New music writing at www.scaruffi.com
(Click on the underlined text to be taken to the various pages)
Not sure how you got to this page, but you won't find much here.
See for the general index. Thank you.
February 2014: I created again the page on plagiarists because every now and then readers find out about despicable individuals who apparently spend their life stealing other people's texts to look good to their own readers (if they do it to me they probably do it to many other writers too).
January 2014:
2013:
2012:
2011:
- Plagiarizer of the month: Warner Group. Bios like this one http://www.warnermusic.ie/index.php/component/content/article/34-artist-page/83-defttones.html are carbon copies of my bios (eg http://www.scaruffi.com/vol5/deftones.html ). The funny thing is that these are precisely the major that dislike my work and stopped sending me promos long ago.
- Roey Tsemah's Music Globalization project, based on texts by piero scaruffi
December 2010:
Most important book of the year: "Listen To This" by Alex Ross
Reviews of the last 2009 albums in the pile.
Finally a credible list of the best of 2009 (yes, one year late).
Revisited and new bios:
Warhammer 48K,
Wolves In The Throne Room,
November 2010:
Revisited and new bios:
Max Tundra,
Silvester Anfang,
St Vincent,
Skullflower (long overdue!),
Skullflower,
Shogun Kunitoki,
Shit And Shine,
Russian Circles,
Juana Molina, Nisennenmondai,
Peste Noire,
Raccoo-Oo-On
I don't think Zappa is getting the attention he deserves, so let me emphasize a few things. Absolutely Free employed the very sub-cultural styles of commercials, cartoon soundtracks and vaudeville skits (the lowest and least serious forms of musical art) to redefine the musical composition as collage and puzzle. The silly ditties of the following years, that analyzed the changing social customs, composed a vast multi-stylistic "comedie humaine" a` la Balzac. His cacophonous compositions linked post-Ayler's free jazz with post-Cage's classical avantgarde. His orchestral compositions bridged hard-bop jazz, easy-listening pop and romantic symphony. Zappa was a wildly-imaginative chameleon-like clown who filtered culture and society through the lenses of a Socratic and non-utopian philosophy of life, heir to Dada's and Jarry's anarchic and provocative rejection of cliches.
Old Italian-only profiles translated into English by Nicole:
Lycia,
Phish,
Primus,
Royal Trux,
Cows,
Ed Hall,
Yo La Tengo,
Unrest,
Profiles translated into Italian: Fursaxa, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz
September 2010:
Old bios translated from Italian to English:
Flaming Lips,
Tiny Lights,
Smog,
Low,
Lisa Germano,
Fugazi,
Today Is The Day,
Allman Brothers
Rocco Stilo has revised all the chapters of the History of Rock and Dance Music up to 4.14
Revisited and new bios:
Man Man,
Moss,
Mountains,
LSD-march,
Kings of Leon ,
Joe Henry,
Inade,
Ida Maria,
Horrors,
Tim Hecker,
Gang Gang Dance,
Gnaw Their Tongues,
Fursaxa,
Funeral Mist,
Ben Frost,
Christian Fennesz,
Alio Die ,
Dwarr,
Many reviews of 2009 albums.
August 2010:
Revisited and new bios:
Expo '70,
Evangelicals,
Elegi,
Emeralds,
Nels Cline,
Dan Deacon,
Death Cab For Cutie,
First reviews of 2010 albums. Notable discovery: Sarah June.
