We get albums. We get CDs. We get mp3 files tucked into neat little zip folders with no cover art. We used to get tapes. We’ve never gotten an 8-track or a reel-to-reel, but we dream of that day and the panic upon realizing we can’t play anything in that format.

The beauty of all of those things is that we want them. We want albums to sit in our office and listen to. We want to get inspired, excited, confused, repulsed and maybe even a tad insulted about what we are hearing. We want your music.

Fuzztone’s sincere promise to you is this: if you send something to us, we’ll listen to it and review it for our site. We’ll be honest and what you do or who you hang out with won’t be factored into the opinion.

But how do we arrive at our opinion of your work?

First of all, we listen to the CD. We listen to everything with an open mind and open ears. It’s our slogan around here.  We’re going to give the same amount of time to a hair metal band reissue that some major label sent us as a joke as we would a punk rock band as we would a Wal Mart country group with a brand new cowboy hat and a still under development southern twang to their voice. The reason why we do this is that we want to be fair. Reread the first paragraph- we want your music, so we aren’t going to scoff at what we get.

Second, we listen to the music again. Every album you see reviewed at Fuzztone has been listened to at least 4 times before the review is written. We want to get to know the music. There’s no short turnaround time on this stuff. We want to live with the music, no matter how insufferable it may be.

Third, we read up a little bit about the artist after a few listens and an opinion is formed. We like to go into listening to an album with minimal opinions being formed by magazines, PR firms or other, less handsome bloggers.

Then we write the review. If we love it, we gush about it and put it on mix CDs for friends. We root for the artists. We drive to their shows. If we hate it, we try to explain why and say a few nice things about it anyways, and it still might end up on a mix CD, but for the wrong reason.

The point is that we try to give every bit of music the respect it deserves. The artists worked hard creating what they send us, so maybe we should be just as hard working about forming an opinion.

Also, a liberal arts education has taught us that most things are subjective. If our review doesn’t match up to your opinion of the album-drop us a line, leave us a comment and let your voice be heard. The only thing better than a lonely nerd typing away about music into his computer is a few lonely nerds discussing what is the better saxophone solo by Clarence Clemons (“Rosalita” is my personal favorite).

Thanks for your time, and hopefully you’ll enjoy our piddly reviews.