Devilfish story on inthemix

[egotrip]

One of the worst pieces of writing I have ever read. Ill-informed and fawning, this is ass sucking at its ugliest.
When is inthemix.com.au going to get some real journalists?

[kitsu]

Ill informed?! I think not - unless of course you are talking about yourself.

Yet again someone with criticism fails to leave a return email address - what a surprise there.

And ass sucking - pa-lease. Sina and Frederick are nice guys - they have very humbly made friends with many people here in Melbourne during their stay and everyone I know that has met them has said that they charming, easy to get along with and a hell of a lot of fun! Not to mention they make and play fantastic music that crosses over into many genres with pure style. Why can\'t a reporter write a positive article giving praise to artists he/she feels derserve such accolades.

As far as ITM getting real journalists, well it\'s common knowledge that most of us no are not journalists by trade but we enjoy writing for ITM and so far we\'ve achieved excellent success for a site not run by \"so called professionals\" - many people assure us that it gives the site more creditablility because no money changes hands to sway ideals. If you want to pay us go ahead - regardless we\'ll keep going because we love it.

Mike - great article! See you soon :)

[mike]

Egotrip,

Interesting to note your comments on the Devilfish story for a number of reasons:
Apparently, you think it is ill-informed, I beg to differ - the article is the product of a number of interviews with Devilfish and with others associated with their tour/label.

You also suggest that it is fawning - well sue me for liking the guys - they really are two of the most enthusiastic DJs I've had the pleasure to meet. I'm not about to lie to you for the sake of sensationalism, although this style of writing is perhaps more appealing to narrow-minded individuals such as yourself.

I would really appreciate that you reply with a better explanation of your claims: there seems to be little value in making such comments without substantiating them. If you have something constructive to say, please let me know.

[jayblue]

Egotrip...??

Well the pseudonym says it all really - what a stupid, pointless inflammatory thing to say. You obviously only did it for a rise. I am the site's Sydney editor, and a writer/editor outside the professionally. A lot of the work featured on this site is equally as good, if not better, than the work of many experienced 'journalists'.

In addition to being an extrmemely nice guy, I happen to think that Mike writes well, his passion for music is always obvious. He's spent a lot of time with the Devilfish guys lately (who I also hear are very cool) and yes, he obviously got on well with them. Do you not think he should bring this across in his article? I think that sort of connection with an interviee is what makes a feature really interesting to read. You may as well just look up an artist bio otherwise.

Yes, many of our contributors are not 'journalists', but they love music and spend hours unpaid providing features, news and reviews. If you don't think the writing on ITM lives up to the standard of other publications the answer is quite simple - don't visit the site. Plenty of others obviously disagree with you.

Check yourself!

We love ITM.

[Egotrip]

Here's some points I disagree on:
<i>"Samuel L Sessions is one such example of a DJ/producer to ride the Swedish techno wave with a sound so familiar that it can be described, depending on your point of view, as either ‘consistent’ or just plain repetitive."</i>
Riding the wave? Sound so familiar? SLS sounds little like the rest of the Swedish guys - if anything his sound is of a Detroit bent. Sure, this is just my opinion, but why try and pigeonhole producers and DJs of a Swedish origin? Especially in the opening paragraph?
Then in the second paragraph you say that <i>"Two of Sweden’s most innovative techno producers, however, would prefer to let their music, not their nationality, do the talking."</i>
Good point - but why pigeonhole Beyer, Mull et al in the first paragraph?
I know each writer's style differs, but you are doing the talking more than the group. Wouldn't it have been easier to let the quotes substantiate the claims? For such a long piece the input of the group is minimal.
Just a thought. Maybe I was being narky because you implied a few things about some producers who I respect in the first part.

[Egotrip]

Jayblue,

"I am the site's Sydney editor, and a writer/editor outside the professionally"
Huh? A writer/editor professionally? Surely not, seeing that you're trying to prove your credentials but still end up with grammar mistakes.

Check yo'self next time sucker!

[jayblue]

Would it not have been better to constructively criticise in the first place? I don't know why anonymity makes some of you think that you can be rude and insulting to us...

Are you a writer yourself egotrip?

[brett]

I thought it was a god read. Kudo's to the writer.

I also thought that story of Richie Rich a few weeks/months ago was a fantastic read too. Sorry I don't recall who it was by, but thumbs up to the author of that piece too.

