Six-Word Reviews

Last year, I wrote about a hero of a music reporter, Paul Ford. You see, last year Paul Ford of The Morning News reviewed 763 songs by musicians hoping to make it big at the 2008 South by Southwest (SXSW) interactive, film, and music festivals.  Most of the "new" and "edgy" songs currently on my iPod came from this article. 

Paul reviewed all of them in six words, paying homage to Hemingway. (In the 1920s, Hemingway bet his colleagues $10 that he could write a complete story in just six words. His story: "For sale: Baby shoes, Never worn." They paid up.) With this in mind--brevity, not miscarriages--Paul did it again. But better. 

He listened to 1,302 SXSW songs  and wrote six word reviews for each of them.  Here is this year's Morning News article: Six-Word Reviews of 1,302 SXSW Mp3s.  

In Paul's own words: 

"For brevity, I kept each review to exactly six words. Clicking on a band’s name takes you to its web site. Clicking on the song title takes you to its page on the SXSW web site. Full band information is not always available, but clicking on the rating circle (●) or circles always takes you directly to an mp3 file so you can listen to the song. Right-click to download. By popular request, all links pop up in new windows/tabs.

Many bands appearing in Austin did not release mp3s directly to SXSW; only those bands that did so were reviewed."

ENJOY!

(From the buzz)

(PS: This year's SXSW site considerably fuglier than last year's. )