My first record review

As part of my role as a member of the Burst, the Bristol University Radio Station, music team, I get the chance to get my hands on some of the best new music around, for the small price of writing a 3 or 4 line review for each single I take ownership of, and a little more for albums. I'm also given the opportunity the mercilessly slate the shit that makes up the majority of what the music industry's currently producing. And the best bit is, each review gets sent straight to the relevant record company! This week? This week I reviewed Stone Sour's new single, "Through Glass", for the benefit of Roadrunner Records:

You're looking at me through the glass... Okay, I get it. Stop going on about it. And how about some actual variation in the melody rather than just arbitrarily changing the strumming pattern, alternating between acoustic and electric guitar and occasionally adding a completely unnecessary piano line? And who the hell's idea was it to make this song over 4 minutes long?! It could easily be cut down to 20 seconds without losing a single worthwhile idea.

To be honest, I'm slightly disappointed with how lightly they get off, but it's surprisingly difficult to be both constructive and appropriately cruel with only a few lines to work with. Even with just that paragraph, I had to write over the boxes where I was supposed to fill in the number of playlist, spot, specialist and free plays the song's had. It probably won't be a problem. I'm sure they value my opinion a lot more than they value silly statistics like radio plays and record sales.

If you'd like to hear more of my opinions on the current state of the music industry, as well as some of the best songs EVER, starting Monday, October 30, you'll be able to hear me at www.burstradio.org.uk, between 4 and 6pm, every Monday during term time (that's up until December 15 this term - I'll update you on the others later), presenting my show, "Hello World". Yes, that is a prime time slot. Yes, I might have bent the truth slightly to get it. Yes, I will probably lose it quite quickly. But until then, that's when you'll be able to hear me, so tune in, tune in, tune in! I mean, connect... and... erm... buffer.