[jayblue]

yeah yeah I know - God, it's a forum post, not a feature article...I wrote it quickly.

Want to start insulting my work now? :]

[mike]

Thanks for the reply, egotrip.

I appreciate your clarification of those points, and what you've said is fair enough. Please excuse me, I mean no disrespect to Beyer, Mull etc, but I am certainly aware of a "Swedish techno" clique thing going on within the techno scene which is just bullshit... the bottom line is, SLS leaves a lot to be desired as a DJ, but because he's part of "Swedish Techno" he can apparently churn oiut all these records with the same flavour and little innovation and still play crap sets as a DJ, but still gets booked the world over. Did you see him at Welcome 2001? He was atrocious, even when playing his own records. I was not impressed.

As for direct quotes, I am tired of reading a feature article made up of regurgitated responses from artists - the whole Q and A thing is not an intersting read. Instead, I undertook an informal interview where the artists do not need to carefully craft every response - instead they can give a genuine answer to a genuine question. I feel that as a result, I have achieved some insight from Devilfish that may not have been derived otherwise.

Nonetheless, thanks for your response.
Mike

[sumphreak]

egotrip --

you have brought up several points in mike's work (which i thought was fine) for debate. it seems you know a lot about this subject, and your second last post was mostly constructive. the first was not -- such an outburst only makes you look bad, as does being picky on jayblue's post.

why don't you use your knowledge on this sort of thing to good effect?? you asked the question yourself at the beginning "When is inthemix.com.au going to get some real journalists?" well, why don't you become one? even just to write one thing or whatever, it doesn't tie you to us in anyway. if you have good things to say, and i think you do, make the most of them. lashing out at someone's article which obviously required heaps of work does not help them or the site and it makes you look very immature, especially when combined with no email address. so please, be constructive, we never said we were experts or professionals. we do our best. perhaps you would do the same

sumphreak

[techboy]

egotrip, you fecking twat,

You've caught me on a good day. I'm tired and over it. And sick of ignorant and ungrateful people like you. So here's my unjournalistic opinion for you.

You suck.

So you disagree with Mike on a few points. Good for you. Thanks for your expert opinion on what an ill informed article looks like.

The forum is by no means a demonstration of the professionalism inthemix is capable of, but I take offence at your inference that inthemix needs some "real journalists". (We're always looking for new contributors, but not because we're not happy with the ones we've already got!)

A quick scan of the other music press in the country should show you a couple of things:

1. inthemix is as good as (and in some cases better than) any music media in Australia

2. a significant percentage of our un-real journalists ARE actually real journalists for other publications. And I think they do a pretty good job.

OK, I've had my spit now. I guess we all use the forum to vent a little, so I shouldn't begrudge that of you. I just get frustrated with unsubstantiated mud slinging - mostly because we're in the business of critiquing others ourselves. However, our reviews and comments attempt to be constructive.

inthemix is a quality site and, mike, I loved the article.

techboy

[Fredrik - Devilfish]

This is a message from Fredrik (and Lara) who couldn't believe that 13 entries have already taken place in regards to a story that was extremely well written by Mike.

I think that Mike has the right to have his own oppion about SLS (and any other DJ) and I did not see the article being disrespectful to Adam Beyer and Joel Mull and the other fantastic Swedish DJs.

Even though this is an article about ourselves I would like to say that it's very well written and very conclusive.

Egotrip - if you want to do an interview and think that you can do a better job than Mike (which I doubt) we are available - please feel free to get in contact with Lara and organise an interview time with us.

Respect to everyone out there that have shown us support while we've been in Melbourne and look forward to seeing you at our next gig.

Frederik (aka Devilfish)

[Sina - Devilfish]

Well, I was not about to take part in this discussion, but I have to say that the things said on the forum made me to grab the keyboard and say what's on my mind.

EGOTRIP: I like the fact that you say how you feel, and give you r opinion about it but the whole comment about being ill-informed is just proving that you have NO idea what you are saying. Since this thing started surrounding us, I have to say that Mike has done a great job researching and writing the interview. You might think that I feel that way just because the interview is promoting us, but I don't.

I would also like to say thank you for everybody supporting us. You know who you are.
I hope to see you all at WET005 on the 24th of FEB!!!


/Sina