About this blog and why it exists...

Welcome to the Wind and Wire blog. Besides containing mirrors of the reviews posted on the Wind and Wire website, this blog may/will contain other ramblings by yours truly as well as whatever you, dear readers, decide to post as replies.

So, why did I jump back into reviewing for my own site after a one-and-a-year hiatus? My new age music (and associated genres) reviews will still appear at New Age Reporter, but I wanted to do something a little different with my ambient reviews than I had been up to now, especially since NAR caters more to the new age/adult contemporary/world music fan and also because ambient fans (and artists) seem to exist in their own subculture anyway (to say the least).

I’ve always tried to write lengthy detailed reviews of ambient music, a genre that, IMO, is sometimes (but not always) ill-suited for that type of analysis. Some, but not all, of the new reviews of ambient, electronica, chill-out, spacemusic, etc. you will read here will be shorter and also may come across as being more critical (some may be outright pans). This latter change reflects my reaction to what has been the most oft-criticized aspect of my reviewing in the past, i.e. I’m too “soft” and don’t write enough about my negative reactions to recordings I receive for review. Since, many artists and fans have expressed a desire to read more “critical” reviews of ambient music over the years, I decided to give them (you) what you want.

I’m also initiating a rating system (since I work at a university, I’ll use the grading scale of A+ to F), which I know will meet with a mixed reaction. Some of you have told me you hate ratings and some have told me you think they’re great.

Note that I'm still going to contribute the occasional ambient review to NAR and I also contribute to a site called Furthernoise.

Finally, for those who are going to subscribe...to make it easy to ignore my miscellaneous ramblings and only pay attention to my reviews, review blog entries will begin with the word REVIEW followed by the artist and album title.

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to respond here or send me an email.