I am not a critic

Yesterday I received my first unsolicited CD in the mail. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind hearing new music, and having people give it to me is even better, BUT what does it mean if I start accepting, or even asking for,, promo copies of CDs?

The original idea behind Scratch My Brain was to talk about the music and art that moves me. Not so much in the way that media outlets talk about music and art, but in the way friends talk about music and art. I am not a critic, I am an artist and fan. I guess I would be in denial if I claim to not be a writer, since that is what I do on this site. I don’t see myself as a writer in terms of being one of the guys that hungry artists send CDs to in hopes of having something good written about them. I’ve been on the hungry artist side of that for too long to want to change roles. On this site, i write about stuff that moves me, and makes me think. I also often write about the music made by my friends. I try to be clear when I do that. I am often aware of this music because it is made by my friends, but I write about it because it is good.

I never really understood reviews anyway. Sometimes a review will tell me nothing that I couldn’t have read on the back of the CD case. Sometimes when I write about something, all I really want to say is, “this is good, you should check it out.”

So my dilemma is, what to do with unsolicited CDs. I don’t want to write reviews of stuff that I don’t like. That’s not why I started this this site. On the other hand, I don’t want to just ignore things, because I know the feeling and it sucks. To put much work and spirit into a project and have it ignored is very discouraging.

With that in mind, I will mention any unsolicited CDs I happen to get (hopefully there won’t be too many). If it moves me, I will write about it just like any other music that I dig. If I don’t get it musically, I will probably still say something about it, to at least let you know it is out there.