svse

Hi, I'm svse (no idea how to pronounce it lol), fka Tinnitus/Tinnitus Enjoyer. I'm a college student working on a psychology undergrad (for now). I played the flute for ten years and alto saxophone for two. In high school I got really into EDM via osu!, then fell into the music side of YouTube (not there anymore), and here I am. If I say anything stupid in my reviews I apologize, I rarely know what I'm talking about. I'm embarrassingly poorly versed in technical knowledge and music theory given how many years I spent playing, but I often feel compelled to put my thoughts out there anyway. I also only occasionally have detailed thoughts anyway because I mostly listen to music in the background while doing other stuff like schoolwork and chores.

My primarily areas of interest in music are noise, hardcore EDM, electronic music in general, drone, ambient, modern classical, Hindustani Classical, noise rock, Jazz, and extreme metal. I'll listen to anything if it catches my interest though, I just only have so much time on this planet to get to interesting music.

My approach towards rating music

The main purpose of rating is categorization. It's completely impossible to represent actual opinions with just numbers, especially when since no person gives an equal amount of attention and thought to all the music they listen to. My ratings only indicate that I have listened to something and have a surface level impression of it relative to other music I've heard.

I tend to be a bit obsessive, so I sometimes get stuck in the trap of categorizing for the sake of categorizing. However, in an ideal world rating music would act exclusively as a tool to guide my own listening. I listen to enough music that I can't remember everything I find interesting and worthy of potentially returning to without a way to catalogue what I've heard. The goal of my system is to be practical, and relatively streamlined, while still have some room for "vibes."

Also, despite what my somewhat exclusive ratings may indicate, I generally reject the idea that there are only a select few albums in any genre worth hearing. There's a lot of good shit out there. Boiling down music to only a select few "truly great" albums oversimplifies the conversation around "good music," undermines the whole cultural and collaborative aspect of music, and threatens to hoist up overly individualist narratives around artistic creation. Musical geniuses definitely exist, but there are a hell of a lot of them.

Anyway, my rating system:

10/10

Not really "better" than any of my 9/10's, just a tad more personally significant for me.

9/10 - personal and/or of immense interest

These are albums I consider truly excellent and highlight things I value most about different styles of music better than anything else I've heard so far. However, realistically the main difference between these albums and many of my 8/10's is familiarity. I often view these albums like close friends, but some newer ratings here may not be quite so personal if I consider them intriguing enough to warrant a really high score.

8/10 - great/amazing!

Music that I love, though not necessarily super uniquely. These are albums that are (in theory) something I'd put in my regular rotation of relistens. In practice, some of these are albums that I rarely, if ever, return to because there's just so much great music out there. However, I *could* easily be in a mood where I feel inclined to relisten to this. In the future, when I inevitably stop listening to as much new music, this category is where I'll be looking for stuff to listen to.

7/10 - very good/great!

I find this actively enjoyable. I would/could return to most of the music on these releases and get some mileage out of it. Basically anything I've rated here is something I would recommend to people who like this genre (and have relatively similar taste to me).These releases fall into two broad categories:

1) Stuff that's consistently good but lacking in memorable peaks. I probably have no real "problems" with it, but there's nothing here that I crave hearing again.

2) Great highlights, but unignorable problems. There are some points where I'm very engaged with this, but other parts that are kinda dull or bother me a bit.

6/10 - decent/pretty good

Passively enjoyable, but, there's a relatively low chance I'd seek this out again. Satisfying, but not memorable. The difference between this category and 7/10's without major highlights is really mostly a matter of my whims.

5/10 - enjoyable

Nice, but kinda the bare minimum. Extremely low chance I'd ever want to revisit this. In a particularly bad mood I might even dislike this, but I try to judge albums like this when I'm at my best. This rating also sort of acts as a placeholder for stuff that might technically sound good to me, but which I have absolutely no connection with or care for.

≤4/10 - questionable/irksome

Not my cup of tea, though I may not always actively dislike this stuff because I generally don't get invested enough to "dislike" most music I listen to (I'm fairly hard to disappoint all things considered).  Either my first listen peeved me, or I strongly suspect a relisten would be a chore that would destroy any good will I currently have towards this.

Notes about my rating system

1. To a large extent, my rating system is mostly a reflection of what I can care about with my limited time. Plenty of stuff I've rated lower is still generally enjoyable, it just doesn't have a place in my life.
2. Many scores will probably be out of date.
3. Any rating that isn't a multiple of 10 indicates that I'm not 100% sure of the rating and plan on revisiting the album at some point (maybe far far in the future) to confirm my rating.
4. Scores (especially under 70) can vary plus or minus 10 points depending on my mood, despite my best efforts to be measure my taste consistently.

Other notes:

• I try to get around to all albums recommended to me, the exception being self-promo (I'll still listen to it sometimes, especially if I follow you)
• If I don't respond to your message I probably just forgot, sorry :/
• Generally don't block people anymore unless you actively pester or harass me.
• Don't take it personally if I don't follow back, you're probably chill :)
• I probably won't unfollow if I'm mutualed with you.
• If I follow and unfollow you, or vice versa, I'm not trying to do f4f shit, I'm just indecisive.