Are you an expert?

Thanks.

i want to play the songs that nitsuh has not heard on my perfect fifteen for him and then hear his reactions immediately during and after. actually i want nitsuh around to comment on everything i listen to.

Kidnap him.

Country on here I guess. Once I'm not with you fuckers and I'm out in the real world I'm an expert on all music.

1. Uninformed statements about music make me both cringe and give me understanding of how music effects all. So it's half and half.

2. I readily admit that i know too much about Zoot Horn Rollo, the evolution of Neil Peart's drumkit, and the original electronics that David Tudor built for Cage compositions. Too too too much.

3. I am a ninja.

I wonder if there is a way to intern with Nitsuh. Sort of like protege type of mentality.

I'm most definitely an expert in the outside, normal world, where Neu! and Aphex Twin, or the Buzzcocks and the Magnetic Fields mean fuck all.
But I'm often like a newborn baby on ILM...

If not expert, which areas to you consider your "specialties"

Probably....Ruins? XTC? I don't know, really. I know a lot about the Beach Boys. Actually, I know a fair bit about classical music performance and theory, but you can guess how much that stuff comes up on pop/rock message boards.

since I have pretty eclectic tastes, I usually think I know enough to contribute to most discussions. I guess I'm an "expert" in the current indiepop scene, but since there are like 1000 people in the world who care, it doesn't matter much. I am probably an expert or close in classic bubblegum. I know a decent amount about: new wave, post punk, sunshine pop, kraut rock, guitar pop in general, folk rock, brit pop, mod, etc. I have opinions about jazz, blues, country, folk, dance, soul, rnb, etc. but not especially in depth knowledge. Definite deficiency in metal, chart pop, rap & hip-hop, classical. I know a lot about hi-fi stereo stuff and music gear, vintage guitars in particular. that said, I am lazy about expressing things in writing. I suck as a typist. I was an english/history major in college though, I attribute my shortcomings in this respect to the fact that parts of my brain have gone to sleep because I've been working in the technical field for most of the past decade. I should try harder

since I have pretty eclectic tastes, I usually think I know enough to contribute to most discussions. I guess I'm an "expert" in the current indiepop scene, but since there are like 1000 people in the world who care, it doesn't matter much. I am probably an expert or close in classic bubblegum. I know a decent amount about: new wave, post punk, sunshine pop, kraut rock, guitar pop in general, folk rock, brit pop, mod, etc. I have opinions about jazz, blues, country, folk, dance, soul, rnb, etc. but not especially in depth knowledge. Definite deficiency in metal, chart pop, rap & hip-hop, classical. I know a lot about hi-fi stereo stuff and music gear, vintage guitars in particular. that said, I am lazy about expressing things in writing. I suck as a typist. I was an english/history major in college though, I attribute my shortcomings in this respect to the fact that parts of my brain have gone to sleep because I've been working in the technical field for most of the past decade. I should try harder...

godddamn button,.

I am an expert in the barcodes on Fleetwood Mac bootlegs. In all seriousness, I like to believe I am a 15 year old Nu Metal kid who just realized there's more to life than skateboarding and kOrN. There's disco. I have embraced the genius of Casablanca records and Nile Rodgers. I am on a mission to do the perfect moonwalk. But deep down I am afraid of Aaron Carter's hairdo.

Thanks.
You're welcome.

Interns? Wow ... I'd never have to leave the house again.

Re: the question ... I think the opinions of the "uninformed" can be hugely valuable so long as they're clearly tagged as both (a) opinions, and (b) "uninformed." Surely it can help lend new perspective to a heated analytical discussion when someone comes along and says, "Well, I know nothing about this, but I've always felt like ..."

I can't really think of any reasonably broad topics in which I consider myself an "expert." This is obviously quite relative to one's company, though, right?

I am decidedly not an expert. If the conversation strays towards 90's indie rock of the American variety I can hold my own, but otherwise, my opinion is largely uninformed. It seems to me that there are far too many excellent records out there to choose an area of expertise. If I decide to learn everything about IDM, I'm probably going to miss that Trick Daddy single (or worse, I'll hear it and I won't be able to enjoy it). I'm perfectly happy in my relative ignorance so long as enough good stuff comes my way.

