Arbitrarily Scoring Albums
Lately, I am finding it rather hard and pretty tiresome to write up reviews for music releases - to think I used to swim through more than 10 of them per week for the whole of 2007. The thought occured to me that maybe… I shouldn’t waste so much time writing entire essays on how I felt about a certain song. TL;DR is not my style after all.
All this occured to me struggling to find the perfect words to describe how I feel about Iizuka Mayumi’s recent album. In the end, I decided to take a slightly different approach - give the album an overall score first and then rate how much I liked each individual song before finally comparing the two figures.
surprisingly enjoyable
Mayumi’s new album Stories is something that’s been stuck on my playlist for the past month or so. I would actually score it an 8 out of 10 if I had to, but going through the songs one by one and then adding up the score divided by the number of tracks gave me an average of 6.545. Eh? Maybe I didn’t quite like it that much after all. Or maybe how much I loved those two songs clouded my judgement on how bland a lot of the others were.
Let’s try another example - Suara’s newly released Taiyo to Tsuki. It was a pretty patchy effort I thought, at best a 6 out of 10.
A mixed bag
Average score = 6.14. Close enough, I guess. And yes, I still hate BLUE as much as the first time I heard it.
Next up was Kuribayashi Minami’s dream link, which I thought was dreadfully boring - 4 out of 10.
Consistently dull
Average score = 5.428. Higher than I expected, deceivingly inflated by the presence of a few singles that I enjoyed.
decent album
As a random comparison, Jpop singer AZU’s debut album - I’d give it a 7 and the eventual average of 6.92 is pretty damn close.
I’m the sort of person who looks at the score given before I delve into reading the actual review, so if Mojo or gamesTM gives something a shitty score I ain’t wasting my time reading it! I had actually written up long-winded track by track reviews of Iizuka and Suara’s albums but even I felt bored reading stuff that went ‘nice melody…surprising tempo change…blabla’. It was all so repetitive, so I ditched them. I didn’t want to torture anybody else with my lacking vocabulary… I like this review format so much (cos it saves me time) I might actually continue down this route on future releases… lazy me 
August 29th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I’m the type of person that will look at a view regardless of the score, to see where things are coming from.
Needless to say, I think this is an awesome concept to employ as a consistent standad - your standard, and I can see where you’re coming from when you do that.
August 30th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Same here. I try to gain an understanding of what artists are trying to go for in certain songs as far as unique sounds are concerned, and get feels regarding different styles (which is why I’ve ended up enjoying the recent works of Mizuki Nana, Hirano Aya and Chihara Minori a little bit more than some people). I also additionally have to agree that this is an immensely brilliant/excellent idea in that it makes your blog appear to be a much more intellectual forum with the almost scientific way in which you have decided to analyze these albums (much like yourself, I ended up really enjoying Iizuka’s most recent LP; Suara and Kuribayashi Minami were okay, but quite blase blah by comparison (they’ve had better records in the past)).
Sorry to hear about your vocabulary troubles, though. IMO, it’s actually pretty good. But, if you’re that unconfident in your abilities concerning utilizing it, here’s a little vocab builder (you’ll probably have to read this verse several times for full knowledge of the meaning/context… it’s quite deep/intricate/complex/complicated):
“Alone in my room, looking thru the 32X telescope zoom
adjusting the focus of the moon
One should not assume the philosophy of David Hume
is nothing more then a subjective conclusion
What is the maximum field rate application?
the run away glaciation surrounding the ocean basin
affects the population fluctuation
on a continuous basis but that’s just the basics
The juxtaposition of Canibus’ position
the precision something no other has written
Way above and beyond what was intended
the unparalleled malleable enunciation of a sentence
You didnt go to college obviously
I can tell by your ungodly unintelligible terminology
A remarkable odyssey, the rhymes of modern speeds
when the brain orders the body not to breathe
Your competency is not up to speed, you not in my league
you couldnt possibly be hotter than me
Or oppositely you’re minus 25 degrees, you’d squeeze
but the condensation makes rifle barrels freeze
Allow me to speak figuratively, n*gga please
my intellectual properties are about the size of Greece
Your counselor advised you not to speak
my counselor advised me to keep rhymin until they stopped the beat
In the words of Joseph Heller, “I learned how to write better”
even though it sort of irked me
He said he didnt understand the process of the imagination
but he felt he was at its mercy
Which exploits my point perfectly and certainly reinforces
the reason why nobody’s probably ever heard of me
Couldnt understand what I mean by ill
unless you try to translate what I print to film
This is the line of will, the circle of time
the cycle of eternity, the emergence of 1 mind
Academic phonetics render critics tounge-tied
Ive personified dry humor of cum-laude alumni
A wise man sees failure as progress
a fool divorces his knowledge and misses the logic
And loses his soul in the process
obsessed with nonsense with a caricature that has no content
My style is masterful, multi-lateral
I could battle a fool and be naturally cruel
Words of scourn are a disasterous tool
from an existentialist view, I’m a better rapper then you
Grab the mic and rip your physical fabric in 2
my attitude is f*cked up but admirable
Different methods interpreted into different forms
from entirely different perceptions and seen from different norms
Not just spittin a poem there’s much more involved
there’s much more pieces of the puzzle for you to solve
48 orders of mechanical laws
and rays of creational cause, enhance the cadence of my bars
Maybe I am self-absorbed
but thats the effect, to find the cause you should ask my A&R
Today is what it is, but only because yesterday was what it was
permitting you heard of Beelzebub
A tale of demons and drugs, p*ssy drunk in the club
with the DJ doing the needle rub
Chances are you’ll never see me son
yeah I know my names Canibus but I cant help you if you need a dub”
August 30th, 2008 at 9:16 am
What? Points on a graph? Charting? And making it look all non-Excel? THAT IS WORK!
I’m too lazy for that :v But good for you for being able to do it.
August 30th, 2008 at 11:58 am
@-@ Ooh.. Do one on Naissance when u get the album xDD I’d like to see others’ comments =]
August 31st, 2008 at 11:08 am
I like the look of the graphs. They’re very attractive. ;D
September 1st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
It’s not hard to draw them graphs! All I do is plot a couple of points as I listen to the tracks, play connect-the-dots and voila! Impressive looking chart.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
@j1m0ne:
Dang… I had no idea it was that simple. Excel ain’t got nothin’ on this. ^_^ Thanks for telling us!