Editorial - #6 - May 2001

 

Welcome back to the realm of the extreme !

I would like to talk a little bit about some points that I would like to clarify. Up to now I have received hundreds of good comments about the virtual magazine, a lot that made some corrections and only one person that seemed to dislike it.

In this email I have found certain points that I would like to answer about this email:

  1. "Another webzine that fails because it is trying to give coverage to ALL music" it says. Well, Music Extreme is not failing. Music Extreme is just beginning to rise. In fact the purspose of the magazine was to give coverage to all those musical forms that are always denosted because they are not so accesible to the ear of some people. In fact I think that having interviewed artists as different as Vadim Budman, Arghoslent or Barry Guy and Ravens over Gomorrah in one issue and making people to know their music is a victory for me !! In fact if only one person buys a recorded of the artists featured because of what he/she read in Music Extreme, that is a triumph.
  3. "Despite that the magazine is called MUSIC EXTREME, I find inside reviews of Rhapsody, all the Icarus Recs. Catalog, V8, Secret Sphere and more things" says later. Well, in fact I think that the bands that are mentioned in there are extreme in their own way. For example V8: few bands were playing heaay metal in Argentina before them. And few people dared to play this style of music during a militar dictatorship that left 30,000 persons dead/dissapeared and a country in ruins, but V8 did it in their beginnings. That is extreme! How many bands can experiment with melodies and harmonies as Rhapsody and Secret Sphere does? That is EXTREME !! How many labels can support metal bands in a country in an economic recession that now is 36 months long. Only two or three. That is why Icarus Recs. and Nems Enterprises have all my respect. That is EXTREME !! Obviously is easy to talk but it is much more difficult to do something in a critical situation.
  5. "The records and bands that you talk about are not sold in Argentina". Well, that is why I put the contact address of the labels and bands that I interview or that send me their records. Everybody from every part of the world can contact them and buy their CDs directly from them.
  7. "There is no criticism on your reviews". Well, there is criticism in a subtle way. I try to suggest what I would have like the band that I am reviewing. Maybe is their sound, maybe their originality. But I donīt say: "Well, this is crap" or "This is a shit" because these bands spend a lot of time doing their music, practicing, recording it, mixing it, promoting it, playing it live, etc, etc. and it would be extremely disrespectful from me to criticize in this manner. I like constructive criticism. Destructive criticism is worth nothing.
  9. "It is all very objective and compromised. I see that you have a total compromise with those who send you their CDs or you have a very wide taste...I believe that in most of the publications the really critical opinion has dissapeared". Well, I am very objective, that is true and I think tis is a positive aspect of my personality. If I should have been subjective, those styles that I like less wouldnīt have had a fair review and I would have said "this is good because I like it" and "this is not good because I donīt like it" and that is not the way things are supposed to be in a review. Things are good because they are good even if I donīt like them and things are bad because they are bad even if I like them. Regarding the compromise issue: the only compromise that I have with the people that send me their CDs is doing a fair review to their material, specially telling them what can be made better in my opinion. And YES !! I am really open minded...24 years of learning music from jazz to metal and classical (I started at four with classical piano) have opened my mind. And interviewing all this great artists here and listening to their music opens my mind much more..

 

Federico Marongiu

Editor.