July 2010:
Several bios on last.fm are copied with no authorization from my texts. The latest one is Pelt, which is word by word my text except that they removed the name Piero Scaruffi... Please boycott last.fm
New reviews: Caethua, Califone, Camera Obscura, Neko Case, Cave, Church, Circulatory System, Cloaks, Clubroot, William Fowler Collins, Concern, Converge, Chris Corsano, Crystal Antlers, Current 93, Cymbals Eat Guitars
Revisited and new bios:
Bad Religion,
Converge,
Current 93,
Circulatory System,
Caethua,
Camera Obscura,
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone,
Chris Corsano,
Brother Ali,
Birchville Cat Motel,
Blank Dogs,
Black Angels,
Billy Bao,
Baroness,
Andrew Bird,
Bibio,
Black Lips,
Julianna Barwick,
Black To Comm
June 2010:
Revisited:
Blues Control,
Bunkur,
Bear In Heaven,
Atlas Sound,
Aethenor,
A Sunny Day In Glasgow,
A Place to Bury Strangers
April 2010:
Revisited:
Aluk Todolo,
1349,
A Broken Consort,
February 2010:
- Biggest plagiarizer (or plain thief) of the decade: Dave Strickson, a pathetic blogger who copied entire chapters of my history of rock music starting with
http://davestrickson.blogspot.com/2009/07/definitive-history-of-rock-music-pt-1.html And apparently he's even running for office in his country. This scumbag certainly promises to be a honest politician! Note that Google (the owner of Blogger) has been repeatedly informed of this copyright infringement but has never acted. In fact, the complicated procedure to report these thieves is made so complicated by Google that most victims are probably discouraged from defending their rights.
- Several readers reported seeing my texts used (without authorization and without credit)on last.fm The magnitude of the case is alarming. It is hard to believe that the management of last.fm has nothing to do with this praxis. Let me know when you find texts that are clearly plagiarized from mine.
- Reissue of the month (of the decade?): John Fahey's America (4 Men With Beards, 2009)
- I am updating dozens of bios and creating new ones on many worthy artists. It will take a while to see the effect of this work because i still have to type the extended reviews of their albums, but check the Best of 2009 every now and then.
- It looks like my Wikipedia bio was vandalized by a combination of jealous "scholars" (who scientifically removed all references to my works and books) and... by Beatles fans! Hard to believe, but basically you can't have a Wikipedia bio if you don't like the Beatles, because Beatles fans will start vandalizing your bio until you request that your bio be deleted (which is what i just did). I am now realizing that a Wikipedia page (on any subject) is in the hands of the people who have more determination and more time, not in the hands of the most competent ones. I have neither the time nor the inclination, so i would always lose. Therefore i asked Wikipedia to delete my bio.
- Jakub Krawczynski sent me this comment: I find it quite amusing that almost all of the Beatles songs have their own entries on wikipedia (nothing wrong with that in itself, actually), even if they are not singles, and each of them is meticulously dissected as if there were transcendental suites exceeding human comprehension, yet bands like Faust or Red Krayola, etc. have biographies even shorter than just one article about any random Beatles song. Needless to say, none of their songs have any articles on them, yet I'm sure there would be a lot more to talk about. Moreover, if you had put any bad review of their album on the site with the intention to show the broader scope of opinions, you'd risk your "life" there, since such fanatics don't accept any single sign of trying to be objective (maybe wrong word). Beatles fans will always defend their beloved band as if their lives would depend on it, there are too many examples to even begin with, and you are seen as public enemy number 1 to them. It's like your article is one giant cognitive dissonance to them and vandalizing your bio was the only way to reduce this dissonance.
- New reviews
January 2010:
- Reissue of the month: Jan Dukes De Grey's Mice And Rats In The Loft (1971), perhaps the best psychedelic folk album of the 1970s
- Sandy Bull's Fantasias (Sutro Park, 2009) and Inventions (Sutro Park, 2009)
- Rocco Stilo is revising all the chapters of the History of Rock and Dance Music to add the recording dates for all the albums. There are many still unknown, but the work that he has done so far has no equivalent in the annals of rock scholarship. Click here to see this work in progress.
- For what is worth, i have picked my Best Musicians of 2009
November-December 2009:
- Revisited:
Acid Mothers Temple,
Dirty Projectors,
James Blackshaw ,
Dirty Projectors,
James Blackshaw ,
Angel,
Zero,
Vivian Girls,
Vampire Weekend,
Suishou No Fune,
Dodos,
Alps,
Times New Viking,
Hercules And Love Affair ,
Aufgehoben No Process,
Jasper TX,
Pussygutt,
Ricardo Villalobos,
Telefon Tel Aviv,
Fucked Up,
Mia Doi Todd,
Bug,
Fuck Buttons,
Black Boned Angel,
- Rocco Stilo is revising all the chapters of the History of Rock and Dance Music to add the recording dates for all the albums. There are many still unknown, but the work that he has done so far has no equals in the world.
