping the home-office and the kid’s bedroom. This […]Archive
May 14, 2016 by Simon Sweetman