>Well that's not too surprising -- most record reviewers these days don't even >seem to know what 4/4 time is :) The Rough Guides to House and Drum and Bass >try and draw the distinction between the two genres by claiming something to >the effect of "a breakbeat can roughly be defined as a beat NOT in 4/4 time >whereas house beats are beats in 4/4 time."!!!!
Oh I don't know about that, definitions change by usage a lot. Same thing with the term 4/4, I think you'll find a lot of people use it to describe music where there's a drumkick on each of the four beats even though they know the precise definition means theres four beats in a bar... they get the general idea across, which is all that matters really. If they're talking about it in the strictest sense of the term, you'll usually hear a different time signature being mentioned. Going back to your main point about reviews, the smartest thing on the topic I heard (on another list) is "the best descriptor of music is the music itself' anything else can only guide you in the general direction, which in the eye of the reviewer can be fairly subjective. e.g. (personally) whenever I hear millsian type techno being described as 'deep' I start to dismiss any reviews with the word deep in them. The best reviews are the one's that both draw comparisons to something you're already familiar with, while at the same time making an entertaining read. (cf Tom C.) p.s. hope that makeas sense when I read it in a more sober state. /J.