Girl Talk,
- New reviews: Aarktica, Bat For Lashes , Beat Circus , Church Of Misery , Dead Weather , Doves , Green Day , Isis , Moodring , Necks , Prodigy , U2 , White Denim , Patrick Wolf , Yeah Yeah Yeahs , etc
September-October 2009:
- New reviews: Arctic Monkeys , Basement Jaxx , VV Brown , Bill Callahan , Cheer-Accident , Church Of Misery , Dan Deacon , Dead Weather , Depeche Mode , Doves , Bob Dylan , Florence and the Machine , David Gray , Green Day , Isis , Dave Matthews Band , Muse , Prodigy , U2 , White Denim , Yeah Yeah Yeahs , etc.
- Reissue of the month: Stevie Moore's first album Phonography (ReR)
- Plagiarism
July-August 2009:
June 2009: Revisited
Kit Clayton,
Jack Rose,
Shalabi Effect
April 2009: The "A History of Rock and Dance Music" is two volumes (800 pages total) is out. You can order it here. It is also available from AMAZON.COM.
February 2009: I an leaning towards splitting the new book in two volumes: parts 1 to 4 in Vol 1 (basically, up to 1989), and parts 5-7 in Vol 2; otherwise the single volume edition would be too big and too expensive. Then people who already own the old edition can decide if they just want Vol 2 of the new edition (massive corrections and additions) or also the slightly revised Vol 1. I also briefly debated if i should change the title to "A History of Rock and Dance Music", since there are so many detailed chapters on the origin and development of soul, funk, hip-hop, techno, house, drum'n'bass, dubstep, etc.
February 2009: Massively revising the ratings of albums of the decade
February 2009: Adding dozens of short bios for musicians of the decade
February 2009: Read here for the status of the new edition of my "A History of Rock Music"
January 2009: I am adding dozens of band bios, listening to hundreds of cds of the last 5 years, but i don't have time to list them somehere. The only way to find out is to read the chapters of Part 7 of the new edition of my History of Rock Music as they are revised daily. Sorry!
January 2009: I am still massively revising the new edition of my History of Rock Music. If you want to receive an email when the book is finally available, register to my mailing list.
January 2009: New section: Rocco Stilo's "Jazz News". Rocco has been providing me with invaluable updates over the years, and now i decided to make his work known to the entire world.
December 2008: The first draft of the new edition of my History of Rock Music is now available on this website. The book will be available from my website sometime in february and from Amazon in march. Numerous revisions are underway, so please take the text as still very tentative (if nothing else, because i still have to listen to about 100 albums of 2007-08).
November 2008: massively updated all chapters on heavy metal and subgenres
October 2008:
Updated: Chapter on hip hop of the history of rock music.
September 2008:
New reviews: Richard Bone, British Sea Power, Harvey Milk, Primal Scream, Marc Ribot, She & Him, Tricky, TV On The Radio, Paul Weller, Wire, Wolf Parade,
Updated: Chapter on heavy metal of the history of rock music.
Revisited:
Philip Glass,
Pelican,
Emperor,
Opeth,
Akron Family,
Infidel? Castro,
Meshuggah,
July 2008:
Revisited:
Excepter,
Sloan,
Alio Die ,
Marah,
Subtle,
Black Lips,
the Microphones' The Glow Pt 2 (2001) and Mount Eerie (2003);
Sun Kil Moon: April (Caldo Verde, 2008),
Deerhunter's Cryptograms (Kranky, 2007),
Xiu Xiu's Women as Lovers (2008),
Reviews: Beat Circus, Steve Maclean, Maju, Alfredo Costa-Monteiro, Steve Tickmayer, ...
