Exit Survey: Joe on Waak Waak ga Min Min

See the rest of the exit surveys HERE.

1. Were you happy with the reviews that were published? How do you feel about your week as Record Club captain?

I thought it would be funny to force myself to do an exit survey while on holiday, even though I didn't choose the album (only facilitated the choosing), and even though I wasn't really too active with Record Club this week (gonna probably hang myself if I don't get an opportunity to listen to some hardcore punk or East Coast boom bap soon, my soul is rotting with all this kids' music).

2. How was the variety of opinions? A wide range, kinda samey, or somewhere in the middle?

Varied. I'm rereading them now (Friday night) since I didn't really have a good chance to reread them at the time of publishing (Friday morning) like I usually do. My one kid was up the entire night throwing up and other unsavory bodily functions that I won't embarrass her by talking about. It was enough to request a special cleaning from the hotel maids (four-year-olds don't know how to throw up anywhere except exactly where they are when they feel the urge, which ended up mostly being the hotel bed). Exhausting stuff. Throw in a vacation that's already pretty exhausting for regular boring reasons, and I'm typing this shit one eye open laying in bed with feet that feel like blocks of ham.

Zach felt obligated, Nate felt unwilling to give in, Pat found meaning through topological pop culture research, Sunny performed a genial drive-by, this is all pretty par for the course. Back to our old tricks, here at RC. Good week for that.

3. Were there any differing opinions that made you view the album in a different light?

Kinda makes me think that the "there are stories here!" thesis of my review may have been overstated. I don't regret saying it, like I still believe it to be true and I really do believe that everyone (both those who participated this week and those who didn't) could stand to approach music from a perspective of "I don't know anything" as opposed to "I know some things and this doesn't seem like that."

Still overstated, just mainly because I'm three days in and I'm feeling the malaise of a vacation that feels particularly fake or manufactured in some ways, and I'm realizing that the whole Exquisite Narratives thing only goes so far. This is fine. This is exactly what I expected. And I'm really appreciative of having a great family and having the means to be here and everyone being safe and the kids having fun. And I will also do the song and dance as the dutiful son and agree with everyone that this was the vacation of a lifetime and etc. etc. But I think at a certain point I'm wishing that everything I said in my review was true, or that I could make it true, somehow.

I also thought it would be funny to write some emo bullshit about my vacation in a Record Club exit survey.

4. Was there anything about this album or this artist that you wished that people would've written about more?

Should've watched that documentary! I get the sense that maybe three people read the Sunday write-up. That was definitely something that was impressed upon me during our four-week competition, how little value that has to 99.9% of people would might visit the blog. Which is fine, but also makes me wonder how I got to the point where I'm spending so much time on that shit. 

Of those 40 guest writers who wrote a review due to being asked by a PoYB Contributor, how many of those people do you think were linked to the Sunday write-up for that respective album? How many even had a fucking clue that the Sunday write-up existed? I'd bet "zero" if no money was on the line. Pam said that one of her and Brittany's mutual friends asked them "so how do I listen to the album" and my response was "and so you linked her to the Sunday morning write-up, right? with the links to four different music-streaming platforms?" but I asked it with much noted sarcasm because I know the score.

It all goes back to the idea of "this is something fun to do," and most of the time it really is fun (I had fun making the 100 gecs / Twilight mashup that was linked to in that Radiohead write-up, for instance), but on weeks like this, when it feels like an obligation, I don't really have that to fall back on, and I end up writing a really acerbic exit survey. Shit. Sorry.

You should watch that documentary. Really helped open up that album for me.

5. How do you feel about your album choice now that the week is over? A success? Any regrets?

If I ever meet Alex Bleeker then I'm gonna be like "hey, I'm the guy who asked you to pick two albums for my friends' Album of the Week club" and he's gonna be like "what the fuck are you talking about, bro."

Feels like a success if only because "Waak Waak Djungi" is really fun to say and type and I'll probably use this artist's name when I need a random-ass band to name-drop as an inside joke in the Sunday write-up intro, like "Super Bowl LVIV is tonight, and RC alumni Waak Waak Djungi are playing the National Anthem" or something like that. I mainly do this to make myself laugh, you see.

6. Any other takeaways from the reviews? Or from this experience in general?

Invest in a good pair of shoes.

7. What is an improvement that Record Club can make that would enhance everyone's experience, either as a captain or as a listener/writer?

Sorry, friends and family, I have a six-week gag lined up starting the week after next. Hopefully some good music comes out of it at least.