As a side note, the beginning of this thread reads like this board ought to be renamed ILN, and I count myself among one of the Nitsuh fans (to be honest, I've been admiring his writing since whenever it was he used to post on the indiepop list). So tell us Nitsuh, is there anywhere else we can read your writing (aside from the reviews on AMG, which I know you've discounted in the past). And if not, why?

I'd probably feel comfortable calling myself well-informed had I ever severely taxed my attention span & patience when thinking about music, and I just can't see myself ever putting in the hours needed to learn any music theory, to really learn how to write on music qua music. As it is, I can rant about personas of musicians & social context & such, so.. as adamant as I am re: matters of taste, I wouldn't think it appropriate to call myself a music critic.
As for making & picking apart sweeping theoretical statements on music consumption, fans, scenes - I'm there, sign me up.

What is with the Nitsuh lovefest on ilx lately? You'd think he's Jay-Z or somethin'.

bnw, SSHHH! If his peeps find out he posts here under an assumed name, he won't be allowed back. If we're going to keep Ni-hova, we've gotta keep it on the down low. Or on the hush. Or something.

i bought 40 singles today from 40 different artists , i listen like a slut, like a hummingbird, drinkign deeply from one flower , fcuk being an expert, there is no longer any joy in discovery that way,

In my town, yes. Hell, anywhere east of Toronto and I still say yes. Get me online or asked by somone I know does not fear the network of networks and my answer is 'no'.

This is saying a lot considering that "anywhere east of Toronto" includes Ottawa, Montreal, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

I can’t honestly claim great expertise on any particular genre, though I know more about some styles (space-rock, techno, ‘IDM’) more than others (metal, hip-hop, jazz). Initially I found it sobering to encounter contributors who shared tastes but were far better informed, with fingers more firmly placed on the pulse. I mean if Melissa W sometimes feels reluctant to post on IDM I should stop altogether.

However what I enjoy most on ILM isn’t merely informative ‘knowledge displays’ - e.g. Kompact and the Cologne techno scene - but equally as important the thrill when a contributor offers a completely unexpected perspective on an otherwise familiar record or act- e.g. Robin Carmody on Imagination’s ‘Illusion’, or Marcello on Dollar (both inspiring purchases). After all this group isn’t called I Know A Lot Music but I Love Music. The best writing AFAIC comes from those able to share their passion in an entertaining, thought provoking, and original way.

I know less about music than ever and I'm happier with it. I think a few years ago as a 'public' music fan I was striving for expertise - now I'm striving to be able to say interesting things about the records I like.

"How do you know when you've reached the point that you DO know enough to comment? "

I chose to submit an answer to this thread at the point I felt an opinion brewing inside of me. I think the desire to contribute is the only qualifying factor anyone EVER needs to participate in a forum. And in the same breath, the very subjectivity of the issue sort of renders the question irrelevant.

I'm going to back these people who are proudly "uninformed" in their offerings to this forum. It's far too easy for us to buy into the peculiarly western cult of knowledge - of the "expert" - to distance ourselves from our topic, and to kick around our words as if they were not our own.

Somewhere along the way on our epic rational voyage up our own western arses, we've forgotten that mucic is unavoidably about being human, long before we corrupt it with the need to question and measure whether we each might know enough FACTS about music to earn a voice.

As if anyone could ever know enough FACTS. Facts and knowledge are dubious at best. They're infinite, they change and they're not actually useful on their own. Generally, they're a bad investment.

Music is a tool. It's a language. It's a window for us to share our experiences. Isn't there something dangerously self-referential about objectifying art? Suddenly we individuals aren't enough of and within ourselves - we're asked to validate our feelings with KNOWLEDGE which can be acquired and lost just as easily and superficially as anything else in this market culture we live in.

"As a side note, the beginning of this thread reads like this board ought to be renamed ILN"

- I Love Nothing?

Uninformed opinions about music can be refreshing when they come from someone with an open mind who has actually taken the time to listen to the music in question. Regurgitated opinions based on hearsay based on someone else's opinion are annoying and pointless. As long as one is willing and able to justify any opinion they may have about a piece of music they have reached the point where they know enough to comment. Dismissing an opinion out of hand simply because the writer may not have listened to the group's entire catalogue and doesn't know the date of the band's formation, breakup, and rotating roster of members including their previous and subsequent projects, is simply elitist and helps to ensure that no new ideas have to be entertained.

well put stephen