I added "creating a web feed/RSS" to the list of desiderata for volunteers (see this page)
June 2008:
Readers encouraged me to read the reviews published by other websites, and particularly their ratings. Needless to say, i am shocked. I went alphabetically through the main releases of 2008, and, for example, Allmusic has given at least four stars to all but two of them. Basically, we live in an amazing era, in which just about every album that is released is a masterpiece. I could not find a website whose ratings were mostly negative. Well, i disagree: so far i only have found one album in 2008 (out of the almost 100 that i have reviewed) that is worth buying.
Reissues of the month: Acid Mother Temple's 41st Century Splendid Man Returns (Essence, 2008), Foetus' Nail and Hole (both Some Bizarre)
Reviews: Albums released between january and june 2008
April 2008:
Revisited:
Joseph Arthur's first albums;
Tin Hat Trio's first albums;
Enslaved' first albums;
Bright Eyes' first three albums;
Add N To X's Loud Like Nature (2002);
Vladislav Delay's first three albums, notably Anima (one of the best of the decade);
March 2008:
Looking for volunteers on many many chores: click here
Revisited:
Harvey Milk's My Love Is Higher and Courtesy And Good Will Toward Men;
Notwist's 12 and Neon Golden;
the Books's first two albums;
Khanate's first two albums;
Black Dice's Beaches & Canyons;
Pan Sonic's Vakio and Kesto;
Aesop Rock's first four albums;
Xiu Xiu's Fabulous Muscles (2004);
Devendra Banhart's Rejoicing in the Hands;
Kammerflimmer Kollektief's Absencen;
Today Is The Day's Kiss The Pig;
Wolf Parade's Lycanthropy;
Dalek's first three albums;
Eluvium's Talk;
No-Neck Blues Band 's Sticks And Stones (2001), Intonomancy (2002) and Qvaris (2005);
Sunn O's Flight Of The Behemoth and The GrimmRobe Demos,
Flight Of The Behemoth (Southern Lord, 2002)
High On Fire's Art Of Self Defense and Blessed Black Wings,
the Ponys's first two albums,
A Silver Mt Zion's albums,
Foetus' Love,
Jan Jelinek,
February 2008:
Revisited:
Electric Wizard's first four albums,
Supersilent's first three albums,
!!!'s three albums,
KTL's first two albums,
Jesus' albums,
Band of Horses's two albums,
the Liars' Liars,
Pinback's albums,
Sir Richard Bishop's While My Guitar,
Explosions In The Sky's All Of A Sudden,
Go Team's Proof Of Youth (2007),
January 2008:
New reviews: Neil Young, Robert Wyatt, Bruce Springsteen, Aesop Rock, Akron Family, Angels of Light, Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, Caribou, Castanets, Vic Chesnutt, Dillinger Escape Plan, Go Team, Iron & Wine, Icarus, Jens Lekman, Liars, Joni Mitchell, Okkervil River, Pinback,
Reissues of the month: Nurse With Wound's Homotopy To Marie (United Jnana, 2007)
Click here to view my favorite musicians of 2007
The list of best albums of 2007 is still in progress as i'm listening to a few more
New releases:
Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno: Ominous From The Cosmic Inferno
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO: 41st Century Splendid Man Returns
Acid Mothers Temple: Never Ending Space Ritual - History Of Acid Mothers Temple
Birchville Cat Motel: Gunpowder Temple of Heaven
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Wilding The West
Boredoms: Super Roots 9
Coh: Strings
Coil: The Ape Of Naples/The New Backward
Dead Meadow: Old Growth
Dizzee Rascal: Maths + English
Jesus & Mary Chain: B-Sides Collection
John Zorn: The Dreamers
Loren Chasse & Michael Mnortham: Otolth
Magma: Mythes et L‚gendes Vol.4
Magnetic Fields: Distortion
Silver Jews: Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea
Circle X: Prehistory
Loren Chasse & Michael Mnortham: Otolth
Mars Volta: The Bedlam In Goliath
Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride
Nada Surf: Lucky
Nadja: Bliss Torn Emptiness
Silver Jews: Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea
White Heaven: Levitation
Wrens new album
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